Anyone here play the stock market?

M

Mowflow

Senior member
 Glasgow
What with all the high earning professional types and wealthy retired people here :wink: I was just wondering if anyone plays the stock market?

When I first started working I set up a stocks and shares ISA which I just put into and never really thought about. When I got married we cashed it in to help buy a family home. It was quite disturbing to see that it wasn't worth much more than the amount I had paid in although a cash ISA would actually have been worse. Looking into the managed funds it seemed that very few performed as you would expect. Perhaps it was timing as this was only about 3 years ago and the economy has been on it's arse for far longer than that.

Anyway, long story short. I set up a share dealing account and started doing it myself. I've only been doing it a year and have so far learnt a lot without losing all my initial investment (supposedly 90% of first time investors lose this in the first year). Not doing great but could be worse and the lessons that have cost me money will stay with me.
 
I do, but with minimal amounts.

Last month I bought some really s**t penny shares that were constantly up and down. Sold them the week after at 250% of what I paid for them :) and to make it better, they dropped back down the next day.

It's risky but you can make money out of them if you're brave.
 
Yeah, the rule of never playing with what you can't afford to lose is a good one that I will always stick to.

In terms of playing with penny shares, I had some good returns with OXS and MTT earlier in the year. They both tend to swing wildly and are okay for a bit of fun but that's it.

My worst move so far was jumping on the Game band wagon near the top of it's bounce just a day before the shares were suspended. I had been watching it but took to long making my mind up. I did have the sense to skim more than 50% of the relatively small investment out before thankfully. Still a loss though :(

I do have other long term holding. Mostly in oil GKP (for my sins), XEL (defies logic) and did have chariot which was converted into OPHR which has been my best move so far.
 
I invest in managed funds (well the Bank do on my behalf) but am just about breaking even this year so perhaps time to shift the cash. In reality I think the best that anyone can experct is to keep just above inflation. Saw recently that Halifax were offering 4% on a current account provided you kept minimum levels in each months and a minimum monthly pay in. Perhaps time to shift banks..... :|
 
I have dabbled in both the UK and US markets for several years, the latter being a lot more profitable.

Being in the Technology sector I tend to stick to shares that I know a little about, so have AAPL (Apple) which I invested back in 2008 having cashed in all my endowment policies - which were going nowhere. Other holdings include BIDU (Baidu) which is up and down like a fiddlers elbow. I nearly jumped on the Facebook (FB) bandwagon but after thinking long and hard waited for the dust to settle - I am glad I did :)

In the UK I took a punt on RBS when they hit, what I thought was, rock bottom, but still they headed south - so currently negative on these. I also bought Nighthawk Energy(HAWK), which are penny shares but seem to heading in the right direction.
 
I am mostly invested in managed funds but follow them closely with the assistance of my financial planner. I also manage some stocks on my own and they have done pretty well over the past few year.
 
I never understood who bought Facebook when it was first floated. Massive PI interest was always going to make it over priced with a sudden drop.
 
Yes. I used to do product development for a stockbroker/investment platform.

Motley fool is a good source of investment tips.

Lately I've taken a back seat and have my money in model portfolios. It's the lazy option and makes investment diversification much easier.

I made a killing this year on Apple shares. They went up 50% in the time I held them.


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Pity Beancounter isn't still posting :rofl:

I'm in oil exploration -very risky

Best bet is to purchase property IMO
 
AlanJ said:
I invest in managed funds (well the Bank do on my behalf) but am just about breaking even this year so perhaps time to shift the cash. In reality I think the best that anyone can experct is to keep just above inflation. Saw recently that Halifax were offering 4% on a current account provided you kept minimum levels in each months and a minimum monthly pay in. Perhaps time to shift banks..... :|
Click to expand...

4% - is it really worth saving

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Taz x said:
AlanJ said:
I invest in managed funds (well the Bank do on my behalf) but am just about breaking even this year so perhaps time to shift the cash. In reality I think the best that anyone can experct is to keep just above inflation. Saw recently that Halifax were offering 4% on a current account provided you kept minimum levels in each months and a minimum monthly pay in. Perhaps time to shift banks..... :|
Click to expand...

4% - is it really worth saving

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Kind of my feeling. I dare say there are savings/ISAs/Bonds etc out there that work (if you can afford the right accountant) but I've never found any or been pointed in their direction by any IFAs. I also like to be able to access money as and when I need it rather than waiting for some bond to mature or account to clear funds.

My most recent experience with a managed fund was when i put the money set aside for my children's future into an emerging markets fund that seemed to be performing well. The fund manager changed and within a year it had lost 20%. I took the money out but it took them nearly a month to return the funds and close the account.

When I finally got the money I put it all into XEL and had made the "professionals" loss back by the next day.
 
Mowflow said:
Taz x said:
AlanJ said:
I invest in managed funds (well the Bank do on my behalf) but am just about breaking even this year so perhaps time to shift the cash. In reality I think the best that anyone can experct is to keep just above inflation. Saw recently that Halifax were offering 4% on a current account provided you kept minimum levels in each months and a minimum monthly pay in. Perhaps time to shift banks..... :|
Click to expand...

4% - is it really worth saving

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Kind of my feeling. I dare say there are savings/ISAs/Bonds etc out there that work (if you can afford the right accountant) but I've never found any or been pointed in their direction by any IFAs. I also like to be able to access money as and when I need it rather than waiting for some bond to mature or account to clear funds.

My most recent experience with a managed fund was when i put the money set aside for my children's future into an emerging markets fund that seemed to be performing well. The fund manager changed and within a year it had lost 20%. I took the money out but it took them nearly a month to return the funds and close the account.

When I finally got the money I put it all into XEL and had made the "professionals" loss back by the next day.
Click to expand...

IMO always look after your own cash :thumbsup:
 
I lost a shed load on the stock market about 10 years ago, and that was through managed funding. They just sort of shrugged and said 'well, we did say you could lose money'. They didn't!

Since then I have invested in guaranteed funds, government bonds, ISAs etc, had reasonable returns. If you are a gambler then the stock market is fine for you.
 
Have had ISAs and stuff, but thought about sharedealing a few years ago, about the time when the major crash started (e.g. RBS), invested in BP (everybody must need oil for a while longer yet right)... survey said - XXX

The vavle thing happened soon after and wiped off any positive gain from the recovery, now sitting negative position, but yep only converted what I knew I didn't mind too much loosing, but still a loss is a loss :thumbsdown:
...Give it another 5 years to regain it's value
 
Taz x said:
AlanJ said:
........ Saw recently that Halifax were offering 4% on a current account provided you kept minimum levels in each months and a minimum monthly pay in. Perhaps time to shift banks..... :|
Click to expand...

4% - is it really worth saving
Click to expand...

Agree but if you look at all UK banks their various rates for short and long term savings acconts barely match inflation. All a bit of a risk at the momement and of course in any invetment depends on what risk level you are prepared to take. Bad times....... :(
 
Pay off capital sum from your mortgage? Obviously depends on your interest rate, but it's a good long term investment as you'll see the benefit in reduced interest payments immediately, or keep the payments the same which accelerates paying it off.

The mortgage is my only debt, and having been in the cack with debt in the past, I'm paranoid about not borrowing now and getting rid of the house loan. Bing has his plan, I have mine :)
 
Nah, I'm not worried about my mortgage, no loans on cars or any other debt apart from £90 on one credit card :D . The mortgage is currently only about 50% of the house value and that'll probably be cleared before I'm 40.... actually, if things go to plan it will be cleared in the next 2 years well before I hit 40.

Just looking for tips on any other stock worth looking at really as forums like this are the best place since few are playing the ramp/deramp game. I'm not interested in savings accounts, ISAs or managed funds as I spent years paying into such things only to get next to nothing. Buy to let property is obviously a good game to get into but it requires a large lump sum to begin with and is only really worth doing if you intend to eventually get several properties. Maybe do that somewhere down the line from now.
 
My feeling is to stick in my safe. If i am ever ill i will not have to spend my savings before i qualify for any government support

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stuart i do the same keep on putting it on the mortgage down to less than a year now .plus no other loans or debts . :D
taz you must have a massive safe :rofl:
 
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