[alfredtehbutler]

Well, £2929 and 12 pence to be precise

So here's the story. I'm going to University in September, so at the moment I want to invest about £1500-£2000 of my money in something 100% safe such as an ISA or premium bonds and then with whatever's left in anything, the stock market, penny stocks, whatever. I'd really appreciate any advice at all, thank you very much in advance

[M4LLY]

Invest it in the 29th largest business in the world

[alfredtehbutler]

(Original post by M4LLY)
Invest it in the 29th largest business in the world

Which is? :P

[anisaa93(:]

my purse

[tom_A]

Gold would be the safest investment you can make

[nervo1234]

£3000 is a low amount and to generate a decent return on capital, you will need to leave it for a while.

You've missed the boat on Gold, as US Unemployment rate fell on Friday which raises the expectation of QE3, as a consequence when money printing is created, it will weaken the strength of the USDOLLAR, thus creating a strength in dollar dominated assets, such as Gold.

Personally, you would be best trying to find an ETF which tracks the underlying Spot Gold price and buying that, alternatively you could also buy FTSE Gold Mining Equities.

Bear in mind, there is alot of volatility due to Eurozone Crisis and the fundamental are out of the window right now, this is more of a headline driven market.

Good luck

[bahjat93]

(Original post by alfredtehbutler)
Well, £2929 and 12 pence to be precise

So here's the story. I'm going to University in September, so at the moment I want to invest about £1500-£2000 of my money in something 100% safe such as an ISA or premium bonds and then with whatever's left in anything, the stock market, penny stocks, whatever. I'd really appreciate any advice at all, thank you very much in advance

LMAO, do not invest in the 29th largest business in the world. We have a better chance of finding a cure to AIDS then you do of making a DECENT return on your investment .
You could trade stocks, any ISA will not give you a decent return on your investment within 2 months specially if you only have £3k

[alfredtehbutler]

(Original post by bahjat93)
LMAO, do not invest in the 29th largest business in the world. We have a better chance of finding a cure to AIDS then you do of making a DECENT return on your investment .
You could trade stocks, any ISA will not give you a decent return on your investment within 2 months specially if you only have £3k

How do you start trading stocks though? I have no clue how it works

[CUFCDan]

I have personally considered this tooo. I've worked and saved whilst at Uni and have a decent amount and wanted to put it somewhere safe with a chance of a return.

I decided against it.

With the Eurozone the way it is, and the financial world in general, I want to avoid stocks like the plague. You could lose everything on a day's bad trading.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Put it in an ISA for a year.

[bahjat93]

(Original post by alfredtehbutler)
How do you start trading stocks though? I have no clue how it works

You can do it on-line .
I currently control an E-trade account under my dads name. I don't think this is available outside North America.
You can trade stocks via an HSBC account, it has to be a specific account but i have forgotten the name of the specific account that allows you to do that :/.
I intend on trading stocks in September and i intend on doing it with HSBC because i believe that you don't have to pay any tax on the first £4K profit you make and then the tax goes up by 50%

[Skarm]

It isn't enough money to do anything with. Put it in an index tracker if you want, but the best thing for it would be an ISA, bearing in mind you may well need to access it throughout the year.

[shrug]

No point investing in stocks. Last year shorty after my 18th I bought some stock for the sake of it. Spent around £60 and made £10 profit after the brokers fees. This was in a period of two weeks.

The only good thing I can think of investing in at the moment is gold or silver. But you are not going to make much of a profit from it in the time frame you are talking about.

Safest way is to leave it in the bank. Again you will not get much but it is the only 100% safe way I can think of.

[viksta1000]

invest it in freddo's...over the last 5 years they've increased from 10p to 20p...that's a 100% return

[CUFCDan]

(Original post by shrug)
No point investing in stocks. Last year shorty after my 18th I bought some stock for the sake of it. Spent around £60 and made £10 profit after the brokers fees. This was in a period of two weeks.

Safest way is to leave it in the bank. Again you will not get much but it is the only 100% safe way I can think of.

A £10 return on £60 in two weeks is actually quite impressive... remember you have done absolutely nothing for it.

And a bank 100% safe? Someone needs a history lesson.

[ChampEon]

If you're keen to invest then I suggest opening up a Trading ISA. I opened a Self-Select Stocks and Shares ISA last year at TD Direct Investing (used to be called TD Waterhouse) and it's really good. I can invest a maximum of around 11k every year and there are absolutely no taxes (e.g. Capital Gains Tax) or admin fees involved. But you have to realise that trading is serious business. 6 out of 10 times people lose money due to making rushed emotional based decisions. You need to be focused and logical if you intend to max profit.
All you need to do is pick the right stocks and then you'll be making money. Before opening a Trading ISA I recommend you start learning about trading from scratch by reading a book called Trading For A Living by Dr. Alexander Elder. That book teaches pretty much everything you need to know about technical analysis (i.e. spotting patterns in stock prices). The author's a psychologist and thus analyses the mind games that go on in the stock market.

[goldstander212]

This is from another post, but this is some advice i gave on a long term investment in a stock- particularly AIG. with 3k its going to take some time to make a decent return but do your own research and find a company which you'd be happy to invest in. ive invested in aig since start of 2012 and planning to stay in for a long time.
Well if you want reasons to buy AIG,PERY OR TRLG :
All three stocks are off there 52 week high - AIG has been shagged so hard during the recession that the FED had to buy off stocks just to rescue them ; as they invested heavily in property before 2008. However, the company is buying back shares from the government at absolutely stupid prices.
But, one thing to bear in mind about AIG is the fact that it is prone to damage from greece and europe. I think AIG is a great hold in the long run. i mean the fact that the best performing fund manager of the decade has it as his by far largest holding is a decent indication. It takes balls to give your capital to likely the most poorly run company of the decade - but therein lies the value.
Some may be concerned about the treasuries stake in aig, but this has been proven wrong so far, and I think it will continue to be proven wrong as AIG's management continues to deliver on liquidating assets.They carry significant intangible brand value as well. If this wasn't such a reputational disaster and controversial financial holding, I am confident Mr. Buffett would have bought a monstrous stake years ago.

I screened for companies that are significantly off their 52 week high and whose 50day MA have recently crossed the 200day MA (golden cross).
I also play around with the moving averages, time periods, and how far off their peak they are. I always use the 50day MA but look at both the 100day and the 200day.
And the two companies which ticked the boxes are PERY and aig.... in terms of TRLG short hold.

Also, pery owns a brand increasing in popularity : Original penguin, which accounts for a highstake of its profits


LOOOOOOOOL! ive been following these stocks for like a year :L
But now am confident to go in.

[cl_steele]

i wouldnt bother with ISA accounts theyre not worth it unless youre a UK tax payer theyre just a means to right off taxes just plonk it in a savings account or spend it, either way its going to be loosing money unless inflation has suddenly dropped

[murray29]

If you don't want to think a lot put it in a defensive large-cap blue chip (say Glaxo, VOD, Unilever) which pays a decend dividend,this will be relatively save (apart from standard volatility) and will yield more that even fixed-term money (is that the english term?).
Edit: Obviously this is not 100% save, but it will get you a better return than the meager returns below inflation rate you get with other asset classes right now.
For bonds see: http://www.fixedincomeinvestor.co.uk...html?groupid=4 I don't know wether this is any good but came accros it on TSR a while agoand bookmarket it, looks useful if you are into fixed income!

[aqquaintance_sport]

Invest in stock checklist.