Re: I aint got much BUT?

Realist. My God! If anything could put me off the idea of investing my piddling bit of dosh. Then I have just read it in the above and I thank you for your input. My pause for thought has now hit a stuck red light.

Re: I aint got much BUT?

The story that was going around was that Blair and Brown were at a cocktail party and manouvered Blank and the then CEO of lloyds into a corner, the conversation went something like:-
Brown "We need you to take over HBOS 'cos we have no money"
Blair "But make it look like a normal takeover"
Blank "But what about the Competition Authority?"
Blair & Brown (In unison) "Oh don't worry about that we'll fix it that the CA allows the deal to go through"
Blank "Oh OK if you can assure us there will be no regulatory snags we will make an offer for HBOS of £1 a share" which happened to be about 99.9 pence more than HBOS was worth at the time
Of course Blank meant ALL competition authorities UK and European, Blair & Brown knew about the European Authorities but choose to think it meant only the UK.

The end result was Lloyds (Who were nowhere near bankrupt) took over HBOS who were, and not long after the European Competition authorities said that they had to reduce the number of branches they had by hundreds, thus completely negating the point of Lloyds taking them over and in addition Lloyds got saddled with the huge debts of HBOS and the government had to bail them out anyway.

Now, if Blair & Brown had been running the country like any responsible government leader they would have been able to bail out HBOS and RBS and left Lloyds to get on with their business.

As we now know Blair & Brown had been borrowing far more than they should have, had sold off any assets the UK had such as our Gold reserves, and were backed into a corner when the s**t hit the fan. Even the most uneducated fool should know that you can't just keep on borrowing, but if you have to do that to win votes then that is what you do.

The sad thing is that millions of people didn't know all this, or they have choosen to forget it, prefering instead to vote for the same lot again. It's just greed on the part of so many.

Re: I aint got much BUT?

Take a bit of time to read up on how the stock exchange works and how private investers can own shares.

It's nowhere near as bad as Realist has said but I would advise you learn about things like Bid/Offer spreads (It's Offer not Ask by the way)

You could start by logging in to ADVFN where for free you can put in a few shares and watch them for a few weeks

You'll see the Bid / Offer spread moving, you might even notice that it's small on some shares and large on others, I'll leave you to work out why. There's even a chat forum where you can ask questions, but be prepared for a few cheap sarcastic comments, such as you get on any bulletin board, but if you can live with that you will also get a few helpful people who will explain..........a little.

Quite a useful book I bought years ago is 'The Shareholder' by Simon Rose (Mercury Business Books) which is not too technical. (I haven't checked if it's still in print.)
Chapter 4 is called 'My Word is My Bond (tee, hee!)

As Realist said the 'My Word is my Bond' expression is not bandied around the City anymore because we live in an uglier world where everyone (Rich and poor) just think of themselves and to hell with anyone else.

Re: I aint got much BUT?

Davenorave - some interesting articles to read

http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles...-rise-and-fall

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasi...-stock-market/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_trading

Re: I aint got much BUT?

I am not a gambler. Mainly because I would be buggered if I was to lose. So with that in mind, it is probably, considering my financial situation, not to mention my lack of financial etiquette. A bad idea to venture my hard saved funeral fund on what is in simple terms a gamble.
I do appreciate all of your contributions and if I could further impose on your good will?
Can I be educated on whether the cash ISA I hold with Lloyds is a good idea, or if I should consider putting that money back into a simple savings account?

Re: I aint got much BUT?

work it out, an ISA is tax free whilst a savings account is not

Re: I aint got much BUT?

Something to consider is buying some actual gold. The price of gold has fallen significantly in the past 2-3 years. It has put some gold miners out of business (because the price they can sell gold for dropped too close to the cost of getting it out of the ground in the first place).

A lot of people are anticipating another great stock market crash and some expect the US Dollar to eventually collapse because you just can not keep printing millions of new bank notes without devaluing the currency as a whole. Such people often buy gold because:

1) It is a real tangible thing you can hold and keep
2) It is a substance that has underpinned currencies for 100s of years
3) It's usually seen as a "safe bet" because it is assumed you will always be able to sell it if other currencies collapse.

I suspect there is currently a lot of manipulation going on at present with the price of gold and perhaps at some stage it will re-balance itself. Either way, buying a little gold as a "safety" measure is probably something we should all consider.

Re: I aint got much BUT?

To the point and as you put it obvious. Thanks. But my point is. Is an ISA a gamble or is it a safe method of saving???

Re: I aint got much BUT?

Play the market at your peril-I have made a few shillings,I have lost a few.

The biggest loss I took was Laura Ashley-the dividend was little more than the cost of the postage.

Do not invest cash you cannot afford to lose,make that a mantra.

Re: I aint got much BUT?

I'm not very knowledgeable on this subject but if they're free then why not? But as a rule I avoid stocks and shares because the market is volatile. I'm risk averse.