Maps, Guides And All Sorts...

If you are new to shares and the investment market, it must feel a lot like trying to navigate through mass information to get to the bottom line...earn some extra cash right? Well you are definitely not alone and every journey needs a guide of sorts!

All About You!

It may seem a bit of an odd question but what does extra cash mean to you? a mansion or a travel fund and how quickly do you want it? In order to tailor and get the maximum benefit out of share dealing or investments its good to set goals for what you would like to achieve. As with everything in life, there is a flip side and in share trading that is understanding that there is a risk attached to all share buying / selling as you could potentially lose your initial investment plus losses if the company you have invested in takes a downturn. Therefore it is always good to work out what figure you would be"ok" to lose with no impact to your day to day life. As a general rule of thumb, I would suggest, if its enough to keep you awake at night, its not worth it.

Information is Key

Its good to have an awareness and build your knowledge of the share market - of course you could pay someone to do this for you but a lot of information is available for free and knowing someone who is right all the time...well...really? I have found the below useful myself:

Financial Press - yes, I know its pretty dry reading but I've found a good skim read picking out key info is useful.

London Stock Exchange - if you are serious about investing, this should probably be on your favourites list. Company listings, current share price, share projectory and articles.

Regulatory Information Service - Companies have to publicly notify any event that could influence their share price..like a takeover for example (very handy site to check).

So How Does it Work?

The UK's main stock exchange is the London Stock Exchange which trades shares for PLC's, government bonds and derivatives are bought and sold. The LSE is split in to different indices:

• FTSE 100 (top largest 100 companies)

• FTSE 250

• AIM (small and venture capital backed companies)

Investing in the stock market is always via a third party broker, of which there are many and all offering a wide range of services....

Bespoke Service

• Offer tailored investment advice.

• Team of share dealers that you can contact.

• And because nothing like this would be free, there are tiered fees for above.

Execution Only

• Online platforms where you can buy and sell shares through a share dealing account without being offered advice.

• There are charges and fees associated with the number of trades that you conduct per month.

Potential ones to start off with (there are loads if you do an online search but these seemed pretty straightforward)

• LSE - has a list of third party brokers.

• Charles Stanley

• Hargreaves Lansdown

If like me you are a beginner, it seems to make sense to have an online execution only account to try out different shares and keeping your costs to a minimum. Bearing in mind that regular trading could potentially kill profits as the fee costs begin to exceed profit therefore holding blue chip company shares for medium to long term might be an attractive option to balance out your share trading.