Easy As A,B,C...

As I hope investing in the share market would seem by the end of this post. With the amount of information, opinions and pure mystery that surrounds investing, I am not surprised with the number of messages I have received all along the lines of how do I? So I have compiled the below reference points as if you were building from new and starting from day one....

Shares

Quite simply equal a "share" in a company bought and sold at at price. In its most purest form the share market will highlight the basic principles of economic and price elasticity i.e increased demand leads to increasing price. The way we interact with the share market has grown more sophisticated as technology has advanced which means everything is pretty much done online.

How to start or 1,2...3

Execution Only Online Platforms: set up an online account where you can buy or sell shares without being offered advice. Each platform provider offers different fees and charges based on your portfolio and number of times you would like to trade. There are some that offer trial accounts that let you practice with a dummy portfolio without investing real money...(kind of like monopoly!).

Advisory: still mostly online however a financial adviser will assess your personal circumstances, investment risks and financial goals and provide investment choices for you.

Discretionary management: an investment manager will assess and manage your portfolio on your behalf entirely.

Where to look...

There are lots of options for any of the above but the below may be useful starting points...

London Stock Exchange hold a list of brokers.

Hargreaves Lansdown

Charles Stanley

Interactive Investor

All seems straightforward, with next thought being, well which companies...