How do I actually buy shares?

by Iain
(UK)

Having used Stockopedia to identify a specific stock to invest in, what site / brokerage tool would you recommend for me to actually use to invest my money in that stock from the UK ?

Thanks.


Answer from William John

Hi Iain, I have used ii.co.uk for my investments and they've been pretty good. The fees aren't the lowest - at time of writing they charge £10 per trade £22.50 per quarter as a standing charge, but this gets credited to your account for their dealing fees, effectively it's a minimum. Their phone support has been very good - they have solved a number of issues I've had quickly and easily. Only one such call needed any sort of follow up.

I haven't used their research tools, as I too am a fan of Stockopedia and my mentor Mike has recommended that I always treat cautiously advice supplied by brokers who stand to gain if I trade.

I know Mike has had experience with Lansdown Hargreaves Landsdown (www.hl.co.uk), but I'll leave him to add his comment on how they've been below...

Whichever brokerage you decide to start with, make sure that you're using your full UK ISA allowance as this allows you to keep any profits and dividends tax free. (One of the issues I had when I started was that I accidentally opened a non-ISA account... Silly mistake!)

Finally, do take a look at the pages listed under the "Finding a Brokerage" tab on the top right of each page...