# Personal story of dipping into the stock market



## jimbo1 (Nov 24, 2007)

I had always wanted to for years but never did fearing I would lose everything I put in, so I decided this year I would take the jump and see what happens.

I will talk about Lloyds because its one of the shares I hold at the moment and was my first buy as a newbie.

I bought some early this year, my reasons being:
1) Newbie and wanted to play it safe ie:well known bank, ftse100 etc
2) News that the government was going to sell their share
3) Dividends should be paid again soon

a few months later, Government sold their share and not a lot of what was expected happened ie:share price going up and dividend to come back.
what really happened?? they climbed a few pence, dividend later etc and then the Libor scandal hit.

Further down the line, TSB got sold as expected, good news for Lloyds and investors (£££).
Looking at how Lloyds performed over the year they are currently at -5.45%, a good time to buy in and there will be a dividend payout sometime :wave:

Personal lessons learned:

- Buy low, sell high.
- Don't be greedy.
- Build up a portfolio and spread your risk
- Do you own research into the company/ies ie: History, look at the books and the numbers, Directors investing, cash available
- Avoid PR bull****, read between the lines and make up your own mind.
- Don't get stuck in the dividend mindset like I did, that is an extra bonus that can be reinvested.
- You can't win all the time, ****e happens.


It's been a roller coaster year, learning all the time and I am loving every minute. 
Currently made more £££'s than I have put in, which is what it's about.

Soooo, what are you waiting for?? 

Jim


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## Dixondmn (Oct 12, 2007)

Which broker do you use?


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## GleemSpray (Jan 26, 2014)

As the old saying goes "never gamble with money that you can't afford to lose"


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## jimbo1 (Nov 24, 2007)

Dixondmn said:


> Which broker do you use?


I use halifax web share dealing at the moment


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## jimbo1 (Nov 24, 2007)

GleemSpray said:


> As the old saying goes "never gamble with money that you can't afford to lose"


They way I see it, the money I would **** down the pub and cigarettes is invested :thumb:


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## Paul08 (Jun 1, 2014)

Hi, I have traded on the stock market personally for nearly 8 years on and off. The reason you didn't see much of an increase in the Lloyds share price is because the information likely to affect the price was already publically available and thus already reflected in the price you bought at. Making accurate predictions (or more often getting lucky) before market information is available is the only real way to benefit from share price increases.


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

ive played the market for about 12 yrs now on and off - im up on most of my stuff. you need to be careful of who you believe and what you read on forums, theres a lot of bull****ters out there. do your own research and keep your ear to the ground. you will also find that companies are always happy to speak to investors, private or otherwise. I was into the market big time for a few years but it was really stressful and I was playing with too much money so got out of it when I was up and just trade bits and pieces here and there now.

are you just buying shares or trading them? thought about shorting them? are you planning on getting into any other markets?

I use td waterhouse as a broker, never had any trouble from them.


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## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

how much did you invest?


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