I've recently come into my first real windfall of £10k and instead of leaving it to rot in a bank account I'm looking to invest for the first time. So far I've been looking at food companies, supermarkets and fast food on the assumption that no matter how bad it gets people need to eat. I'm also uncertain if I should buy now or wait for things to drop further but I don't want to wait around and miss out of a chance to buy when stocks were cheap.

Any and all advice would be greatly apreciated.

Hello Malenfant. I would personally not start to invest in the stock market with only 10k and i would definitely not put all of my money in one basket. Although the market swing for most investors is buy when market goes up and sell when market goes down, i would advise you to buy in these troubled times. It's like a supermarket of stocks out there.

Of course one should not buy stocks just for the fact they're cheap or on a speculatory basis. If you'd like to invest your money in the stock market, you must go "bargain hunting". There are websites that offer basic financial analysis for every company listed in the LSE. as a general point, often a good stock is a stock that is undervalued, isn't in too much debt, has had good growth history(i'm referring to data for at least the last 10 years), payed out its dividents religiously and has a good management overall. of course one can go in much further detail.

if you would like to know more about investing wisely, i advise you to read benjamin graham's books "the definitive guide to investing" and "security analysis". remember always make your own decisions and don't let anybody else decide for you or you will eventually end up with dust in you pockets.

thus i cannot offer you an aswer like "go buy kfc because the food is lovely", you need to do you own homework. the faster you try to make money, the more you will lose in the long run.

cheers

10K for a bussines start in a stock market? Are you kidding? You may have 3 times more Agree with a dumalexandru . make it slower dude, and you will never looooze your money

Hi,

If you want to invest, take a look at Taylor Wimpey shares. They have dropped from £4 or £5 a couple of years ago, but have now dropped to around 18p.

There is talks of their refinancing being sorted in the next 3 weeks and it is expected that the share price will at least triple when this is done.

Quick turnaround, huge profits potentially.

Look at LSE website and search TW. and check out chat board

Good luck

I generally agree with dumalexandru, you need to do your research - certainly logic such as ``foods'' beeing a relatively stable sector and hence investing into it is a good one. However there are many more considereations to look at, don't forget commodities, with rising wheat, corn, and other foods, profit margins for food sector get under a lot of pressure...


since we are currently in a good time for opportunity it might well be a good point in time to begin investing. Investing is all about the right timing - even for the long term it is of upmost importance to catch a right starting point.

I do completely dissagree with the need to have more than 10K to get u started... to be honest as little as 5K is enough and even less. Especially if you are just starting out.

I personally look at making more complex strategies used by hedge funds and professional investors accessible to investors (we'r working on a website application that will introduce the generall public to trading - can give more info about this to interested people). so keep your eyes open, I would also advice you to read financial news on finance.yahoo.co.uk, ft.com, and business sections on BBC, CNN or bloomberg.com

All this will help you to get a feel for the market, in the end of the day ur thinking of giving 10K into it.

Try Stockopedia - it's an interesting forum for discussing the pros and cons of various stocks (and there's a virtual trading platform that allows you to test out various ideas). Buyer beware, though - the stock market is pretty volatile at the moment.

On my side I avoid stocks and banks. Try DUITFSC COM good return with manageable level of risk.
Ping

I wouldn't agree with some on here who say that they wouldn't start in vesting with 'only' £10,000. It depends on what you are looking to achieve. If you think that £10,000 is going to be £20,000 by the end of the year then you are being unrealistic, it is possible, sure, but unlikley.

You need to look at the long game. I started investing when I was 14, with £300. I even remember the very first share I bought, Costain. My plan was to see investing as a learning experience. I am still learning now 26 years later, but I make a living out of trading and investing.

If I could give you any piece of advice that would help you in your quest for investment success it would be this:

Learn about the markets, become familiar with different investing techniques through books and online resources. You have more information, tools and platforms now than in any time in history (I only had FT, teletext and the library!), so use them.

If you do not have a passion for investing, then realise you will probably lose money, so you need to hand the responsibility to someone else, like a managed account with an active broker who can explain the risks, and has your risk profile built into their trading strategy.

Above all, read, read lots... and ask questions of eveyone, your broker, the companies in which you invest and, of course, yourself. Knowing when to run your profits and cut your losses is the key to investing, pure and simple.

I would advise you to book an appointment with a reputable investment advisor. You have to get it right. 10K is not a bad amount to start with, you just need to know how to multiply it safely.

10k is not too bad to start with malenfant, however jumping on to investment because you ''believe'' still need to eat is the wrong approach.

My advice to get yourself fully educated first, there are plenty of companies providing training courses, just be careful on the one you choose

10k is actually more than enough to begin. My son started an investment portfolio with $10k, he put 5k in CDs (Certificate of Deposits) with a local bank (Citibank) and the other 5k with my commodities broker . With the exchange rate, I believe 10 UK pounds is worth more than 10 US dollars which makes it more than enough. Hope this helps

Hi,
I advice you to wait a year or more because we are now in the beginning of the economic crisis. Therefore, think of a way to increase your money that you are planning to invest.
Thank you and Good Luck