Lloyds shares?

[Melon]

Hi all,

 

I'd like to buy shares in Lloyds Bank, but have never bought shares before. I hear that the government is planning to sell off a bunch at 5% discount, but my searches on Google to find out how you'd buy some of these has proven hopeless.

 

Anyone got any idea how I'd go about doing this? I would be seeing this as a long term investment.

 

Thanks in advance! 

[oliversw5]

Hi Melon, 

 

I use the broker x-o.co.uk. Simply deposit the money into the account type in the ticker symbol (LLOY) and bobs your uncle

[HawkHybrid]

you can consider opening a self select stocks and shares isa

and buy lloyds shares within that. any gains would then be

tax free and you can mostly ignore it for the long term. many

shares type accounts do require yearly maintenance fees now.

maybe it''ll be cheaper with a shares certificate?

 

my personal opinion is now is probably not a good time to

be buying any shares from a risk versus reward point of view.

 

HH

[oliversw5]

Hey HH/Melon,

 

The share account I use, is 6 quid to buy and sell with no yearly fees and they offer a ISA option. Just a basic self select account. 

 

From my knowledge getting shares certificates are both painstaking and expensive, everything is electronic these days.

 

ATB

[Pete]

Don't forget to allow for a broker's fee of about £12 or maybe more since you don't have a trading account with anyone and also the 0.5% stamp duty purchasing the shares.

You will also incur a selling fee when you decide to get rid of your shares maybe also about £12 or more, but no stamp duty so work out if the 5% discount is worth it.

Shares can move more than 5% in a day and can drop as well as rise.

When I bought EasyJet on a strong buy recommendation they lost me well over 10% a few days later !

[Melon]

Hi Melon, 

 

I use the broker x-o.co.uk. Simply deposit the money into the account type in the ticker symbol (LLOY) and bobs your uncle

 

Thanks! What's the charges like? I looked on moneysavingexpert and saw Barclays (my normal bank) ranked pretty highly for self select investment ISAs, so that would seem an easy choice. However it appears they charge per trade (similar to everyone) but also a annual £30 charge for "admin" (assuming you self select). Is that pretty normal?

 

you can consider opening a self select stocks and shares isa

and buy lloyds shares within that. any gains would then be

tax free and you can mostly ignore it for the long term. many

shares type accounts do require yearly maintenance fees now.

maybe it''ll be cheaper with a shares certificate?

 

my personal opinion is now is probably not a good time to

be buying any shares from a risk versus reward point of view.

 

HH

 

Mm you may well have a point, but I guess I'm diversifying as opposed to hedging my bets so hopefully works out OK! 

 

Thanks for the ISA tip, having done some reading that's definitely the way for me to go (can even transfer in old ISAs!).

 

Hey HH/Melon,

 

The share account I use, is 6 quid to buy and sell with no yearly fees and they offer a ISA option. Just a basic self select account. 

 

From my knowledge getting shares certificates are both painstaking and expensive, everything is electronic these days.

 

ATB

 

That sounds really good value (given no annual fee). Which broker was it? Were they reliable?

 

Don't forget to allow for a broker's fee of about £12 or maybe more since you don't have a trading account with anyone and also the 0.5% stamp duty purchasing the shares.

You will also incur a selling fee when you decide to get rid of your shares maybe also about £12 or more, but no stamp duty so work out if the 5% discount is worth it.

Shares can move more than 5% in a day and can drop as well as rise.

When I bought EasyJet on a strong buy recommendation they lost me well over 10% a few days later !

 

Yea totally agree, thanks for the advise. I've picked Lloyds for a few reasons, the 5% being a nice touch but not the overriding reason.

 

One thing I don't fully understand is am I getting the 5% discount regardless of which broker I buy through? In my naivety I thought it would be one place offering the lower price lol.

[oliversw5]

Hi Melon, 

x-o.co.uk is run by jarvis securities, which is actually listed on the market under the ticker symbol JIM.

 

I think you misunderstood me, to buy shares it is simply 6quid fee (charged by Jarvis) and 0.5% stamp duty on top. When you wish to sell the shares they charge 6 quid as well

 

I have had this broker for 5 years and I have never had any problems with them, they are always polite and fast to respond to me. It is dumb to use any broker that has an annual fee unless you really want to get shares from other countries...it will eat away at your gains and to be frank they do sod all to earn this money.

 

Hope this helps 

 

Shaun

 

 

As for the 5% discount, I think you have your wires crossed (I haven't done any background reading so someone please correct me if I am wrong) I think the government are selling at a 5% discount onto the open market and you can them buy them through a broker at the discount. Someone please correct me if I am wrong

[garthy]

The Government have been underselling Lloyds shares for the past couple of years to the retail sector, you tend not to know about it till the day after.

 

I believe the final 20% or so are being sold to the general public probably via a government site as they did with the Royal Mail shares, I'm sure We'll get to hear about it closer to the time.   

[StackemHigh]

We'll hear about it later when the majority of the shares have been sold to mps, civil servants and their friends at a huge loss to the country and we can buy 500 shares maximum at twice the price!