Where's the best place to buy shares if i've never done it before?

i recommend sharebuilder no maintenance fees :) easy for beginners

I made my first share purchase in March 2005 via Halifax's SHAREBUILDER service. http://www.halifax.co.uk/sharedealing/sharebuilder.asp
Minimum purchase = Â£5
purchase Commission fee = Â£1.50 (others charge around Â£10) + stamp duty (about 2p - 10p for purchases Â£5 - Â£20)
sales commission fee = Â£5
Minimum monthly investment = Â£20

Minimum Â£5 purchase works out @ Â£3.48 worth of shares, Â£1.50 commission, Â£0.02 stamp duty.
But....... I learned the hard way (after making a 19% loss in my first year*) that it's cheaper to bulk it into 1 x Â£20 minimum purchases.... which means 1x Â£1.50 commission fee, than it is to get Â£5 worth of 4 different shares = Â£6 in commission fees.
I've seen tips on the messageboards @ Fool.co.uk that it's best to stick a minimum of Â£120 on a share if you want to quickly break even (alot cheaper than other places, where you need to stick Â£1000 on a share to achieve the same thing).

HOWEVER....... before you do all that, you first need to start learning the ropes.
First start practising trading via the fantasy game @ http://www.bullbearings.co.uk for a couple of months.

During that time, use these sites to learn what all the jargon means + a few other wise words:
http://www.fool.co.uk
http://www.everyinvestor.co.uk
http://www.fool.com/school/basics/basics.htm
http://www.investopedia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

You also need to learn how to research the shares properly before you blow any money on investing in them........ there's some decent tools on Halifax's website once they've activated your online account, however I find it MUCH easier to use this site: http://quote.fool.co.uk
The first spot I look when it's brought up the info is the "forecasts" page. The 3 bits I pay attention to on there are the "P/E ratio" (should be reducing each year, if I remember rightly)... the "PEG" + the "EPS Growth" percentage (should be coloured blue, meaning it's expected to increase).
The other bit I scan through is the "Fundamentals" bit which gives a profile of the company & some financial details.... ideally there shouldn't be too many enclosed (like this), as that means they're making a loss there = not always a good sign.

Here's a few companies to help you get started practising doing research, complete with stock symbols:
HBOS (HBOS)

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

BHP Billiton (BLT) - a mining company

Manganese Bronze (MNGS) - make London Taxi's, had some success on this one lately.

Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF)

KELDA Group (KEL)

Severn-Trent Water (SVT)

Dominoes Pizza (DOM)

FIRST Group (FGP)

go to the Motley Fool website - www.fool.co.uk - for advice, research and cheap share dealing.

You might want to practice a bit first before investing real money. Check out http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money. Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors. You can read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas. There is a charting feature, so you can see how your portfolio performs compared to the S&P 500. Also, you can create your own "group" so that you can see how you are doing compared to your friends.

Here are this month's best traders:

http://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx

Good luck.

You may have realized by now that buying shares includes quite some other aspects, like commisions and choosing what markets to trade. For a pure beginner, Spot on like one colleague has suggested for a virtual exchange. However if you want to move on from virtual stuff, hey take a look at the moneysupermarket.co.uk compare share dealers. There you will be able to see exactly how your money whatever the amount will be making for you based on who you employ(broker) to do that.

Hi Lynsey,

I always recommend practicing with a Virtual Stock Exchange before using real money.

HowTheMarketWorks has a good, free practice program:
http://www.howthemarketworks.com

When you are ready, I would recommend Scottrade ($7/trade) or TD Ameritrade for real trading.

During the last week by chance I have come across the best broker service I have ever received.
Go to site: www.hoodlessbrennan.com
The standard charge is Â£7 for any size deal including certificated holdings and for the first 30 days it is free of charge.
I have now used it and the service was excellent.

Scottrade. (If you have less than $2,000)

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