A quick query. I am pretty new to this investing game and i know some companies allow you to take dividends as shares although most dont seem to. How do i find out which companies allow this other than phoning each registrar? Are there any lists?

That is interesting as i was considering opening one of those accounts(think it's called Halifax Sharebuilder). I believe you can invest small sums in well known shares and they pool everyone's buys and make 4 big purchases per month. Also interesting I am using a Halifax Share Dealing account and asked in the past if i could take shares as divis where permissable and they said they didnt operate this service and had no intention of doing so. I would also add their service is so bad it's painful and i am in process of opening a Sharecrazy account. 9 fee instead of 12 and they answer your emails in less than an hour instead of a 3 years (slight exaggeration.) I invest small myself. is their a limit on how much you can buy in that account? say for example i wanted a long term investment in Vodafone and wanted say 500 of shares i could pay 1.50 dealing charge instead of 12 assuming i wasnt too concerned about buying at an exact time? I see they cheekily charge you 5 when the deal is a sell. They are a bunch of chancers. Sorry to rant but i once sold thru them, waited 2 days then bought a different stock using the money. They tried to take the cash for the buy out my account that minute but it wasnt there as they generally take 4 days to pay it in on a sell (they subsequently told me). They tried to charge me a 20 fine. I raised hell and they let me off. I know the FSA is trying to clamp down on this kind of thing. They are the worst. Watch them!

See I'm not the only one pained at the Halifax service!

OK you stated you have a share dealing account. If you want to invest regularly you can transfer the holdings to a sharebuilder account (they are 2 seperate entities).

There is no limit to the amount you can invest, you just chose an investment day.

So your deal of 500 would be minus the 1.50 and stamp duty I believe. Or you could invest 502 if your fussy and want to buy 500 worth!!

Also technically it is correct that with a sharedealing account you cannot reinvest the DIVI however with a SHAREBUILDER account you can!

As bad as the Halifax service is if you plan to hold and just add on a monthly (or other time period) basis I think its a good advantage 1.50 per deal and DIVI reinvest at no extra cost.


Funny how Dividend reinvesting is not generally promoted, as it's graat way to build up holdings at no cost to the individual.


The other point to note about a sharebuilder account is that you can sell a stock and buy into another STRAIGHT AWAY!! However this is not without blips but I think they are in the process of sorting it out.

Finally if you have cash in the sharebuilder account and want to buy into a stock you just researched, provdiing you don't need to buy straight away you can chose the next investment day (there is 1 per week) and purhcase then- 1.50 for the deal!

The way I see it is the system can be used to your advantage if you work it properly

I agree with all your points and have signed up for the Sharebuilder. I usually deal in amounts of around 500 as anything less is pointless on the Halifax's 12 trade charge but it means i cant have a broad portfolio as i aint got the money. Ideally i would like to trade amounts like 200 and buy many shares and maybe just use the token 20 on months where i dont have much money so it seems ideal. (I take it you MUST invest at least 20 a month?) I am new to this game and am trying to learn from investing. I intend to buy bigger when i feel i have some kind of system behind me. A lot of the people on the boards seem to just punt on volatile shares that shoot up and down which i have decided isnt for me "up another 40% today", "down 70% yesterday" blah blah.

As for divis as far as i am concerned most i've had are usually barely enough to buy a pint so i'd rather they just went straight back in. Good luck!

One final question? I'll ask you because the Halifax still havent replied to my email. Does the Sharebuilder provide a broad spectrum of shares? i.e. I see they are promoting one of their 4 example users as "the penny share trader." I would hate to get on there and find they let you buy FTSE100 and a few token others.

You don't have to invest every month- Just whenever you want. I think 20 is the minimum- however over a year thats plenty if you know the stock will deliver on the Divi

As for your second question- Yes there is a broad range of stocks- however there have been a couple of occasions where I've had to phone them to ask that they update the system with new issues (what's all that about!!) I let them know on no uncertain terms that this was not good enough- There should be some mechanism to update the system automatically (I was advised that this was under review)

You can check whether the stock you want is on the system- If not call them and they should be able to amend the system

As for the volatile or speculative plays each to their own- I tend to invest a little in these as if you lose the effect is minimal. I don't invest more than I can afford to lose.

Sounds good. Seems like the only downside is you cant make your buys at an exact time and date of your choice but who cares if it's 1.50 a buy. Cheers.