Author Topic: UK investors, buying shares  (Read 2569 times)

webcat86

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UK investors, buying shares
« on: February 02, 2016, 04:23:20 AM »
I have a stocks and shares ISA, with my passive funds. But I also wanted to buy some VW shares as a punt, however my ISA company has a minimum of £3,000 which is waaaay above what I wanted to invest.

So I was thinking of looking into holding them outside the ISA, if it seemed viable. But I don't know where to go to buy them or if there will be a similar minimum.

Can anyone help me with this please?

Doubleh

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Re: UK investors, buying shares
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2016, 06:05:26 AM »
Its not a bad idea particularly to keep a position like this outside of an ISA - you're mainly hoping for capital growth presumably, and as you're in the UK your first £11k of capital gain in a year is tax free.

Never used these guys myself but have seen them recommended and they seem to be one of the cheapest options:

http://www.x-o.co.uk/

Playing with Fire UK

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Re: UK investors, buying shares
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2016, 06:26:44 AM »
And dividends are tax free up to £5,000 per year from April.

webcat86

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Re: UK investors, buying shares
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2016, 07:32:25 AM »
Thanks guys. So there aren't any tax implications until I exceed those limits?

cerat0n1a

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Re: UK investors, buying shares
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2016, 12:59:59 PM »
Depends - you're quite likely to get stung for some kind of withholding tax on any dividends a foreign company pays. Plus potentially transaction costs on converting a Euro dividend to pounds. But on an investment of less than £3000, any dividend is going to be £100/year (or that order of magnitude).

Dealing costs are probably more of an issue than taxes - I try to keep them below 0.5%, so if the broker charges £12.50, that means I try to use lumps of £2500 size.

webcat86

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Re: UK investors, buying shares
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2016, 02:36:24 AM »
The x-o apparently only lets you invest in UK shares. Is there a recommended broker for international shares?

financialfreedom

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Re: UK investors, buying shares
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2016, 07:25:14 AM »
iii.co.uk does international.

As does Alliance Trust Savings.

Doubleh

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Re: UK investors, buying shares
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2016, 12:16:22 AM »
Sorry I hadn't realised xo only trade uk shares. You could look at Halifax share dealing, annual fee is only £12 and trades are £12 is just £2 of you use their regular trade system which let's got use one of 4 set dates each month.

There is a £1k minimum deposit but doesn't appear to be a minimum trade and they do have both vw ordinary and prefs.

cerat0n1a

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Re: UK investors, buying shares
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2016, 05:17:04 AM »
Halifax trades are £12.50, but more importantly, there's a 1.25% charge on foreign currency transactions.