@LadydDay..Hmmm. Been investing in the market for over ten years now as a private investor and member of an investment club.

First investment skills and serious heavyweight power skills. So simply having a good grasp of these things will and can set you up for life in simply having a powerful grasp of business if you did not have one and improve it massively if you did.

Secondly, there is tons of excellent introductory information on this subject. One of the best and a classic is called the Astute Private Investor. I think by H Fry. Was searching my shelves for my copies and can't find them. But I am sure it is fry. A small little and easily explained book and very cheap. Can pick it up in W H Smith etc.

Thirdly, I will tell you stocks and shares is a wicked investment and that is why the economic system is based on it and it works and is the life blood of westen governmentsystems. Wish it wasn't but the facts are the facts and don't see it changing none for now.

Let me illustrate my worse stock out performs easily my highest bank saving account and mine you that is not in this country and laughs at my highest account here.

The money is not to be made in seeking out best banks but owning the stocks of those banks. That is who makes the money notaccount holders. Of course it makes sense to do both if you can.

There is no maximum or minimum in investing. There is however common sense. You can buy shares for 30 pence. But common sense will tell you having more than 30 pence is a good idea. I suggest to start out with a pot of say £1,000 before you start purchasing. By the time you have fully researched etc your pot will be probably larger. This is why investment clubs and syndicates are good as they allow the group to purchase larger blocks or units of shares often at a cheaper price the profits of which are divided between the group.

A good convention in any type of investing is developing aportfollioconsisting of several types of savings and investment mechanims and allocate how much you are prepared to invest in each section. For example ten percent is the figure usually given for the amount of your portfolio that shouldbe invested in equities. Property of a ll sorts, investment in money marketsand othermechanisms eg bonds, etc can beused to disrtiubute the rest. Hence not all eggs in one basket even though you can make minior adjustments acccordingly. It goes with the terrriority that if you invest you will lose at some point, so it is about protecting your potential loses for that event.

What you can invest in absolutely anyting personal values and principles not withstanding. For example Iknow you would not want to invest your money in some massive entertainment company that has a major line in **** films etc. Blackmatta is correct the key to good investment is information and lots of it and constant analysis. Hence why having a group of people is very helpful. But you don't need a group of people ,especially if you have the technology. There are tons of stuff to aid investors and material.

But your eyes and your intelligence is the key tools in this area and why it is fun. For example. I noticed when doing up the house the amount of money we spent in places like B&Q and the place was jammed. Anyway we went in the country, people speding silly money because of the house market and changes in taste etc. Wicked investment. Tescos just before they got mega. Wicked investment. A company that speciales in organica animal foods, pets and a specialists in animal care. Wicked investment. I found out via reseach that white people the more money they had the more they spend on their pets and they spend silly money on animal related products.

There are certaincompaniesthat we will not invest our money in with any faith and that is shaped by our values eg Cable and Wireless who are our enemies in the Caribbean. However if Digicell floated in the Caribbean exchange I would definitely be interested.

However with experience you can invest politically as we do, especially in a private context. For example. I despise Cable and Wireless. However, I know because of the kicking they have taken in the Caribbean and Latin America and the massive reorganisation they have launched. They will be back if only for the short term and have to keep investors interested. In that period their stock value will rise and I am not disclined to buy them. Knowing full well I have absolutely no interest in that country and in fact want to wreck it and pull my money out at the appropriate time.

So with experience you can develop some of the machievelian tricks of the game so to speak.

But I would encourage plenty people to develop these skills and knowledge and even try it, because the insight and education alone of how the sytem work is valuable and you can take that any where in the world and profit from it as we have.

FB