Hi everyone,
I joined Freetrade a few months ago, I was in the green for about a week and have been in the red since! Iāve been carefully researching who to invest in and I know the market has taken a bit of a dip recently. Just wondering if anyone has any success stories with Freetrade they could share? I just see lots of new people in the same boat as me and it would be good to know that if I hold out for a few years with my shares things might turn around!
Welcome @Emmie!
The past couple of months have been particularly choppy with more uncertainty cast by covid amongst other things, and December seems to typically be a slower month naturally.
Youāll find a lot of the saying ātime in the market beats timing the marketā - stick it out, invest what you can sensibly afford regularly and youāll likely see improvement (itās not guaranteed, but more likely over time).
I started investing with Freetrade in May 2020, have invested at regular intervals what has been affordable over that period (approx 4.5k) and currently up about 1k. Thereās been plenty of up and down through that time and itās not alway plain sailing!
It depends on what those shares are. This is not a āsure fire winā situation.
If you invest in duds - doesnāt matter how long you hold them: it wonāt do you much good.
You improve your chances considerably by investing in an ETF that tracks a major index - that way you do at least as well as the index. For ideas look up and read the articles in the Learn section of the Freetrade website.
@Schkempo thank you for this, itās really helpful and gives me hope that things will improve! Iāve got a good portfolio I think, just havenāt seen any upwards movement so far. I also need to learn to cope with the dips better and not panic!
How do I move my stocks from Gia to my isa account in hind site I should have started an isa account straight away but being a newby just not sure about what I was doing 
The process is that you have to sell and re-buy. Inland revenue rules - see
Welcome @kiemcc21
I canāt recommend any books on the stock market but I can recommend the book (comic) that made me feel differently about the economy and got me into buying shares.
Economix by Michael Goodwin. Itās a really easy and quick read and the praise speaks for itselfā¦
I did the same and am in the process of selling anything reasonably well in profit, transferring the funds to my ISA and re-purchasing them (or not) in my ISA.
I am leaving anything at huge loss % in my GIA in the hope that it turns. I donāt pay tax on a loss and doubt those stocks will grow enough to ever reach my capital gains tax threshold of Ā£12,300. If they do go green, Iāll sell and transfer the funds.
The 0.5% stamp duty on UK stock or 0.45% FX fee on US/EU stock will be cheaper now rather than waiting for them to rise to do it.
You could also use it as an opportunity to rebalance your portfolio and redeploy that capital into something more profitable.
Yes, good point!
If I sell my shares in my GIA and then rebuy in the ISA, would I need to do a tax return? Given Iām relatively new to all this and my investment is relatively low, Iām hoping I wouldnāt?
You do if, by doing so, your capital gains are higher than Ā£12300 if Iām not mistaken
You donāt if itās bellow that threshold
I was awaiting a rise in price to sell, so that the most likely movement they made while waiting for funds to clear would be down, meaning I sell at a peak and buy again at a dip. I expect a drop from a peak to be more than .5% lower on most shares.
Good luck, timing the market it almost impossible.
Hehe, yeah, it very occasionally works!
I have a simple tax question for anyone.
Capital gains taxā¦ This is something that we must declareā¦ If over your threshold, and freetrade does not get involved in this, is that right?
Is any tax taken from you at point of sale of a share? Does this differ if shares are in an isa or a GIA?
This is a good read worth having here for all investors not just the very Soviet sounding @Investor11
Thank you @NeilB. CGT must be declared though? No tax is taken by FT for this? Dividend tax is taken at source though I can see. In an isa that is
There is no CGT for dealing in a SIPP or ISA. Nothing to be declared or reported by you.
GIA - FT does not deduct Capital gains. In a sense it canāt because it doesnāt know all your relevant details. So you have to declare and pay see:
Note that CGT calculations are made after a sell i.e. increase or decrease in the value of a share is not equal to a gain or loss for tax purposes. Only sales crystallise a taxable gain or loss.
For shares bought and sold on non UK exchanges: where Freetrade is legally obliged to deduct withholding tax at source it will do so [this includes in an ISA**] - most often this relates to dividends. But I am not an expert on different country rules on withholding taxes. Often you can claim back that money from the relevant government.
** and may include in a Pension. For Pension: It is complicated and relates to the tax treaties in force as well as how easy or difficult it is for Freetrade to claim back money.
So another noob question but how do buybacks work?
How are we notified and how do we physically sell them back to the company?
