That seems more like trading than investing. Felt neither so far
Well did you sit through a proper bear market, like December 2018? Where a lot of high beta stocks were down 50%, most other stocks down 20-30%.
If you have your life savings in stocks, and the market crashes, I think it’s normal to feel fear. The trick is not to act on it when feeling those highs or lows, or even to act against your nature and buy when others are selling.
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Freetrade, i know you guys are focused on the flexibility of being a mobile app but would you consider doing a Windows edition for people who are already on their computer and away from their mobile?
Do you mean a web app or an actual windows programme?
Yeah a web app, so its slightly easier to multitask.
Check this thread
and vote for it if you like
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oh i didnt see that, thanks!
Hi I’m new to investing with freetrade I’ve been adding money and investing in my ISA account small amounts, but ive noticed I have a basic account to! What’s the difference and what is the best one to use?
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Welcome to the community @Davesanchez
- Basic = pay capital gains on any investment gain when you later sell the shares, if those gains are more than your cap gains allowance in the year that you sell.
- ISA = pay no tax. This account eventually be priced at 3/month, probably July. Cannot buy certain overseas stocks and funds. Cannot put money into more than one stocks and shares ISA in any single tax year.
These are good places to start reading about ISAs and tax and investing, but the rules of both capital gains tax and ISAs are worth spending a bit of time reading if you’re investing thousands or earning a lot.
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In addition to what rod said, with the basic account (“GIA”) you’d also pay tax on dividends over your dividend allowance.
Depending on how much you’re investing, you might not need the ISA (yet), so can save on the fee (assuming they let you cancel your ISA account).
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Do people invest money in dividend stocks just before the ex dividend date? Then, once they are on the share register, they move to another company and another and so and so forth, getting all the dividends along the way.
I hear that the stock drops by the price of the dividend. So presumably the risk is that the share price keeps going down or stays the same so you have to hold the stock or you wont see the benefit of the dividend. But if the share price goes up, then you can quickly sell and receive the dividend a little later (and any benefit of the stock going up).
Is this a good investment strategy?
Let’s say i want to invest in the spdr s&p uk dividend aristocrats fund. The Ongoing charge is 0.30%.
My question is how do I pay this charge?
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Great question, we’ve answered that one here - How are ETF fees collected in Freetrade? - #4 by Freetrade_Team1 just let us know if there’s anything else you need to know 
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So you’re saying that because there are investors with more capital/experience competing with me I’m at a disadvantage in trying to make money off buying and selling dividend stocks quickly to exploit the dividend date ? Fair enough.
What would be the best way to approach dividends with sub <1k GBP? Hold them long term? Or not to do at all? Holding index funds long term seems to be the only ‘safe’ bet. As you said, short term for low capital investor is a losing proposition.
As an alternative to picking individual shares, one way to approach dividends might be to invest in an index tracker ETF which pays dividends or an investment trust.
For example (not a recommendation): £1k in City of London Investment Trust (CTY) would pay a quarterly dividend of around £10 (dividend yield of around 4.15%). .
Some ETFs may pay a higher yield so please do your own research.
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I tried this strategy in my younger days. No.
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How does EIS relief work?
Say I earn £60,000 and invest £5,000 in a company.
From what I understand, 30% of my investment would be tax relief. So 30% of my investment would be £1,500. Does this mean my personal allowance is essentially increased by £1,500? So I wouldn’t have to pay 40% tax on that money that I earn? Is that reflected my a tax code change or something?
Assuming the company goes bust, how does loss relief work? (What would be the most I could lose be, I tried a calculator and it came to £1,200 but I’m not 100% sure the figures I put in were correct as I don’t fully understand it)
Seedrs have a good guide.
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No, because increasing your allowance would only mean tax saving of £600 (assuming higher rate) that you would have paid otherwise. Relief is an actual refund of your income tax paid in a year.
Loss relief is quite basic: 40% [your tax band] * (£5,000 [what you invested] - £1,500 [what you got as your tax relief as soon as you invested] ) = £1,400.
Once you invest £5,000, you get £1,500 immediately, regardless of your tax rate band. If the worst happens, you get 40% of the difference as a further income tax relief. Thus, you will lose 42% of your original value in the worst case scenario.
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