Investment For Beginners: Archive

Our series on investment for beginners takes you through the steps of getting started with shares.

The content of this article was relevant at the time of publishing. Circumstances change continuously and caution should therefore be exercised when relying upon any content contained within this article.

You’re reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fool’s Premium Investing Services. Become a Motley Fool member today to get instant access to our top analyst recommendations, in-depth research, investing resources, and more. Learn More.

So, you think you might like to invest in shares, but you’re stuck at the first hurdle thinking: “Yes, but what do I actually do?” Well, you’re not alone, and this series on investment for beginners is for you.

Over the past few months, we’ve taken a look at what shares are and how stock markets work, with the emphasis on what you actually do and how you go about setting up the necessary accounts, transferring money around, and actually buying and selling shares. We’ve also written this free guide — “What Every New Investor Needs To Know” — to help you as well.

Plus, we’ve even set up a sample portfolio, to contain shares about ten companies, with the aim of keeping track of news and results. Please note, the focus here is on the practical operation of the portfolio, not the tracking of its performance (though we hope that will be reasonable, too).

Here are the links to the series so far:

19 December 2013 3 Beginners Picks For 2014: BP plc, BAE Systems plc and Persimmon plc

13 December 2013 The Beginners’ Portfolio Gets A Boost From Apple Inc.

10 December 2013 The Beginners’ Portfolio Sells Vodafone Group plc!

28 November 2013 Vodafone Group plc And Tesco PLC Are Looking Good

8 November 2013 BP Plc Is Back On Track

5 November 2013 AT&T Inc. vs Vodafone Group plc Is Scary!

24 October 2013 What If We’d Bought Unilever plc Or Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc?

21 October 2013 Vodafone Group plc Extends Its Domination

15 October 2013 What If We’d Bought Royal Dutch Shell Plc Instead Of BP Plc?

15 October 2013 Tesco PLC Helps Us To A 50% Gain!

9 October 2013 What If We’d Bought AstraZenenca plc?

10 September 2013 Is It Time To Sell Vodafone Group plc?

28 August 2013 News From Aviva plc, Persimmon plc And GlaxoSmithKline plc

22 August 2013 Beginners’ Lessons from Tesco PLC, Rio Tinto plc And Persimmon plc

15 August 2013 The Beginners’ Portfolio Ponders Selling Tesco PLC

6 August 2013 BAE Systems Plc Boosts The Beginners’ Portfolio

4 July 2013 The Beginners’ Portfolio Is Still Trouncing The FTSE 100!

21 June 2013 What’s Been Happening To Vodafone Group plc, Tesco PLC And GlaxoSmithKline plc?

12 June 2013 We’re Watching SSE PLC, Barclays PLC And Lloyds Banking Group PLC

31 May 2013 Should We Sell Vodafone Group Plc? (Vodafone (LSE: VOD))

16 May 2013 The Beginners’ Portfolio Is Up 32% In Its First Year!

29 April 2013 Was It A Mistake To Buy Apple Inc.? (Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL.US))

16 April 2013 Vodafone Group plc And Aviva plc Are In The News

27 March 2013 Vodafone Group plc And Tesco PLC Are In The News

19 March 2013 The Beginners’ Portfolio Buys Aviva plc (Aviva (LSE: AV))

05 March 2013 The Beginners’ Portfolio Ponders Buying An Insurer

26 February 2013 Beginners’ Portfolio Up 22%!

18 February 2013 FTSE 100 Results (BP (LSE: BP), GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), Vodafone (LSE: VOD), Blinkx (LSE: BLNX))

29 January 2013 We Buy Apple! (Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL.US))

21 January 2013 Watchlist Update (Unilever (LSE: ULVR), United Utilities (LSE: UU), SSE (LSE: SSE), GKN (LSE: GKN), Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO))

14 January 2013 The Unemotional Investor

28 December 2012 Year-End Valuation

24 December 2012 Don’t Overanalyse!

21 December 2012 Watchlist Update

12 December 2012 Three Shares In The News 

22 November 2012 Five Shares In The News 

08 November 2012 Two New Candidates (Morgan Sindall (LSE: MGNS), Weir Group (LSE: WEIR))

24 October 2012 Time For A Valuation 

11 October 2012 A Look At The News (BAE Systems (LSE: BA), Tesco (LSE: TSCO))

03 October 2012 We Buy An Engineer! (BAE Systems (LSE: BA))

27 September 2012 2 More Shares To Watch (WS Atkins (LSE: ATK) and TUI Travel (LSE: TT))

20 September 2012 We Start A Watchlist (Unilever (LSE: ULVR), BAE Systems (LSE: BA), Ricardo (LSE: RCDO), United Utilities (LSE: UU))

06 September 2012 What’s Been Happening

16 August 2012 We Buy A Miner (Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO))

08 August 2012 Time For A Round-Up

02 August 2012 Time To Buy Oil! (BP (LSE: BP))

25 July 2012 Two Woodford Shares To Buy Now (GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), British American Tobacco (LSE: BATS))

18 July 2012 Let’s Buy A Growth Share! (Blinkx (LSE: BLNX))

04 July 2012 The Latest Purchase (Persimmon (LSE: PSN))

12 June 2012 A New Purchase (GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK))

01 June 2012 Ask A Foolish Question — Why The Market Hates Uncertainty

23 May 2012 We Buy More Shares (Tesco (LSE: TSCO))

18 May 2012 First Purchase (Vodafone (LSE: VOD))

18 May 2012 Ask A Foolish Question — What Is An Unsustainable Dividend?

15 May 2012 How To Come Up With Investing Ideas

11 May 2012 How To Build A Portfolio

10 May 2012 How Much Should You Invest?

08 May 2012 A Cheaper Way To Buy Shares

04 May 2012 Ask A Foolish Question — What’s The Best Time Of Day To Invest

01 May 2012 How Much Tax Will You Pay?

27 April 2012 How To Buy Shares

24 April 2012 What Is A Stockbroker?

20 April 2012 Ask A Foolish Question — What Drives Share Prices?

20 April 2012 What Is A Share?

19 April 2012 Investment For Beginners

 

More on Investing Articles

Investing Articles

Dividend-paying FTSE shares had a bumper 2025! What should we expect in 2026?

Mark Hartley identifies some of 2025's best dividend-focused FTSE shares and highlights where he thinks income investors should focus in…

Read more »

piggy bank, searching with binoculars
Dividend Shares

How long could it take to double the value of an ISA using dividend shares?

Jon Smith explains that increasing the value of an ISA over time doesn't depend on the amount invested, but rather…

Read more »

Businessman hand stacking money coins with virtual percentage icons
Investing Articles

£5,000 invested in Tesco shares 5 years ago is now worth this much…

Tesco share price growth has been just part of the total profit picture, but can our biggest supermarket handle the…

Read more »

Investing Articles

Here’s why I’m bullish on the FTSE 100 for 2026

There's every chance the FTSE 100 will set new record highs next year. In this article, our Foolish author takes…

Read more »

Thoughtful man using his phone while riding on a train and looking through the window
Growth Shares

UK interest rates fall again! Here’s why the Barclays share price could struggle

Jon Smith explains why the Bank of England's latest move today could spell trouble for the Barclays share price over…

Read more »

Man hanging in the balance over a log at seaside in Scotland
Investing Articles

2 out-of-favour FTSE 250 stocks set for a potential turnaround in 2026

These famous retail stocks from the FTSE 250 index have crashed in 2025. Here's why 2026 might turn out to…

Read more »

Young female business analyst looking at a graph chart while working from home
Investing Articles

Down over 30% this year, could these 3 UK shares bounce back in 2026?

Christopher Ruane digs into a trio of UK shares that have performed poorly this year in search of possible bargains…

Read more »

Mature people enjoying time together during road trip
Investing Articles

Yields up to 8.5%! Should I buy even more Legal & General, M&G and Phoenix shares?

Harvey Jones is getting a brilliant rate of dividend income from his Phoenix shares, and a surprising amount of capital…

Read more »