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

Female student sitting at the steps and using laptop
Investing Articles

How much do you need in an ISA to target £8,333 a month of passive income?

Our writer explores a potential route to earning double what is today considered a comfortable retirement and all tax-free inside…

Read more »

Three signposts pointing in different directions, with 'Buy' 'Sell' and 'Hold' on
Investing Articles

Could these 3 FTSE 100 shares soar in 2026?

Our writer identifies a trio of FTSE 100 shares he thinks might potentially have more petrol in the tank as…

Read more »

Pakistani multi generation family sitting around a table in a garden in Middlesbourgh, North East of England.
Dividend Shares

How much do you need in a FTSE 250 dividend portfolio to make £14.2k of annual income?

Jon Smith explains three main factors that go into building a strong FTSE 250 dividend portfolio to help income investors…

Read more »

Tesla building with tesla logo and two teslas in front
Investing Articles

275 times earnings! Am I the only person who thinks Tesla’s stock price is over-inflated?

Using conventional measures, James Beard reckons the Tesla stock price is expensive. Here, he considers why so many people appear…

Read more »

Investing Articles

Here’s what I think investors in Nvidia stock can look forward to in 2026

Nvidia stock has delivered solid returns for investors in 2025. But it could head even higher in 2026, driven by…

Read more »

Investing Articles

Here are my top US stocks to consider buying in 2026

The US remains the most popular market for investors looking for stocks to buy. In a crowded market, where does…

Read more »

Investing Articles

£20,000 in excess savings? Here’s how to try and turn that into a second income in 2026

Stephen Wright outlines an opportunity for investors with £20,000 in excess cash to target a £1,450 a year second income…

Read more »

DIVIDEND YIELD text written on a notebook with chart
Investing Articles

Is a 9% yield from one of the UK’s most reliable dividend shares too good to be true?

Taylor Wimpey’s recent dividend record has been outstanding, but investors thinking of buying shares need to take a careful look…

Read more »