Ian asks: “I have zero knowledge about investing, but I am interested in the oil stock for now. Any idea where to start, and any specific company to invest in?”

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Q&A 94 – Investing In Oil Stocks – Shownotes

Ian asks:

I have zero knowledge about investing in any kind of stock, but I am particularly interested in the oil stock for now. Do you guys have any suggestions as to what specific stock or funds I can invest in? Is it better to set up Stocks & Shares ISA account with Hargreaves Lansdown or have any better platform recommendation with lower charges?

I want to invest about £1,500 in oil stock. Any idea where to start, and any specific company to invest in?

After clarifying with Lynda that her property (and herself) were in the UK, I only really had bad news for her in response to this question.

 

Slow Down…

Woah Ian. Stop right there. Quick rule for you listeners: don’t invest in things that you don’t understand. When you introduce your question with “I have zero knowledge about investing in any kind of stock, but I want to invest in oil stocks”, this isn’t going to end well for you.

For Ian, and anyone else who want to invest, I would recommend reading our complete guide to long-term investing, which is available as an e-book or as a mammoth article on the Moneystepper website.

Everything you need to know to answer this question is in there. It’s not a podcast because it would last about a day, but I’d recommend that you check it out.

 

Remember Diversification

As a brief summary, however, with your first £1,500 of investments, you really don’t want to be investing it in one individual stock or even one individual sector, industry or even country. I would recommend a low-cost global (or developed markets) ETF.

For the other parts of your question Ian, I would say that Hargreaves Lansdown are one of the more expensive platforms for stocks & shares ISAs and that there are much better value alternatives around with lower charges.

 

 

 

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