Buying shares - where to start?

Oriel

Could somebody please give me a rough, brief, insight into the world of buying shares please? Where do you actually buy them from etc?
Also, what would be the minimum investment I could make?

Cheers
S.

ronbyrne2005

you must buy from a broker who buys them on the stock exchange from a market maker who buys them from someone else who wanted to sell.
you can go to a cheap stockbroker who will charge you a fixed rate to buy shares,some brokers charge commisions and some charge annual fees and extra fee's for investment advice.if you arent familiar with investing you should do a lot of research or invest in a fund which invests in lots of other shares etc. you can invest as little as a hundred euros but because of the transaction costs from the stock broker etc the more you invest the better in terms of % transaction costs.
check out www.askaboutmoney.com for more investment info

karltimber

look on-line for info also.
There are tracker web-sites --I think MSN has one where you can put in buy prices etc and you'll see how say e10K would be doing for you. without the initial outlay.
read and read.
most on-line trader sites have very good help centers also.

It also depends on what type of shares you want to buy - US,Irish or UK.

Raskolnikov

There's been a couple of threads on this already. The conclusion that was generally reached was that rather than taking the direct route and buying shares yourself, you're better off going with an investment fund. With an investment fund, your investment is spread so as to minimize risk. Try taking a look at the funds advertised in the online bank Rabo. Rabo is regulated by the Financial Regulator and has a superior credit rating to any other Irish bank. The returns from their investment funds seem like decent preformers.

Oriel

Thanks folks.