Originally Posted by viceroy

Just a word of caution lads (& lasses). We are in for a choppy 2012 and this is not the time to buy shares and kick back and wait for dividends to flow in. While stocks are not historically very expensive (S&P is currently around 15 times earning), they are by no means cheap. Cash king, holds true now more than ever.

Very true. This is what makes it the best possible time to learn - and invest when the markets are less jittery.

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Why?? most of the finance/shares magazines I've read seem to reccomend ETF's as an easy way to buy into gold without the problems of holding it physically (security, insurance etc). The ETF price is directly linked to the gold price and will therefore always reflect any rise drop in price.....and yes...I did buy them![/QUOTE]

Because you are holding essentially a structured product issued by company that may or may not honor it. Read this perhaps: Grant Williams On The Fundamental Difference Between Buying A Gold ETF And Owning Physical Gold - Business Insider

IF you believe gold is worth investing in, physical is the only way to do it. If markets crash, access and liquidity of an asset is what is most important. I often did buy e.g. GLD and physical gold at the same time. Physical gold has without fault always outperformed the ETF after cost and spread deductions.

[QUOTE=out@last;4208408]

Originally Posted by viceroy

Value stocks, companies with lots of cash and a strong balance sheet, here are my current favorites (stolen from my employers buy list):

BHP
Cap Gemini
Caterpillar
Danone
Deutsche Post
Fedex
Freeport McMoran Copper
Johnson Controls
Komatsu
L'oreal
Luxottica
Potash
Syngenta
GOLD (physical, don't go for that ETF shit)[/QUOTE]

Why?? most of the finance/shares magazines I've read seem to reccomend ETF's as an easy way to buy into gold without the problems of holding it physically (security, insurance etc). The ETF price is directly linked to the gold price and will therefore always reflect any rise drop in price.....and yes...I did buy them! (ETC's, but same thing really).

It's not directly linked. Many gold ETFs contain shares of gold mining companies on the grounds that they are more liquid than physical gold. So there isn't a direct link between gold prices and ETFs and gold has outperformed some gold ETFs.

I have to agree with L'Oreal, "BECAUSE ITS WORTH IT"


Sorry, it had to be done. I'll be sensible now.

[QUOTE=Tobers;4208433]

Originally Posted by out@last

It's not directly linked. Many gold ETFs contain shares of gold mining companies on the grounds that they are more liquid than physical gold. So there isn't a direct link between gold prices and ETFs and gold has outperformed some gold ETFs.

I am afraid that is not correct. "Gold Funds" may invest in companies such as Goldcorp etc. Gold ETF's (GLD, SPDR Gold Trust) MUST invest in physical Gold.

Do a Google on L'Oreal founder Eugene Schueller if you are remotely interested in ethical investment. Always made me smile that planet hugger Anita Roddick flogged Body Shop to a company with strong anti Semitic and racist actions attached, and who's founders supported facism. Back on topic - money talks.

OK, attempt to get "What shares to invest in" back on track........

Angel Mining - ticker ANGM. Mining concern centred around gold (but not exclusively - silver & zinc as well, if memory serves me correctly). Based UK but their mining goes on in Greenland.

Links:

Angel Mining - Welcome
Angel Mining PLC Share Price | This is Money
Proactive Investors • Index page

Effectively they are a "Penny Share" but have, over the past 12 months, varied between 0.8p and 5.75p. Currently 2.4p. I've got a few (but not that many!!!)

Hope this helps

Chas

I made a few quid out of the silver miner Fresnillo (FRES.LN) last year; I noticed a rise in the silver price, looked for undervalued silver miners, and bought. Price shot up- I think in the end I made ~20% profit.

On another note, Bloomberg (Bloomberg - Business & Financial News, Breaking News Headlines) is pretty good for analysis; they normally have a good breadth of industry opinion, as well as the financial information to date for those of you who want to get geeky about your choice of shares. It's free, and is what City banks and institutions use for their financial information (well sort of- they use the professional service, with real-time data and more sophisticated models, but the information comes from the same sources. In addition, Investopedia (Investopedia) is a good site to get to grips with some of the stuff you'll see in annual reports, and gives a pretty good overview of techniques used to analyse companies for the layman.

It's not strictly share dealing but does anyone have any recommendations on good performing, medium to low risk investment funds? I have a SIPP that is running at about 4% growth at the moment which is better than sticking the money in most bank accounts, but it still feels as though it's underperforming.

Any suggestions most welcome.

Something for all skinflints (me included) out there that may be of interest. You can get shareholder perks by owning as little as 1 share in a company (obviously the amount of shares you need varies with different companies).

This means that part of choosing whether or not to invest in a company can be "what perks do I get as a shareholder" - it can mean that even if the shares don't make you much (if any) profit, you can make big savings by utilising the perks as a shareholder. So it's kind of win/win.

It's an old article (2010) but take a look:

What are the best shareholder perks? | This is Money