Investing Pitfalls - by Dan Tebbutt

When a bull market is teamed with a booming economy, investing in shares seems easy. The rising tide lifts all shares, easy credit means that few companies run out of cash, and reliable profits mean that any capital shortfall is quickly made up. New investors rush into the market, seeing the profits that their friends and neighbours are making, and looking to join the fun.

Unfortunately, the good times never last forever. The last 3 years have thrown up numerous examples of what can go wrong with an investment - things we should remember the next time the economy booms and the stock market seems to be heading for the stars... Read the Full Article

Spooked by Germans

The markets are going through difficult times with lots of problems in the Eurozone. Germany has just announced it is banning short selling of certain equities, bonds and SWAPS. Markets were spooked by this show of more regulation and maybe it says that some economies are worse than we think.

The next Rockhopper

Shares in Rockhopper went up six times after announcing it's oil discovery in the North Falkland basin.
Several other oil exploration companies have just started programmes that could transform their fortunes as well.
Of course this is all highly speculative, the exploratory drilling being but a tiny step in the oil extraction process. I read that 1 in 6 well will produce a worthwhile result. (in the North Sea I believe it is 1:10). Also drilling in the Falklands are Desire and Falkland Oil & Gas.
Other Oil companies worth taking a look at are Serica Energy, Faroe Petroleum and Salamander Energy.
Personally I like BP. The share price has been well & truly bashed to 530p (from a high of around 650p) and the yield is a healthy 6.9%.

Capital Gains Tax (UK)

It has been fairly widely reported that there will be a change in CGT under the new coalition government. It seems likely that the rate will go up from the present 18% to equal the income tax rates. i.e. 20% & 40% (the new 50% top rate is not expected to apply). Therefore if your capital gains take you over the £37400 higher rate tax band you will be liable to 40% tax.
There is also speculation that the annual allowance of £10100 could be reduced to £1000 or £2000 (as originally suggested by the Liberals).
Strategies that have been suggested to help mitigate large CGT bills are:
Transfer assets between spouses to maximise exemptions.
Sell assets to connected person (maybe company or trust)
Use ISA
Top up SIPP
Use tax exempt vehicles like VCTs or IES.
Remember, though, don't let the Tax tail wag the investment dog!

Geong Trading Update

We have just published the RNS (LSE News service) statement of Trading Update for Geong. Read Geongs trading update here.

php stock quotes

Shareworld now has a stock quotes facility - it runs on hp and enables you to lookup share price, change and recent news for any listed stock.

In addition to entering a companies ticker, you can also enter the company name.

Take a look here.

Drop Down Navigation

Drop down navigation added to Shareworld. Courtesy of cssplay.co.uk.

Hopefully this should make navigating the site a lot more user friendly.

City Confidential Preview

Read Mays edition of the City Confidential Newsletter (now Cityconfidential) on Shareworld.

Shareworlds Blog has been rellocated here!

We have now rellocated our blog to blogspot.com.

You can find the latest information and updates to Shareworld listed here - This will include both technical and informative updates.