Shares - anyone got any opinions?

Sorry if this is a bit dull - but thought I'd ask...

When Standard Life demutualised I got some shares (due to a pension I have with them) - which if I sold, would give me about £600 / £700.

I could really do with the cash - but don't know if I'd be better hanging on to them?

If anyone has any thoughts / opinions / experience I'd appreciate it (if you're not asleep with boredom at reading this already).

Thanks!

[Biker Biggles]

I'd sell my body,but I doubt if I'd get that much for it.
As for the shares,who knows?I have had some (ex) building society shares for a good few years and they seem to have done ok,but the advice is not to gamble on the stock market unless you can afford to lose.

BB - did they pay you any annual dividends for hanging onto them? (Not trying to be nosey about how much you got, if you did).

In a sense I guess I'm not really 'gambling', because I didn't have to shell out money for them in the first place.

Maybe I should sell them and buy 6 / 700 lottery tickets.

I have shares with the Halifax which are invested in lots of FTSE 100 companies for example. We all know that shares go up and down but without having specialist knowledge about the shares that you hold it is impossible to say what to do especially when they concern shares in 1 particular company.

If i were you i would try to get some free advice where possible about what the recent trends have been and if anything big is likely to change with the shares you hold.

Cazza, I'm with Standard Life and got pretty much the same as you - flogged them on day one!

The dividend is likely to run to a few quid, not even enough for a good night out. So I looked at it this way - I either keep the shares as 'money I can't easily spend' until I really need it, sell em and put the money in a high interest account until I need it or use the money as I really need it now!

I was off work so really need the money there and then.

I didn't look at it as investing my own money - it was a surprise to get it, a gift if you will - so look at it this way - what would you do if someone were to just give you £600?

Kazza

600 quid's worth of shares are never going to make you rich. Even if in 5 years they're £1200 it not a big deal.

a 20% growth rate in a bank share over a year would be considered excellent and fairly rare, so is it worth hanging on to them for a possible £120 quid more... if they were mine I'd say probably not.

Dividend on £600's worth of shares will be a couple of quid.

If it was me and I needed the cash, I'd sell up.

I'm not a financial adviser etc, etc. Seek professional advice etc etc

Shares only make sense if you don't need the cash for a couple of years. Personally, I'd get some energy shares atm. Make sure you get them wrapped into an ISA though, that way you can get the results tax free.

[northwind]

If your profits are low enough I believe it's tax free anyway, and S&S ISAs tend to be expensive to run compared to regular share dealing services.

You could ask my dad, then do the exact opposite of what he tells you to do. I got Friends Provident shares when they demutualised, launched at £2.56. "They'll be FTSE listed so all the tracker funds will buy it, it's bound to go up". Or alternatively, lose 40% of its value in 30 minutes But the divis pay my policy and it's free money

[Biker Biggles]

Between me and the other half we have shares in Halifax,Bradford and Bingley,and Barclays,and they all pay a small divvy every year.They have all gone up over the years as well,but it's not a fortune and I would'nt base my pension on it.

Thanks for all of your tips and thoughts - much appreciated! I think it's going to be "sell! sell! sell!"

Followed by "put in ISA, put in ISA, put in ISA!"

(and maybe a couple of Lottery scratchcards just for fun!).