Under construction!!!!Money........Under construction!!!!

The follow information should be as a guide only, like life there is no definitive rule book which guarantees success, happy surfing!!!

Unit Trusts (Medium term investment-10yrs)
Overview
Professional fund managers invest your money.  The profits made from the investments will simply be paid back to you.  Which, on the whole is greater than the rate of return offered to you by your bank account.  All being fine but there is an element of risk involved!  Remember fund managers invest your money on the Stock Market, but also remember these guys are professionals.  They use a number of methods to reduce the risk of their portfolio, e.g. purchasing shares in a number of reputable companies which are unlikely to disappear over night.

Finding Unit Trusts
There are too many companies to pick from which will probably promise good rates of return.  They all use past data to generate average rates of return, in addition to this they are likely to manipulate the data to their advantage.  Remember there is no guaranteed rate of return unless it is specified.  The task you are faced with is to pick a company that is most likely to give you reasonable rate of return, so look at their past data.  If the company has received awards in the past, this is obviously a good indication of their management capabilities and their investment strategies.  The good Sunday newspapers normal offer reasonable choice.

Remember always read the small print, if in doubt just enquire at the company, they'll be more than happy to help!
 
 
The Stock Market
What are shares?
When a company floats (not literally!) onto the Stock Market they issue shares, which are available to anyone who wishes to purchase any shares.  When you purchase shares you are shareholder and this enables you to vote at Annual General Meetings (AGM).  When the company makes profits a proportion of the profits is allocated to shareholders (dividend).  This is one of the driving forces which attract investors, but this is not the most attractive aspect of purchasing shares.  Sometimes the appreciation in the company share only is far greater than the dividend.

Transaction costs
Nothing is free like most things in life.  You buy/sell shares through a Stockbroker who charges commission for the service.  This can be fixed amount or a percentage of your investment depending on the Stockbroker.  There is also stamp duty which must be paid when you purchase a share.
 
 
 More Sections Will be added, this only preliminary.