Investment Options
Having a diversified portfolio can be one of the simplest ways to minimise your investment risk. With IWeb Share Dealing you can trade a wide range of investment options.
Shares
Trade shares on the London Stock Exchange and six other world markets such as New York, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan and Amsterdam.
Funds
Funds can give you exposure to a much wider range of investments than you would be able to obtain as an individual. You can trade in specific funds which will spread your money between different sectors, indices or geographic locations which can help to reduce the risk involved in stock market investing.
As funds may include many different investments, the risk of each individual asset underperforming is spread which reduces your overall exposure. That’s not to say that funds can’t go down in value – they can and you could still lose some, or all, of your initial investment. For example, funds can invest solely in shares which means if the share price of one of the companies invested in drops, your fund’s performance will be affected. However, as your investment is spread across a number of companies, your overall risk is lowered.
As funds are professionally managed, they do have management and administration costs which will reduce your return through charges on the fund. These charges do vary between funds so make sure you find out all of the charges involved in a fund before you invest.
Investment Trusts
Investment Trusts are companies that invest in the shares of other companies on behalf of investors. Investors' money is taken and pooled together by a professional fund manager who will then purchase stocks and shares in a wide variety of companies.
As Investment Trusts are professionally managed, they do have management and administration costs which will reduce your return through charges on the fund. These charges do vary between funds so make sure you find out all of the charges involved in a fund before you invest.
ETFs
An ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) can track a stock market e.g. the FTSE 100, a commodity, bonds, or a basket of assets. They are similar to Funds as they allow you to potentially own a larger range of assets within the one investment. ETFs trade like ordinary shares and so the price will change throughout the day as they are bought and sold.
Please note: We are not able to trade or hold US listed ETFs.
Bonds
Corporate Bonds are essentially loans made to companies from investors. The bonds are usually issued by companies as a capital raising exercise.
Gilts
Gilts (Gilt Edged Securities) are government issued bonds which pay a fixed income. At maturity the bond is bought back by the government at face value.
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPAC)
What is a SPAC?
A SPAC is a company or corporation which is formed with the purpose of raising funds through an Initial Public Offering (IPO). SPACs are not like regular companies with products or services and are also known as ‘blank cheque’ investments or ‘shell companies’.
What will my money be invested in?
The money raised in a SPACs IPO will be used to buy into one or more companies and/or company assets within a particular sector, and within a set timeframe. It’s also commonplace for SPACS to still be deciding on their future investments before and after an IPO takes place.
It’s important that you carry out careful due diligence on these types of investments before investing, and if you are still unsure we recommend that you seek independent financial advice.
Preference Shares
Preference shares are traded on the stock market like ordinary shares however they pay a fixed dividend. Since the dividends are fixed an investor would be protected if a company's profits fell however they wouldn't benefit from any profit increases either.
UK and International Stock Markets
As well as the London Stock Exchange you can trade shares on 6 other international markets, find out more about trading on these stock markets.