Motley Fool Share Dealing Service

Want to buy and sell stocks and shares online? The Motley Fool Share Dealing Service could be for you. Sign up for a Fool dealing account and you can quickly buy a wide range of stocks and shares online.

The basic Fool share dealing account can also be extended to provide support for an Individual Savings Account (ISA), SIPP personal pension as well as a regular shares saving plan. Here's some more information about the Fool share dealing service.

The Motley Fool website is one of the most popular UK financial websites. The website contains a variety of financial news and opinion, as well as some very popular financial discussion forums.

What stocks and shares can you buy on Motley Fool?

The Fool share dealing service allows you to buy a wide variety of stocks and shares on several different stock trading exchanges.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) can be dealt through the Fool share dealing account. ETFs are a useful alternative to unit trusts. They can be bought and sold just like shares, however they do not attract stamp duty on purchasing them. ETFs are available for a wide range of markets, from the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 to corporate bonds, government bonds (gilts) and even precious metals like silver and gold.

The Fool offers a range of share dealing account:

• A stocks and shares ISA - for UK residents who are tax payers this allows them to shelter their investments from the tax man. Income from a stocks and shares ISA is free of tax and you don't even need to declare your ISA on your self assessment form.
• A stocks and shares SIPP - a Self Invested Personal Pension is a tax efficient way to save for retirement. A SIPP is great if you like to control your own financial future as you have complete freedom over what your pension is invested in.
• Regular Investment Plan - This allows you to invest a certain amount of money on a monthly basis.

If you have existing investments then it's possible to transfer them into the Fool accounts.

The Fool stock trading website is good for smaller investors who don't want to trade that often. The Fool doesn't charge an annual management fee for its standard share dealing plan, and unlike many of the banks there isn't an inactivity penalty if you choose not to execute a stock trade very often.

The account is pretty much automated. If you buy shares that pay a dividend then the dividend will be collected automatically and added to your account's balance. Alternatively it's possible to reinvest dividends in the shares that support this facility.

Occasionally there is an additional charge for participating in certain corporate actions such as rights issues.

The Fool charges a flat rate fee for every trade. This is often much more economical than sites such as Hargreaves Lansdown that charge a fee depending on the size of the trade being conducted. I've found Hargreaves Lansdown is quite expensive when you conduct share dealing trades of £2000 or more, and would prefer them to charge a flat rate fee. I'll point out the Hargreaves Lansdown has other advantages though, such as big discounts on unit trust initial charges.

There are many online discount brokers and share dealers. About the best thing about the Fool website is that there's plenty of original finance articles available on the site. This makes it easier to choose investments to buy through the dealing service. There's also a large number of discussion boards where you can talk to like minded small investors about the prospects for certain investments. The Fool website is long established, so most of the forums on the site are well visited and see regular postings.

Alternatively the iii.co.uk UK based financial site offers share dealing, spread betting, CFD's and a whole host of free trading tools. The iii discussion forums get a lot of visits. There's a board for just about every stock that it's possible to trade. The iii forums for popular shares like Shell, BP and the banks get a lot of daily postings. iii's share dealing service is also reasonably priced with a flat rate per trade.

Good luck with your Fool Share Dealing, and remember to take professional advice before investing in any stock!

The author of this article is not authorised by the UK authorities to give financial advice. This article is for information only does not consitute financial advice. Before making investment decisions consult an independent financial advisor.