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By investing in shares you are pitting your money against your ability to predict company performance. Needless to say, this is no celebrity marriage - shares are a big commitment, and by investing in them, you are putting your money at risk.

This may sound slightly dictatorial, but you don't want to be dabbling in shares if you have debts, if you need your savings for a specific purpose, or if you aren't prepared to invest for more than five years. Investing works best when it is done over decades, such as saving for your retirement. That luxury rocking chair will be all yours in due course.

The options

You can either get a stockbroker to manage your funds, or do it yourself. The range and level of service does vary though. Essentially, you can get a full stockbroker to decide which shares to buy and sell for you; you can get an advising stockbroker to give you advice but ultimately you buy and sell the shares yourself; or you can use a Sharedealing service, which provides you with the means to buy and sell shares and leaves the decision up to you. The type of broker account also varies.

The most common service is the Nominee Account where you do not get issued certificates at all. Instead, your shares are held in what is termed a "pooled nominee account", a pool of shares that the broker holds on your behalf. Many people prefer this system because it means they're entitled to vote at shareholders' meetings and to receive annual reports.

A certificated account means you get your grubby paws on the share certificates when you buy, and you have to send them back when you want to sell. The obvious problem with this method of dealing lies in never being able to pick your dealing times accurately and trusting your certificates through the snail mail, sorry postal service. This sort of service is in the minority and the only good thing is that you don't get charged annual fees.

A Crest-sponsored member account is a similar scheme to the nominee account, but one that incurs an annual charge directly from the Stock Exchange rather than simply from the broker. This means you don't get your mitts on the certificates, but that's one less thing to worry about in the long term. Annual charges come from having to register you electronically with Crest.

The Index Tracker is the system for people who want less hassle, less risk and less time expenditure. It's the lazy man's world of shares. There are no actual shares involved here, you're simply betting your money against the performance of the stock. You can bet in pence or pounds, how little you gamble is totally up to you.

Any extras

It's the very rare investor that can consistently pick stock market winners solely through gut feel or intuition. Therefore a more disciplined approach is advised. Forming a set of sensible guidelines and having the discipline to stick to them should always keep you involved in more suitable investments.

If you're going down the DIY stock-picking route, then you'll need to get a share selection strategy in place. Because if there's one certainty on the stock market, it's the certainty of losing money by haphazardly picking individual shares on a whim.

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 Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it. 

Anon