GREIG MIDDLETON (Greig Middleton Group)

Member Name: Aang

Product:	Greig Middleton Group
Date:	20/08/00 (146 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: They do most of the work and not too much should go wrong.

Disadvantages: Stockbrokers may not always have totally efficient staff and results may not be spectacular.

GM can buy you safe shares like BT, Shell and Kingfisher and do all the paperwork and tax things. At least that's what they do for me. Ah, but are the lads in the local GM office efficient with the paperwork? Well, in the case of my local GM office, not exactly. They may not be typical. Maybe I'm just unlucky. I'm not the world's most efficient person myself.
GM can also buy at the right time and sell at the right time. Except that the market is difficult to guess. They may sell something that's about to double in value and fail to sell something that's about to zoom down. That's what happened to me. Maybe I'm just unlucky. We all make mistakes and I once bought Japanese shares only to see them sink.
An alternative to a stockbroker could be to buy shares in a dozen safe Investment Trusts. You can buy Money Management magazine, or get on the internet, and work out which trusts have a Micropal five star rating. For someone like me it would be best to find trusts paying good dividends ( I need the cash) and it would be best to have one's money spread around (most in the UK, but some in the US, Europe, Asia...Most in trusts investing in big companies in a variety of sectors, but some in smaller companies). For me it is best to avoid anything risky like Russia.
So, Stockbroker, or, buying your own shares? I'm sticking with the stockbroker meantime and hoping that BT and Kingfisher and the rest are going to do well in the long run. I'm a bit lazy, I suppose.
One final thought. Does the stockbroker keep an eye on one's portfolio day by day, week by week? Not in my case, I suspect. My guess is that they're not making much money out of me and so they only have the occasional glance. I could be wrong.

Summary: