How long does it take to open a Natwest Current account?

I just got a Natwest Brokerline account and I want to buy shares, can anyone help?

• My boyfriend and I just got accepted by Natwest Brokerline to have an online account to buy shares. However even after reading about it a lot we're still not sure what to expect.. We only want to put in say £100 or something, and possibly in just 1 or 2 companies. And basically just see what happens. We were going to put money in ASOS the online fashion retailer, because although things have been shaky for them lately, be believe that long term they will continue to grow. We also want to possibly put money in oil, as prices for that just keep going up and up. But we wanted to ask a few questions, so can anyone with a little experience offer help? 1. Do you think we have made good decisions in the companies we want to invest in? 2. How much will we be charged to put in or take out the money? 3. If for example one day ASOS does really well, can we see easily how much money we have and can we take it out immediately if it is larger that what we put in? and would we be charged? Thanks!

• Answer:

  Really you don't have enough money. You could put your money into one stock, I don't know what the commission is (£7.50 a trade?) but that's a loss of 7.5% before you start. You really need to pick AT LEAST 3 shares (diversified). Quite frankly I would save up at least £5000 and seriously pick 3-4 stocks. In the meantime read some books, read Investors Chronicle, Read Shares Magazine etc. You want sectors that will gain the most as (if) we come out of recession. A UK domestic stock like ASOS I wouldn't buy. You probably need to look at industries in basic materials, infrastructure. Oil possibly not bad (like Shell or even BP). Alternatively look for a small technology stock. I quite like ARM holdings (not small) as they 'make' chips for Apple iPads, iPhones and Samsung stuff etc. But, seriously you are on to a loser with just £100 (work it out!)