How to choose a broker

If you want to invest in stocks and shares, you’re going to have to get yourself a stockbroker. It's a lot easier and a lot cheaper than it might sound, says Phil Oakley. Here, he explains how to find a broker.

Thanks to countless Hollywood films, for many people the idea of investing in shares evokes images of guys in red braces screaming "Buy! No - sell!" into their mobile phones.

But who's on the other side of that phone? Who is actually doing the buying and selling of these investments? It's their stockbroker.

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Phil spent 13 years as an investment analyst for both stockbroking and fund management companies.

 

After graduating with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN's very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks.

 

In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. He began writing for MoneyWeek in 2010.