I’ve had a passing interest in this for quite some time, probably dating back to when my Grandparents had some post-privatisation shares in British Gas + British Telecom, and used to regularly check the latest price on the BBC Ceefax service before we went out anywhere.
Later I would often take a peek at the stockmarket prices section of the Daily Mail newspaper when we used to regularly get in a paper copy, wishing I could afford to splash the cash to have a go at it.
Then around 2001 I discovered the UK & US versions of personal finance website The Motley Fool, and read further, and also poked around on Yahoo Finance. At some point I also discovered Investopedia.
Towards the end of 2004 I started to get further interested, and at the beginning of 2005 finally decided to take the plunge having discovered the Sharebuilder account at the Halifax.
I’ve had mixed stockmarket success, and only wish I could afford to splash the cash on them to a much greater extent than I’ve been able to afford to the last several years.