Shares: The tools of the trade?

Wednesday, 19th August 2009 10:45 - by Boredmum

I recently got a wall built around my front garden. Anyone that has had this done will know there is a bit of a mess left. Even after clearing away all the excess cement, I’m afraid my garden was in a little bit of a state. Now, the easy option would have been to rake down some of the excess dirt (from the foundations that were dug out) to the ends and throw down a bit of grass seed. Never one to take the easy option, and knowing that my garden had never quite been straight, I thought this would be an ideal time to dig the whole thing up and level it out. Easy, I thought. Just turn the soil, break it up, then rake all the stones away and I would get a nice level finish. Well, my front garden is really small, about 16ft by 16ft. I was not even a third of the way through turning the soil; I had blisters on my hand and had lost about 2,000 calories (nice to have a plus point). This got me thinking...I clearly didn’t have the correct tools for the job, and that in itself was making things harder for me. So, this is an invite for you to tell me what tools you find invaluable for share trading. It could be a good broker, set dealing costs, Direct Market Access (DMA), or just whatever you find invaluable. I would like to know what works for you and that, without it, trading would be made more difficult.