DH inherited shares from an aunt who invested in the shares. They had fascinated her, ever since she learnt the basics in maths lessons at school, and when her first husband died and left her a house and a little nest egg, she began dabbling, buying, small quantities, with no more advice than the business pages of the Daily Telegraph.
She probably only ever made a couple of purchase/sell decisions a year and once she had made what was proving a good investment, she just brought more. She died in the mid 1990s, a wealthy woman and her estate was worth over half a million. Most went to charity bu DH got some shares.
He started investing in penny shares, a couple of hundred pounds at a time and did well on some, lost on others.
In my last job I got profit related pay each year in the form of shares in the company and I too bought a few shares here and there, but have done best with my employers shares.
The basic rules, apart from not investing more in one share than you can afford to lose, are to invest in shares in companies whose industries you understand. Do not invest in high tech unless you really understand the industry and who the main players are. The same would apply to more mundane industries like food production as well. Do not respond to salesmen with a good line in patter, never ever buy anything from anyone who cold calls you with a wonderful investment
Read the business pages in your daily paper assiduously and keep an eye on international affairs. For example, personally I would be wary about buying shares in a company, even a UK company, heavily invested in Ukraine at present !!
A lot of it is common sense and remember the bigger the return, the bigger the risk. You get owt for nought and that especally applies to stocks and shares.
Apart from that, tuck everything, or as much as you can into ISAs and always set a small sum aside for playing ducks and drakes with. Most of those ugly ducklings will sink without trace, but some will turn into beautiful swans.
same here.