what to do about shares...

[flowerpower6]

i have inherited quite a few shares.. should i sell them at this moment in time or keep a hold of them. any advice in this unknowing financial time. i know shares fluctuate all the time, but i dont know what to do for the best.

[sandmaster]

No one would give you advice on this in this economic climate - and if they do - beware.
However, without knowing what your holdings are, I would say that if you do not need the money at the present time it would be foolish to sell in such a depressed market.
A loss is not a loss until it is crystallized.
This is only general advice - not knowing your circumstances - but things tend to go in circles (even economic circumstances) and one day the market will recover.
The Jews have a tremendous saying - This Too Will Pass.
It applies equally to good times as well as bad and acts as a warning to prepare during good times but to have hope during bad times.

[Rev. Green]

Yes, keep them.

But if the value is considerable - thousands of pounds - transfer �7200 worth each year to an ISA. Then any gains will be tax free.

Your local Building Society can advise you how to transfer them as shares - resist converting them to cash.

[Whoever]

The stock market had dropped considerably lately and could drop still further. However, if you don't need the money I'd recommend that you hang onto them. As somebody has already suggested, if you haven't used your annual ISA allowance and are a taxpayer it makes good sense to "wrap around" these shares in an ISA wrapping so that any dividends earned on them are tax free and eventually they will also be Capital Gains Tax free if they appreciate sufficiently in value. You also won't have to declare any income on your tax return. At the moment you will have to declare this income. Hargreaves Lansdown (h-l.co.uk) are one of the financial organisation who have a facility for wrapping your shares in an ISA. There will be others but as I am a customer of theirs I'm more familiar with their business. If you have shares worth more than �7200 it would make sense to put the maximum in this tax year's ISA allowance and put the remainder in a new stocks & shares ISA after April 6th when the new tax year starts. Then if you want to exchange the shares for others they can do the trading for you.