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[sevenlayermuddle]

'If you haven't already got shares in BT, get them now by way of a mid to long-term investment, as they will grow as our hold on streaming TV grows'.

I posted this on June 15th 2013 when the closing price was 312.40. Approx 8 months later, and today they closed at 413.
Over £1 gain per-share in such a short space of time, is pretty darned good for a low risk punt.
Hopefully the trend will continue and the mid-long term investments will bear much fruit.

Pleased to say I am already aware and the better for it.  And you've not even mentioned the dividends.     

As with other investments such as  'green energy' bandwagons, one may or may not be able to justify the morality, but there is no harm in making a fast buck.   

[Black Sheep]

Ha ha ....... didn't want to appear overly smug, 7LM, but seeing as you've raised the subject, BT employees (as with other blue-chip companies I'm guessing ?) are invited annually to join the companies 'Share-save Scheme'.
There are two schemes to choose from ...... a 3yr one that attracts a 20% discount, and a 5yr one that attracts a 30% discount.

For example, the share-price will be lets say £2 on a certain date set by the company. 'We' then opt to choose a scheme, so if I decide on the 3yr one and pay the maximum £250 per-month allowed, I will actually be buying the shares at £1.60 each when the 3yr period is up.

So that would be £250 a month for 3yrs = £9,000 divided by £1.60 = 5,625 shares.

If the share-price increases by just £1 in that 3yr period, that's £5625 clear profit. Plus, the beauty of the scheme means that should the price fall bellow the £1.60 used in this example at the end of the 3yrs, we can just take back the money we have paid in. So, you can't lose with these schemes ...... ever. 

Glad you're on board, 7LM. 

[c6em]

I used to have those schemes in the companies I worked for.
Never ever managed to get to the end and find the shares were worth buying.  ie even with the discount the open market price on the stockmarket was still lower than the sharesave scheme price.

As you say we all just took the money with interest paid instead which in itself was a good deal at the time compared to building Society/bank rates on offer.

Most of us reckon it was just a poorman's version of an executive share option lock in as if you left the company part way though you lost the benefits.

You know, it must be strange working for an expanding company/market sector - I never have.............

[Black Sheep]

Aw c6em, you're gonna have me in  , mate. 

Don't get me wrong, the arse fell out of our company a good while back, and lots of us suffered as a consequence of poor management (3G licences-Cellnet sell off). I can't remember and am not going looking, but the price was around the £15 and I recall the German Bundesbank at that time saying the more realistic price of the company was around £24 a share. To say we were elated at the potential was an understatement.

I was lucky and sold at around £13 a share, but only due to a life changing event that ensured I had to cash in. Many, many more played the waiting game, but it never came.

So, yes, I am excited at what the future holds and can actually 'see it' due to our business being more transparent to shareholders and employees alike, these days.

Rumour has it there could be a mass exodus of the older BT employee, come this August. There was an 'Extraordinary' share-save scheme announced four and a half years ago, whereby BT Employees could purchase them at 61p per share, but with a maximum of £225 per month paid in to the scheme (due to oversubscription). Again, I haven't done the maths, but have seen figures banded about of £90,000 plus, at yesterdays closing price. We still have nearly 6 months left to go, so lets say they all get £100,000, that's not bad for a total purchase fee of £13,500. That's why there's chatter about a lot leaving the company. I personally know of 2 myself.

As in most things in life, luck plays a big part in it all. 

[sevenlayermuddle]

That's why there's chatter about a lot leaving the company. I personally know of 2 myself.

BT still has a defined benefit pension scheme, does it not?  I would suggest any older employees look long and hard at the small print of the pension deeds before voluntarily leaving the company.  Pensions Trustees for many funds are finding ways of severely penalising people who do so, for example by making vast reductions to pensions for early retirement. 

Never mind what the pensions handbook says, pensions Trustees are usually entitled to ignore the handbook if they have weasel words in the deeds that contradict it.  And many Trustees are employing evil 'spiv' lawyers to look for loopholes in the deeds that save them money by reducing pensions.   Deferred pensioners are seen as easy pickings as it avoids unrest among remaining staff. You'd be surprised what they can get away with.   

This thread does seem to have wandered slightly off topic   

[Black Sheep]

I think the OP's question was answered many posts back, so would hope they didn't mind ? 

With a large company like BT, you get pretty much all the advice you need. They run a bi-annual seminar for people over 45yrs of age (I think it's 45, might be slightly older ?).
We also have an on-line calculator that allows you to 'bugger about' with lump sum payments, monthly payments, early retirement etc etc.
Obviously, everybody's financial circumstances are different so there is no blanket right decision. BT will also advise on deferring payments that will incur CGT, and will spread it over x amount of years to avoid it. 

 

[Chrysalis]

'If you haven't already got shares in BT, get them now

You have let the cat out of the bag  we here in the UK were lead to belive that BT and Openreach were seperate companys  so when you buy BT share your all so buying into BT OpenReach & BTwolesale thats not good for competative BB market is it and deffo not good for the EU price wise

I have no doubt BT is a solid investment for shares.

Black Sheep is right in that company knows how to make money.

But that doesnt necessarily translate it knows how to deploy technology.  As he also posted, the shareholders come first, that is the priority for the company.  So if 2 things conflict then shareholders win.  I accept obviously that if BT were bankrupt it does noone any favours, but the blunt truth is the company will do whats right for profits and shareholders.

[Black Sheep]

Absolutely right, Chrysalis.

Page 1 of any shareholding companies manifesto ........... 'Make profit'.
If they don't, the shareholders withdraw their interest and the business becomes worthless. I reiterate, I don't necessarily agree with the ethics (although the shares opportunities have paid massive dividends), but it wasn't down to the general public to decide, it was the Government of the day (Thatcher).

As with most things in life, nobody sees the other side of the story. BT donate an incredible amount of money to charity and are involved with sponsorship at all levels, not just with media-rich organisations. 

[NewtronStar]

As with most things in life, nobody sees the other side of the story.

I'll backup BT to the hilt, but I can't understand why BT is still using this 70 year old GPO infrustucture on the D side for BroadBand its like having a quad core cpu only being able to use one core at a time (Exchange to fibre Cabinet then the Slow 1944 copper line) its what I call half a Job. 

[Chrysalis]

They using it because they can newtron

For shareholder's interest's in their very short term viewpoint, they prefer to

rollout FTTC
rollout vectoring (possibly replacing recently installed hardware to do this)
rollout g.fast
rollout FTTP

all as seperate steps, because in the short term it saves money, someone on tbb excellently put it akin to running on a payday loan.  But in the long term that will be more costly, however accountants favour short term over long term, and this staged progression I expect is considered less risky.

Openreach outside of VM areas have no network competition, they dont need to do FTTP, people will still pay for the copper service, in addition ofcom have created an envirionment that is anti progression, if FTTP was rolled out then BT would likely be forced to wholesale it, talktalk would complain it costs too much as they want to sell it for a fiver, and then the margins get squeezed.