Justin Urquhart Stewart answers your questions

Kieron from Somerset wants to know:

Who are the best online brokers?

What are the best stocks and shares 'do it yourself' handbooks and websites?

There are a number of online share dealing firms that offer varying commission rates. I have provided internet addresses for a number of these and I'll let you make your own comparisons between them.

Without wishing to endorse any particular guide, there are a number of online resources which would be a good place to start your search, they also provide recommended reading lists. Some websites to get you started are listed below:

Mark from East Sussex sent this:

I was stunned yesterday morning to discover that the FTSE 100 share index was at the same level as it was over 10 years ago on the 1st October 1997, representing a capital growth of zero percent. I decided to look at how other countries had fared; in the US the Dow had notched up a healthy 42% increase and in Germany the Dax index had a fantastic 50% increase over the same period.

My questions are: Does the FTSE 100 index adequately reflect the financial health of our nation? If not, is it time for us to replace the FTSE 100 with a new index that better reflects the financial health of the UK thus encouraging greater global investment in our country?

Good question. By our calculations the FTSE 100 is up 14% over that time but in fact if you take account of inflation (as measured by the RPI) we would have to deflate that by 32%! However this does not take account of dividends. This highlights the need to ensure that your investments are broadly spread not only around the globe but also over other asset classes and not just shares.

The FTSE 100 of course is a very poor reflection of the UK economy as many of the companies are either not actually British or have a lot of non UK related business. The FTSE 250 is a better reflection of UK businesses.

John from Surrey has a very topical question:

Who actually made money out of the sub-prime credit crisis and lately the Soc Gen rogue trader? We hear a lot about the enormous losses but nothing about what must be enormous gains by some people/companies/institutions.

Good question. The answer lies with the investment bankers who have been awarded significant bonuses for the packaging and sale of these bonds.

However it is also interesting to note that Paulson & Co, a New York based hedge fund that oversees about $28bn, has a Credit Opportunities fund that placed bets in 2007 that the subprime market would decline. It is estimated that the company made profits $12bn last year as a result of the subprime debacle.

So yes, some companies have indeed made some very substantial gains. Interestingly, Alan Greenspan has recently been appointed advisor to this now notorious hedge fund.

As for Soc Gen we shall have to wait and see as to where the money has gone but it may well be that the trader was trying to make money on his own account and hide the losses internally. We will await the enquiry.

Pat Lean also has questions about the subprime problem:

I cannot fathom why sub-prime loans have lead to such a reduction in the value of banks. Surely all these dodgy loans need to be reneged upon at one time for bank incomes to plummet? Surely they are loaned on values dictated by careful assessment of property values?

The issue is here is that many of these packages were based on not just the value of the property but also the income they were generating as the mortgages were repaid. Once it was discovered that many of the loans were not being repaid then the value collapsed and the underlying assets revalued downwards as the market weakened.

Malcolm Bell wants to know about the de-materialisation of share certificates.

There have been proposals to de-materialise share certificates recently, to put us in line with Europe and replace them with accounts which would run in a similar manner as a bank account.

And I understand that a consultation process with financial institutions has taken place, but since then things have gone quiet.

Dematerialisation of share certificates was made possible by section 207 of the Companies Act 1989 which permits the Treasury to make regulations for enabling securities to be evidenced and transferred without a written instruction. The relevant regulations are the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001, which set out the principle for dematerialised transfers and established the CREST computer system through which transfers are made.

CREST is not a compulsory system. In particular a shareholder can choose to retain shares in certificate form, although this will generally lead to higher transaction costs when the shareholder decides to sell or transfer ownership of his/her shares.

This is from Alan Skinner: Can I buy shares in Booker Cash & Carry, after it was bought by an overseas company?

Shareholders used to get a card for the stores.

In June 2007 Booker merged with Blueheath Holding plc to form Booker Group Plc. You can buy shares in Booker Group Plc which were priced at �23.75 as at 31/01/08.

To find out if they still offer investors a discount card for the Cash & Carry stores I would suggest that you contact the company's investor helpline and they will be able to help you with your query.

David from West Sussex is worried he has been scammed.

I regret to report that I may have been a victim of a share scam (stupid me!). I was contacted by a firm which suggested I buy some shares in an American company.

I am very concerned about these sort of scams and especially the growing problem of 'boiler rooms' pushing dodgy stock from unregulated offshore centres.

In the meantime please formally notify the FSA so they can try and investigate the firm.

Ahmed Razzaq emailed us:

I'm pro-nuclear power and am confident that we will soon see sense and start the implementation of a nuclear program to replace coal power stations, as a result would it be wise to invest in the nuclear sector and if so which companies would you recommend I consider?

The key area to look at here is for the development and building of new plant. There are no specific companies here in the UK but rather certain overseas companies such as Toshiba, Siemens, Areva and GE, however you must bear in mind that these are conglomerates of which the nuclear component is still relatively small.

Some also refer to the shortage of uranium but this is in fact not the case although there are constrictions on supply at present.