A: 'It seems so straightforward I must have missed something. Have I?'
1. The spread.
2. Financing costs.
3. For a share at 3.15p, is a point = 1p, or 0.1p, or 0.01p?
Those things aside, the max you can lose is £315, assuming a point = 1p. You don't have a 'stake' in spread betting in the same way as you do on a horse race. You have margin to cover losses. The size of the margin requirement may depend on your account history, the liquidity of the instrument, which exchange it's on, the market cap, etc
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A: Ok we need to go back to the basics here. You can start with as little or as much as you can afford to lose, if you shop around you can find a broker which will allow you to place trades with fractional lot sizes. This means that your underlying trade value is not restricted so you can trade for even 1p/cent per market point.
Starting with 75 - 100 quid and expecting to make 50 pound per day is very unrealistic. Your goals are way out there as you are practically aiming to achieve more than a 50% increase in your account. I'm not saying that 50 quid a day is not achievable with the proper capitalization but with your experience and start up cost, I shouldn't think so.
Trade on a virtual account and then migrate to a live one where you will trade for real money. Expect to lose this money even with up to a years experience as you build the necessary psychological skills. Only get into this seriously if you are willing to do just that. Take it seriously and look to pursue this in the long foreseeable future.
All of us are always trading 24/7. If you are married you are constantly trading your personal freedom for a lifetime of compromised companionship. If you are employed you constantly trade your independence for perceived security and benefits. If you are self employed you are trading your perceived security and set benefits for unlimited potential gain or loss. If you think of everything you do and everyone you deal with as a trade of some sort this will put things in perspective more than anything else I can think of with trading. The ultimate question is always ‘are you willing to trade what you have for something else.’ Be careful what you wish for 
A: Create 3 or more spread betting accounts - minimum deposits are quite small. This will allow you to gain first hand experience of their various foibles and be able to make your own mind up. You'll find some are better in certain areas than others, and it is not until you start using them that you'll work out which is best for what . In any case, it's always useful to have at least two accounts - that way if you urgently want to exit a position and for some reason the platform is down, you can always lay it off in another account.
Try not to get too confused by the sales 'blurb' from all the different companies. EASE OF USE should be the key thing...!! You will see literally '000s' of different instruments on the average instrument tree and the spreads are usually all very competitive - so that makes it an even harder decision sometimes.
As for charting - whether you need 3rd party depends on what you want to do and how much sophistication you need: bear in mind that most the spread betting companies provide feeds of their own prices, which isn't necessarily the same as the market, and also means that data such as volume isn't always available.
A: I was the one who recommended a minimum of 1,000 pounds but you either need to have experience in the markets or seek a third-party to assist you with your investments in order to achieve great returns especially with that amount of money.
What is a great return?
That depends on your personal definition of what constitutes a good return.
The trouble with investments is that it's a percentiles game - so that the actual returns from your investment depends on the size of the investment you started with.
Frankly, £1k is not a great deal to play with, but in the right areas, can work well. For example, if you had have invested in gold 4 months ago with that 1k, it would now be worth around £1.3. Which is a growth of 30% - which sounds great - but £300 out of it isn't all that great, considering the risks...
Here is my recommendation:
Set up an automatic transfer from your checking account into a Money Market Account every month and transfer the same amount every month, i.e. 50 pounds, 100 pounds, etc. until you have sufficient funds to invest with.
In the meantime you can research different investment strategies which will meet your investment goals or different companies which may be able to assist you.
You may want to trade on paper for a while [Tradindex offer a good simulator platform]. You are right, if you play the markets right you can reap huge benefits.
A: You may have some kind of emotional emptiness you are trying to fill. If that is it, I shut up now because that is way out of my league.
BUT, if you start looking at it as buying a financially secure future, that might help.
The first step towards financial discipline is establishing a bank account, establishing a budget, and prioritizing your weekly/monthly salary earnings ... the first X£ off the top go towards estimated taxes, then the next Y£ go towards paying necessary bills, then the next Z£ go towards savings/investment, and then whatever is left over can be spent on 'discretionary' items.
Keep in mind saving takes discipline. You have to set goals for yourself, because otherwise you have nothing specific to save for, and therefore no reason to make yourself do it. The first principle has to be acknowledging the fact that you could be out of work tomorrow, and that you may remain out of work for a couple of months.
So, figure out what you'd like to do in X number of years, how much you think you'll need to do it, and you'll have a new motivation to work and save. That's the easy part. Sticking with it is the really hard part, so you'll have to devise ways like some of us have to keep ourselves in check. I've also known girls like you who had a certain amount they would save every week/month, and wired it to their parents to put into an account for them. You can also set up a checking account at a bank that automatically transfers a certain amount to savings every week/month, so you can treat it like a bill you have to pay, make sure you've got that money in your checking by the deadline, and make sure you don't touch the savings.
Also, the budget list is a great one:
Make a monthly 'spending plan', write it down on a little yellow notepaper and stick in to your planner so that you see it multiple times every day. On one side of the paper put necessities, things you have to spend that month, and their exact amount.
Then you cross things out when they are bought. Consequently you can also add up all the numbers and see how much you need to work to accomplish all your goals. Note that savings is on that list as a requirement. That helps you to actually put money in the bank when you never was able to before (you should see it as another thing to buy).
The way this helps you is to clearly define your goals, and to see them often.
Don't forget the reward system! Save a certain amount, then get say that pair of dream shoes. Just don't eat your dessert before dinner, it's a bad habit in the long run!
A book I recommend on the subject is called -:
"Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin.
It takes it to a very base level, breaking it down to 'The only thing you have in your life is time, and you give up your time in exchange for money'. Then it has you look at what you are spending your money (time) on and asking if it is really worth it (given that you can never get your time back).
Then the book has you figure out what you've made in your life from your very first B-Day money until today (every single penny), and then asks you how much tangible stuff you have to show for it. This part hurts, but it is one of the best wake-up calls you could ever get...believe me...you'll be shocked, but also spurred to action.
The book also has you break down what you really make hourly, but it has you take into account things you spend money on that are strictly for your JOB (and help you keep your JOB)...in your case as a model I would assume: make-up, shoes, outfits, travel, food that you don't consume at home, gas to-and-fro, etc., etc...then it has you back that out of your Perceived hourly wage to find out what you are really making hourly. Say, for instance, you do a quick math check and come to the conclusion that on average you work a 6 hour shift and you walk out the door with £102. You conclude that you are making £17/hr...But, after figuring in all of the other things that I mentioned (and it shows you step-by-step how to do it and what to include), you come to the realization that you are really only making £10.00/hr.
After that it does a boomerang on you uses the information you have calculated to get you to see how you are spending your life (literally).
It gets you to ask yourself in every situation, 'Is what I'm about to spend my money on really worth the time I spent to get the money in the first place?' 'Will I really get out of this thing that I'm buying, the perceived ego-stroking, jealousy from my friends, fame, envy, significance, etc. that I have projected onto this item and that I think buying it will give me?' (i.e. for instance Buying a Porsche because you think people will think you are cool/cute/sexy/rich/(insert your word for acceptance here)). Now, apply that to just about every single purchase you make, except for food and gas).
Say, for example, you do all of the calculations and come to the conclusion that you really make £ 10/hr. (just for simplicities sake). You're looking at a new TV for £ 500. You'll ask yourself, 'Is this TV really worth the 50 hours I worked to get the money?'
It definitely changes your mindset. It doesn't mean you have to be a total tightwad, but you will definitely make more informed decisions about what you spend your money on because you will be cognizant of it all the time.
The authors are a little more cautious about investing so I would also recommend some of the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad books", et. al. to give you a well balanced assortment of thoughts/principles from which to draw.
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