Great & small
If penny shares scare you, then you may consider investing in big companies. Known as large-caps, or blue-chips, they are usually household names.
The 'cap' part refers to the firm's market capitalisations, that is the value of the company. A large-cap company will be worth billions of pounds and reside firmly in the FTSE 100.
British Airways - which is valued at £3bn - is a large-cap company. But in FTSE 100 terms it is a very small large-cap when you compare it with BP, which is worth £130bn.
Shares in large-cap companies are easier and cheaper to trade.
Their performance is usually less volatile day-to-day and they are generally long-established and so unlikely to go bust over night.
In the debit column, large companies are closely followed and well researched, making it difficult to spot bargains.