Monthly income

TCA

JohnRo wrote: »

Forgive the lousy pun but I haven't drilled down into the minute detail of either

Oil forgive you!

Very interesting to see your graph. A nice upward trend and about 50% up over 3 years. I quickly input my own purchases (and potential purchases) and for the same time period my picks have barely moved: maybe 5% up over 3 years and at the levels of Nov 2012. On a definite downward trend since the highs of this summer, so better hope I'm a great predictor of things to come, as opposed to catching a falling knife and backing donkeys!

bigadaj

I've olayed around with trustnet and my portfolio looks good against the ftse all share index, but pretty dismal against the all world index.

Johnros selection will have done well due to the strength of us equities, I'm underweight on these so have done far less well, whether the US will out or underperform in the next few years is all I want to know, well along with other equity markets, bonds commodities etc

JohnRo

What struck me about the portfolio when I entered the details is just how lifeless the portfolio's capital returns had been over the period shown, prior to the start of 2013.

I'm under no illusions last years equity rally is normal and I'm half expecting a halt and pull back this year but it's difficult to gauge how much of the perceived value is coming from banks using their ever increasing stash of counterfeit to pump prices, or bond and savings migration or how much might actually be due to a priced in real recovery.

It's all about the income so I'm prepared to take whatever comes ahead of time. If 2014 proves a similar year to last for gains I think I'd probably be looking to secure some of the gain. Easy to say that now though.

TCA

JohnRo wrote: »

One of the reasons I overlooked BRCI if I'm honest is because trustnet shows it having a low yield, yet having checked, Blackrock have a quoted 5.5% yield.. which I hadn't spotted earlier.

That said many of the larger oil and resource companies BRCI holds are well represented already in most of the other trusts, particularly the UK ones. Then again so are the big three in BRWM so ....

That 4% allocation slot I've occupied with BRWM is intended for higher risk selections, perhaps BRCI is a better fit at this stage, or a reduced holding in both. It's the potential upside to the capital invested in BRWM that caught my attention, not that I expect the trend to change any time soon but the potential for longer term substantial capital gain seems more attractive in my novice opinion.

For better or worse, taking into account things like discount, yield and potential capital growth, I think I'll stick with BRWM at this stage and look to include others further down the road.

John, I presume from your comments on another thread that you're only missing JEMI, so have made your BRWM purchase? Could prove to be an inspired choice perhaps seeing as BRCI is losing its manager:

http://citywire.co.uk/wealth-manager/blackrock-commodities-veteran-steps-down/a729333?ref=wealth-manager-all-stories-list

"Natural resources specialist Richard Davis has stepped down from his fund management responsibilities at BlackRock after 19 years. A BlackRock spokesperson told Wealth Manager that Davis had made the decision ‘to explore other career opportunities inside and outside of BlackRock’.

His principal UK fund was the £111 million BlackRock Commodities Income investment trust. Davis had headed the fund since its launch in 2005, during which time it returned 57% compared with an average of 30% from its peer group. Davis will be succeeded on the trust by Olivia Ker as lead manager, with Citywire + rated Thomas Holl continuing as deputy manager. BlackRock has confirmed that the new team will follow the existing investment approach.

Davis has also stepped down as co-manager of three open-ended funds: the offshore £122 million BlackRock World Agriculture and the on and offshore versions of the £20 million BlackRock Natural Resources Growth & Income strategy. Co-manager Desmond Cheung will now take sole charge of World Agriculture, while Cheung and Catherine Raw will join co-managers + rated Joshua Freedman and Holl on Natural Resources Growth & Income."

I think it'll be BRWM for me for sure now, although I'd like the price to drop a bit.

JohnRo

TCA wrote: »

I think it'll be BRWM for me for sure now, although I'd like the price to drop a bit.

Yeah I'll be nursing what might end up being substantial losses for some time on BRWM and probably a few others I suspect but that's half expected every time I buy anything to be honest, at least in the short term. It really doesn't phase me. It's a hold forever trust and the income should start rolling in soon, unless it vanishes into a deep black hole.

Will keep providing updates from time to time.

TCA

JohnRo wrote: »

Yeah I'll be nursing what might end up being substantial losses for some time on BRWM and probably a few others

Unavoidable I think John. As said elsewhere, I can't help trying to guess the bottom but it's a losing battle. Especially as I'm looking at Asia Pacific and EM trusts, which are volatile at the best of times, never mind right now.

I'd like to be fully invested around April, so it's sink or swim time shortly. The RDR thing has kind of delayed purchases too and I'm now of the mind I'd almost be better opening new (more cost effective) trading accounts before making my final purchases.

TCA

JEMI is looking ripe now. The best part of 4% down today as I type. To buy or not to buy.....

JohnRo

TCA wrote: »

JEMI is looking ripe now. The best part of 4% down today as I type. To buy or not to buy.....

I've taken the plunge on JEMI with half the EM allocation and will hold off for a further fall with the rest. Failing that it'll go towards the April rebalance.

JohnRo

update for those interested

Looking at adding some UK property income. I've been watching Picton property income trust for a couple of months and it's gained 10% in that time. Premium is high though, as with all uk property and infrastructure. Looking at filling a 4% portfolio slot with it, if anyone has any thoughts on alternatives I'd be interested to hear them.

Has to be a share based investment though. I've decided to stick with Charles Stanley and to a rigid schedule, rebalancing using 6 trades 6 monthly to cap total charges at £120pa

NAIT and AAIF continue to struggle - looking to possibly top up come April or just leave for the back end of this year and see where they're at.

Murray International is the other target, been watching that for some time and the fall is tempting but still on a hefty premium so might just hold off or look for some sort of alternative but slim pickings on global equity income trusts with strong yield.

Here's how things are looking currently, still haven't sold off the Schroder income fund, that'll pay out in March so will wait until April and use the proceeds in the rebalance.

TCA

JohnRo wrote: »

NAIT and AAIF continue to struggle - looking to possibly top up come April or just leave for the back end of this year and see where they're at.

Murray International is the other target, been watching that for some time and the fall is tempting but still on a hefty premium so might just hold off or look for some sort of alternative but slim pickings on global equity income trusts with strong yield.

Thanks as ever for the update John. I'm also nursing a tasty paper loss with AAIF but resisted the temptation to top-up my holding a fortnight ago when it reached a 52 week low. Just resisted. I didn't want to react at the first sign of trouble and wanted to watch it come back (still waiting) before the inevitable subsequent dive the next time someone in the States mentions QE tapering. My eye is on it though, although I still want to buy other stuff.

My holding in Murray International is still a couple of percent down from my purchase in December. Again I almost bought more at the end of January but it wasn't far enough down to hit the buy button for some meaningful pound-cost averaging, but I was extremely tempted given the premium was almost completely wiped out. My spreadsheet had the premium at 0.31% at close of business on 31st January. I might live to regret that but think I'll learn a lot from watching a few cycles of ups and downs.