How do you select your Shares/Funds?

DJBenson

Ologhai wrote: »

Or, you could choose stocks at random:

http://monkeywithapin.com/.

Don't assume I'm joking.

The Kindle edition of this book is free on Amazon.co.uk or by registering on the MWAP site :T

DJBenson

My first foray into investing was the Royal Mail IPO. I made the "mistake" of seeing the other recent IPO's as an opportunity akin to the RMG launch and of course, none of them have been, but I've not been too unlucky thus-far;

RMG is up 60%
DLAR has gained > 10% today putting me at 6% (planning on holding these due to the decent divi)
MERL is currently up 11% on the launch price, I'm just waiting for them to hit 352 then I'm out (that'll be 10% profit after fee's)
INFI has dropped today but am OK to hold these for the forseeable

So in pure shares, I'm currently up 17% on my £3700 investment.

I've then got a couple of funds;
Invesco Perpetual European High Yield Accumulation Units
Invesco Perpetual High Income Accumulation Units
Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity GBP Accumulation

All of which are showing a small profit (average 2.5% between the three funds).

Biggest loss to date is 3000 shares in Sirius Minerals which is currently hovering around a 30% drop in the buy price - I am only £280 bought in to Sirius and keeping a close eye on them - it could go either way but I see a profit in them at some point.

blinko

DJBenson wrote: »

My first foray into investing was the Royal Mail IPO. I made the "mistake" of seeing the other recent IPO's as an opportunity akin to the RMG launch and of course, none of them have been, but I've not been too unlucky thus-far;

RMG is up 60%
DLAR has gained > 10% today putting me at 6% (planning on holding these due to the decent divi)
MERL is currently up 11% on the launch price, I'm just waiting for them to hit 352 then I'm out (that'll be 10% profit after fee's)
INFI has dropped today but am OK to hold these for the forseeable

So in pure shares, I'm currently up 17% on my £3700 investment.

I've then got a couple of funds;
Invesco Perpetual European High Yield Accumulation Units
Invesco Perpetual High Income Accumulation Units
Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity GBP Accumulation

All of which are showing a small profit (average 2.5% between the three funds).

Biggest loss to date is 3000 shares in Sirius Minerals which is currently hovering around a 30% drop in the buy price - I am only £280 bought in to Sirius and keeping a close eye on them - it could go either way but I see a profit in them at some point.

well played on your investments, although have to argue what is the point in putting £280 in a share when you have to make 7% return just to break even

ericonabike

I've been messing with shares for three years now, investing on the basis that I could afford to lose the lot [although possibly not with a smile on my face]. I've tried to buy into companies at a bad time for them - my BT shares were bought at 80p or so and have now trebled in value. I bought £1k of RBS shares and sold them for twice that. I have taken a punt on just one firm - GWPharmaceuticals, which after a rollercoaster couple of years has seen the shares return me 75% or so.

My only real loss has been Aggreko, which I sold at an £800 loss in order to buy Royal Mail - if I'd been able to get the £1500 I'd asked for, my loss would have been more than wiped out!

I currently have around £14k invested across 7 companies, now showing a 56% profit overall. And it has been a lot more interesting than letting the money fester in a bank!

moneyfoolish

DJBenson wrote: »

My first foray into investing was the Royal Mail IPO. I made the "mistake" of seeing the other recent IPO's as an opportunity akin to the RMG launch and of course, none of them have been, but I've not been too unlucky thus-far;

RMG is up 60%
DLAR has gained > 10% today putting me at 6% (planning on holding these due to the decent divi)
MERL is currently up 11% on the launch price, I'm just waiting for them to hit 352 then I'm out (that'll be 10% profit after fee's)
INFI has dropped today but am OK to hold these for the forseeable

So in pure shares, I'm currently up 17% on my £3700 investment.

I've then got a couple of funds;
Invesco Perpetual European High Yield Accumulation Units
Invesco Perpetual High Income Accumulation Units
Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity GBP Accumulation

All of which are showing a small profit (average 2.5% between the three funds).

Biggest loss to date is 3000 shares in Sirius Minerals which is currently hovering around a 30% drop in the buy price - I am only £280 bought in to Sirius and keeping a close eye on them - it could go either way but I see a profit in them at some point.

And so they should be because almost everything has been going up! And as I know from personal experience when the market turns, virtually everything will go down. That also includes the funds that people talk about as low risk. Luckily, over a long time period there are more ups than downs so people generally make a profit if they stay invested for long enough.

Wilkins

andyb_sv wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm just wondering how you hear about shares or funds that you then begin to research and possibly buy into? So far I've just been looking at the suggestions on various websites and on the threads on here?

I also recently read a thread that suggested that 2k isn't really enough to get a suitably diverse portfolio, does everyone really save up 10k or so minimum before they start investing? I'd only invest money that I can afford to lose/don't mind losing (too much) and I'm looking to invest for a minimum of 15 years probably starting with 2k or so then investing about £200 a month with an extra £500ish from my bonus money every quarter.

I started buying individual shares nearly 30 years ago with the BT IPO and I've been investing steadily since then. I am very pleased with the results, overall, but if you go down that route you have to be sanguine about the losses. I've had a few shares wiped out, but others have increased ten fold. Increasingly, my focus is changing towards reliable dividend flow. I've also had a couple of active funds, but I liquidated them a few years ago when realised how much the fees were hitting the return. What I've learned is this:

- if you do single equities, you have to spend time doing the research, i.e., reading the financial press and company reports;

- if you don't want to do that, then going down the passive / low cost tracker route is probably just as good (in other words, only do stock-picking if you like it);

- try to be aware of your psychological hangups (I find it difficult to sell shares, whereas many will dump them after small losses -sometimes that's better, sometimes it's not);

- never think you are good investor since it's mainly luck (I've made a 22% annualised return over the past 5 years, but that is just the effect of the bull market);

- diversification is important, not only in terms of geography and sector, but also in time;

- always have some extra cash to hand aside from your EF.

I think £2k is enough to get started and you say you have other cash savings. If you have a monthly surplus then you can either buy incrementally (though watch out for charges) or you can accumulate cash over a few months and then make a further purchase. Obviously, protect from tax (ISA) where you can. Good luck.

andyb_sv

Thanks for the advice and links. I think I'll end up with a tracker fund of some sort and a smattering of individual shares (once the fund is up and running). I know it's probably not the best financially but I just want to be able to research and invest in some individual companies.

Thanks to those that have listed what funds and/or shares they have as it gives me a bit of a starting point.

fairleads

evening2005 wrote: »

I would look at the Monevator blog, which is a *very* clearly written site that focuses on UK investments. That site has two authors (plus guests occasionally). One author ("The Accumulator") focuses on passive investing. I would recommend that you read as much as possible about passive investing on the site and start from there. It's particularly worth reading the series on their passive portfolio to see how they are going about it. The other author ("The Investor", who originated the site I believe) often talks about the fact that he likes active investing, although he advises people to follow The Accumulator's (passive) example. The comments on the articles are usually very informative too.

I highly recommend having a look at the site for the quality of writing, which is strikingly good in my opinion.

While it is true that the site contains lots of info re passive investing, it is worrying that the owners choose anonymity. Which makes me wonder if they have a vested interest in pushing the passive investing argument

DJBenson

blinko wrote: »

well played on your investments, although have to argue what is the point in putting £280 in a share when you have to make 7% return just to break even

This was a bit of fun more than a serious investment, I bought at just over 8p and the shares have maxed out at 30p this year - the company hasn't mined anything yet so I figure if they hit 20p I'll have made a bit of spending money :beer: nothing more serious/scientific than that.

grey_gym_sock

fairleads wrote: »

While it is true that the site contains lots of info re passive investing, it is worrying that the owners choose anonymity. Which makes me wonder if they have a vested interest in pushing the passive investing argument

i can't take this comment seriously, since i don't know who you are

but seriously, IRL personal info wouldn't add anything to monevator. if you read it carefully, you know a lot about their characters, without knowing their names. and in any case, it is principally an appeal to reason, not to trust them.