Boast / weep about your recent investment decisions HERE

ro2778

I started investing this year and made some huge mistakes! At the beginning of the year I only knew I wanted to invest and reach my ISA limit by the end of the tax year. Currently I have £12,250 invested entirely in lloyds with a plan to invest the rest around the time of Trumps inagureration. My plan for the next year is again to maximise the ISA limit, which will be tricky because it increases to £20k but with overtime I think I can do it. I'm doing all this because I want to retire in my 50ies (in 20 years), I currently have a high risk strategy.

However, I started out pre brexit and invested £3k in lloyds at 72p assuming we wouldn't vote to leave and the government were going to sell their remaining stake. Then brexit happened and as soon as the market opened I tried to sell lloyds by just putting a sale order in with no limits! I think I sold all for 56p! I then felt sorry for myself and tried to work out what this meant for the investing climate. So I applied for the W8... form to invest in US stocks. I bought £2k of Tesla at $226 and £2k of Nvidia at $52. After a couple of days(!!!!) I got cold feet due to some thought about the pound having crashed now recovering making any gains in these shares wiped out by currency flutuations, so I sold TSLA and NVDA for slight profits but once currency and exchange rate and other charges were taken into account I was down another £500 haha... So since I had starting investing I lost £2k in the first month!

I thought again, about what I wanted to achieve and how I was going to do it. I decided dividend growth was the best strategy. Although it was well thought out to invest in Nvidia because I figured they would be the market leader for enabling self driving cars, and tesla the leading manufacturer I realised that was slightly too Hollywood a move for me despite my attitude towards risk, I felt like I'd been burned too much in my first month.

So I piled back into lloyds £5k at 47.14p. After a few weeks I couldn't believe my luck at hitting the bottom of the market and at 54p I was allowing my greed to control my decisions. So I sold for a quick profit, hoping the stock would fall again. It didn't and kept rising, so I got nervous and bought maybe £12k at 57p. This time I held on, up until now.

In total this year, I've invested £12.25k and currently all of it is in lloyds, £3k still to invest before the tax year ends, with a current break even price of 63.2p. I've watched tesla essentially do nothing and Nvidia go stratospheric, the fact I care about these stocks despite no position worries me! My current plan is to invest >100k over the next 5 years in a range of dividend stocks. I'll look to diversify in the next year, planning for £5k each in BAE, AVIVA, BT and GSK. That said, if SpaceX go public, I won't be able to resist!

bigadaj

ro2778 wrote: »

I started investing this year and made some huge mistakes! At the beginning of the year I only knew I wanted to invest and reach my ISA limit by the end of the tax year. Currently I have £12,250 invested entirely in lloyds with a plan to invest the rest around the time of Trumps inagureration. My plan for the next year is again to maximise the ISA limit, which will be tricky because it increases to £20k but with overtime I think I can do it. I'm doing all this because I want to retire in my 50ies (in 20 years), I currently have a high risk strategy.

However, I started out pre brexit and invested £3k in lloyds at 72p assuming we wouldn't vote to leave and the government were going to sell their remaining stake. Then brexit happened and as soon as the market opened I tried to sell lloyds by just putting a sale order in with no limits! I think I sold all for 56p! I then felt sorry for myself and tried to work out what this meant for the investing climate. So I applied for the W8... form to invest in US stocks. I bought £2k of Tesla at $226 and £2k of Nvidia at $52. After a couple of days(!!!!) I got cold feet due to some thought about the pound having crashed now recovering making any gains in these shares wiped out by currency flutuations, so I sold TSLA and NVDA for slight profits but once currency and exchange rate and other charges were taken into account I was down another £500 haha... So since I had starting investing I lost £2k in the first month!

I thought again, about what I wanted to achieve and how I was going to do it. I decided dividend growth was the best strategy. Although it was well thought out to invest in Nvidia because I figured they would be the market leader for enabling self driving cars, and tesla the leading manufacturer I realised that was slightly too Hollywood a move for me despite my attitude towards risk, I felt like I'd been burned too much in my first month.

So I piled back into lloyds £5k at 47.14p. After a few weeks I couldn't believe my luck at hitting the bottom of the market and at 54p I was allowing my greed to control my decisions. So I sold for a quick profit, hoping the stock would fall again. It didn't and kept rising, so I got nervous and bought maybe £12k at 57p. This time I held on, up until now.

In total this year, I've invested £12.25k and currently all of it is in lloyds, £3k still to invest before the tax year ends, with a current break even price of 63.2p. I've watched tesla essentially do nothing and Nvidia go stratospheric, the fact I care about these stocks despite no position worries me! My current plan is to invest >100k over the next 5 years in a range of dividend stocks. I'll look to diversify in the next year, planning for £5k each in BAE, AVIVA, BT and GSK. That said, if SpaceX go public, I won't be able to resist!

You're not investing, you're doing a little better than gambling.

Why not pay into funds that can provide diversification, they won't double overnight but will prob due steadier return.

ro2778

Because I'd like to learn how to invest and if I choose funds I'll never be motivated to learn.

coyrls

ro2778 wrote: »

Because I'd like to learn how to invest and if I choose funds I'll never be motivated to learn.

You're in for some expensive lessons then.

Ray_Singh-Blue

ro2778 wrote: »

In total this year, I've invested £12.25k and currently all of it is in lloyds, £3k still to invest before the tax year ends, with a current break even price of 63.2p. I've watched tesla essentially do nothing and Nvidia go stratospheric, the fact I care about these stocks despite no position worries me! My current plan is to invest >100k over the next 5 years in a range of dividend stocks. I'll look to diversify in the next year, planning for £5k each in BAE, AVIVA, BT and GSK. That said, if SpaceX go public, I won't be able to resist!

Thanks for that post ro2778, I loved reading it.

Like you, I like to think about the world we live in and make little predictions. My shares in Tesla stood still this year but another of my punts, Blackrock World Mining Trust has returned more than 100%. Actually I wish I had thought more deeply about things & bought into lithium as I understand that the demand for lithium in batteries has increased its price by 3x this year. Another of my shares, Circle Holdings, is down 50%.

Whatever, you are in for an exciting ride. To smooth the bumps a little, I keep 50% of my portfolio is in a simple balanced world tracker. This large scoop of vanilla gives me the courage to dabble in different types of sauces on top, and who knows, maybe one day a chocolate flake.

Good luck

ro2778

Happy to entertain, thought I'd add a little weep to the thread I haven't looked into the chemistry of batteries so much but I've heard that graphene batteries might represent the next big breakthrough but unsure if lithium is still required. That said lithium will be dominant in early electric car capacity I'm sure, but the key will be the chemistry of model 3 batteries. I think Panasonic is Tesla's battery supplier both for electric cars and their battery storage businesses, both of which I can see going from strength to strength when you consider reports that solar electricity in 2016 reached parity with other fuel sources in many regions and is cheaper in many more, plus this coupled with the rising cost of oil.

Like you say, it's fun to think about the world and invest accordingly.

ColdIron

ro2778 wrote: »

Because I'd like to learn how to invest and if I choose funds I'll never be motivated to learn.

In the nicest possible way I think all you are learning is how not to invest. If you currently have 100% of your investment as shares in a single company I'd question if you have learnt anything at all

Ray_Singh-Blue

It's certainly a polarised stance, but it is only 10% of what he/she hopes to invest over the next 5 years. He/she is "looking to diversify in the next year, planning for £5k each in a range of stocks". So a total wipeout would not the the end of the world. Won't be sleeping in a shop doorway.

If SpaceX go public, they won't be able to resist, & neither will I. To infinity and beyond...

ro2778

ColdIron wrote: »

In the nicest possible way I think all you are learning is how not to invest. If you currently have 100% of your investment as shares in a single company I'd question if you have learnt anything at all

Seeing as you're trying to be as nice as possible I'll respond. The thing is, you, and the others above sharing their wisdom don't understand my position as I didn't write the post above to explain my investment decisions, or to seek advice. I simply intended to contribute to the request of the original poster to share some boasts or weeps, therefore your judgement has no context and doesn't apply. Put another way, you're telling me French cuisine is the best but I'm Japanese and I like Fugu.

Thrugelmir

ro2778 wrote: »

Because I'd like to learn how to invest and if I choose funds I'll never be motivated to learn.

What do you expect to learn from selecting a single share. Irrespective of holding funds. The basic concept should be to diversify ones portfolio. With a gain overall being the objective.