SMT recent performance

jscol

I've never sold any funds before. 
Always thought I was a long term investor. Always believed you can't time markets etc.  However recently SMT had done so well I thought I would sell £2000 worth and bank some profits.  The price at that stage was 980p. This was about 2 weeks ago. Tonight I see they are upto 1056p. I think I've learned something, namely how unpredictable the markets are. I really thought 980 was as high as it would go and I'd get back in at a lower price. I really enjoy reading these forums and learning but sometimes you have to see the consequences of your actions to better appreciate the markets. 

Steve182

10% of my total investments are in SMT.

Did you notice that their Tesla % grew to 15% recently so they sold 2/3rds of it to reduce their holding to 5% (very rough numbers).

There is a difference between investing in trusts/funds vs investing in direct shareholdings yourself.

 In trusts/funds you are employing a manager to make the buy/sell decisions. In direct shareholdings you need to make those decisions yourself and maybe take profits as you see fit.

If you have faith in the manager, don't anticipate imminent stock market armageddon and don't need the money to buy a house or whatever then why sell?

 

jscol

Totally agree. Was just trying to be clever. I knew they'd reduced their Tesla holding (didn't know exact proportion.)
I had no particular need to bank profits. Don't feel so clever know but it does help me learn. 

Steve182

jscol said:

Totally agree. Was just trying to be clever. I knew they'd reduced their Tesla holding (didn't know exact proportion.)
I had no particular need to bank profits. Don't feel so clever know but it does help me learn. 

We have all done that, For what it's worth and to make you feel better I thought I'd do some value investing in January as much of mine was invested in US/China tech etc and wanted to diversify. Value investing was totally against my investment principles up until that point. Bought £20K in Shell. Now worth £9K. I don't feel clever about that! 

Cypruseast

SMT was originally (about 5 yes ago) about 30% of my investment. In that time it it has gone from £3 to over £10.50 as share and by value it is now 55% of my holding. It started giving me sleepless nights about 6 months ago and hasn’t stopped since. Going to keep a close eye in the run up to the US election. I have nearly sold out about 3 times in the past few months so I know your pain and challenge. Seems the world is piling into Tech so who knows where it will go!! 

Steve182

Cypruseast said:

SMT was originally (about 5 yes ago) about 30% of my investment. In that time it it has gone from £3 to over £10.50 as share and by value it is now 55% of my holding. It started giving me sleepless nights about 6 months ago and hasn’t stopped since. Going to keep a close eye in the run up to the US election. I have nearly sold out about 3 times in the past few months so I know your pain and challenge. Seems the world is piling into Tech so who knows where it will go!! 

If you are really losing sleep over it you should not be investing the bulk of your money in anything as volatile as SMT. You may be right about tech. Why not diversify a little?

jscol

That does make me feel better! Thanks. 
Out of interest are you just planning to accept it's a long term game and hold your Shell position? Or do you have an alternative strategy? 

Cypruseast

jscol said:

That does make me feel better! Thanks. 
Out of interest are you just planning to accept it's a long term game and hold your Shell position? Or do you have an alternative strategy? 

If I am honest I have no idea what I’m going to do lol!! I currently feel over exposed as a result of its growth. I had to sell the house of my dreams and the bit of cash that I managed to get out I ploughed into my investments. They’ve all to an extent done very well over the 5yrs, so the money is precious to me (I appreciate that’s probably the same for all). Tbh I’ve other monies sitting in a savings account so I’ll spend the next few years exhausting my ISA allowance and have started to look for additional investments to balance everything. I currently have 5 different funds including PCT which has also done well, BG Shin Nippon, JEFI and Blackrock UK Small Cos so I want to broaden my horizon a little and yea I’ll probably ultimately try and hold for another 5yrs or so and hopefully find the right time to get out. That’s a very loose plan that could change in a month lol. SMT and PCT are the most likely ones to be sold due to their growth and volatility. The others I feel are more long term and I’m happy to wait in the hope for growth over the next 5yrs or so. 

Steve182

I plan  to hold shell in the expectation (or hope)  that it may recover to something like the price I paid within say 5 years. If that starts to look unlikely I will take the hit and buy something that looks more promising.

Cypruseast

Steve182 said:

Cypruseast said:

SMT was originally (about 5 yes ago) about 30% of my investment. In that time it it has gone from £3 to over £10.50 as share and by value it is now 55% of my holding. It started giving me sleepless nights about 6 months ago and hasn’t stopped since. Going to keep a close eye in the run up to the US election. I have nearly sold out about 3 times in the past few months so I know your pain and challenge. Seems the world is piling into Tech so who knows where it will go!! 

If you are really losing sleep over it you should not be investing the bulk of your money in anything as volatile as SMT. You may be right about tech. Why not diversify a little?

Well I’m not as such losing sleep but yea it does cause a slight level of anxiety at times - especially around mid Feb this year!! Tbh I agree entirely that I’m over exposed here, it was never my intention but it’s growth has created that scenario which is good and bad. I keep a v close eye though so if I need to react then I will. 

Steve182

Cypruseast said:

Steve182 said:

Cypruseast said:

SMT was originally (about 5 yes ago) about 30% of my investment. In that time it it has gone from £3 to over £10.50 as share and by value it is now 55% of my holding. It started giving me sleepless nights about 6 months ago and hasn’t stopped since. Going to keep a close eye in the run up to the US election. I have nearly sold out about 3 times in the past few months so I know your pain and challenge. Seems the world is piling into Tech so who knows where it will go!! 

If you are really losing sleep over it you should not be investing the bulk of your money in anything as volatile as SMT. You may be right about tech. Why not diversify a little?

Well I’m not as such losing sleep but yea it does cause a slight level of anxiety at times - especially around mid Feb this year!! Tbh I agree entirely that I’m over exposed here, it was never my intention but it’s growth has created that scenario which is good and bad. I keep a v close eye though so if I need to react then I will. 

Mid Feb to mid March I just stopped looking (at my portfolio) and resigned myself to the fact it was 2008 all over again but decided DO NOT SELL. Thank god I didn't!