My S&S diary - investing from February 2026

LL_USS

26 March 2026

Funny feeling experienced by people who have cash at the moment ready to invest: scared of encounting more nasty surprises as well as scared of missing opportunities in the market. All right all right, that's why we have dollar cost averaging….

So exciting to see a tiny green within all the reds 😅. After Dodl charged me its first round of platform fee on 24 March, it feels sorry for the state of the account and gave me some cash back next day 🤣

LL_USS

Wednesday 1 April 2026

The market picks up considerably today after Trump announced the war will come to an end soon, vowing to leave Iran in "weeks", especially Emerging Markets, Asia ex Japan. The downtrend for Microsoft has also been reversed a bit. Oh no - unless it's just April Fools' Day 😅.

I can gradually see that there's no point watching the market movements closely unless it is for swing trades, cashing out yields, or considering to buy more as the desired stocks becoming relatively cheaper.

I still need to invest about 10K cash leftover in my Dodl, plus 4K extra cash injection after 6 April + 1K government bonus = total 15K, half of what I have already commited in stocks and shares to date. Definitely I am more careful with planning now.

PS: Emerging Markets are more volatile in crisis, as I had been told before but did not notice at that time - massive sold-off last week, coming back up quite fast with good news but if the news does not substantiate then I suppose it'll come back down considerably again.

cloud_dog

Do you have a comparative portfolio value IF you had simply invested all the cash back when you started, as a reference point against your on going trading learning value?

LL_USS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81945585#Comment_81945585

@cloud_dog - I have not updated my spreadsheet for a few days but have just done so to compare the prices if I had bought these investments right away from the start (prices first bought), vs. prices the weekend before the war, vs. average prices I have bought to date, and prices as visible on Dodl today. Is this what you asked?
I did not think I would buy all in as I had always thought the valuations were already too high for all these stocks. Yet I had sat on my cash for 2 years so I still had to start, and planned to add money in gradually. Yet I still bought more too fast after the conflict first happened in the Middle East and everything still went down a lot after. Today (1 April) things already look up a bit. As of today, if I had gone all in at the start, the portfolio would be more in negative.

LL_USS

8am Friday 3 April 2026

A bit curious to see what's happening to gold and oil today (I don't have any, just curious about what follows the news). 8:30 and still nothing happened 😯. Guess what I googled: "What's wrong with the stock market today" and oops it is Good Friday, market closes 🙄. Back to bed for a little lie-in 😍

Quick summary to date:
LISA pot size at start in Feb: £38,997.73
Cash adjustments (cash interest+dividend+profit from selling-platform charge): £361.17
LISA pot size (not including investment results): £38,997.73+£361.17= £39,358
Investment to date: £28,964.30 (uncrystalised loss on investments: -£680.35/£28,964.30=-2.35%)
Left to invest: £39,358 - £28,964.30 = £10,394.60
£4,000 new year allowance ready to pay in on 6 April + £1,000 gov bonus
Total still to invest after the bonus: £15,394.60

LL_USS

6 April 2026 - first day of the new fiscal year

My £4,000 sum put aside just in time to start the new tax year actually came down to £3,500 because of some unexpected maintainance for the house, whilst I did not want to take out from other higher-interest regular saving pots. So many extra and higher costs these days - I already cancelled TV license last year after years not having used it except BBC iplayer and BBC breakfast (now these two have gone too). I also cancelled my Trade Union membership by the end of last month - feeling a bit unsure but it's more than £30/month, still a big sum to spend without seeing very clear benefits.

£3,500 - where to put it? Initial plan was to add to Dodl Lifetime ISA as it would get 25% government bonus within a few weeks, plus cash interest. Yet I still want some flexibility whilst learning to invest, which I don't feel I have with Dodl platform. So I have just opened a Stocks ISA with Trading 212 - it is a flexible one, meaning I can still withdraw some out and put back in within the same tax year; I didn't realise we have to opt-in for interest on cash held uninvested in T212. Opting in now.

I still have about 3K stuck in standard Invest account with T212 - Emerging markets and Novo. Please get back to green so I can sell and wait to buy things to hedge my other investments please 😄. I may still keep this T212 Invest account because new purchases for cryptos ETNs are no longer allowed on S&S ISAs from today under HMRC legislation. My plan for the long term is to gradually buy gold, energy, defence and perhaps a bit of crypto to hedge my areas stocks.

Happy East Monday!

LL_USS

Wed 8 April 2026

Sorting out T212 invest account while gardening in the warmest day of the year so far. Market rally today after the announcement of the cease fire in the Middle East. ishares Emerging market sold together with trial stocks on T212 all sold (except Novo, which is still in red) to get back the money waiting for longer term investments. Dodl LISA just has long-term investments so all still intact, no buying or selling. Everything gets back to green (except MSFT).

LL_USS

Tuesday 14 Apr 2026

I almost forgot how green looks like…
All Dodl (long-term, lifetime ISAs) area indexes are back to green, whilst MSFT still in red after a rally of tech indexes yesterday- so overall slightly up for the pot.
Sold ishares Emerging Market on Dodl (supposedly to be long-term but I feel it's better to get back to a higher cash position and enter gradually back in). Dodl is actually okay selling ishares ETF. Selling request sent before 10am, 10:15 changed status, 10:25 in progress, and about 10:40 the money is in. They seem to also managed to get the best limit price (£37.28/share, seemingly highest today upto lunch time, and highest since the drop after the weekend Trump bombed Teheran).

Only had 2K to top up LISA on 6 April (as I opened a new Stock ISA with T212 to gradually buy gold and energy there when the prices are better, to hedge my long-term investments on Dodl).

Today after selling EM on Dodl (plus 2K no gov bonus yet plus some swing trades/ dividend/ cash interest), Dodl pot stands at £41,429.38, in which £17,719.93 cash to invest.

Newbie_John

I almost forgot how green looks like…

This kind of reminds me of me last year when tarriffs kicked in, then I've stopped touching and checking things. It all went well from there. So it's a great lesson.

And the best things are actually my pension pots for the past 10 years, haven't touched anything, have looked once every 3 years and it has a growth of 10% annually.

Hope it helps, good luck!

csgohan4

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81945984#Comment_81945984

Very brave to have Japan in there, historically have done poorly

I did have China years ago but sold once the Ant Group saga rolled out and the treatment of Alibaba