As you may have picked up from previous posts I’m spending quite a lot of time during the week commuting to and from the office, around 3 hours a day in fact. I’ve decided to start using this time a bit more wisely while I take on the mundane drive up and down the M6 and have started listening to investment related Audiobooks! Now I’ve listened to a good few books previously but they’ve always been novels. So I’ve put together a list of books to listen which will hopefully help to educate me one or another. I started off, rather obviously, with the Naked Trader’s “How Anyone Can Make Money Trading Shares”. I’ve read this book a couple of times already but felt it a good starting point and of course it’s always good to refresh knowledge. Yesterday evening I began listening to “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. This is quite the classic when it comes to the power of the mind and how you can use that to do exactly as the cover says. I’m still quite early into but I do find this sort of topic thoroughly engrossing. I have a few more books lined up once this is finished which I’ll share in time. Hopefully, at least some of this knowledge will lodge itself somewhere in this thick skull of mine! If anyone has any suggestions for books/audiobooks to add to my list then please let me know! I want all of the knowledge bombs rammed into my head and to make the most of my journeys!
The wife and I spent Monday evening at Market Garden in Blackpool to see our favourite band Bon Iver. This was the third time we’d seen them live and once more they didn’t disappoint, they were phenomenal! If you’ve not heard of them before please check them out, I would suggest listening to the 3 albums in order and particularly look at the back story to the first album “For Emma, Forever Ago”. The newer stuff is a bit more electronic and more produced, but live it truly is something else! Tuesday saw me begrudgingly make the trip to Burslem and specifically Vale Park for what was once again, an absolute shower of a performance against Accrington Stanley (who are they?). We really are in a world of trouble both on and off the pitch! Maybe when I’ve made my millions I can buy the club and attempt to sort out the mess!! (Not a chance comes the cry from Mrs CT!!!!). If we don’t get these issues resolved soon however I can see us slipping out of the league, and from there goodness knows what will happen but it won’t be pretty. This weekend see’s our little family (as in, the wife, our dogs and myself) slip away to the coast of Wales for some much needed R & R. I’m looking forward to switching off for a couple of days getting plenty of fresh air and clocking up a good few miles walking. Whilst not forgetting the traditional sea front fish and chips! Markets Please note I am not tipping any shares and would seriously encourage anyone reading this to carry out thorough research on any company they are thinking of buying!!!!!! Bit of an up and down time since my last update, though to be expected with the relatively small PF’s I hold and small number of stocks. BooHoo (BOO) released their results on Wednesday and as usual headlined massive uplifts in profits etc. However it was met with a pretty big drop, followed up with an even further drop this morning off the back of news that the joint CEO sold over £10m worth of shares. I must admit, I can’t say I blame her, I mean who wouldn’t take advantage of selling such a holding! And when your remaining holding is still worth over £90m I’m pretty sure she’ll survive just fine! However for my comparatively tiny holding the drop was a little too much as it dropped below a short term support price and hit my stop at a small loss, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles! I’m not overly distraught however as the share doesn’t really fit in with the style in which I want to build my portfolio, and I made a decent enough profit here last year so I’ll quickly move on. Elsewhere XL Media (XLM) has gone ex-dividend so I look forward to that little bonus hitting my account soon. There was a small drop on the ex-divi day as expected but has quickly regained that. Still appears good value to me so whilst I was tempted to top slice some profits, I’ve left it as is for now. Morgan Sindall (MGNS) is still moving fairly sideways on pretty low volume, as said previously happy to just sit and wait with this! Creightons (CRL) broke out into a 52 week high which is a positive move, it has since pulled back a little but appears to want to sit just above 40p for the moment which is more than fine with me. This sees me up around 20% on my buy price. Finally I have today also bought something! Robert Walters (RWA) appeared in one of ADVFN’s Toplists I check on a daily basis. It appears in the “52 week breakout” list and immediately looked positive. It’s got a nice upward trend on the chart, profits are rising and has a decent amount of cash sitting in it’s bank. I’ll be looking forward to that chart continuing it’s quiet, boring rise to net me a nice bit of profit! Until next time… Ian
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Well I guess that’s it then? Summer has well and truly vacated us for another year hasn’t it? I mean, I’ve resisted the temptation to stick the heating on just yet, but it feels like it’s not far off now. That along with the seemingly never ending rain is enough to make anyone start browsing for holidays, so that is exactly what we did this past weekend! We’d been talking about booking a winter break for some time but due to Mrs CT’s massively busy schedule we hadn’t been able to make any firm plans. We discussed a few possible destinations but decided due to one reason or another to settle on Mauritius for 2 weeks of sunshine in January. I love it when the UK weather is cold and miserable, with dark mornings and dark nights, and then just being able to jump on a plane and fly away to somewhere exotic and hot! I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to it! Before then we have a much different weekend break planned to the coast of northern Wales. It’s my first venture with an Airbnb and fingers crossed it’s a pleasurable one. It’s a short break away in a small beach village with our dogs to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary.
Along with the bad weather seemingly comes a higher than usual number of bad drivers! I currently have the unfortunately pleasure of sitting on the M6 twice a day as I trundle to and from the office. This week alone I have seen a number of clowns who either believe it’s acceptable to have no lights on at all during thick fog, or that it’s even more acceptable to cut people up whilst chucking a cup of McDonalds cola at another car in the outside lane, alongside your usual fill of tailgaters! I honestly don’t see why people get so angry and stressed behind the wheel, I’m just happy to arrive each day in one piece! I’ve been running through a few ideas of things to add to the site, one of which is having a few guest posts from you guys. So I guess this is a bit of a request really, I’m looking for content from you! It can be about anything you like really, though obviously fitting it around investing and trading is what the site is about. Please feel free to get in touch if you have something already out there, or if you fancy giving it a go but have never set up a blog for yourself, or even if you are a distinguished, established blogger already! Contact me either in the comments section here or via email. Markets Please note I am not tipping any shares and would seriously encourage anyone reading this to carry out thorough research on any company they are thinking of buying!!!!!! My portfolios have retraced a touch since my last update though that certainly is no bad thing. There had been some decent gains in the past couple of weeks which couldn’t have continued at the same pace… Current star performer XL Media (XLM) has held nicely above 140p since their half yearly report was published last week. It’s also reassuring to notice that a few more well respected investors have dipped their toes in here which helps to sooth any potential worries of a drop. I know with this being an AIM listed business based in Israel has meant many approach with caution, hopefully with the seemingly now consistent positive results coming out will mean it gets the attention it deserves. As things stand I’m looking at profits of around 32% across my SIPP and ISA. BooHoo (BOO) seems to hovering around 250ish pence mark pending their next set up results which, as mentioned previously, are due later this month. It hasn’t seen the usual rise holders have come to expect from this share, but I suppose it could only keep that pattern up for so long? Morgan Sindall (MGNS) has started to very slowly creep up though to be honest I will expecting a little more after the last set of results. Still, more than happy to be patient with this one as I hold in both my SIPP and ISA. Creightons PLC (CRL) continues it’s rollercoaster ride of biggish rises following similar sized retraces. Again happy to be patient here and the movement is to be expected due to the slightly smaller market cap than what I usually deal with. There have been a couple of shares which have come onto my radar this week following good results. Both Billington Holdings (BILN) and Swallowfield (SWL) have seen good gains today off the back of these and I’ll be looking more closely into these this evening. On the face though the figures appear to be encouraging. Until next time… Ian It’s quite unbelievable that it is exactly 16 years to the day of the attack on the twin towers. It was one of those days where you knew exactly where you were as the news hit. I’d not long been out of a bed after working an evening shift at the Alton Towers Hotel of all places! Switching the TV on to check out the news and seeing that second plane fly into The South Tower, and ever since then the world has changed remarkably. We saw wars on terror, which only resulted in even more terror worldwide! What are currently left with can only be described as something of a clusterfuck!
Despite the gloomy outlook for the world generally presently, things are thankfully much better closer to home! Mrs CT has just gained herself a promotion, which has been more than earned for the effort, long hours and amazing talent she has. I shan’t inflate her ego too much but to say I’m immensely proud is an understatement! We went into our local town on Saturday evening to celebrate, grabbing something to eat in one of the newer trendy bar/eateries that have sprung up in the past 12 months. It really has become something of a cool place to go to dine and have a few drinks since we’ve moved to the area, further reinforcing our belief we absolutely made the correct decision! I’m just looking forward to my wife’s continued rise through the ranks, as I’ll then be able to retire even earlier and become a kept man!! As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, my football team are Port Vale, who appear to be doing all they can to get worse and worse. After another defeat on Saturday we are literally the worst club in the professional game! I’m really not looking forward to having to go this coming Saturday! Markets Please note I am not tipping any shares and would seriously encourage anyone reading this to carry out thorough research on any company they are thinking of buying!!!!!! Despite my previous comments regarding September being traditionally a bit crap, it has actually been excellent so far! I’m not going to count my chickens too much but I’ve managed to claw back most of the drop experienced in recent weeks! XL Media (XLM) have this morning dropped their 6 month results which make excellent reading which leaves the current share price up 8% on the day at the time of writing. Creightons (CRL) has also shown a remarkable turn around in the past week which at one point saw me down 10%. As we speak I am now showing a profit of around 13% on paper, hopefully we’ve seen the turn on this one as I think it’s a company with great potential. Elsewhere BooHoo (BOO) has now turned from a loss to a profit within my portfolio, results are due very soon so all being well they will continue to follow their excellent progress from the past couple of years. There’s not a great deal else to report on current holdings, I’m steadily building funds up in my ISA as I mentioned previously and I’ll let that get a bigger pot before I look to invest funds there, hopefully it won’t be too long though! I have however this week taken some time to review how I'm doing and what lessons can be learned from previous trades. When I look through the list of previous sold shares, the profits/losses that I took on these, and where these shares are now, the lesson flashes in massive letters I SELL FAR TOO EARLY!!!!! This is both as far as selling losers and winners! I won't run through the full facts, but basically had I been in a position where I'd have held all shares bought in the past 18 months, I'd have made TEN TIMES MORE PROFIT than I actually have done! So there's plenty of food for thought here and a lot to take away and think on regarding strategy going forward. But basically, I am able to find a decent share, but as is often the case, it's what I do with it once held that needs working on! Until next time… Ian |
AuthorConfessions of a Crap Trader is a blog following a regular investor trying to make profit via the London Stock Exchange. Follow his journey as he attempts to hopefully one day pay his mortgage off in full! Archives
April 2018
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