Share/Investment advice

[scotty77]

Hey guys,

For the past 2 years I've been very aware of the need to put away some kind of security for my future, as I'm sure everyone on this board appreciates.  I decided that every month that I could afford it, that I would automatically invest £2k in shares, and also top this up should I have any good months/decent tournie binks.  Really something that I've been doing where the plan is to have a bit of a nest egg in the 5-10 year mark but also with the added bonus of it being money that I can't instantly access and punt should I somehow lose my brains and do my roll.

Have had a pretty decent month so far and looking for a way to invest it.  I haven't yet used my ISA allowance so I added an ISA account to my H&L share dealing one that for now just has the maximum held there in cash.  Been thinking of investing in a FTSE All-Share/100 tracker but really there's so many out there just wondering if anyone has any kind of experience in this

My general strategy so far has been on solid, blue chip companies with a secure dividend.  Generally I just punt around tho, and while I enjoy taking a look at stuff a lot of it goes over my head.  It looks like this so far:

Tesco - By far my biggest holding.  Was just the standard go to share for a while.

AstraZenica - Second biggest holding.  Main attraction was the dividend.

Vodafone - My longest holding, and very happy with its performance.  Somewhat of an emotional share for me as I did my work experience at the and everyone treated me so well.

Centrica - After Ed Milibands interesting comments they took a 5pc drop yesterday.  Can't see any reason for the comments to hurt them long term so thinking about increasing my position.  Thoughts?  Also been thinking of getting into SSE for the same reason.

Rolls Royce - I actually looked into this because of Tikay's love of this company on his diary.

Morrisons - Unsure about this one as is a bit unwise to hold in the same sector as Tesco.  They do tend to target a slightly different market tho.

Sports Direct - Got in end of last and from memory my 2nd best performer in terms of ROI.  Been thinking about selling half there shares and effectively freerolling the other half. Thoughts

Quintain Estates - Followed a tip from a mate.  It is in the London property investment business.  My best performer and  same for Sports Direct really.

Lloyds Banking - One month I just felt like I needed a banking share and picked this one as there was talk of the government selling there share.

Scottish American Investment - Currently my only fund and probably the one I'm most unsure about.  Got some banter value tho with having SCAM as its symbol.

Cheers guys

[vegaslover]

It looks pretty solid on what you have, without taking too much risk

Do you have any property investments?

[scotty77]

I have a house with a mortgage, but as my main source of income is poker, things are a bit tricky om that fromt. I have been looking to getting a new place tho and asked for advice from Eso which had some positive signs and will be looking into moving sometime next year.

Getting into rental properties is something that is a major possibility in 2-3 years but as my immediate future is gonna be firmly in poker I think it's something that is best left to a time when I can dedicate more time to it.

[millidonk]

Worth taking the max of £30k in premium bonds. No way of losing the money, on avg perform just under isas (this is worked out by the avg prize money) but the main attraction is you have the chance to win a milli ball and with how you run...

[Tal]

Worth taking the max of £30k in premium bonds. No way of losing the money, on avg perform just under isas (this is worked out by the avg prize money) but the main attraction is you have the chance to win a milli ball and with how you run...

Money saving expert has a calculator for this on the website.

As a personal aside, I was once told that vintage watches were a good investment. You could get a very nice Patek Phillippe watch - say a classic and simple chronograph - for £25k and they would never lose their value (in as much as one can say Never in an investment situation...). Would be low yield, I expect, but the watch is already 60+ years old, so it has seen a fair few market ups and downs off.

Out of my price range, but something I personally would look into, were I to start racking up Herbiemob flags.

This whole area is far from my comfort zone/expertise and I expect property is the best investment in reality. Was just mooting an angle.

[Doobs]

Worth taking the max of £30k in premium bonds. No way of losing the money, on avg perform just under isas (this is worked out by the avg prize money) but the main attraction is you have the chance to win a milli ball and with how you run...

No it isn't. 

[Doobs]

Worth taking the max of £30k in premium bonds. No way of losing the money, on avg perform just under isas (this is worked out by the avg prize money) but the main attraction is you have the chance to win a milli ball and with how you run...

Money saving expert has a calculator for this on the website.

As a personal aside, I was once told that vintage watches were a good investment. You could get a very nice Patek Phillippe watch - say a classic and simple chronograph - for £25k and they would never lose their value (in as much as one can say Never in an investment situation...). Would be low yield, I expect, but the watch is already 60+ years old, so it has seen a fair few market ups and downs off.

Out of my price range, but something I personally would look into, were I to start racking up Herbiemob flags.

This whole area is far from my comfort zone/expertise and I expect property is the best investment in reality. Was just mooting an angle.

Jesus

[Tal]

Worth taking the max of £30k in premium bonds. No way of losing the money, on avg perform just under isas (this is worked out by the avg prize money) but the main attraction is you have the chance to win a milli ball and with how you run...

Money saving expert has a calculator for this on the website.

As a personal aside, I was once told that vintage watches were a good investment. You could get a very nice Patek Phillippe watch - say a classic and simple chronograph - for £25k and they would never lose their value (in as much as one can say Never in an investment situation...). Would be low yield, I expect, but the watch is already 60+ years old, so it has seen a fair few market ups and downs off.

Out of my price range, but something I personally would look into, were I to start racking up Herbiemob flags.

This whole area is far from my comfort zone/expertise and I expect property is the best investment in reality. Was just mooting an angle.

Jesus

Now THERE'S a good lifetime investment!

[tikay]

"Rolls Royce - I actually looked into this because of Tikay's love of this company on his diary."[/b]

Hi Ryan.

If you have not already purchased them, DO NOT do so now.

They were £2.80 on 2008, & are currently £11.22.

They will steadily grow, over time, but you've missed the boat really as to the explosive growth of the last 5 years. The shares of very big Companies tend to plod along fairly steadily.

RR have a forward order book of £70 billion, & their installed base must be worth, literally, £trillions. All that gear has to be maintained, & spare parts supplied. The average life of a RR Aero or Marine engine is over 30 years, so that is a lot of almost guaranteed future income.

A very solid investment indeed, & a fine company to boot, but all that is in the price, imo.

Their latest half year results are here....

http://www.rolls-royce.com/Images/2013_half_year_appendices_data_pack_tcm92-50022.pdf

I think I may have put you on to Tesco, too. They have barely moved in 5 years, going from around £3.20 to £3.70, & have probably lagged the market, but you get a nice steady, & pretty much guaranteed, Dividend. Tesco will have their ups & downs, but they aint ever going away, or busto. Dull as dishwater as a Share, but solid.

You mention Sports Direct. Been an absolutely fabulous Share, gone from around 50p some 5 years ago to £7 now, but the explosive growth is over, & I'd be bailing out personally. The man who runs it is an absolute total genius, football supporters all think he is dumb, (he sort of owns Newcastle United) but he knows exactly what he is doing.

Good luck mate, & I think you are being very wise locking up this money in shares.

[scotty77]

I'll reply as I'm currently in a huge jam on the M1 and won't be making my flight.

Millidonk - have been told the very same thing about my likelihood of binking the jackpot from a few people! Will prob put in a few K for the sweat

Tal - I just couldn't trust myself!

Tikay - got into RR a few months ago at 1000 something so a profit locked.  tesco at various points from 290 to 330. Both are long term.  SD I agree with and think I will reduce to 50pc.  Met Mike Ashley a few years ago in the Palm Beach. Great guy.

[byronkincaid]

You seem to be building up a High Yield Portfolio (HYP), there are about a zillion posts on the motley fool http://boards.fool.co.uk/high-yield-hyp-practical-51676.aspxl http://boards.fool.co.uk/high-yield-share-strategies-51166.aspx on this after steven bland "invented" the idea a few years ago. Loads of bloggers have done the same for example http://monevator.com/a-new-high-yield-portfolio-for-2011/

Vanguard are like the pokerstars of fund management, no share holders so they are not out to grab every single penny from their clients. They tend to be passive not active which tikay doesn't like but if you read this to get the opposite opinion http://www.amazon.co.uk/Smarter-Investing-Simpler-Decisions-Results/dp/0273722077 then a Vanguard LifeStrategy fund prob 80% equity does seem like a very good idea to me. http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/v/vanguard-lifestrategy-80-equity-accumulation

[tikay]

I'll reply as I'm currently in a huge jam on the M1 and won't be making my flight.

Millidonk - have been told the very same thing about my likelihood of binking the jackpot from a few people! Will prob put in a few K for the sweat

Tal - I just couldn't trust myself!

Tikay - got into RR a few months ago at 1000 something so a profit locked.  tesco at various points from 290 to 330. Both are long term.  SD I agree with and think I will reduce to 50pc.  Met Mike Ashley a few years ago in the Palm Beach. Great guy.

Excellent, you are in great shape, & freerolling.

PS - Personally - just me - but I really don't like the notion of investing in Premium Bonds.

[Eso Kral]

I have a house with a mortgage, but as my main source of income is poker, things are a bit tricky om that fromt. I have been looking to getting a new place tho and asked for advice from Eso which had some positive signs and will be looking into moving sometime next year.

Getting into rental properties is something that is a major possibility in 2-3 years but as my immediate future is gonna be firmly in poker I think it's something that is best left to a time when I can dedicate more time to it.

Geeeg Bankroll 

[Doobs]

Worth taking the max of £30k in premium bonds. No way of losing the money, on avg perform just under isas (this is worked out by the avg prize money) but the main attraction is you have the chance to win a milli ball and with how you run...

Money saving expert has a calculator for this on the website.

As a personal aside, I was once told that vintage watches were a good investment. You could get a very nice Patek Phwatch illippe - say a classic and simple chronograph - for £25k and they would never lose their value (in as much as one can say Never in an investment situation...). Would be low yield, I expect, but the watch is already 60+ years old, so it has seen a fair few market ups and downs off.

Out of my price range, but something I personally would look into, were I to start racking up Herbiemob flags.

This whole area is far from my comfort zone/expertise and I expect property is the best investment in reality. Was just mooting an angle.

Jesus

Now THERE'S a good lifetime investment!

Sorry was busy this morning, so will provide a bit more detail on this.

I see a few big problems with chucking big sums at "investments" like the watch (though I could just substitute this with fine wine, works of art, impressive folly on his lordship's estate).

Scotty knows nothing about these items, so somebody who knows a lot about these items is going to sell him them.  This person will make his money by buying and selling such items, so he isn't ever going to let Scotty buy them at a rate that leaves Scotty much opportunity to make a killing.  The most likely result is he is sold the item at such a rate that the seller makes a healthy return on his investment in the watch.  The healthier this return is for the seller, the lower Scotty's return will be.

Scotty's new "investment" produces no income, but it will be worse than that.  When Scotty comes to renew his insurance, he now should reveal he has this very valuable vintage watch.  That isn't going to be cheap to insure, so rather than making money, we lose money every year.

When he sells, he still knows nothing about watches, so he ends up selling to somebody who needs to buy at such a price that he can make a healthy return on his investment.

This is all compounded by the possibility of making forced sales.  If I have money in the bank I can get it easily, if I have it in shares, I can get it easily, but might get punished a bit by selling at a bad time.  If I have one watch, then I can't sell it easily, may get punished by selling at a bad time, and may be forced to sell to the person who has the money to buy that watch right now.  All these things are not condusive to making a decent ROI from watches, fine art etc.

So in life, buy nice things if you like nice things, but don't buy them as investments.

[Doobs]

Worth taking the max of £30k in premium bonds. No way of losing the money, on avg perform just under isas (this is worked out by the avg prize money) but the main attraction is you have the chance to win a milli ball and with how you run...

No it isn't. 

I will try and expand on this.

Scotty has a mortgage, he is probably paying 4% a year long run on this. 
Scotty buys premium bonds and gets 1.3% long run on these.
So Scotty puts 30k in premium bonds rather than lopping £30k off his mortgage, he should expect to lose £810 a year, so to say there is no way of losing money isn't strictly true, in fact Scotty is way more likely to lose money than win money.
Of course he can win the mill ball, every bond has a 1 in 45 billion chance of winning that every month.  You really are better off paying off the mortgage and just playing the lottery for a couple of quid every week (or even a mug accumulator/scoop 6). 

For reference I have 5k premium bonds and spend zero on the lottery, but at least I know I am a mug, and if you pay top rate tax frequently then it isn't so bad.