As the sun sets on 2024, my approach to investing has again been characterised by resilience and stewardship. My efforts to diversify my portfolio geographically have continued, leading to a year-end weighting of 68.9% towards UK equities, 9.3% US equities, 7.3% Asian equities, 2.8% Swiss equities, 1.1% European equities, and 10.6% cash, including bonds. While […]
In last month’s article, I published a brief overview of the UK’s investment budget and explored how some of the changes may impact the investing landscape. Since then, reactions to the budget have turned decidedly sour, with most investors now resigning themselves to the view that the new Labour government are saying one thing and
How to Build an Investing Watchlist: A Timeless Guide for the Prudent Investor Read More »
In the ever-evolving world of finance, it is the discerning investor who recognises that fiscal policy changes are not merely legislative adjustments but harbingers of new opportunities. The latest UK budget reforms, published last Wednesday by our first ever female Chancellor of the Exchequer, offer much for the astute investor to consider. Initial reactions to
Before making on start on this next article, I would advise going back and making sure you’ve digested part one of this series if you haven’t already. Part one lays the essential foundations of the series and can be accessed via the following link: Thinking like a long-term investor: Part 1 of 2 Human nature
In today’s article, I want to expand on what I mean when I say that I’m a long-term investor and give some tips and tricks I find helpful for both cultivating and sticking to, this mindset. In my experience, less “trading” activity and longer holding periods have generally led to superior results, with my largest
Thinking like a long-term investor – Part 1 of 2 Read More »
Most investors recognise that holding a diversified portfolio of high-quality assets is a key risk management technique. In today’s article, I want to explore the idea of portfolio diversification as a risk management technique in more detaill – in particular, looking at the pros and cons of diversified portfolio vs. a concentrated portfolio, and how
When I first started writing this blog back in 2015, I was only a few years into my investing journey, and was just starting to get to grips with the world of investing. Since then, I’ve met dozens of private investors in all sorts of circumstances – from social events in Windsor (ever been to
In my previous article about investing for income, I explored a brief checklist of ideas for selecting income stocks and building an income-focussed portfolio. In today’s article, I’ve assumed that you’ve gone ahead and selected a few shares that fit these criteria and are now wondering how to manage them. I’ve written multiple articles before
What is investing for income? A few weeks ago, I was talking to an investor about my approach and described myself as “primarily a value investor with a dash of income investor on the side”. Over the course of the following conversation, I went on to talk through my approach to investing for income, which
Having explored the idea of a quality company in my previous article, I wanted to follow up with an important caveat: price matters and my own approach is now more focussed on investing quality at a reasonable price than simply buying cheap companies. Without working to determine a fair valuation for an asset, an investor
“In the short-term the stock market is a voting machine but in the long-term it is a weighing machine.” Warren Buffett To some degree, I have always cared about ensuring that my approach is focused on investing in quality companies and have therefore used quality as a driver for what to buy and sell. Over
A few weeks ago, I was speaking to a newer investor who had listened to an episode of the podcast and had heard me talking about being “down 40, 50, 60%” on an investment. As someone that hadn’t been investing long, this had concerned them, and they wrote in to ask if I could clarify
Having started investing over ten years ago, I can now say with reasonable confidence that success takes hard work. Grande Sorpresa. After losing 11% in 2022, I have just managed to squeak out a fantastic 0% return. Yes, that’s right, after a whole year of hard work, I’ve managed to go precisely nowhere (compliments can
Earlier this week, a reader contacted me on social media with a question about the repayment of debt compared to paying or maintaining a dividend. Although I initially answered privately, I wanted to take the opportunity to write a longer response which is better suited to an article. “Companies like Vodafone and Halfords which have
In 2007, one of the world’s biggest investment banks, Lehman Brothers, collapsed into bankruptcy after suffering months of share price declines amid rumours of its subprime mortgage exposure. For those readers of a more tender age, the investment banking system had basically loaned funds to property investors that were fundamentally incapable of keeping up with
The Chinese property market – is it Lehman Brothers part II? Read More »
