We all have different ways of searching for that next purchase and it can be a very varied an individual approach taken by any population of investors. My approach has been honed over 25 years and may seem a little odd to some investors but it works for me and is one I feel comfortable with: I thought it was worth adding to the blog.
Firstly things I don’t do: I no longer subscribe to magazines, in the past I used to take Investors Chronicle and Shares Magazine and to a point especially in my formative years of investing, they were of some use. After a while, you find that the same concepts are being churned time and again. In terms of their tips, well as the pair cover about half of the entire market in a year they have to be right some of the time. Similarly Newspapers: can’t remember the last time I bought one or even looked at a tip from one of them. When it comes to news it seems a fact that in this modern age newspapers should be titled recent history papers as the internet keeps us up to date so rapidly. When I first started investing seriously in the early 90’s I used to suck up all of the information I could from a large number of tip sheets. The cost was not overly bad as it was shared between the twelve members on an investment club and I think money spent wisely at the time for a group of newbie’s. Ones I recall are The Analyst, Chart Breakout, SCSW & Technivest: today and for many years I have not subscribed to any; just don’t see the need. I even went to a talk in London given by the founder of the Analyst magazine where Blacks Leisure and JJB as lifetime holds; enough said! Another one I do not do is take any notice of the rubbish written on BB’s by those folk in the know. I find BB’s are often populated by serious rampers who use the classic pump and dump or just don’t have a clue what they are talking about, so once again not for me. For many years I used to begin my morning by listening to wake up to money with the genial Mickey Clarke, always amusing but prone to spread panic more than calm with the various guests on the show; now days not for me. They had some good journalists’ and some absolutely crap experts on that show! So there we are, a list of stuff I don’t do as I find this stuff simply clouds my vision: without being pompous why should these 100’s of tips be any better than the research that I carry out; I do doubt myself of course and realise that I won’t get everything right and will make mistakes. Secondly, Things I Do To Find My Information: Well, that’s affair list of things I do not do. Now onto where I seek my information that aids my whittling: For a start and I would suggest that all investors do this, I try to analyse and understand personality as I think it’s vitally important as an investor to understand yourself, what you comfortable with, what you are not comfortable with, how patient you are, how you perceive and handle risk. For myself, I know that I am not nor could ever be a day trader or somebody who would take a punt on a share, try to catch the falling knife etc. I know I am reasonably patient and understand what allows me to sleep at night. Turning to getting the raw data itself, I use three or four sources of easy information: SharePad, Sharescope, Stockopedia and Sharelockholmes. Each of these has a whole wealth of information and also enable one to customise your screening methods as well as in the case of Sharescope offer valuable and easy access to technical analysis; what a grand term for charting! If I were to be asked if I relied on fundamental analysis or technical analysis I would have to say a combination of both with a 75% bias to fundamental analysis. Turning to company information and RNS; each day at 7 am I go to the Investegate site and take an early view on company results and trading updates. Deciphering the important stuff from the mundane is made somewhat easier by using the phrase add-on facility in Firefox. I may then put out a few notes and thoughts on Twitter. Whilst mentioning Twitter, I should say that I find generally there is a whole bunch of very helpful private investors out there willing to share thoughts. Also, I have to say that I could not finish a private investor blog discussing resources without mentioning the fact that there are some wonderful blogs out there written by PI’s. These investors give their time freely to honestly and helpfully give their thoughts, methodology and education to our investment community. Happy investing!
2 Comments
catflap
12/14/2015 12:54:41 pm
Not so odd. Not listening to WUTM much these days either or newspaper tips, for example....
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Hi Catflap,
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Welcome to my Blog Page - I hope you find my whittling on to be of some interest. I am a private investor who is happy to share thoughts on the market and individual stocks. Please remember that I am definitely not offering tips or investment advice. Archives
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