Topic: The RAWK Investment/Trading Thread

[Charlie Adams fried egg]

Anyone in this thread that can advise me with some queries about shares/dividends?

PM me if you like and I'll see if I can help.

[wige]

Experts: thoughts on the predicted commodities supercycle?

I came in here to see if this was being discussed this too. This Reddit co-ordination has now produced a 300% rise in Gamestop and 50% in the price of Silver in a matter of days.

If it's possible to glean from that particular thread (apparently there's a shit load of bots spamming it now) what the next target(s) are, it's starting to seem like a worthwhile gamble.

[AndyInVA]

I came in here to see if this was being discussed this too. This Reddit co-ordination has now produced a 300% rise in Gamestop and 50% in the price of Silver in a matter of days.

If it's possible to glean from that particular thread (apparently there's a shit load of bots spamming it now) what the next target(s) are, it's starting to seem like a worthwhile gamble.

That Reddt Gamestop thing seems amazing. Listened to a great podcast from NYT today on it. Gamestop reported a 3% down turn on revenue when the game selling market was way up with people playing games at home. Went from $20 to up to $400 per share. Some of the Reddit investors that came on late are bound to lose some real money on that. Loads of stories of people who seem to have made loads on it and well played to them. You never hear from the people who really lose though.

[reddebs]

I have some cash sat in a normal bank account, though it does pay interest, that I'll be using to buy a property abroad as a holiday let when the world opens up again.

Would I be better putting it somewhere else even though it might only be for a few months?

Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk

[Hij]

Alright everyone. Was wondering if anyone had any advice on investments really. Not actual suggestions on particular investments for me to choose if that makes sense, but more general advice on building a portfolio that I can look to maintain for a number of years?

I've got £6k sitting earning fuck all interest in the bank at the moment. I would like to start doing something with it longer term where it may do better than where it is (I understand investment comes with risk and it can go down), but not really sure where to start at all. It usually gets overbearing thinking about it and then I do nothing and leave it where it is. I've had that amount for 2-3 years now. It's safe and accessible in the bank of course, but it may have been better off invested I think- that may be the case for the next 3-7 years as well. I've got other smaller savings accounts for various other things - stuff for the kids in the future, car savings, holiday savings and I'm finally contributing a decent amount above the minimum each month to my pension from my pay packet as I only started it for the first time last year (I'm 33) - so other bases are covered.

So in that sense, it's money that is safe to invest, and I would survive if it all disappeared, I'm not throwing every penny I have into anything and have money to call upon in the short term. Obviously that's a total worst case scenario, and hopefully over 3-5 years whatever I invest would see some moderate returns (but I understand it can go down as well as up).

Other than sticking 5-10% into Crypto and just leaving it for a few years, I have no idea where to start with the rest and everything feels a bit overbearing when you start looking as there is reems of reems of information. VanGuard Trackers? ETFs? Stocks and Shares ISA's?

If anyone has any general advice (or any helpful links) I would really appreciate it. Obviously I understand in advance that it's my own money at risk and I would need to do any due diligence myself.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

 Hij.

Always start by looking at the underlying instrument. The Etfs,  stocks,  bonds,  derivatives are ultimately,  a tool for you to take a direction / position on the underlying.  (well with derivatives you can also take a market neutral  position,  or a view on the volatility or aim for the time decay,  but to start with,  go with the solid,  time worn path).

Don't get taken in by the lingo.  As with football,  quality management,  decision making is gold for a company to gain market share,  rise in valuation,  for you to profit.  Most of the technical indicators are backward looking,  based on historical info,  you'll do just fine without knowing them as long you understand management is everything and you do your work on who's who for any field. You have to learn the fundamentals to a competent level.

The return is a representation of the quality of the instrument,  the risk you take on.  Say you see a bond (basically you lend money to an organisation)  with a coupon (annual payment to you from said company)  of 2%, that's information that that company is rated well,  the chances of you losing your capital are low,  so your return is also low.  If you see some no name company's bonds at 8%, then you should know there's an issue here,  dig,  research.

Even using your crypto example,  what is the quality of the underlying?  How well do you know it,  what are your reasons for taking that direction?  If your answers to these things are crap,  then you haven't done the work,  don't commit the money.

The field works best when you bring something to the table,  when there's a clear structure.  For one,  at the start of Covid,  when global markets dived,  we had the info that the virus kills,  but it wouldn't wipe out the human race.  That was the point for you to commit.  You could have picked any major index,  any ETF tracking those indices,  almost any major stock,  and you would be very profitable now.  Clear reasons.

At this point,  the recovery from Covid is already priced in into a lot of markets,  so just saying invest in ETFs doesn't mean anything.  What are the reasons for the next rise?

To start with,  get an income stream going with that money.  Pick well rated bonds from well established companies,  purchase dividend yielding stocks from established companies.  All the while,  learn,  research,  in time you can start taking a position where you can target growth,  but it must  come from clear analysis of the company relative to its field.

This is the investment angle of course,  the safest path,  the one where you have the most time to react. The arcane cool stuff can wait 

[Rhi]

If anyone has any general advice (or any helpful links) I would really appreciate it. Obviously I understand in advance that it's my own money at risk and I would need to do any due diligence myself.

I'm far from an expert in such things, but if buying a house/flat is on your radar at any point over a year from now, putting £4k into a Lifetime ISA is probably something to consider. You'll get an extra £1k from the government each year (or a 25% bonus on whatever you put in up to £4k). It's a good way to boost your deposit for a home if that's something realistic for your future. But you can ONLY use this money for a house or retirement so it is a lot more restricted than a normal ISA.

[Hij]

I'm far from an expert in such things, but if buying a house/flat is on your radar at any point over a year from now, putting £4k into a Lifetime ISA is probably something to consider. You'll get an extra £1k from the government each year (or a 25% bonus on whatever you put in up to £4k). It's a good way to boost your deposit for a home if that's something realistic for your future. But you can ONLY use this money for a house or retirement so it is a lot more restricted than a normal ISA.

Yes, I think potentially that will be the case. If I'm entirely honest, I'll likely be combining any savings with a future inheritance at an unknown point in the future. Goes without saying that the longer the wait for the inheritance the better to be honest, but I think I should be factoring it in to my workings - mainly in regards to sorting a property out before I retire. Does that make sense?

Good idea re: the Lifetime ISA. I opened one up a while ago, but it's just got £1 in it and the 25% from the Government. I always wondered if the Lifetime ISA was better as an investment when you're within 5 years of being able to own a place/get a mortgage? The 25% bonus is brilliant short term in the run up to buying to boost what you have, but the interest thereafter is paltry and other investments could perform better over a longer period? I don't know precisely when I will be able to buy a property, as it's unlikely I'll be able to do it without the inheritance or some frankly unexpected increase in my earning power.

Fortunately we're on the housing association for now so rental costs are relatively low for the area and I can at least save some money now. I realise that a large part of insulating myself for retirement would be the wiping out of a cost such as rent which is why property becomes important alongside my pension saving.

I guess the idea is to invest a lump amount now, which is topped up monthly with my earnings, in many cases similar to my pension, but from which  I can access funds before retirement, should the opportunity present itself to cash in investments, add to my future inheritance and put a fairly sizeable deposit down on a house and at which point another family take our flat with the housing association?

[Hij]

Hij.

Always start by looking at the underlying instrument. The Etfs,  stocks,  bonds,  derivatives are ultimately,  a tool for you to take a direction / position on the underlying.  (well with derivatives you can also take a market neutral  position,  or a view on the volatility or aim for the time decay,  but to start with,  go with the solid,  time worn path).

Don't get taken in by the lingo.  As with football,  quality management,  decision making is gold for a company to gain market share,  rise in valuation,  for you to profit.  Most of the technical indicators are backward looking,  based on historical info,  you'll do just fine without knowing them as long you understand management is everything and you do your work on who's who for any field. You have to learn the fundamentals to a competent level.

The return is a representation of the quality of the instrument,  the risk you take on.  Say you see a bond (basically you lend money to an organisation)  with a coupon (annual payment to you from said company)  of 2%, that's information that that company is rated well,  the chances of you losing your capital are low,  so your return is also low.  If you see some no name company's bonds at 8%, then you should know there's an issue here,  dig,  research.

Even using your crypto example,  what is the quality of the underlying?  How well do you know it,  what are your reasons for taking that direction?  If your answers to these things are crap,  then you haven't done the work,  don't commit the money.

The field works best when you bring something to the table,  when there's a clear structure.  For one,  at the start of Covid,  when global markets dived,  we had the info that the virus kills,  but it wouldn't wipe out the human race.  That was the point for you to commit.  You could have picked any major index,  any ETF tracking those indices,  almost any major stock,  and you would be very profitable now.  Clear reasons.

At this point,  the recovery from Covid is already priced in into a lot of markets,  so just saying invest in ETFs doesn't mean anything.  What are the reasons for the next rise?

To start with,  get an income stream going with that money.  Pick well rated bonds from well established companies,  purchase dividend yielding stocks from established companies.  All the while,  learn,  research,  in time you can start taking a position where you can target growth,  but it must  come from clear analysis of the company relative to its field.

This is the investment angle of course,  the safest path,  the one where you have the most time to react. The arcane cool stuff can wait 

An informative post and I thank you for it, even if it confirms to me why thinking about this stuff is a little overbearing in that it feels there is so much to know and learn and it could be impossible to overcome really!

I guess any main priority would be to aim to beat inflation first and foremost. I don't particularly envision striking it rich or even aiming for that, but that the money I have now, may well be worth a similar amount in the future and any gains on top of that over a period of time would be welcomed also.

I think I will be looking at how I can invest, and add to that monthly. I would quite like to be in a situation where I have money going into my workplace pension, money going into medium term investments that I won't touch and money going into my bank savings account still for any emergencies. Basically long/medium/short.

I've got the pension started, so that's on it's way as I've increased my contributions to at least make some dent in the missing years. It's just that I'm sure having all of my capital stuck in a bank savings account earning 0.1% is probably hugely ineffective.

[filopastry]

Yes, I think potentially that will be the case. If I'm entirely honest, I'll likely be combining any savings with a future inheritance at an unknown point in the future. Goes without saying that the longer the wait for the inheritance the better to be honest, but I think I should be factoring it in to my workings - mainly in regards to sorting a property out before I retire. Does that make sense?

Good idea re: the Lifetime ISA. I opened one up a while ago, but it's just got £1 in it and the 25% from the Government. I always wondered if the Lifetime ISA was better as an investment when you're within 5 years of being able to own a place/get a mortgage? The 25% bonus is brilliant short term in the run up to buying to boost what you have, but the interest thereafter is paltry and other investments could perform better over a longer period? I don't know precisely when I will be able to buy a property, as it's unlikely I'll be able to do it without the inheritance or some frankly unexpected increase in my earning power.

Fortunately we're on the housing association for now so rental costs are relatively low for the area and I can at least save some money now. I realise that a large part of insulating myself for retirement would be the wiping out of a cost such as rent which is why property becomes important alongside my pension saving.

I guess the idea is to invest a lump amount now, which is topped up monthly with my earnings, in many cases similar to my pension, but from which  I can access funds before retirement, should the opportunity present itself to cash in investments, add to my future inheritance and put a fairly sizeable deposit down on a house and at which point another family take our flat with the housing association?

There are also Lifetime Stocks and Shares ISAs as well for longer term investment

[El Denzel Pepito]

Started my first foray into investing earlier this month. Opened a HL Stocks & Shares ISA and put in £600. I've got £400 divided into two funds: Fidelity World Index and L&G US Index.

I initially invested a bit into VUAG and IITU but didn't realise ETFs have a trading charge (which on HL is £11.85) - so pretty much made a loss on those instantly as it was only £200 divided between the two.
Thinking of putting in £200 a month into the S&S ISA, divided between the two non-ETF funds above.

When it comes to ETF and stock trading, which is the cheapest platform re charges? I'm thinking of continuing the HL S&S ISA for the index funds but using a separate platform for my stock trades as I'll likely only ever put in a max of a couple of hundred at a time on stocks, but that isn't feasible with H&L's charges of £11.85. They charge £1 per trade if it's via regular investing but that's for FTSE 350 companies only.

[.adam]

I've recently got into investing after realising that my cash ISA was essentially losing value with rates where they are compared to inflation.

Vanguard is my long term investment platform. I've consolidated all my old workplace pensions (with fees around 0.45% - 0.7%) into a SIPP which is invested in the FTSE Global All Cap index fund. It's weighted across the entire market (something like 7,000 equities in total) and has low ongoing charge funds (around 0.45% all in).

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-ftse-global-all-cap-index-fund-gbp-acc/overview

I've got some cash in a robo-S&S ISA at the moment which I'm planning on transferring to a S&S ISA with Vanguard. I might go FTSE Global All Cap on this one too or if not, some sort of Developed/Emerging Market split.

I use Freetrade for a bit of dabbling.

Freetrade is excellent as it's commission free. There is a 0.45% FX charge for any non-GBP trades but other than that there are no other charges. Buying and selling is amazingly quick and easy and they have ETFs. The values you're looking at for now mean you're unlikely to need to worry about Capital Gains Tax so you could always set up a General Investment Account with Freetrade, separate from your S&S ISA. They do offer a S&S ISA option for £3 a month.

Don't forget that most ETFs don't allow fractional trading. Index funds are basically the same except that the can only be traded at the end rather than throughout the day. Index funds do allow fractional trading though.

Would advise reading into John Bogle and his investment theory. The numbers show that something like 80% of fund managers will underperform against an index tracker. Average returns have been in the region of 8.5% over the past century. When you invest regularly, reinvest your dividends and allows your returns to compound, it will quickly add up.

[El Denzel Pepito]

I've recently got into investing after realising that my cash ISA was essentially losing value with rates where they are compared to inflation.

Vanguard is my long term investment platform. I've consolidated all my old workplace pensions (with fees around 0.45% - 0.7%) into a SIPP which is invested in the FTSE Global All Cap index fund. It's weighted across the entire market (something like 7,000 equities in total) and has low ongoing charge funds (around 0.45% all in).

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-ftse-global-all-cap-index-fund-gbp-acc/overview

I've got some cash in a robo-S&S ISA at the moment which I'm planning on transferring to a S&S ISA with Vanguard. I might go FTSE Global All Cap on this one too or if not, some sort of Developed/Emerging Market split.

I use Freetrade for a bit of dabbling.

Freetrade is excellent as it's commission free. There is a 0.45% FX charge for any non-GBP trades but other than that there are no other charges. Buying and selling is amazingly quick and easy and they have ETFs. The values you're looking at for now mean you're unlikely to need to worry about Capital Gains Tax so you could always set up a General Investment Account with Freetrade, separate from your S&S ISA. They do offer a S&S ISA option for £3 a month.

Don't forget that most ETFs don't allow fractional trading. Index funds are basically the same except that the can only be traded at the end rather than throughout the day. Index funds do allow fractional trading though.

Would advise reading into John Bogle and his investment theory. The numbers show that something like 80% of fund managers will underperform against an index tracker. Average returns have been in the region of 8.5% over the past century. When you invest regularly, reinvest your dividends and allows your returns to compound, it will quickly add up.

I'm assuming the Fidelity World Index is very similar in portfolio make-up to the Global All Cap, although I think it's only made up of 1600 equities in total. Would it be worth shifting to Global All Cap to minimise risk in that case?

Thanks for the tip re Freetade - looks exactly like what I was looking for. I'll keep the S&S ISA within Hargreaves Lansdown for now and go with the General Investment Account with FreeTrade for the trading. However, the companies I do want to buy shares in are more of a long-term play rather than something I'll be actively trading on a day-to-day or even month-to-month basis. If my stocks pay off as much as I hope in a couple of years, then I'm guessing CGT will apply to me - but not if done through their S&S option? In that case maybe it's better to move everything to FreeTrade and use their S&S...?

[.adam]

I'm assuming the Fidelity World Index is very similar in portfolio make-up to the Global All Cap, although I think it's only made up of 1600 equities in total. Would it be worth shifting to Global All Cap to minimise risk in that case?

Thanks for the tip re Freetade - looks exactly like what I was looking for. I'll keep the S&S ISA within Hargreaves Lansdown for now and go with the General Investment Account with FreeTrade for the trading. However, the companies I do want to buy shares in are more of a long-term play rather than something I'll be actively trading on a day-to-day or even month-to-month basis. If my stocks pay off as much as I hope in a couple of years, then I'm guessing CGT will apply to me - but not if done through their S&S option? In that case maybe it's better to move everything to FreeTrade and use their S&S...?

Looking at the Fidelity World Index, it's 99.63% weighted towards developed markets. So, in short, if companies in the US, Eurozone, Japan and the UK do well, you do well.

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/factsheet-data/factsheet/GB00BJS8SJ34-fidelity-index-world-fund-p-acc/portfolio

It has very little exposure to emerging markets so if companies in China, India, Brazil, South Korea start to do well, you'll see no benefit unless the fund re-indexes itself towards emerging markets.

The reason I went for the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap is because it has a bit more allocated towards emerging markets. For example, if Bytedance (TikTok) gets listed, I'd get a bigger slice of that as it's Chinese.

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/factsheet-data/factsheet/GB00BD3RZ582-vanguard-ftse-glbl-all-cap-idx-gbp-acc/portfolio

As a long-term investment, with rising populations and rising middle-class demographics in countries like India and China, I could see those being the big growth area in the future. But saying that, the US stock market has been king for some time now. I'm not sure if any other index fund has beat the growth of the S&P 500 for the past ten years.

You could move everything towards Freetrade and their S&S ISA if you're happy holding it all in one place.

The CGT threshold is £12.3k profit in a tax year so you'd be doing well to breach that in a general investment account.

I'm sure you've done your reading on this but the key thing with whatever you do is playing the long game. Don't get down-hearted and think about selling if your investment in Fidelity has a bad year. The markets have shown that even after catastrophes like the Great Depression and the World Wars, over a 20 year period you're almost guaranteed to make money. Hold it out and, if anything, buy more equities/funds if there's a dip.

My biggest regret is that I had a good chunk of money sat in a Cash ISA for ages and if I'd have put it in an this FTSE Global All Cap index fund in March 2020, it'd have doubled by now.

[Joff]

Got about 50k left on my mortgage. Maybe 5 or 6 years left, paying around 2.75%

Have about 35k in savings... do I pay off and have a year or so left to pay, or, well what the fuck do I do?

[Joff]

I think I can overpay as much as I want with no fees as well

[Elmo!]

Got about 50k left on my mortgage. Maybe 5 or 6 years left, paying around 2.75%

Have about 35k in savings... do I pay off and have a year or so left to pay, or, well what the fuck do I do?

Depends on your risk appetite really. You should always keep an emergency fund in cash savings - usually recommneded to have 3-6 months expenses.

With anything left over, you would likely make better returns investing it in a S&S ISA than paying your mortgage off early - especiallly over 5 years or so. That said, 2.75% seems like quite a high rate considering you must have quite a low LTV.... I pay less than that and I only bought my house 2 years ago with 15% deposit. Also some people prefer the psychological benefit of paying down debt over the better (but slightly riskier) rewards of investing it.

[Joff]

Depends on your risk appetite really. You should always keep an emergency fund in cash savings - usually recommneded to have 3-6 months expenses.

With anything left over, you would likely make better returns investing it in a S&S ISA than paying your mortgage off early - especiallly over 5 years or so. That said, 2.75% seems like quite a high rate considering you must have quite a low LTV.... I pay less than that and I only bought my house 2 years ago with 15% deposit. Also some people prefer the psychological benefit of paying down debt over the better (but slightly riskier) rewards of investing it.

I have a mortgage with no fees and unlimited overpayments, so like that flexibility. It tracks at 2% above the base rate, so 2.75% is a guess as I don't know the base rate 😂

I have more than 35k, I wasn't including an emergency fund, I kind of meant money which I don't quite have a place for.

My understanding would be that the interest I would save from paying off a lump of my mortgage would beat any potential investment... certainly at the moment.
My wife and I also have some shares in the company we work for, which are tied up for a year or so, so I don't really count them.

[Joff]

I have no idea what Kava is but presuming it is some sort o of crypto investment, that is not the sort of investment I meant at all

Nor me. Would feel more comfortable taking it to Ladbrokes

[Elmo!]

I have a mortgage with no fees and unlimited overpayments, so like that flexibility. It tracks at 2% above the base rate, so 2.75% is a guess as I don't know the base rate 😂

I have more than 35k, I wasn't including an emergency fund, I kind of meant money which I don't quite have a place for.

My understanding would be that the interest I would save from paying off a lump of my mortgage would beat any potential investment... certainly at the moment.
My wife and I also have some shares in the company we work for, which are tied up for a year or so, so I don't really count them.

Over 5 years, your money invested in a fund like Vanguard Global All Cap or similar should comfirtable beat 2.75%. I think 5% per year is considered a pretty conservative estimate. It's not guaranteed though so depends on your risk appetite.

[Welshred]

I've got a Moneybox Lifetimes Stocks and Shares ISA which I'm planning on using for retirement using a modest weekly and payday top up but adding all my roundups in from my day to day spend. Its currently 33% up on what I've invested but that includes the government 25% top so roughly 8% all told. Currently got it invested in several funds - Old Mutual MSCI World Index, Fidelty Wold Index, iShares Global Property Equity, Overseas Corporate Bond Index and Overseas Government Bond Index.

Moneybox have loads of options for funds and have two Emerging Markets funds (Fidelity and Legal & General), would you guys say its worth having some money invested in those as well? I'm hoping they'll have a crypto fund opening up soon to get involved in as well, I struggle to pick crypto's so being able to invest in a fund and someone else invest for me would be ideal

[.adam]

My pension pot is in wold funds too , which is lucky because what is coming up shortly for the uk.

What do you mean?

[.adam]

Non uk funds...

I still have no idea what you mean! You say your pension is in world funds which is lucky because of what is coming up shortly for the UK.

What is coming up shortly for the UK?

[Elmo!]

I still have no idea what you mean! You say your pension is in world funds which is lucky because of what is coming up shortly for the UK.

What is coming up shortly for the UK?

I suspect they are talking about Brexit - the full effects of which have been masked a bit by the pandemic and furlough etc.

[.adam]

Gotcha. Well the FTSE has been largely flat since 2015 so let's see if it'll fall to pre-Brexit vote levels. This is why I elected for the FTSE Global All Cap fund - it doesn't suffer as much home bias as Vanguard's LifeStrategy funds seem to.

[AndyMuller]

Can somebody give a complete beginner advice on what to invest in etc? I’m looking to buy some shares/stocks, nothing too heavy to start with but would like to do it long term.

[Charlie Adams fried egg]

It's a massive subject mate. Happy to help if I can but will need a bit more info.

How much and for how long? Are you saving for anything in particular, or are you investing to grow capital? How do you feel about risk. You wont notice much if you are saving £50 per month and markets drop by 40% after a year, but if you had £10,000 saved and markets dropped by 40% how would you feel? If 1 is I want no risk at alland 10 is Bitcoin is a bit too low risk for me, what number would you be?

This is very high level, but feel free to pm with any specific questions.

[CraigDS]

Yeah I think daily / weekly watching in something like that can hair pulling  It's a long term thing and one which (should) over months / years see growth...but with fluctuations along the way.

[Elmo!]

I shifted my money from a savings account to a Stocks and Shares ISA with HL a few months ago.

I was thrilled to bits to see it climb a few quid every single day, got up to about 6% growth in only a few months.

Its taken a steady tumble every day for weeks now. I don't have the bottle for this game, so I think I'm gonna withdrawn and throw it in premium bonds instead

As Craig says, put the money in and forget about it. These are long term investments - the longer you leave it the lower the risk you will lose money. As I understand it, the general consensus is if you are looking to use the money within the next 5 years, you might be best looking at lower risk investments.

[Charlie Adams fried egg]

I shifted my money from a savings account to a Stocks and Shares ISA with HL a few months ago.

I was thrilled to bits to see it climb a few quid every single day, got up to about 6% growth in only a few months.

Its taken a steady tumble every day for weeks now. I don't have the bottle for this game, so I think I'm gonna withdrawn and throw it in premium bonds instead

The thing about investing is that fund performance rarely arrives in a straight line.
If you look at annual returns over 20 years in pretty much any equity based fund, they figures may show an annual return of anything between roughly 7 and 11% give or take.

If you told someone they’d get that every single year they’d bite your hand off. But the reality is that any fund delivering that type of performance will have had years that have shown big losses - maybe 15-20%, more for higher risk funds. They’ll also have had large double digit positive returns.

That’s investing I’m afraid, and if you want the higher returns you need to accept the volatility that comes with it. That’s why as others have pointed out, timescales are important along with your personal attitude to risk and capacity for loss.

For what it’s worth, if you don’t need the money soon, try to avoid realising a loss, unless you definitely can’t stomach any more volatility.

[Charlie Adams fried egg]

You could wait for another crisis and then invest when you think the dip is at or near its trough.
Subprime my pension pot halved.
Was back to 100% a year later.
It took about a 15% hit on covid. Now back to normal again.

Or you could wait till China issues its next Crypto ban (usually every few months) then do the same with that...lol. I guess its a pain waiting for a crisis.

You could, but if you’re the type of person that’s spooked by a minor drop, doing this probably isn’t for you.
It’s easy to look back and see what you should have done, but it’s notoriously difficult when markets are all over the place. No one can consistently time the market, which is why the concept of “time in the market rather than timing the market is so popular.
The best way to ride out the market is regular investing over the long term.

[Charlie Adams fried egg]

As long as people bear in mind that there is a world of difference between long term investing in real businesses and speculating on Bitcoin, or any other commodity for that matter.

If it’s a bit of fun money, then great and I’m not denying that some people have made some cash, but the real money has left the room.

I’d be interested in what type of returns crypto investors are hoping for and how much of their stake they are prepared to lose. Not being a smartarse, just genuinely interested in the psychology of crypto speculation.

[El Lobo]

A lad I used to work with sunk about £5k into Gamestop shares in about February, when they were about $90 a share. And it wasn't money he had spare, he literally borrowed money off his parents, off his missus, used money he had saved up for a car etc. I think the highest its been was about $300 in June and I was telling him 'Just you know...maybe consider it, cos you'll still be up over £10k and maybe keep a few shares back' but he's just utterly convinced at some points he's gonna be able to sell them for £1k+ per share and he'll be able to retire on it.

[El Denzel Pepito]

Been investing for a couple of months now, just where I can really. I've got £500 spread across the Global All Cap and the US Index in an S&S ISA. Currently down by 5% but I know it's a long game with index funds and it starts paying off the more you've got in it. I've set up a regular investing instruction for £200/month just to keep adding to the pot.

Also bought 120+ shares each in two companies: Arrival (ARVL), which produces commercial EVs and is backed by the UK Government, and Hyzon (HYZN), which produces hydrogen trucks and already has some on the road in the Netherlands. I've done my DD and they're my long-term plays when it comes to the EV/green market - worth checking out. Also thinking of adding Enovix (ENVX) which make silicon batteries and are ahead in their timeline in comparison to their competitors. They're mentioned here: https://youtu.be/oh5ULFMsQHU?t=283

I should probably diversify and buy shares in a few established companies, but the way I see it, the upside is quite limited as most of the growth has already happened. It's obviously riskier to invest in start-ups and 'companies for the future' but the upside is definitely attractive.

Not gonna lie, I do get jealous of those who make 100k in a day with options/warrants, but the risk is waaay more than I'm willing to stomach!

[AndyInVA]

A lad I used to work with sunk about £5k into Gamestop shares in about February, when they were about $90 a share. And it wasn't money he had spare, he literally borrowed money off his parents, off his missus, used money he had saved up for a car etc. I think the highest its been was about $300 in June and I was telling him 'Just you know...maybe consider it, cos you'll still be up over £10k and maybe keep a few shares back' but he's just utterly convinced at some points he's gonna be able to sell them for £1k+ per share and he'll be able to retire on it.

Looks like Gamestop was about $174 6 months ago and is about $172 now. A really small loss over 6 months.

I'm really surprised as I thought it would have tanked in the last 6 months after being seriously over inflated.

[Alf]

I don't understand the Gamestop thing.

I get that the company was in the toilet, so big business shorted it. Then when the reddit nerds saw that they felt offended and bought it all up, and because supply dictates the price, it rocketed.

But the company is still shit and hated, so its going to tank eventually surely?

It depends if the nerds are still buying up the stock, because if they are it stops sellers moving down the strip and selling the stock at a reduced price which is what hedge funds & corporate investors want.

[AndyInVA]

I don't understand the Gamestop thing.

I get that the company was in the toilet, so big business shorted it. Then when the reddit nerds saw that they felt offended and bought it all up, and because supply dictates the price, it rocketed.

But the company is still shit and hated, so its going to tank eventually surely?

Thats how I saw it. If not tank now, then surely tank later.

If ever there was a business that was going to fold its a brick and mortar game seller. Games are sold as downloads now or by Amazon type pre-orders for new hard disks. The only market Gamestop seems good for is having someone that mums and grandparents can talk to before they buy their kids a game.

[RedBootsTommySmith]

Thats how I saw it. If not tank now, then surely tank later.

If ever there was a business that was going to fold its a brick and mortar game seller. Games are sold as downloads now or by Amazon type pre-orders for new hard disks. The only market Gamestop seems good for is having someone that mums and grandparents can talk to before they buy their kids a game.

The shorts have to cover their positions. As long as the Redditors hold fire and hang on to their positions, the shorts will get it in their pants. Game of chicken, innit?

[sirjames]

Just starting to get into looking at a portfolio and finding learning interesting. I am midway through T Robins book unshakable which Iam enjoying.

What are you guys interested in at the moment, would love some name that i can watch for a while and research myself.

[Max_powers]

Just starting to get into looking at a portfolio and finding learning interesting. I am midway through T Robins book unshakable which Iam enjoying.

What are you guys interested in at the moment, would love some name that i can watch for a while and research myself.

Ben Felix has a youtube channel and podcast. His content is a bit dry and he appears to be a human-robot, but his investing philosophy is sound, probably the most evidence-based approach I found. Maybe watch his videos from start.

Seen many top economists and like Thaler and Fama suggests similar portfolio strategies for most people.

He basically is a big advocate of having a globally diversified market-cap-weighted stock portfolio. So a lot of indexes investing. With the increased weight of known factors such as size, momentum and value.

I have been only investing in a portfolio like that for a couple of years, but I have found that it definitely reduces volatility. When the big tech stocks were crashing I found my small-cap stocks doing well and making up the difference and vice versa. Overall so far my portfolio has outperformed the market but it can underperform the market too sometimes see 2008-2020. In very long term it should outperform the market by a little bit.