investing1234

Not sure about everyone else but my watchlist often gets unruly (as already posted a few years ago). I find stocks that are of interest they pass a basic filter and into the Watchlist they go. And often there they remain for too long.

Recently though I have been doing some spring cleaning of what I’m evaluating and what I can safely ignore now.

To aid me with this I’ve come up with some loose criteria I think apply to what I’m looking to invest in. 

To each of these I award a maximum of 5 points based on my preferences, the stocks that then rate highest remain and are ordered in quality of investment and those falling back can be safely removed or watched less closely.

Going to add a link over on the left menu to share my thoughts and the actual criteria that I use which I will refine over time. Also this a great place for me to come back and a few years from now and see where it all went right (or very wrong).

Author can be contacted: investing1234@hotmail.co.uk

Please read the blog Legal Disclaimer.

After a break for various reasons I’m back on the investment trail in 2017. And things start with an unpleasant, but for me vital sale of Tesco merger target Booker (LSE:BOK).  

As a standalone Booker appealed and even with a weighty P/E it was one of my favourite and most successful investments to date. But as a potentially future merged partner and with an uncertain period of transition possibly lasting a year or more I wasn’t going to be sticking around.

The good news is that this sale freed up funds to reinvest into a few interesting avenues. And actually I probably should have taken profits before.

As vital as stop losses are to conserving capital so is having a plan to exit vital for crystalling profit at several stages of growth. That’s something I’ve been slow to grasp or act upon. Ride up but bank some profits along the way. 

Author can be contacted: investing1234@hotmail.co.uk

Please read the blog Legal Disclaimer.

So finally more drama on the horizon with markets sliding downwards in the perfect storm of a stalling Chinese economy and a falling oil price (the latter obviously fuelled in part but not entirely by the former).

Whilst I’m aware that my portfolio will no doubt fluctuate to a similar extent that the wider market does. It should given the quality of most of the stocks within it, recover along with it down the line. However i can’t but help think that this latest turmoil presents another great buying or reshaping opportunity for my portfolio.

This poses me a dilemma over what to do. My choices so far as I can see are;

1. Sell out now crystallise profits and buy back in when things stabilise at a level close to where the consensus of a recovery appears likely. Theoretically if timed more or less correctly, I’ll be sitting on a larger holding for the same initial investment.

Clearly very risky due to criticality of the timing of exit and re-entry back into each stock holding. Wrong timing decision could exclude me from re-entry. However a tempting choice to attempt given the potential gains.

2. Hold current portfolio but increase holdings of the most promising stocks as the price falls. Seems sensible along with reviewing watchlist to see what’s become enticing.

3. Do nothing at all.

Author can be contacted: Investing1234@hotmail.co.uk
Please read the blog Legal Disclaimer.