In June 2017 I bought Aberdeen Japan Investment Trust. Yesterday I sold out.
Although I have been reinvesting the dividends the share price is much the same as where I bought so I have followed the plan and sold out, reinvesting the proceeds in Personal Assets, now above £500; just below £400 when I started buying in July 2018. The plan is to have at least half my investments in McInroy and Wood Balanced Fund and Personal Assets and I’m getting there.
I am going into trading purdah and will not be able to deal for at least six weeks. My broker of many decades informed me it would no longer honour our agreement (their words) on the fee I pay and increase it tenfold based on a percentage of the value of my portfolio. This is manifestly unfair as I am an “execution only” client. I don’t see why a broker should get paid more if I invest successfully. If I lose my shirt there is a “minimum fee”, double what I pay now! So I am moving to a low cost brokerage platform but it’s an admin nuisance and trading is suspended until the transfer is complete. I’m glad my ISA and SIPP are in different hands. It proved wise not to put all my eggs in one basket. I would have stayed with Investec if Trevor or the boy broker were looking after me but since the BB left I have never met his replacement so feel no loyalty to him. You might say, for him it was the most expensive lunch we never had.
The boy broker has a temporary job as a white van driver, following in the tyre treads of David Cameron, to the border of Poland and Ukraine to deliver mostly medical aid. It’s impressive how many communities have decided to help either by sending aid or offering refugees homes. Unconsciously there is a Compassion Index. The closer to home the higher the rating, so not much chance for Chechnya or almost anywhere south of the Sahara or east of Suez.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ukrainesunfloweraid