My scaredy-cat approach to the stock market has led to under-performance for me in 2017. The easiest segment of my portfolio to value is my online ISA. I re-invest the income but for the purpose of this exercise deducted my annual contribution, giving me +11% on the year, underperforming most if not all indices.
I am not unduly concerned. At my age preservation of capital is of paramount importance. Over the years I have too many times made investments that have led to complete losses. GEC, later re-named Marconi, Mountleigh, a property company, and Czarnikow were all complete wipe-outs. London Wine Bars was also a total loss but a smaller one and I did get part of my investment in Bedlam back. I never attempted to cut my losses but the same attitude has left me with some long term investments that have done well.
In July 1983 I bought shares in Rowe Evans, now called MP Evans. I paid 56p and they are now about £7.80 and a significant part of my portfolio. It was, I must admit, a bit of a sleeper. In April 2000 I added to my holding paying only 71p so with good old friend hindsight I was about seventeen years early.
In May 2003 I paid £7.88 for Caledonia Investments, now trading at £28.20 and at a discount of 17% to boot. Since 2005 I have been investing in various McInroy & Wood funds. They launched an Emerging Markets fund in 2007 and I was a founder investor at £10. The timing could hardly have been worse; it lost 32% of its value in 2008. There were further reverses in 2011 and 2015 when it lost more than 12% in both years. Nevertheless I stuck with it and have seen a return of 171.6% and an average annual return of 9.6%.
Two more recent acquisitions are looking promising. In April 2014 I bought Worldwide Healthcare Trust for £12.81 (now £25.32) and in August 2016 Monks Investment Trust for £4.97 (now £7.63).
The problem is spotting a good investment and then agonising over timing one’s entry. In fact, as the M&W Emeging Markets Fund demonstrates, even if you buy at the worst point you can still make money in the long run. Now I have a prediction for 2018, namely that a friend will get a, deserved, knighthood. I haven’t a clue how the UK will fare with the EU and the rest of the world and I think that equities will at best stay at these levels though, more likely, will see a setback.
Thank you for reading me and especially for your pertinent comments. I wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2018.
Thank you Christopher for educating, entertaining and very, very occasionally annoyinging me. With love and best wishes for the New Year and continued power in your IPad.