Education

Portfolio Review 2020 – Mark Bentley

Background I have not published a portfolio review for quite a while, as it's so time consuming to do. However, 2020 was an extraordinary year, so felt I really ought to see what went wrong, what went right and whether there were any lessons to learn. Before diving into the details, I need to explain my circumstances and investment strategy. I have been a full-time investor since 2004, living off a fixed pool of capital. Therefore, capital preservation whilst generating sufficient return to ...

Is the FRC doing a good job?

By Cliff Weight, Director, ShareSoc. I think the FRC is doing a much better job. The record fine for Deloitte re Autonomy, (see Compliance Week: FRC fines Deloitte record $19.4M for Autonomy audit failures ) and the fines at Redcentric and Redcentric's auditors, and the prosecutions of former Redcentric directors in Southwark Crown Court are further evidence that things are changing. As is the transitioning from FRC into ARGA. But don't take my word for it. Come to the FRC events we have organised ...

Lessons From a Failed Investment

This is a premium article, available to ShareSoc full members and SIGnet members. Recent troubles at the AA (AA.) and Petropavlovsk (POG) brought to mind another problematic investment that I am more familiar with and which shares some characteristics of those companies. That investment is Gulf Marine Services (GMS). IPOs by Private Equity Vendors Like the AA, GMS was floated by its original private equity owners, with a premium listing on the LSE main market, in March 2014. GMS is a relatively straightforward business: ...

Investing for Income – More Than Just Seeking a High Yield

Vanishing Dividends Every week brings news of a major company cutting or suspending its dividend: this week, it was BT. For investors who rely upon dividends for income, the search for a reliable, sustainable dividend becomes ever harder. There are no shortage of commentators who believe that most companies should be putting dividends on hold now. Certainly, the story of Easyjet paying out significant dividends on the same day as it requested a bail out from the government struck many as irresponsible. When ...

Elroy Dimson: Coronavirus and the markets

Live Webinar – Tuesday April 7th, 2020 at 11:00 AM In this live webinar Professor Elroy Dimson, world-renowned financial historian, will be sharing his views on the coronavirus crisis...

The Great Crash – Lessons from History

The stock market is falling and it may continue to do so, with the odd bounce along the way. The reason is partly because when confidence is destroyed that...

Social Media Etiquette

Ground rules and etiquette on social media ShareSoc is appalled that threats are being made towards Sirius’ senior management and their families on social media and otherwise. The SSSG leadership team (Chris Spencer Phillips, Yashmin Ismail, Mark Jones, Ian Martignetti, Paul De Gruchy and Cliff Weight) wish to make it totally clear that we do not condone such actions. ShareSoc will ensure any such comments are removed from ShareSoc’s website and Forums it operates. Please note that making threats and libel are offences in law. Cliff ...

Learning about investing – thanks to ShareSoc

It is always interesting to look backwards as well as forwards as an investor and no better time than at the turn of the year. First of all, I...

How Long Will You Live?

There was an interesting article recently published by Schroders on life expectancy. This can be quite critical to making investment decisions when you retire, if not before, or if...

Inspiration from a Young Investor

I would like to commend Ryan and Piworld for recording a truly inspirational video interview, for investors young and old. Though Ryan (@ryankia2 on Twitter) is only 17 years old, he has been investing for 6 years, with exceptional results. He has also mentored other young investors, and offers market commentary on his own website: https://www.quantiumresearch.co.uk/ ShareSoc seeks to encourage other young investors to follow Ryan's diligent example: building a starting investment "pot", learning the basics of investment, developing an investment strategy and ...