Portfolio Sale: Homeserve (LSE:HSV)

Janus -
two heads are better than one?
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Buy and hold?

That's what I claim I do - but here I am selling the Homeserve shares I bought only last month: I said at the time that I was investing for the 'medium term'.

So, am I a 'Value Investor' in 'Income Investor' clothing? An investing Janus?

Portfolio Sale: BT Group (LSE:BT.A)

‘Buy and Hold’ is a fundamental part of my DIY Income Investor approach. The problem is that ‘Buy and Hold’ is indicative of psychological biases at work. The received wisdom is to ‘hold your winners and sell your losers’ - but I’m just not built to do that. But it has to be said that ‘Buy and Hold’ can sometimes feel like ‘Buy and Watch Your Money Disappear’.

A good example of 'Buy and Hold' gone bad is my holding in BT: bought in April 2007 and sold today, six years later, for pretty much what I paid for it.

Portfolio Buy: Centaur Media (LSE:CAU)

 

In my pre-DIY Income Investor days, before I found my own way through the investment maze, I used to buy on recommendations from investing magazines.  'DYOR' (Do Your Own Research) needs to be burnt into your investing psyche.

Ah...impulse buys - don't you love them!

Now I Do My Own Research - but I still have the occasional impulse buy, of which this is one: so do not look on this purchase as a recommendation.

Portfolio Buy: Huntsworth (LSE:HNT)

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Investment life for the DIY Income Investor is a hunt for sustainable high yield. By 'sustainable', I mean likely to last for the foreseeable future, without any nasty surprises. So I look for dividend cover, debt levels, cash flow, p/e and general all-round corporate health. Plus this year I am trying to diversify away from the UK and over-reliance on Sterling.

For a (very) part-time investor, this is quite time-consuming - but the time to do your homework is at the beginning. Once you have made your purchase, it is too late.

So, let's see what today's hunt's worth. (Couldn't resist it!)