Tuesday 29 January 2013

Portfolio Sale: William Hill (LSE:WMH)

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Buy and Hold. And then Sell?

Today's surge in William Hill's share price - the result of very good results over the past year - gives me the opportunity to sell a chunk of my holding at cost price. This was my largest dividend share holding but now the remaining portion is one of my smallest.

What's going on? You may well ask...

Thursday 24 January 2013

Portfolio Buy: iShares DJ Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 (LSE:IAPD)

Source

Continuing the theme of looking for high-yield Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) around the world, here is one that targets dividend shares in Asia/Pacific - with a heavy emphasis on Australia and New Zealand.

ETFs offer an accessible and reasonably-priced way into internation markets with a diversified fund that follows (fairly mechanically) a specific market index.

Friday 18 January 2013

Portfolio Buy: Scarborough/Skipton Building Society PIBS 8.5% (LSE:SBSA)

Another Building Society Permanent Interest-Bearing Share for the portfolio. 

This PIBS was issued under the name of the Scarborough Building Society, now it's part of the Skipton Building Society: the fourth-largest in the UK, with over 750,000 members and £14.1bn of assets (mainly retail mortgages).

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Portfolio Buy: SPDR Barclays Emerging Markets Local Bond UCITS ETF (LSE:EMDD)

A toe in the water, so to speak.

To match the recently-purchased 'Emerging Markets' dividend ETF, I have bought an equivalent fixed-income ETF - one which invests in the 'liquid local currency emerging markets debt market'.

Portfolio Buy: SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF (LSE:EMDV)

 As part of my New Year drive to diversify geographically, I am now heading for the 'Emerging Market' - or more accurately, the Wild West (and East) of investing.

As I noted in a previous post, I am using Exchange Traded Funds and focusing on income-producing securities, buying (where possible) matching pairs of ETFs in high-yield dividend shares and fixed-income.

Monday 14 January 2013

Portfolio Sale: Enterprise Inns 6.5% 2018 Corporate Bond (LSE:47VU)

Source

‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ the traditional adage tells us.
 
Is this right or wrong for investment? Is this just a manifestation of one of our human behavioural biases - the urge to grab a profit?
 

Sunday 13 January 2013

2012: The Year of High Yield

A Rising Tide...
Source
The DIY Income Investor portfolio is based on equal amounts of high-yield shares and fixed-income securities (like corporate bonds, preference shares, permanent-interest bearing shares, etc.).

The performance in 2012 has been terrific - up one third in terms of total return - but how has it compared with other investment styles?

Thursday 10 January 2013

Portfolio Buy: ETF iShares Markit iBoxx Euro High Yield Bond (LSE:IHYG)

My second European ETF purchase completes this matching pair, complementing the high-yield dividend ETF with a high-yield corporate bond ETF, specifically the iShares Markit iBoxx Euro High Yield Bond ETF.

This continues the theme of equal weighting in my portfolio between equities and bonds.

Portfolio Buy: ETF iShares EURO STOXX Select Dividend 30 (LSE:IDVY)

Source
As a result of the rather freakishly high returns on the portfolio in 2012 I have decided to diversify a bit more outside the UK.

The problem is that this is administratively difficult to do on a DIY basis - particularly in relation to taxation. So I'm buying into a couple of high-yield ETFs, which do the admin for you, and diversify - but at a cost.

The first is the iShares EURO STOXX Select Dividend 30.

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Portfolio Buy: Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD)

Vodafone is one of the quintessential high-yield dividend shares. I took some profits on my holding a year ago but with my growing cash pile I thought it might be time to jump back in.

Welcome back Vodafone, I've missed you.

Replacing Bondscape: Fixed-Income Data Sources (UK)

 Sadly, as of 1 November 2012, Bondscape is no more.

My first nervous forays into the bond market were made based on the daily data that Bondscape used to offer - not only on corporate bonds but also gilts. It was through Bondscape that I discovered perpetual bonds and gilts (which have made me money but - I hasten to add - are not necessarily right to buy now) as well as some under-priced corporate bonds that are now showing attractive capital gains. The pages of income and redemption yields made it relatively easy (perhaps too easy?) to identify and compare potential high-yield purchase targets in order to study them further.
 
How to replace it?

Saturday 5 January 2013

Portfolio Up One Third in 2012

2012 has been an unusually prosperous year for the DIY Income Investor portfolio with a total return on the stock market securities of one third.  This is a cracking performance - but how unusual is it and how much of this is down to luck?

Friday 4 January 2013

Portfolio (Partial) Sale: Smiths News (LSE:NWS)

'When to sell' is always a difficult decision. Unfortunately we are hard-wired to grab a profit and hold on to a loss - and I am guilty of that bias as much as anyone else.

However, I do try to control my animal urges a little with my 'sell rule', although I don't pretend that it is a definitive answer. Anyway, a portion of my NWS shares from my DIY Income Investor portfolio has gone back to Mr Market for a nice 50% profit.