Danger, Danger! (Portfolio Buy) - Updated

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The basic idea behind the DIY Income Investor is to take advantage of Mr Market's manic-depressive reaction to bad news - whilst collecting a nice income for your trouble. In other words, I buy high-yield securities that the market has marked down because there is a potential problem that may, or may not materialise.

The difficulty, of course, is judging whether the risk is worth it...

A Lucky Exit (Portfolio Sale)

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I have in the past extolled the virtue of turning your back when Mr Market gets depressed and things go 'pear-shaped'. This is in order to help to counteract our instinctive 'monkey brain' reaction to pull out our bananas and run away.

But it is possible to take this concept too far, as I have learnt today. I missed a bit of news - and that's cost me some money, fortunately not too much.

A Question of Trust (Portfolio Buy)

The DIY Income Investor portfolio is a cash-producing machine, even when it is sometimes grinding down value on some of the holdings. This is the trade-off that is the mindset of investing in high-yield securities. But at least the accumulating piles of cash (in different family brokerage accounts) means that the portfolio can be constantly refreshed.

Or not. Sometimes 'more of the same' is the best bet...

The Market Roars Back!

Wow! Back from a three-week holiday and the DIY Income Investor portfolio has stormed ahead hitting a new all-time high.

The markets turned at the end of January - at least for my unusual collection of investments - and have provided three months of solid gains, totalling around 12%.

There are a couple of lessons I take from this....