Thursday 7 December 2017

Choosing a Broker

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Running a DIY portfolio is tough. You have no-one to blame but yourself on your choices of investment (more about that later).

But one area you can tackle fairly simply is minimising the operating costs of the portfolio - by choosing the right share-dealing broker, which can save you hundreds of pounds a year.

Saturday 25 November 2017

Top Investment Blog




This site has been included as one of the top 60 investment blogs in the UK.

 For the full list see here.




Thursday 14 September 2017

So, You Think You Know What You Are Doing? (Portfolio Sales)

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Not much action on the DIY Income Investor portfolio recently, apart from a couple of sales (which I'll come to), meaning that there is a lot of cash sitting around idle...

But before I do any more investing, I need to check that I know what I am doing: I'm even less confident than I used to be.

Monday 10 July 2017

Income Portfolio Using Cheap 'Tracker' Funds

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The Daily Telegraph has published an interesting article about using cheap 'tracker' funds to create an income-oriented portfolio.

Over time, I have sought to automate and diversify the DIY Income Investor portfolio by using Exchange Traded Funds, which are a cheap and easy way to 'buy' a (fairly) sustainable income, as well as accessing world markets.

Tuesday 20 June 2017

Risky FTSE100 Dividend Shares?

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The DIY Income Investor likes shares that pay dividends - effectively investments that pay you an income while they (hopefully) go up in value.

And what could be safer than buying shares in the biggest dividend-paying companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange?

Buyer beware! Big is not always beautiful.

Thursday 15 June 2017

Only Connect! (Portfolio Buy)

Only connect!...Only connect the prose and the passion. - E. M. Forster
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The election and Brexit have helped to knock Sterling and the Stock Market sideways - although the DIY Income Investor portfolio (which is quite international) has perked up in the last few days, hitting record values, at least when measured in Sterling.

As part of the recent flurry of deals, I have gone for something more UK-based - using the usual 'painting-by-numbers' approach.

Thursday 1 June 2017

Resourceful? (Portfolio Buy)

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Boredom is a great problem for the DIY Income Investor.  2017 has generally been quite tedious, with not much to do with the portfolio but watch the money roll in - apart from the occasional 'sell' when something has increased enough in value.

But come April and the new ISA and SIPP season and there are new choices to be made. And there is always the temptation to 'try something new' rather than add to existing holdings...

Tuesday 23 May 2017

Cashing In (Portfolio Sale)


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After a couple of months of doing nothing, the DIY Income Investor portfolio is getting a little more active. With the new Financial Year, I have several bits of admin to do, including topping up ISAs and SIPPs.

Bottom line: moving money around between different accounts - and also cashing in some winning investments.

Thursday 11 May 2017

My Favorite Dividend Share (Portfolio Buy)

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Over the years I've held many different securities in the DIY Income Investor portfolio. Most holding come and go, falling out - that is the nature of the portfolio: buy low (with a high yield) and sell high (with a low yield).

But some (a very few, it has to be said) shares seem to be perennially yo-yoing up and down - as well as having an attractive yield.

Tuesday 9 May 2017

Worth The Hunt? (Portfolio Sale)


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After a couple of months of inactivity for the DIY Income Investor portfolio there has been some movement. 2017 has proven to be a very slow year so far, in terms of performance, and I am mainly just sitting tight waiting for the tide to change.

But one of my 'sell' rules has just clicked into action, so I have cleared out a non-performer.

Thursday 4 May 2017

Buying A Fund Manager (Portfolio Buy)

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Regular readers will be aware that the DIY Income Investor promotes do-it-yourself investing rather than paying expensive fund managers to do an often less-than-stellar job of deciding where your money should be held. For that reason I don't hold any traditional managed 'funds', although I quite like Exchange Traded Funds (which provide low-cost access to world markets).

Having said that, I don't have anything against buying shares in a Fund Manager, if they offer a good yield and seem to be doing a good job.

Friday 28 April 2017

Scraping A Living

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If you are a DIY Income Investor - or any kind of DIY investor for that matter - you need to keep track of your portfolio. You could pay for expensive software...or you could build your own EXCEL spreadsheet.

You need to update it, of course - and this is where you need to learn how to 'scrape' share prices (and other data) from websites. Free of charge. However, this does have its problems.

Thursday 16 February 2017

Portfolio New Year Review

There is nothing much new to report on the DIY Income Investor portfolio, although it continues to hit new historic highs in valuation.

The New Year is a good excuse to take stock and review the portfolio and the strategy for the coming year. However, I'm not expecting to change much on this winning formula.