Page 44 - DIY Magazine March 2018

‘THE FURTHER OUT I LOOK, THE LESS I WORRY’ – THE BRITISH INVESTOR
Last time out, Chriss McGlone Atkinson, aka the British Investor handed in his end of year report and it was very good; very good indeed – with dividends his portfolio returned 42.7% in 2017 against the benchmark he uses which is the FTSE All-Share, which came in at 13%.
Since inception in 2015, he has added an impressive 65.3%; however, 2018 has started differently.
He trails his benchmark by 4.6% which is in turn down 4.9% - is this the start of a major market correction/fall? As Chriss says, nobody knows – but what will he do; as he points out, nobody ever lost money taking profits.
‘So it’s finally happened.
Let me rephrase that; so something has finally happened.
Since beginning my portfolio in August of 2015, returns have been largely stable and definitely favourable. I always bang on about letting your portfolio do its thing and not checking it every five minutes, which to be honest has been easy for me so far. A nice, relatively linear upward line in my portfolio value since it began has certainly helped me sleep at night.
However, 2018 has started a little differently.
Before I start, an update to say that I withdrew approximately 14% of the year-end closing value of the portfolio. This wasn’t my intention when setting it up, however needs must, unfortunately.
I have therefore had to re-set my opening 2018 value to be able to adequately track performance throughout the year.
Now, leading on from this is an impromptu portfolio update. Year-to-date I am down approximately -4.62%,
against my benchmark, the FTSE All-Share, which is down -4.91%. Nearly two months in and I’m barely beating my benchmark.
I don’t really care. I’m choosing not to worry.
LOOKING AHEAD
Short-termism is a killer; I saw a lot of trading activity on Twitter this past month, and an awful lot of talk about markets, prices, profits and losses.
It appears that whenever markets get a little choppy, people feel they need to do more. I’d argue they need to do less. I sold Plus 500 (LSE: PLUS) recently, but other than that I’ve been letting things tick over as normal.
Ultimately, I am comforted by two things:
One, UK markets appear (at least to me) fairly valued at worst. Secondly, my purchases have been at favourable valuations.
I err towards growth & quality, but I try to do so at a reasonable price. There are no BooHoo’s at 90 times earnings in there and I feel this gives some element of protection against adverse market conditions.
To look at the FTSE 250, the past three months don’t look good:
DIY Investor Magazine | Mar 2018 44