DIY Investor Magazine
/
2015 Issue
4
SELL IN MAY AND GO AWAY?
Although never an empirically proven phenomenon,
Wall Street’s so called ‘Halloween Indicator’ suggests
that because of its’ lacklustre performance over the
summer, investors should enjoy a protracted and
carefree break out of the market.
However PM McMillan’s ‘events dear boy’ that can
influence your investments never take a break and
technology has firmly replaced the trudge to the
campsite shop for yesterday’s newspaper with
24/7/365 rolling news and information.
Think back just a few months ago when pollsters told
us with a high degree of certainty that we were facing
a weak coalition government; Greece was about to be
unceremoniously hoofed out of the Euro; China’s equity
markets looked sure to continue their inexorable rise
and, closer to home, we will all be contentedly using our
pension funds as bank accounts.
Except, none of that happened, and technology
delivers an uninterrupted watching brief as global
economic and political events unfold. Everything is just
a click (and a roaming data charge) away - you may
read this bumper edition of
DIY Investor Magazine
on
your tablet and then log in to get an instant valuation
of your portfolio whilst sipping something cooling; if
you find yourself constantly hitting ‘refresh’, maybe
you’re sitting on something that lies beyond your risk
threshold?
However, there is a danger of information overload and
the sheer volume of data and market intelligence can
cause us to miss vital signs. It is therefore all the more
important to be able to filter information to ensure
that you are alerted to events that may have a direct
bearing on your portfolio or an investment you are
considering;
Heckyl (Sentiment – The Next Stage of
Share Analysis)
for example, monitors millions of news
sources relating to 35,000 companies and marries
positive sentiment with good stock valuations and vice
versa.
Paul Roberts’ Stockomendation
monitors over
260 share tipsters and in his article considers how a
recommendation from an influential source can move
a share price;
Salty Dog
, meantime, categorises and
reports the performance of both active and passive
funds in order to help momentum investors catch a
wave.
Elsewhere,
Frederik Vanhaverbeke
looks at the
psychological influences that prevent us from matching
the performance of the World’s Greatest Investors
and a fascinating survey by You Gov on behalf of
M&G
Investments
suggests that similar forces may be to
blame for the pension gap.
On its 20th anniversary,
Beaufort Securities’ Jon
Levinson
looks at the achievement of the Alternative
Investment Market (AIM) and
Philip Gilbert
considers
ways for investors to get access to
Retail Bonds
as
demand routinely outstrips supply on ORB.
For those considering their options given the new
pension freedoms,
European Pension Management’s
Francis Moore
explains why a SIPP may be an
attractive option.
Elsewhere,
Crowdnetic’s Adam Braggs
looks at the
burgeoning Alternative Investments sector whilst
Social
Stock Exchange’s Tomas Carruthers
goes beyond
ethical and explains
Impact Investing
DIY Investor
Magazine also looks at Albert Einstein’s ‘eighth wonder
of the world’,
compound interest
and considers
Index
Investing
as a low cost and stress free way to achieve a
low maintenance and diverse investment portfolio.
One thing we can say with ‘certainty’ is that markets
will go up, or down, and there will always be a new
product along to ensure that you benefit, or lose out.
DIY Investor Magazine will be there to educate you and
inform you every step of the way and will shortly unveil
its ‘public’ site which includes DIY Investor TV, the
definitive video resource for retail investors.
In the meantime we have been very grateful for your
feedback and would be pleased to hear from you if
you have any topics that you would like to see in future
editions –
