Stocks & Shares & that

[Foe]

What are you doing with the other 55% of your money?

I've got 70% in shares, and similarly to you, far too much of that is in the company I work for. Other than that, I have the complete polar opposite trading style to you. I buy and hold for years, if not decades. How are you managing all the brokerage fees from trading all the time?

I do a mix - I still have a lot of shares in my company (that I wasn’t counting in that figure). Over the next two or three years there’s an absolute shit load more coming, which is why I’ve been dumping the tax free ones over the last 12 months and more recently dumping some that have a pretty high capital gain whilst I’m miles from the allowance threshold this tax year.

The brokerage fees aren’t too bad, it’s £12 a trade or something, £9 if you’re more active (which I’ve become it seems) and no fee for holding the shares longer term, so realistically for the amounts I’m putting in about a 1% share price rise is net neutral and I’m cashing out when the share price is 2-3% up. That seems to happen intra day on some shares, or over the course of a few days.

I have a mix of shares I’ve held a long time (which are red) and I’ve been more active just turning over shares more recently. I’ve this afternoon I bought/sold Taylor wimpey right at the end of the day - bought at 107, sold at 108.75 or something. The reward, after fees, is fuck all (£27) but you do it often and it’ll add up. If the share price drops I just hold the shares and then buy more if it dips by 7-10% and rinse/repeat.

I’m miles from the tax allowance for this year and I keep a record of my “gains”.

I’m paying into a fund and that will just grow with time. I’ve also got some shares that I’ll probably just hold and let return dividends over time.

To be clear. I’ve no idea what I’m doing and at the moment I’m trying to “bank” some profit so when the strategy inevitably fails I’m not down loads. I don’t need access to the money, nor are likely to any time soon, so it’s just a bit of interest and if you’re not greedy, a small passive income (all be it putting a fair financial risk on the table to get it each time). I’ve set myself a £60/week target to see if it’s achievable to get £3k/year in this way.

[Don]

Mellin, give him his account back.

[Foe]

Realised I could fill in that form to allow me to buy American shares so bought a little bit of meta and Toyota.

Missed the spikey boat a bit on meta, but hopefully there’s still room to grow. Toyota a complete punt.

Fancy some amazon now they are chopping jobs and the share price is basically back pre covid gains, but it’s up 3.5% today so I can’t bring myself to buy into that.

Sold the leftover harbour shares I had from buying that dip for another £30 or so, so made £90ish on the mental dip.

Think I’ll hold fire buying more unless it drops under £2.90. It’s a wild ride.

[niko_cee]

Was that the old w8ben?

[Foe]

Something like that aye.

It saved me in the past when I tried to buy into palantir about a year ago. That would’ve been a disaster. Might buy some if drops towards $5 though. Round numbers, might bounce enough to cash out.

[Foe]

Binned my amazon already for £115 profit. Definitely should’ve double bought some to hold.

I caught the direct line downswing (-27%!) yesterday with admiral and legal and general too, so papped the off since for £165 profit combined.

Sitting at £725 profit for the month. Going well.

Bastarding TW keeps rising though, I’ve been in and out a few times but the fucker is rocketing. What was your buy price spikey?

[Spikey M]

105.05p.

I think I'm getting out soon though. It's broken resistance on the yearly but I'd be very surprised if it didn't come back down to test it.

[Foe]

Yeah, I thought it would bumbled between 1.0 and 1.1 for a while. Surprised it’s broken through.

Hopefully tomorrow is a red day so I can gobble some buys.

[Spikey M]

@Foe are you aware the Direct Line dump is because they cut their dividend? And purely off the back of frozen pipes... in a not particularly cold December. They're looking like a bit of a shambles to me. Careful.

[Foe]

Yeah, I did a little reading briefly. I had no intention of holding it and punted it immediately (and won’t be going back). I just took a punt that a 27% drop would see a short term kick, as it did.

I work almost exclusively in the ftse100 because below that seems like the Wild West.

Dumped amazon too early, they’re still going so going to hold meta longer than originally planned in the hope something similar happens. Also bought a double load of apple shares today for similar reasons.

Anyone ever transferred a cash isa to a share broker? I’ve got a cash isa with my bank that I basically don’t touch and I’ve realised I’d be better off just turning it into a stock and shares isa and using that as my share dealing primary account and withdrawing some cash form my fund account back to a regular bank account. Would be very handy for future capital gains issues too.

Current holdings:
Have held Long term - admiral, smith and nephew, legal and general, rolls Royce ( hopefully nearly ready to punt)
Short term plans - GSK, harbour (nightmare as bought too early on the downswing), smith and nephew, apple, Toyota, meta, DCC

[Spikey M]

I'm currently 3x short on Apple. I reckon it's coming down to $100. Let's be having you Foe.

Can't help with the account stuff as I already do most of mine inside an ISA. I only use 212 for the odd Yank micro-cap that Hargreaves Lansdown don't have.

[Foe]

That’s not encouraging given your strategy is based on knowledge and mine is based on boredom.

Thus far, buying things because they seem cheap has been surprisingly effective.

I guess I’ll plan to double my holding again in apple if it does crash to $100.

You’re a braver man than me actually trading short/long. I’m a share owner on the basis that if I can take profit I will, and if I can’t then I’ll hold or buy back in again to dollar cost average. Eventually I’ll run out of capital for that strategy though. But not yet…

[Spikey M]

To be fair, it's nothing against Apple, it's purely because I think America are heading for a recession the same as we are. In fact, they're already in a recession had they not pre-emptively changed the definition of what a recession is.

Amazon and Meta have already shat the bed. Tesla eventually caught up. I have Microsoft and Apple as the next to go. It's a gamble and I have staggered stop losses and sell orders in place.

You are essentially Value Investing, just intuitively. You should have a little read up on the proper strategy behind it because you could make a tidy sum.

My long term holds are far less exciting. Generally ETF's and Dividend Aristocrats. I'm not really watching them at them moment. They'll be fine.

[Spikey M]

Neonode have apparently proved that they hold a live patent on touch screen technology and they are gearing up to sue Apple, Samsung, Google, etc.

I've chucked £100 at it today. Already 11% up.

Obviously no guarantees and I have literally no idea how long it's likely to take, how likely they are to win or... well, basically anything, but it feels like this could blow up.

[Ben]

You'll do for me.

In.

[Spikey M]

Just be mindful that I have done exactly the same as you have, so if it shits the bed it's not my fault, it's Reddits.

[Ben]

Well you never mentioned Reddit. Fuck sake.

[Ben]

Actually fuck it, it's a great risk.

[Lofty]

r/TinyHeadBets

[Ben]

This has r/WSB all over it. But they are good at running up a price in the short-term. I'll be out by the end of the month one way or another.

[Foe]

Followed with £200 just to make my TTH losses to an even £500.

Market took a nice dip today so bought back into legal and general and into the Taylor wimp ‘dip’. Need to sell something soon, or plough my bonus in when it arrives in March.

It’s monumental how much I’ve fucked up my company trading share plan. If I’d held the fort on the initial buy back I’d have been swing trading it exactly as intended. As it is they’re stuck. I might even up having to sell them at break even or so just for a chance to reset the opportunity.

[Baz]

Am I too late?

[Ben]

Well we can all be late together.

[Spikey M]

We're either all going to be rich or we've bought the top and we're about to quarter our money. There's no in between.

[Foe]

Looking forward to writing off my first loss.

[Foe]

We drowning, boiz.

[Foe]

Not looking good, is it?

What was your buy on meta spikey? It’s flying. I was in at 130-something, going to hold until 180-190 I think which would be taking it back to a semi normal share price for it.

Caught the diageo swing today almost perfectly by complete luck. Logged in, saw it was down 6% despite good results, bought some, went to a meeting. Came out the meeting and checked again, up 3% on my buy so cashed out. £50 for absolutely fuck all. Complete fluke too.

Having a stormer in January. £1,085 up. Need a big correction to buy some shit.

[Foe]

Rolls Royce also broke even for my buy price for the first time in about 9 months too. Going to sell that as soon as I can get £10 profit. Horrid buy, an absolutely beautiful learning for me for future.

[Spikey M]

I'm keeping Neonode. We got done by the WallStreet bets pump, but the patent claim remains. Still worthy of a gamble for me.

I got Meta at $96.84 Foe. Still holding.

I would keep some Rolls Royce. At some point Governments are going to have to chill out on Nuclear Energy if they want to get anywhere near their carbon promises. RR are well positioned when they do.

[Foe]

Oh baby! That’s a big winner. 50% up! what’s your out number?

Yeah, I’m going to just hold it. Not worth the hassle selling if there’s even the slightest chance of it multiplying.

Yeah, RR seems to be compact nuclear units. It’s just got so much debt. I couldn’t hack it if it collapsed again and I was so close to have an out. I don’t have a big holding of it, relative to my others, but I just don’t trust it.

Similarly I ditched DCC today for a nominal profit because I just don’t trust it or know enough about it.

I have about 10-15 companies now that I keep an eye on and want to/will trade or hold.

Might rebut diageo tomorrow if it drops that little bit back to my original buy price.

[Foe]

Also saw that chevron announced buybacks that would buy pretty much the European oil firms. Absolutely mental.

Hopefully that works well for my gaff, or I’m going to end up an Exxon Mobil employee.

[Boydy]

Think you owe me commission for that Meta investment, Spikey.

[Foe]

After hours trading of meta



Will see how it opens today…

[Foe]

Binned them for £1500 profit.

Celebratory packet of prawn cocktail crisps.

Amazon announcing their results after hours seems a bad omen, but think I’ll let it ride and see if I get a pleasant surprise tomorrow.

[Foe]

In on FORD motor company.

Dropped by 7-8% based on poor results. So Foe logic says worth a punt. Dividend in, I think, 4 or 5 days basically pays the buy fee. Will double down if there’s another 7-8% drop.

Should’ve binned amazon pre results. Results were shit and my potential profit wiped.

Mellin should be a millionaire with this bullish market. Expect a return.

[Foe]

Anyone got any experience transferring company shares into a stocks and shares isa?

I’ve got a company share plan maturing in September which has absolutely rocketed in value, to the point where I can’t sell the fucking thing without exceeding the capital gains allowance for the year.

Apparently you can transfer direct into a stocks and shares isa within 90 days of it maturing. Anyone done anything similar? Is it an arse, or a simple form clicking exercise? @Yevrah ?

Four posts in a row.

[Ben]

I'll break your streak.

Anyone use Vanguard for SIPP (or other things)? Recommended? If not, who? Ta.

[Baz]

I set it up, dumped a pot of money in and haven’t checked it since. Would recommend.

[niko_cee]

Think Rolls Royce and IAG might finally have their heads above water from when Mellin tipped them ages ago.

[Ben]

I set it up, dumped a pot of money in and haven’t checked it since. Would recommend.

Looked into it a bit more and I can set up an automated regular partial transfer from my workplace pension which sounds great. Partial because if I empty it then it will fuck up payroll apparently.

I'm getting old. My pensions contributions are about 10% (incl. employer) and I'm wondering if that's enough.

[Spikey M]

Is your employment pension maxed out? My employer will match up to 8% (so 16% in total). If you have scope to increase it then you're far better off doing that then opening a SIPP.

[Ben]

I get 5% lol, wankers.

I'm with TPP and their fees are shit and apparently their investment strategies are also shit. Vanguard cheaper fees and better strategies. So the workplace pension stays open because I don't completely empty it and do like a quarterly transfer to Vanguard.

[Foe]

Think Rolls Royce and IAG might finally have their heads above water from when Mellin tipped them ages ago.

I bought them at 113 9 months ago and it’s finally Tilting back. Got a decision to make soon whether to unload or not.

I bought into palantir at $7.50 a few days ago. Going well. Shame I didn’t go with my usual stake so it’s not a lot of profit, but still.

American markets seem to be boom or bust.

[Foe]

On the pension front I’m shoving in 20% after years of 9-11% and panicking. So you’ve all given me some relief.

[Ben]

When we get the house move out of the way I definitely need to jack it up to 15%. Then 20% when my student loan is cleared in a few years.

[Shindig]

Mine's limited to 10% but the company matches contributions.

[Ben]

All but 5% will be from me.

[Shindig]

I've not maxed it out yet because it keeps bumping up against minimum wage. I think the boost I got a couple of months back will get me over the threshold.

[Foe]

On the plus side, I sold my rolls Royce shares and didn’t take a loss as looked so likely for so long.

On the downside I gained about 5% and left a further 10 or so % on the table with my limit sell price set before the results.

Glad they’re gone tbf.

Been slowly buying into amazon and Ford as their share prices slip. Will keep going out of nothing much other than curiosity.

[Baz]

I pay 6.5% of my monthly salary into my pension. Ideally I'd pay 15% based on some quick maths but apparently I can't up it like that. I've been sent the following:

Members can increase their pension benefits via one of the two options below:

Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs)
Members are able to invest up to 100% of their monthly salary into an AVC, excluding any other dedications taken before tax such as NI or PAYE. This is the flexible option allowing you to start, stop, re-start, increase and decrease the monthly amount. We suggest for members to research both providers to see which one and which investment is best suited to you. Prudential and Standard Life are the two in-house providers we use for AVCs. If you choose to continue with Prudential the initial application is set up direct with Prudential either online or via telephone, they will then send us a notification that you wish to start contributing to AVCs and we will amend your record accordingly and send this instruction to your employer to make the relevant changes to you payroll for the next available pay period.

If you wish to continue with Standard Life, then you will need to request an application form and an investment pack from us via email, we send this via email as the investment information pack is over 40 pages. You will require to complete the application form and send this back to the fund. Once this has been received we will then make an AVC fund via the Standard Life Portal on your behalf and send the instruction to your employer to deduct your chosen amount from the next available pay period. If you wish to change the amount that you pay, we ask if members can send a letter of notification including your original "wet" signature. We are unable to make any changes if your original signature is missing.

*when contacting either Prudential or Standard Life, you will be asked to quote a scheme number. These numbers can be found on the attached document*


Additional Pension Contributions (APCs)
Members are able to purchase an additional pension by choosing Additional Pension Contributions, this is a contractual agreement between yourself and Merseyside Pension Fund. Members are able to pay a maximum amount of £7,352.00 annually to APCs. However this will require to be in monthly instalments, you confirm the amount you wish to pay and the term length ie, £100.00 over 10 years. We will complete a calculation and send this to you via post along with the Additional Pension Contribution information letter and medical form. As this is a contractual agreement, you will require to arrange a doctor’s appointment as the medical form needs to be complete by your doctor and return to the fund - to ensure that you are fit and healthy to continue with this option. We do not accept cover letters, the medical form is an official document and requires to be completed.

Similar to your normal pension contributions all AVC and APCs will require to be processed through your payroll for tax purposes, you will receive tax relief on these contributions.

I don't want to do APC cos from what I understand, if I die before taking my pension, nobody gets it.

So just stick 8.5% into an AVC and hope it grows massive? Prudential or Standard Life? The former sounds like less hassle.