John's Story

My previous approach to picking investments was haphazard. I used a mix of sources (magazines, internet etc) that were often contradictory and combined this with very limited research. I often ended up just buying companies that I was aware of as a consumer or those with recognised brands or high profiles.

Yes - I now maintain a clear record of the reason for the initial purchase and screen potential purchases according to sector, StockRank, RiskRating and style.

Since joining three years ago, I have used a combination of the NAPS portfolio, some stocks highlighted by Paul Scott, some stocks I've selected based on my own screening and a number of Investment Trusts providing some International exposure.

The overall result has been 2%, 7.6% and 7.6% market out performance in 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively (with dividends reinvested). I think this is pretty impressive given how hard it is to beat a total return index. By comparison, the portfolio of funds managed by my IFA over the same period has also performed pretty well with market our performance in 2 out of the last 3 years BUT the portfolio managed by me (with Stockopedia's significant help!) has produced significantly better returns, a total return of 40.5% (£233,000) beating the market by 17.2% and beating my IFA by 15% over the 3 years since subscribing.

My advice would be: don't overtrade - give your stock choices time to perform. Make sure to rebalance yearly or, at most, every six month.

Use the Stockranks, risk and style ratings as an indication of what to buy and not buy.

Diversify across market sectors.

Recognise that picking one or more big winners will involve some losing selections but its the aggregate return across all stock selections that matters.