Jon's Story

I used some free online tools to create some screens – actually I still use them sometimes. I also used some advisory services and magazines. I still use those, plus I follow some people on Twitter.

It makes it easy to pick out high quality and strong momentum stocks, which are the ones I prefer. Previously it was a lot more laborious.

I cannot point to a single pick from Stockopedia that has made me a whole load of money. However, the amount of money it has saved me over the years is incalculable. For instance (and this happens all the time) someone on Twitter will mention a share and tell you how great it is. I can easily find it on Stockopedia and within 30 seconds I can see its chart, I can see it has never made a profit, it issues shares every year, has negative shareholder’s funds and the Quality Ranking is 3.

Be more aware of the impact of drawdowns as your portfolio gets bigger. I was investing in 2008 and lost a lot in percentage terms. However, in those days, it was small cash values, and it was so much easier to recover. If your portfolio is £10,000 and you are adding £1,000 per month, whatever happens, it will grow. But if your portfolio is £300,000, adding £1,000 a month is not even making a dent. Even just a 5% drop loses you more than a year’s worth of contributions. It may seem obvious and that there is not much you can do about it, but it is a big consideration, and has made me more cautious now than when I started.