Nigel's Story

Much of my choices were based on gut instinct. When I first started, I would only buy large FTSE100 companies that also paid a good dividend. My philosophy was always to buy and hold for the long term.

All of my investments rode the usual roller coaster ride and some were even taken over but they all made me money and paid a good dividend too which was often reinvested. My choices made were very unsophisticated and I would look for advice from newspapers, magazines, business programmes on TV etc.

It wasn't until I came across The Naked Trader writing in the Sunday Times and a book written by The Motley Fool that I really began to look deeper. I read many investment books after that and looked on the internet for any information at all on investing. My company research at that time was embarrassingly inadequate yet I still managed to make a profit.

Stockopedia has completely changed my approach. When I came across Stockopedia I realised it was just what I had needed and been looking for so I took the plunge! I felt that if I immersed myself in the subject then over time I would make informed purchases which would increase my wealth. It is the instant availability of information about a company that is so helpful.

Stockopedia has given me the confidence to try a systematic approach.

Since joining I have been reading the huge amounts of information on your site so that I can use this within my investments. Stockopedia has given me the confidence to try a systematic approach, it offers the chance to grow and develop your own unique style of investing.

I am now actively investing in company’s outside of the FTSE 100 and as a result, have had some excellent and awful results. I now feel more confident in the decisions I have made but I realise that the stock market can and does make fools of us all at times!

I have been holding my new system portfolio for 11 months now. I wanted to create a minimum of 10% gain. This is only its first year after all. So far the 20 share portfolio has made a gain of 9%. If I had implemented a stop loss of 10% then the portfolio would have so far made a gain of 13%. Not earth shattering but a lot better than 1% in a bank.

Don’t invest money you can’t afford to lose. Paper trade until you know what you are doing. Nobody is an expert, be your own person and develop your own style. Read as much as you can from people who have proven track records. Use a stop loss. Aim to get rich slowly. Learn about the psychology of investing and also find out how it affects you personally.