Richard's Story

I started investing by buying into funds recommended by the platform I was using at the time, however these didn’t do very well. I then began to subscribe to tip sheets; my first experience was also not particularly successful but it made me realise you can make significant gains on smaller shares if you can work out which ones are worth buying. After trying a few other tip sheets and newsletters, I did fairly well although I felt that my success began to fade after a couple of years.

I started using Stockopedia about 5 years ago, initially using the screen of screens (this was before StockRanks had started). That was fairly good but then the StockRanks system was introduced which I found very interesting. I read Ed’s articles and broadly followed his suggestion of selecting 20-30 high Stockrank shares and rebalancing every 3 months or so. I also moved away from a UK-focussed portfolio which generally has been well worthwhile.

I doubled the value of my SIPP in 32 months! And my other accounts (ISA and no tax wrapper) are on a similar trajectory.

Tremendously. I doubled the value of my SIPP in 32 months! And my other accounts (ISA and no tax wrapper) are on a similar trajectory. I haven’t taken any on the proceeds out as I am fortunate enough to have sufficient income to cover my needs, however my quality of life has improved in the sense that I feel much more confident about my financial future.

I think it depends how much they have to invest. Probably if they have over £5k then I would suggest subscribing to Stockopedia and buying 2 shares a month using Stockranks to find suitable shares with the aim to get to 25 shares. Then rebalance every 3 months (including selling any shares that drop below a Stockrank of 80). I would avoid a UK bias and also anything with a market cap of below £30m due to illiquidity and wide spread.