The past 7 days have been one of my busiest weeks in a long long time. I am very much an advocate of working as little as possible each day. It's one of the perks of building up my investments and focusing on cashflow, the ability to work when I want to work. Something went drastically wrong last week!
So here is a brief summary of my investment week. (It is probably a good time to state that I am not offering financial advice. I am not regulated by the FSA and so cannot offer any advice. I purely write about my experience and urge you to do your own research or get financial advice from people authorised to give it.)
Property - lots of viewings and several new tenants has seen my portfolio hit the maximum on occupancy. In other words my properties are full with the exception of one where the tenant moves out today. I opted a few weeks ago to give this property to a RSL to manage. I wait to see if they live up to all the hype they have given me and how quickly they can tenant it. Phone is still running hot and I have topped up my waiting lists.
Shares - I have been investing heavily in shares. UK shares have fallen for 7 consecutive weeks making this the longest downturn in the market since the credit crunch meltdown in 2008. Today has continued with the downward trend. Worries around the Greek debt has the markets trembling as they prepare for the economic fallout if Greece defaults. Banks are particularly exposed to the default as they hold (by law) a percentage of their capital in sovereign debt. The continued downward trend has created some very cheap prices to buy into companies.
My strategy is two fold. I buy for dividends and I buy for capital growth. On the dividend side I had 3 companies in my portfolio going ex-dividend this month. The cheaper shares has allowed my to buy extra stock and hence boost my income for July and August when the dividends are paid. It's times like this I remember the words of the great Warren Buffett 'you want to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful'. At the moment sharemarket investors are fearful and this is my opportunity to be greedy and buy my shares at a discount price. Remember, I am only buying into companies that I have researched, seem solid companies and whose shares appear undervalued by my criteria.
My second strategy is capital growth where I buy penny stocks which I sell once they have doubled in value or once I feel they have hit their high. Surprisingly, most of my penny stocks have held their price or risen in value during this down time. Two stocks have fallen due to their link with oil. So I took the opportunity to purchase more as the companies still look fundamentally sound.
Bonds - I sold off the last of my bonds. I have been slowly selling them for several weeks as the returns have been dwindling. Finally, offloaded the last of them. I'm sure there will come a time when bonds are giving good returns again but now is not the time.
P2P - I have been involved in this type of investing for around 20 years. Mainly in New Zealand but since coming back to the UK the opportunities have been very restrictive until companies such as Zopa.com went online 6 years ago filling the void created by the banks failure to lend. P2P (Peer-to-Peer Lending) has grown significantly with Zopa now having 2% of the market and other companies coming online with niche markets and their own spin on ways to borrow money or you to lend as an investor. Ratesetter; Thincats; Yes and Funding Circle are just a few. I've used some of the money from Bonds to increase the amount held in these accounts and again this will increase the monthly cashflow over the coming months.
Gold and Silver - I've increased my holdings in both these commodities. Interestingly while US dollars prices for gold and silver have declined recently due to exchange rates UK stirling continues to increase in value. Gold bought at the beginning of the week has increased and now stands around £950 per troy ounce. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see gold reach £1000 per troy ounce during the second half of this year.
And finally Woodlands- I had a good look at some woodlands with the view to purchasing some for the income from the timber and capital increase in the land. Income from Woodlands is tax free. Capital Gain on the timber is also tax free. You do however pay capital gains on the increase in the land.
So there you have what has been a very busy investment week for me. Until the problems over Greece are sorted I expect the volatility in the investment world to continue and this might just be the start of what could be long days and busy weeks for a few months to come.
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