Often I find people with a decent amount of cash stowed away worry about their bank going bust and there is only a £75k get your money back guarantee.
As, lucky me, I hold lot in cash including 5 years worth of school fees to come I had investigated this and found that National Savings has a savings account that is 100% guaranteed by the Government up to £2m.
The interest rate surprisingly isn't too bad at around 0.7% and though of course inflation eats away a little it saves having to have many different bank account which is very irritating! Please research this yourself.
And obviously there are premium bonds too up to 50k. I seem to get on average £75-£100 a month in prizes.
Markets keep rising - in fact the more worry and fear there is around the more it goes. It could be a blow off top. At the mo it keeps getting to about 7550 on the FTSE then halting. Indeed a short at 7550 and then long in the late 7400s can pay dividends!
It could be there is more to come. It could be a major slump is on the way. I haven't the foggiest!
But I think it is probably worth having some cash! However profits have rocketed higher for the portfolio the last couple of weeks and I think personally I have gained well over £50,000 on paper.
With another seminar, again, one or two trades showed up I would never have got from lazing around at home.
..I bought some Fulcrum Utility Services (LON:FCRM). It's a safeish (well as safe as anything can be ) utility infrastructure provider. It looks mighty cheap and has a decent pile of cash too.
The board looks very experienced and I'm thinking this is a long-term tuckaway with a longer-term view. It could gradually go a lot higher bar a crash. Nice dividend for holders of close to 4% .
Concurrent Technology (LON:CNC) has come back to a decent buying level after flying too high for a bit.
Interim results last month looked decent. The outlook for this computer board outfit was re-iterated. Although at first glance looks like profit and revenues are down, last year's figures were a lot bigger due to a one off sale.
Orders are on the up, particularly from the US. There is also over £7m in cash. Another that could gradually go higher, these non volatile slow risers are the best.
ULS Technology looks interesting (LON:ULS).
Seems to go up in steps, holds for a while then rises again. Interesting as it keeps gaining clients for its conveyancing software.
The risk here I guess is a housing crash. Or is it? I wonder whether indeed there will be lots of sales going through! It's also a bit risky as a trading statement is due soon (last year Nov 1st).
So a small amount for now, get out quick if the statement is any sort of warning! It has net cash so a bust is unlikely. Bought a few live at the seminar.
I topped up on Ten Entertainment Group (LON:TEG). It's half-term and we took advantage of Ten's half term offer and we all went bowling.
Our local arcade was doing great business. The food is sh1t of course, all high margin crap but that's good for us investors!
It doesn't stop families wolfing it all down to provide the daily sugar and salt fix. Looks really well run and happy to hold some more.
With Hollywood Bowl a very similar outfit I think there is a chance of a bid for Ten from Hollywood at some point. 280p? Well, I would buy Ten if I was Hollywood.
I guess maybe it could end up the other way round! Strike !
I bought a stockbroker! Jarvis Group (LON:JIM) which owns X-o which a lot of people use for their isas.
Profits are rising fast and the cash under its own admin rose more than 15%. With Barclays terrible new stockbrokers service driving a lot of its customers away I'd have thought Jarvis will benefit.
I'd have shifted my barclays account as it is so bad now but I daren't try it yet as for now accounts could be frozen for weeks and I don't trust Barclays to handle it well.
I've made a short (betting on it to go down) on Devro (LON:DVO). a risky idea as it's possible they could put out a good statement shortly. But... there seems to be a few problems.
A massive debt of £151m, a big pension deficit and a rating which seems too high for the problems it has. On the upside they seem to be doing well in China and have put forward a programme to cut costs.
It's has a good rise from 140 to 240 and that seems to be more than enough. I'm looking for a fall back to the early 200s. Shorts are risky because they could suddenly rise and I would try and get out if it goes against me.
One of the most irritating things about investing is making a good profit on paper on something and it keeps drifting down. Especially when there is no apparent reason. Amo kept falling, slowly, and with demand appearing weak I sold well below peak but still banking a profit of £183 and £1,935 on the older trade. Sometimes best to shoot first, ask after.
And another is you were in a great profit, a warning then comes along either wiping out a lot of the profit or causing an expected loss. I'd totally forgotten I had a small pos in Ctec till reminded... by a profits warning!
Indeed I should have taken profits ages ago. Those profits would have been much bigger but ended up with just £110. It has got harder to keep an eye on everything but at least I did my usual get out quickish on a warning.
The Pets At Home short proved purrfect! It easily reached target but everytime I thought about banking profits it kept on going down. This afternoon it's down quite a bit again so I decided a good bet would be to bank half the short and keep the rest going for a touch longer. If it starts to go up from here will bank the rest. A decent profit for a couple of weeks of £875 with more to come.
They went sharply down after an institution baled out - probably for the same reason I shorted, they look expensive over 200p - for now, long term could be different.
With more than £2.5 million in the market at the mo I am going to start some cleaning out and try and reduce positions.
Given the market looks high, I've banked some substantial profits on many older trades. I want to have plenty of cash available in case of any downturn..
Knos went for a profit of £1,121. JLG profit £4,335. CSP £2,730. Avap £6,035. Part Renew for £4,122. Part Zyt £565. Keeping a decent slug through of the last two. That's profits banked of £21,901.
As I mentioned earlier Profits have absolutely rocketed for the portfolio the last couple of weeks.
This has been due to some giant gains in some stocks. These include Yu Group, Iomart, Entertainment One, Alliance Pharma,. ITV, Everyman, morgan Sindall, Safecharge, Burford, GVC among others.
The supergroup spreadbet has gone way over target, probably close very shortly!
Nice report from Flowtech Fluidpower which meant the shares stayed level on results day even after a good rise. Brokers are targetting over 200p.
Everyman Cinema has raised loads of cash to create many more cinemas. The placing was oversubscribed which shows a lot of managers think Everyman is on the right road. Continues as a long-term hold.
Microgen and Burford Capital hold onto massive gains well.
One fascinating high risk share is Ab dynamics (LON:ABDP) which I have just bought into.
It designs and makes advanced testing systems for the automotive industry. Results due Nov 15th are going to be slightly ahead according to a trading statement.
But what makes it more interesting than your average share is bits I found on its website including "driving robots" and "Driverless cars".
Although I hate the idea of both they are coming, and soon and guess which company is going to get a whole lot of work?
That's why it is already highly rated but perhaps it could end up being even more highly rated as the years go on. I sense a doubler or trebler here in time.
I think it will take time and patience.
I still have some time, and a lot of patience and have bunged quite a few in the SIPP. I took profits on PFC as it just wouldn't go any higher, but it had a good run and felt a good time to take this particular risk off the table.
Ceres Power (LON:CWR) which calls itself a world leader in next gen fuel cell tech for use in power products that is very green looks worth hanging onto after its statement. Losses are narrowing and the future could still be decent.
It remains a sink or swim one, it'll either be four times higher in a couple of years or four times lower.... hence the high risk!
Sophos has had a decent rise - one that is hard to value but the market really likes it it looks like there is more to come.
ITM has been strong and glad I subscribed to the offer and got some that I asked for A reminder-
the potential is huge for the alternative energy outfit. There could be some big growth in the markets. It's announced an electrolyser project with Shell.
And it is going to be producing hydrogen for zero emission French bus routes.
Cambridge Cognitition (LON:COG) rises yet again after weakness on results day. It has been granted funding to develop its pain measurement system and the long-term prospects continue to look excellent. It expects a strong H2.
IQE has been a bit weak but rebounded sharply
Sopheon has been rising and it announced today it had won some new funding for its research projects.