Life and Blogging

2018 has been a difficult year for me so far, despite initially feeling so positive at the beginning. I am sure most people know about these issues in some form or another which stops us from doing all the things we plan to do.

It is difficult where to start, but I used to be able to allocate time on a regular basis to do the things I enjoyed doing like writing a blog. The plan was to write at least one blog every week. This I managed until the end of February, but since then I have only managed 1 blog a month. I did write a list of follow up blogs to make it easier. But since March have only managed to do  "investment blog" which for some is not ideal. 

Sadly my time has been taken up with other issues caused by what I can only describe as fraudsters and hackers.  Not with this blog, fortunately.  First, it was time-wasting telephone calls at work and on my mobile.  These I went to the trouble of reporting, and over time they seem to have reduced.  Next were the hackers whose aim is to commit Fraud.  These are the new breed, who slowly add bits of code hidden away to "open a back door" to your website. You know something is up, and you go looking to find it, but most of the time you don't find it, but even if you do, you just remove it, and they come back a few weeks later and add it back in. 

At the time you are not sure if something has happened or not, because they do nothing else.  So sometimes there is nothing really to find.  They then completely leave you alone for a few weeks, then come back and do it little more, then go away again for a week or two. Then finally come back big time, with a team who are in many countries so impossible to block. 

By now you know you are in trouble and do everything you can to try to stop them.  The sensible thing to do used to be to remove the website, and roll back to an older version from a backup copy.  The problem with this is you need a really old backup copy - one at least 3 months old or even older, but most back-ups are not more than a month, so it does not work. 

The only choice then - remove the original website completely so they have no access and start again.  Years of development and work - gone.  If I had lots of money to invest in putting a new website into place every 2-3 years then this sort of thing would not be an issue.  The little spare money I have is going into my investments so I can stop working one day, which a website sadly will not do the same, especially when there are just too many people who think there is nothing wrong in being a Fraudster.  

April 5,2018 - UK Tax year end

4 full years have now past since I started this portfolio.

Before I give you the facts, I have received the following dividends since my last investment.

£ 38.34 from SSE plc
£30.17 from RDSB
£46.52 from BP

The Facts: 
Total new money invest during the year:  £2,000.00
Total new money invested since starting the portfolio: £13,000.00
Total dividends for the year: £804.94 (2016-17 : £420.01)
Dividend Income : £67.08 per month (2016-17 : £35.00 per month)
Total dividends since starting the portfolio £1,566.89  (2016-17 : £761.95)

If I sold the shares on the 5th April 2018, I would have had £16,884.87  in cash in my SelfTrade dealing account. Overall a 19% profit still on my original cash. This is the same as last year, so I am happy.

 As I say each year, that is the thing about shares.  They can go up and they can go down.  My regular income is still increasing from year one of £13.33 pm, and this the 4th year year is is now up to £67.08pm.  I still have a long way to go, before it is enough to live on, but I have to start somewhere and "Rome was not built in Day"

March 2018 - Investment 22

Since my last investment I had also received the following dividends:

 £31.92 from GlaxoSmithKline
£30.51 from  National Grid Plc
£29.97 from BT

Additionally since the last investment I have been trying decide which my next investment should be.  The market has dropped generally, and I have quite a few existing holdings producing good dividend returns against the costs of my original investment. Some are showing capital losses, so it could be considered a good time to top up. Especially as the reason for investing is for long term dividend return over capital profit.  Generally the news from the companies I am watching have not been positive enough for me to be confident to choose one particular company over another, so I will just have to keep watching each one until I am either ready to invest or find something else which catches my eye.

By mid March 2018 the market was still very volatile, so I decided to take a look at a share I already had, which was not doing very well even thought it was producing a good dividend return.  So I decided to top on on National Grid.  I just used the balance of cash I had in my trading account to purchase another 137 shares, bringing my new holding to 334 shares.

https://www.nationalgrid.com

December 2017 - Investment No 21

The main issue with investing in shares is keeping up with developments of the companies which you hold as a shareholder.  Fortunately I am a long term member of a website called MoneyAm (www.moneyam.com) where I keep a Stockwatch portfolio list of my holdings so I can see at a glance if there is any news. I try to take a look at it at least once a day, ideally in the morning to make sure I don't miss something really important.

In mid December I noticed there was news on "Board Changes" with Persimmon, in which I held 78 shares. The announcement was that the Chairman was going to resign and on the previous day another senior member of the board had resigned. Also generally the announcement tried to put a positive spin on what had happened, but it was over the Long Term Incentive Plan in 2012 which did not include a CAP.  It was due to this omission they tendered their resignation.  I did wonder what the implication of this would be, but decided not to wait until the companies trading up date due at the beginning of January 2018. So I decided to sell my 78 shares in Persimmon for which I received £2,035.95.  This produced a profit of 63% on shares held for just under 18 months. Including the dividends received the overall profit was 66%.  So now I am sitting on over £2,000 in cash.  A very nice position to be in.

Since my last investment I had also received the following dividends:

Centrica  £16.20
Dyson Group £13.14
Royal Dutch Shell B £31.16
BP £48.30

I am not good at leaving money sitting in my dealing account, so I thought I need to make an investment while the market was quiet.  Looking at my portfolio I did think I should consider a bank, to have more diversification, but taking a look at the choice I just could not bring myself to invest in any of them.  So I decided to take a look again at my existing shares.  Centrica was languishing.  Currently down 40% but paying good dividends, although no more in the current financial year.  I noticed the CEO, Iain Conn had purchased 100,000 shares early in the previous week for more than the share was currently trading. In fact he had also purchased 100,000 shares back in October 2017, when the shares where a lot higher.

centrica.com

 Centrica has steadily been dropping in price.  The company was very much trying to be a one stop shop to for its customers and the company figures to year end Dec 2016 were pretty good, after a couple of questionable years.  I wondered in Iain Conn thought the year end Dec 2017 figures were going to be better and had purchased the shares? Of course I could be completely wrong so I would have to wait and see.

In the meantime I purchased 820 shares in Centrica for £1,148.89 leaving £1,000 in my dealing account towards my next purchase.

November 2017 - Investment No 20

I have watched my portfolio grow well now, and am disappointed that I have not been able to add as much new money into it as I had originally planned. On occasion it has been easier to sell and existing share which is in profit to finance the purchase of another share. 

So I have tighten my belt, and found another £1,075 to add to my Self trade accounts. This will bring the total money I have personally put into the account to £13,000 instead of the £15,000 as my original plan. I have no idea how I am going to catch up. 

Since my last investment in the previous quarter I have received the following dividends:

BT Group plc £65.19
Royal Dutch Shell "B" £32.28
BP plc £49.46
SSE plc £86.26
GlaxoSmithKline £13.68

My dividend income to date is already more than the amount I received for the whole of the previous year so I am looking forward to finding out the final figures for this financial year.

The market is quite high, so I have decided to top up by putting all the money I have in the account into a share which I already own and receive quarterly dividends each month - GSK.

The share price has dropped a bit - about 5% from my original purchase in June 2015 - Investment No 6, but I think this is because  because the market as a whole has dropped.  2016-17 I received a return of 7% on dividends, so for a long term investment I think I'd like to buy more. And they are also due to go ex-dividend next week, payable in January 2018 so that is an unexpected plus.

So I purchased an additional 96 shares in GlaxoSmithKline plc. This brings the number of shares held to 168.

 http://www.gsk.com

July 2017 - Investment No 19

Although I have been topping up on existing shares recently, I found I share which pays a dividend in August.  This is the only month in the year I currently do not receive any dividend.  I have actually missed out this year, as I found the share a little late. The shares paid a special dividend back in June, and the shares also went ex-dividend in June. But c'est la vie, there is another ex-dividend date in November with a payment in January and of course there is always August 2018 when the payment should also be paid.

However since my last investment a month ago, I have received the following dividends:

BP plc £50.33
Royal Dutch Shell "B" £15.96
Centrica £37.80
Persimmon £85.80
GlaxoSmithKline £ 13.68

I decided to sell the balance of my 184 shares in Antofagasta.  After dealing costs I received £1,873.49 This was a total of 23% on my original investment, 75% from the balance of shares purchased in July 2017 and 5% from the shares originally purchased in March 2014. The dividend income this was producing was disappointing and I had another share I wanted to purchase.

This share was in National Grid plc, in the Gas, Water & Multi-utilities sector and is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world.

https://www.nationalgrid.com/

As the timeline of my posts are starting catching up on reality, I am going to space them out a little until they actually catch up.  Thereafter they will be soon after I each investment is made.

June 2017 - Investment No 18

I did quite a lot of buying and selling during 2016-17, and now I have left it to the end of the next quarter before doing another investments.  It has often been difficult finding extra cash to add to my portfolio, but as it grows and starts to become the portfolio I want, I just have to find the cash to keep it going.  Easier said than done, but I really just have to do it.

This month I add £925.00 to my dealing account.   Since the end of the UK tax year I have received the following dividends :

GlaxoSmithKline £16.56
Antofagasta £21.71

I can see my dividend income starting to grow, and I have 3 shares which paid over 5% last year.  These are GlaxoSmithKline; Royal Dutch Shell 'B' and Scottish and Southern.  I already topped up on Scottish and Southern, so I have decided to top on Royal Dutch Shell 'B'.  My existing 43 shares is showing a small loss of about 5%, so I am able to purchase and additional 46 shares, bring my total shares in Royal Dutch Shell 'B' to 89 shares.  Of course I have missed the last ex-dividend date in May, but that could also be a factor in why the shares are slightly lower than they could be.

http://www.shell.com/

April 5, 2017 - UK Tax year end

I have now reached the 3rd full year since this portfolio was started.  Despite Brexit, and all the bad news and negative reports about it, and I will not mention what happened in the US, I have seen a lot of changes in my share portfolio.

Before I give you the facts, I need to mention that before the tax year end I received 4 more dividends.

Royal Dutch Shell 'B £16.61
BP Plc £17.86
Persimmon Plc £19.50
and one that I have not mentioned before : Dyson Group  £8.03

Dyson Group (not to be confused by Dyson UK, which is a completely different company) was not mentioned previously because theses were shares I purchase a long, long, long time ago, which were subsequently de-listed and had not had any value and were no longer traded on any stock market. 
Receiving this dividend was a surprise, as it was greater than the actual value of the shares.
 

The Facts:
Total new money invest during the year:  £3,775.00
Total new money invested since starting the portfolio: £11,000.00
Total dividends for the year:  £420.01
Dividend Income : £35.00 per month
Total dividends since starting the portfolio £761.95

If I sold the shares on the 5th April 2017, I would have had £13,136.04 in cash in my SelfTrade dealing account. Overall a 19% profit on my original cash. This is quite a change from the previous financial year when I was showing a overall loss of 8%.  That is a total improvement of 27%.

 As I say each year, that is the thing about shares.  They can go up and they can go down.  My regular income is increasing as last year it was £15.17 pm, and this year is is now £35.00 pm.  I still have a long way to go, before it is enough to live on, but I have to start somewhere.

My handbag collection for special occasions?

I have never been one for labels or handbags.  On a day to day basis, I now carry a backpack, as it is practical.  I used to have one good quality leather handbag, with many compartments in which I carried my life. Over time it would slowly disintegrate, despite my attempts at keeping it alive by moisturising the leather, but the inside would slow tear or the stitching come away.

The only issue with the one good quality handbag was it was not practical to use for special occasions. In fact, it was so out of place, I would end up carrying nothing, which in turn caused its own issues.  I realised I had to do something, but for many years I did not have a solution.

I found a website where I could purchase different bags, starting with clutch bags of different colours and shapes. I could purchase 4-5 bags for a fraction of the amount I use to purchase my 1 good quality bag, so have returned on a regular basis and will continue to add more.  Interestingly I have developed favourites.  My current favourite is Pink Satin Hard case Evening Clutch Bag with lace which currently is one of the most "expensive" at £14.99!  I always hated Pink, but it is so pretty, can my phone, keys and a few "notes" fit perfectly. It does not take up much room on a table either!

As you can see from the image I currently keep them lined up on an old bookshelf in the spare room, so all I have to do is pick the one I need for that evening or event.  It is so easy and I am never caught short without having a suitable bag to take to any event. I don't know why I never did it before or why no one else I know does the same.  I can only recommend you think about doing the same.

And where is this wonderful online retail shop?   Its www.belindeashandbagsandaccessories.co.uk

March 2017 - Investment No 17

I did not intend to purchase another share, but I am not very good at leaving cash in my dealing accounts as it does not pay any interest.  I do think putting it into a share which produces a regular dividend works better for me, and this is my long term aim.

Since the last investment the following things happened:

1.  BT Group Plc  paid a dividend of £13.53

2.  I sold my holding of  185 shares in HSBC for £1,225.91
- This produced a profit of 23%, and although the share had also given a dividend return of 7%, HSBC was in the news too often over being fined another 1.1bn due to not doing enough to stop Money Laundering

3. SSE paid a dividend of £36.99

4. I sold my ARRIS Intl Plc shares for £714.96 as they are in profit. The profit is only 7%, but this share is listed in the US, so not part of the profile of my existing portfolio, and a profit is still a profit.

This was what was left of my Pace plc shares originally purchased in April 2014 - Investment No 2, and then taken over in January 2016. Details of this can be found in my March 2016 - Investment No 9 post.

So I find I have just short of £2,000 to invest just before the financial year end. A lovely situation to find myself in.  My BP shares are showing a 7% loss, so I decided to purchase 430 shares in BP, so my holding is now 649 shares.

https://www.bp.com/

February 2017 - Investment No 16

I am in the next quarter and so decide I can add another £1,000 to my SelfTrade dealing account to purchase more shares.

Since my last purchase the following dividends were received:

HSBC Holdings Plc £14.87
BP Plc £17.36
Royal Dutch Shell 'B'   £15.97
GlaxoSmithKline  £13.68

My last purchase of BT shares are down about 15% so I decided to top up and buy another 339 shares in BT.  This will bring my holding up to 618 shares.

It is difficult sometime to purchase more shares in a company has dropped since purchasing them. My portfolio consists of FTSE100 shares, all currently paying dividends.  I do have one other share in the portfolio also down about 15%, Centrica.  This was my September 2015 - Investment No 7 purchase. However I hold shares also in SSE which is in the same sector so did not want to increase my holding. BT is in a different sector to my other shares, so this is why I decided on this company over Centrica.

       http://www.btplc.com/

 

https://www.centrica.com/

The ideal garden furniture for the UK weather.

I am always surprised by the number of people who tell me that they purchased garden furniture last summer, but during the middle of winter feel they have to dispose of it because it cannot be used again.

I can only think this is because they have not been aware that it does not take much to look after it, or perhaps the furniture they purchase was of poor quality.

The best quality garden furniture for the UK should be constructed with a Poly Rattan Weave, and a Steel Alloy framework, with luxury heavy weight cushions. The weather in the UK tends to be "damp" which poly rattan is able to cope without any real issues.  Steel-alloy frames should be powder-coated for weather proof durability so can be kept out side all year round and not rust. Rust is a reaction with metal and moisture which over time causes it to corrode.

The cushions however, cannot generally tolerate the UK wet weather, and will need to be brought inside during heavy rain and the winter to ensure the material stays in a good condition.

The Whitewash Large Corner Right Set 

Of course the best way of looking after both is to ensure that you allow your furniture to always dry naturally. Do not use a pressure washer or bleaching agents as both may damage or lead to discolouration of the rattan or cushions.  A mild detergent in cool water will help keep both clean. With the rattan just fill a bowl with warm soapy water and wash the surface with a soft cloth.  A vacuum cleaner brush attachment will remove any dirt or dust from the rattan, and a old toothbrush is ideal to remove debris from any harder to reach place.

November 2016 - Investment No 15

The Antofagasta shares I purchased in July as Investment No 12, are showing a 35% increase in value.  When shares are sold they are done on a last in, first out basis.  This means that for Capital Gains tax purposes the most recent shares are always treated as sold before any shares purchase previously.  The dividend income the shares were producing was only 1%, so I decided to sell 145 shares in Antofagasta plc, which would reduce my holding to 184 shares.  The reason for this numbers was it realised £1,000.00 which I could invest into another companies shares. I may have already made a purchase this month, but cashing in for a profit can sometimes be a good idea.

Since my last investment Centrica plc paid a dividend of £13.68.

I was looking for a share which paid a dividend in either February or August each year.  I found BT plc.  They paid dividends in September and February, and were due to go ex-dividend immediately after Christmas.  So I purchased 279 shares.

In the UK, BT serves over 20 million business and residential customers, as well as providing network services to other operators.  Its principal activities include networked IT services, local, national and international telecommunications services, and higher-value broadband and internet products and services. 

http://www.btplc.com/

November 2016 - Investment No 14

Another month has passed since my last investment and so I decided to put another £1,000 into my SelfTrade dealing account. The portfolio is looking better, and I am looking forward to seing the year end results. Before I get ahead of myself,  I have only received 1 dividend, £13.68 from GlaxoSmithKline, but I am not complaining.  I am now receiving a least 1 dividend a month. The months I do not are currently February and August.  But I will have to do something about that eventually.

Playing safe, I decide to invest in a company I already hold, Scottish and Southern, also known as SSE. This share was producing dividend income of 5.7% on my original investment, but I was still making a small loss as the share price was about 10% under the price from 2014.  I am not going to repeat myself about this company, so you can read about it on the September 2014 - Investment No 3 post.
 

http://sse.com

October 2016 - Investment No 13

If you have been reading these posts from the first one, you will know originally my plan was to add £1,000 each quarter from my own sources, to invest into shares to provide long term dividend income.  By now I should have added £11,000, but I have only managed to add £8,000.00.  In an attempt to catch up, I decided to make sure I add the full £1,000 I should have been doing and added this amount to my account with SelfTrade.

Since the last investment I also received the following dividends:

GlaxoSmithKline £13.68
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' £15.16
SSE Plc £40.62
HSBC Holdings Plc £14.17
Antofagasta £7.72

Looking again for another share that was paying quarterly dividends, I decided on BP plc.   BP was a Intergrated Oil company and a leader in automotive and specialist lubricants, know in 15 countries worldwide.  2014 and 2015 had been really bad years, as they really !!***!!,  having a "near death" experience with the Gulf of Mexico.  I hoped I was not going to regret buying some shares in this company, but I did need to spread my risk a bit, so I hoped that this would be a good risk.

I purchased 219 shares in BP plc.

 https://www.bp.com/

July 2016 - Investment No 12

The London stock market was starting to settle down, and recover.  Things were better financially for me, so I decided to add £775 .00 to my share account with Selftrade, so I could make another investment.  

Since my last investment last month, I had received the following dividends:

Royal Dutch Shell 'B'  £14.18
HSBC Holdings Plc £13.95

The dividends together with the new money and the money I held back from last month meant I had £1,100 to invest.   My Antofagasta holding was performing badly. It has improved slightly over the previous  This was a very large mining company so long term should perform better. My attitude was, it had not recovered yet, so should be a good buy. I had received a dividend of 7% in 2014-15, but this had been reduced to 1% in 2015-16. For this reason I purchased another 213 shares bringing the number of shares now held in this company to 329.


The chart below is the FTSE daily charge over the previous 6 weeks.  The 2 dips are before and after the referendum. 

When is it not a New Years Resolution?

I don't do New Years Resolutions anymore. At least I have not for the last 20 odd years.  Why? Simply because within a short period of writing my list, in no more than a few days I have forgotten them and not looked at the list again. 

If I can explain about this post.  Yesterday, when I returned home from walking my dogs, a new neighbour asked if she could take a look around my house. I live in a house where from the outside it looks very similar to the other houses nearby, but inside, no two houses are the same.  Having already looked inside their home on a previous occasion, I felt it would be rude to say no, so I said of course as I came in.  As I walked them through each room, all I could see was "clutter".  I work long hours and often "shoved" stuff into boxes, into bags, into cupboards, much of it was neatly tucked away, but there was so much "stuff", I thought to myself " it's getting worse", I have got to do something about it, and I can not leave it any longer.

So I decided every day I have to throw something away. Even if it's a single item, it will mean that this time next year I will have 365 fewer items "cluttering" my home.

To start with, to make it easy, the item will be something I have either not worn or used for at least 2 years. As I looked around, I realised it was a lot of things.  I used to keep clothing as years later, this would return into fashion, but I am no longer the same size, so even if it did come back into fashion, I would not wear it again.

I had a lot of things I thought I would sell on eBay, but I stopped selling on eBay some time ago because it had become difficult to send the item in the post or courier and I often found the costs came to more than the amount I received after PayPal and eBay had all taken their fees too.  So why should I continue to keep these things?

The items I starting with would not be good for recycling either, as that would give me another excuse to delay its disposal.

I went to my wardrobe and took out a shirt that I know I have not worn in the last 2 years and put it in the bin. The first step, of 365.