Editorial Contributor
ROBBIE BURNS’
april TRADING DIARY “To have and to hold from this day till death do us part...” etc. is what many of you might have said at one point, yes? And many of you have also probably broken that promise. You held someone else, didn’t you; you broke that vow, didn’t you..? You mean son of a... Anyhow... just where is this somewhat cumbersome and possibly irritating start to this month’s SBM column leading me? (It’s already irritated me and I’m the one writing it — time to visit the therapist!).
Shares in the end aren’t there to be held till death do you part. However, confusingly, I am also going to argue you might want to marry the odd one for quite some time before cruelly ditching them for a younger sexy model.
Well. The now labour-some point I want to make is this: you’re not marrying your stocks and falling in and out of love with them all the time. I’ve met so many traders who marry a share. They nearly always own it, moan about it, love it, hate it. Bitch about it to their mates... Told you. Just like a marriage!
So here are some shares I am currently involved with, either married to, having a fling with, or even just starting out on the road to potential happiness...
They watch it all the time, try to play it, usually maintain a holding. It’s usually bad news... Best to get divorced, have done with it, move right along.
52 | www.financial-spread-betting.com | May 2013
One share I am married to is Telecom Plus (TEP), very happily married for many years. Since it was 18p, actually, and it’s now 11 quid. That’s right 11 quid! We had our ups and downs, but I have stayed mainly faithful and boy has it paid off. It’s made me around £500,000. Then the dividends too, over the years. Probably £50,000 on those. That’s what I call a loving marriage! And it just gradually goes up over time. We get along well. I never moan about it. I’m staying in the marriage till it does something really bad to upset me, but I can’t see a major row on the horizon and expect that there is possibly at least another five years of our union to run.