30th October 1999
Thanks to Ali for his comments, here's mine in response -
" that from now on that one of us should attempt to attend these in future and then share the information with the group. They are planning more focused "
Good idea Al. If it hadn't been for a night out the night beforehand, I'd have probably gone, although it seemed a bit mickey mouse to me, so I'm glad to hear of more focused ones being planned, which I am certainly interested in. I'll keep you all posted on any news I receive.
" Actions we as a club need to address; Allocate areas for each member to research "
Well we've all got a list of websites and recommended sources, personally, I look at the fool, ukinvest and bbc biz news, as well as the sunday times and FT on a saturday. I know Brad looks at Yahoo a lot. Anyone volunteering to keep an eye on anything else? (Teletext is good too). I believe I've mentioned it, but I've received a CDROM called REFS (Really essential financial statistics) which requires a lot of investment from you to understand, but I've been plowing through ALL of the companies listed and have compiled a personal wish list for assessment if nothing else. Most of them ended up being tech firms anyway, but it was worth a look and I got a few ideas. It's a bit out of date now, but worth looking at from a historical viewpoint. If anyone wants a loan, let me know, but bear in mind it's not easy to understand unless Price earnings, PEG, Beta relatives, gearing etc is in your vocabulary. Fortunately there's a web site which explains it all - . As far as different sectors go, I'd welcome input from anyone who isn't in Electronics / IT / Finance - I think that means you Marc! Although construction is a cyclical stock. It would be nice if we had a chemist or something to mix it up a little.
" Decide the date & location for our first meeting"
I've thought about this and considered a virtual meeting - no reason we can't all get into a chatroom assuming everyone has web access. (I assume not everyone has got their videophone yet?) I realise some of you use the net at work and might not have access at home or vice versa, but we could "meet" around 5-6 which should suit both parties. Is there anyone who couldn't do this? (you could always use a friend's PC / web cafe if it came to it)
" Finalise our objective and strategy "
I agree in that our first purchase seems a bit whimsical and not in keeping with what we talked about, but we should research the next one more carefully.
Al's tips:
Barrett must be hot stuff 'cos they're tipped twice :) They seem a bit big for us if we're going to go with the smaller co. strategy. Although C+W might be more appropriate - although I'd rather invest in Pace, who make set top boxes for all the cable stations. Remember it's the guys who sold the picks and shovels that made money in the gold rush...... Having said that LTSB and CGU are both on my wish list because they are : doing very well; selling products for the ageing + future pensionless population plenty of rationalisation from acquisitions to be made, predatory, ambitious blue chips (contrary to our strategy, I'd say. I'm not in a rush to buy any, I'd rather hop on board the IMGs, Pace, innovative it / net / digital geared companies NOW and save the blue chips for when I'm more risk averse).
" What is our objective. What benchmark return are we after? Over how long? Then decide on the investment strategy. "
I think it's hard to set a figure. As for how long, I'd like to keep the club 'ticking over' for years to come, (this is part of our strategy after all) ideally we should be pooling our resources and we can all benefit from the other members' experience into the future.
"How shall we best share this information? We should meet up for a Club meeting soon. "
Despite the clever clever suggestion above, it would be a good idea to get together in person and I would suggest that we get together in London, as this is probably the easiest all round with 4 of the 7 members living within an hours trip (and perhaps they'll be generous with their sofas). Shall we set a date now for next year and then we can hopefully stick to it? To give everyone plenty of notice, how about the final weekend of January? Gives everyone time to get past their immediate plans, get over xmas and the millennium and get paid again after! Please reply with a yes or no so those interested can decide if it's worthwhile. I agree that some investment trusts would be a good way to spread our exposure. I'd like to get a tiger economy / european tracker or something like that. Anyone got any ideas?
If anyone has any hot tips, let me know before thursday, the deadline for us entering the Proshare competition I told you about. FYI I've had nearly all the top ups, I just need yours Marc and Ken. Lots of stuff to digest, if you've got this far, well done. Speak to you soon. J
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