I am still too overweight in UK shares and investment trusts but have been attempting to move to a more globally diverse mix with the introduction of the Vanguard LifeStrategy fund and other ETFs. The income will be a mix of natural yield from my investments combined with an annual sale of units from my LifeStrategy index funds. The outcome was to begin to simplify and diversify – wind down my individual shares portfolio and reduce some of my managed funds. My review of strategy and corresponding reduction in shares came largely when the markets were at a high point. You need to review your investment portfolio from time to time so that you don’t lose out drastically. In March/April I decided to review my whole investing strategy. There might also be some members or founders that might have a vested interest to guide you towards investing in a particular project that might not be suitable for you.

The 10% cash reserve meanwhile is earning 1.50% interest in my building society. After this the main aim is to generate a significantly better average return than I can get from my building society and to keep ahead of inflation. The return of 2.7% is not as high as recent years but given that inflation is zero, it still represents a real return and builds upon significant positive returns for my efforts in 6 of the past 7 years. In addition I will keep the faith with my managed investment trusts which have found a way to collectively outperform the market consistently over many years. Most people don’t have a plan. If you have a 401(k) plan at work, this should be your first priority for saving and investing. I suspect the best plan is one which is more likely to ‘fit’ with the individuals psychological make-up and is therefore most likely to keep them in the game and get them to their destination.

While investors who invest only in their country’s Yellow Pages might not have reaped the maximum benefits from investing in the best run companies globally, they could still do relatively well. The advantage of including these is that you can see the tangible benefits of investing. Investing your hard-earned money to meet your goal will help you to realise your goals fast. 5. Income – The purpose of setting a goal to generate a better return than cash deposits is to provide income. Some of the proceeds were redirected to the Vanguard UK Equity Income fund. In March, I added the Vanguard UK Equity Income fund to my portfolio with the proceeds from several individual share sales. A little later saw the sales of Centrica, Plastic Capital, Charles Stanley, Diageo, IG Group, Sainsbury and Reckitt with the proceeds reinvested into the Vanguard LifeStrategy 60 fund. At the same time my total pot has grown a little more.

Other courses I have attended go into theoretical explanations which have little or no practical value in the tough survival world of investing escpecially in this uneven economic landscape where novices are losing hard earned cash. Although unlike the inter-war mark it goes up in value as well as down. It has finished the year down 324 points -4.9% closing at 6,242 – if we add on say a further 3.6% for dividends paid, this will give a negative total return figure of -1.3% for the full year. Well, I’m happy to say that I’m forging ahead to pursue my contrarian strategy as a longer term investor in this new undertaking. 0.40 will be a much larger psychological blow to the AMM investor. Once employees understand this they will understand that GPS tracking and location sharing will help them throughout their workday to reach their goals more efficiently. Upgrading your assets can eventually help you sell your home faster and at a better price.