LM portfolio as at 31/01/2025:
| Code | Sector | Date Bought | Cost | Value | Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM055 LM055-2 LM055-3 |
General Financial | 11/01/2023 02/05/2023 20/12/2023 |
£3850 | £8240 | 114.10% |
| LM079 LM079-2 LM079-3 |
No specific Industry | 22/02/2024 16/10/2024 03/12/2024 |
£4310 | £5180 | 20.19% |
| LM084 | Food Producers | 21/10/2024 | £1520 | £1470 | (3.21%) |
| LM086 | Banks | 02/12/2024 | £1520 | £1700 | 11.50% |
| LM087 | Fixed Line Telecommunications | 02/12/2024 | £1520 | £1320 | (13.12%) |
| LM088 | Consumer Financial Services | 06/01/2025 | £1530 | £1520 | (0.34%) |
| LM089 | Investment Services | 06/01/2025 | £1530 | £1540 | 0.75% |
Two new positions have been added since the last update, 1 unit each. The unit size at present is £1,500 which is larger that it should be according to the rules I created at the beginning of this experiment.
Back then I figured a reasonable percentage of the total portfolio value to use when making an initial investment of a share should be around 5%. Hence if the portfolio value was £20,000 then one unit would be £1,000.
Nice round figure, easy to calculate and it means that the maximum I could lose straight off the bat if the share goes bust is 1/20th of my pot.
Since then the portfolio rose in value steadily, albeit nowhere near as much as I wanted it to, and climbed above £30k so the unit value became £1500. Then there was all the unpleasantness with unemployment, continuing bills and LISA withdrawals and the value dipped below £30,000. I didn't reduce the unit size and don't plan on reducing it. I need large returns and I'm confident that risking a little more than 5% won't cause any issues.
Plus, I have zero problems pulling the plug on shares that don't rise and so my manual stop-loss will also be in play at all times.
Several updates ago (link) I spoke about why I substitute swear words on this site with "frosty". It was all in tribute to the Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht who, in his infinite wisdom, decided to create and run a darkweb ecommerce site where it was possible to order drugs and all sorts of other highly-illegal goods.
Ross was discovered because his OpSec was terrible. He advertised his site on a publically accessible forum where he had previously posted his day-to-day email address that was made up of his first and second name. The FBI caught him and he ended up locked away for two life sentences plus 40 years.
In the meantime his family ran a site where they protested his innocence - despite the fact he was caught whilst logged into the admin account of Silk Road on his laptop.
Things were dire for poor allegedly-innocent Ross until the US got a new president. And as part of a slew of pardons handed out by the returning POTUS, Ross was granted a full pardon and is now a free man.
I saw the news on the BBC website and simply laughed at how absurd it all was. The last thing I had written about Ulbricht in the previous article was "...he is now going to spend the rest of his life in prison" but how wrong I was.
With the stroke of a pen he is released and can live out the rest of his life in the real world despite all the crimes he was convicted of. Astonishing when you think about it.
I am curious to know if he will still maintain his innocence now, or was that all a massive, desperate lie to try and get out of prison at some point?
Reading around various websites to try and get more details about Ross's release I came across a cracking newsletter about crypto from a journalist called Molly White. You can find it at [citation needed]. There is one particular article that makes for extremely interesting reading when pointing out that, no, President Trump didn't suddenly make tens of billions of dollars out of thin air. Make sure to read it all the way through as it details a lot of the severe problems with cryptocurrencies and their valuations:
No, Trump didn’t make $50 billion from his memecoin
I'm taking a break with both of my betting systems as they each had a severe downturn in January. It was so hideous with the horse-racing system that I just stopped, figuring that there is no point throwing money away.
January's losses wiped out December's gains leaving the bank back at levels last seen at the end of November. I withdrew the funds and used the money to make a payment on my credit card.
In the meantime I have switched to using the software on a laptop in a friend's house. He was happy enough to let me open some accounts in his name and we will see how profitable it can be when you start from a blank slate. My mate doesn't seem to think he has ever had any bookie accounts, save for one he remembers having years back that he used for a Grand National wager.
Quite exciting to be able to start as a complete newbie and hoover up all the free bets from all the bookmakers. It's nowhere near as profitable as it was 10 years ago but there is some easy money to be made if you know what you're doing.
The Betfair system went into negative territory at the same time - January really wasn't a good month for my betting! It's down around 15% and I am struggling to summon the motivation to continue with it. I did make the decision to halve my stakes during this losing streak. Perhaps I will give it some time this weekend, unless it's a dreaded "cup" weekend. I don't bet on cup games as teams have a very, very annoying tendancy to accept a draw in 90 minutes and pass the ball around waiting for penalties.
Cash levels in the LISA run to about 2 units but the FTSE 250 is bouncing around the 200 day SMA meaning I'm not rushing into any purchases. Once it has made a definite move above that level I will look to invest the remaining spare cash.
Also, good news, I got offered another job so I have given in my notice to the job I started at the beginning of November. This new position pays more so I think I will likely be able to pay some money into the LISA this year, which will make a lovely change.