LM portfolio as at 31/07/2026:
| Code | Sector | Date Bought | Cost | Value | Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM107 LM107-2 LM107-3 |
Software and Computer Services | 22/04/2026 27/05/2026 21/07/2026 |
£4630 | £5130 | 10.76% |
| LM108 LM108-2 |
Industrial Metals and Mining | 22/04/2026 21/07/2026 |
£3080 | £3240 | 5.27% |
| LM113 | Food Producers | 19/05/2026 | £1550 | £1500 | (2.90%) |
| LM114 LM114-2 |
Retailers | 09/06/2026 06/07/2026 |
£3280 | £3780 | 15.14% |
| LM115 | Industrial Support Services | 11/06/2026 | £1560 | £1580 | 1.10% |
| LM116 | Travel and Leisure | 11/06/2026 | £1520 | £1440 | (5.20%) |
| LM117 | Electronic and Electrical Equipment | 18/06/2026 | £1780 | £1720 | (3.29%) |
| LM118 | Banks | 24/06/2026 | £1790 | £1880 | 5.40% |
| LM119 | Banks | 24/06/2026 | £1770 | £1920 | 8.59% |
| LM120 | Aerospace and Defense | 25/06/2026 | £1770 | £1800 | 2.15% |
| LM122 | Closed End Investments | 06/07/2026 | £1760 | £1730 | (1.53%) |
| LM123 | Non-life Insurance | 07/07/2026 | £1760 | £1700 | (3.78%) |
| LM124 | Life Insurance | 07/07/2026 | £1770 | £1880 | 6.39% |
| LM125 | Investment Banking and Brokerage Services |
23/07/2026 | £1770 | £1750 | (0.78%) |
Over the last two months there have been far too many changes to detail here and at the same time make for interesting reading. Suffice to say that those which dipped too far and crossed the 10% trailing stop loss were sold. Almost all ended in a loss, with just one of the seven resulting in a puny profit of only £9.75.
There was even time for the purchase and sale of LM121 (IAG), a trade that was held for just 26 days and lost £194.78.
The stop-loss saved me a great deal of money, again, but it came with a timely reminder that these limits aren't solely advisory - they are there to force me to liquidate when the shares I have invested in show a little too much weakness. This time it was IG Group Holdings plc, LM102.
IGG dropped below its 10% trailing stop loss on 20/07/2026 and I contemplated ignoring the signal and instead using the 200 day SMA to dictate when I should sell. This was to give it some room to "breathe". The position was still in profit - just - so I had a bit of wiggle room and the share had gone through a great run-up in the previous few months.
In the end I waited three days and then sold just a little lower at £17.04 on 23/07/2026. This freed up a couple of units and I moved one into another option (see table above).
I didn't think much more about it until today when I saw it had dropped 8% and then when I looked further into it I discovered it had dropped 14.4% last Friday.
I called this one right.
Or, rather, the 10% trailing stop-loss called this one right.
I know NOTHING about IG's underlying financial health although it likely makes a lot of money; people who place a lot of spreadbets tend to lose money hand-over-fist. However, for some reason the market doesn't like it.
Perhaps many of the people who would've been IG's customers in the past are now messing around on some of the smartphone apps available - Robin Hood, eToro, WallStreetBets etc - where they trade options rather than spreadbets.
Perhaps that's the problem. Who knows? Who cares?
I lost a little slither of money on IGG but it would've been far more if I had gone down the "breathing space" path. I write this down to remind myself that I need to remember this in future.
Get out early, it's often possible to get back in later.
The 2026 World Cup
The World Cup has recently finished where it was interesting to see that the final 4 teams were also the top 4 teams in the FIFA rankings.
I did a bit of gambling although nowhere near the amount I managed in 2022.
The main problem was the format. This time around there were an extra 12 teams and that ruined my favourite World Cup bet where I lay some of the very short priced teams to qualify from their group.
Four years ago it worked a treat, I laid 4 teams at low odds knowing that if just one didn't manage to qualify for the knockout rounds I'd make a decent profit. If they all got through then I'd only lose a small amount.
Lo and behold Germany messed up and I cashed in on their pain and disappointment.
This time the same bets wouldn't work because the best placed 3rd place teams in many of the groups would also go through. I did use some software to select some high-priced "value" bets which came lucky after selecting the 0-0 Spain v Cape Verde result.
On the whole I was down slightly until the last bet I placed using the entire remaining balance of my Betfair account which was just under £12. England were leading Argentina in the semi-final with a slender 1-0 scoreline but I'd seen this all before. Sadly I just knew they would mess it all up.
I turned to Betfair and the "To Qualify" market. At this point Argentina were just under 4/1 to get to the final so I went for it - put the remainder of my balance on them to get through. My reasoning was so; if England won I would lose my Betfair balance but I wouldn't care. Yes, I would see £0.00 at the top right but I would be so happy knowing England were in the World Cup final.
On the other hand if England threw away their lead, and the match, as they have done so many times in the past I would have the consolation of ending the 2026 World Cup with slightly more in Betfair than I did when it started.
So I put the bet on in-play, it got matched and a few moments later Argentina scored.
Then they scored again and I turned the TV off.
20 minutes later I checked Betfair and got the confirmation that we were out of another World Cup. The good news is that I now have £50 with which to start the new season.
My all-time gambling profits were somewhere in the region of £60,000 when I stopped calculating the exact amount. I put some money in a new Betfair account in 2005, learned Matched Betting, made a load of profit and took out my initial seed money.
I have been playing with that profit ever since and it helped me through a tough period in 2016 when I had to move into rented accomodation after the failure of my marriage. I'll start the new season with that £50 in Betfair and work steadily to grow it.