SIPP Update - 16th December 2024

There was a bit of a technical glitch with the previous blog - the screenshot of the portfolio didn't work. 

I've had a play-around with the settings, and I've managed to sort things out - but, unfortunately, I've lost the previous screenshot from 5th November.

As you can see, there's been a few changes. 

I've sold both holdings in insurance companies - Aviva and Legal & General. As it happened, I sold LGEN too early and missed the price spike to 240p, but the SP has already slipped to under 230p. Yes, both these companies are high yield payers, but the SP in both companies is on a slow downward trajectory.

Generally, I've had a clear-out of the high yield shares: out has gone City of London IT (CTY), Lloyds Bank (LLOY), National Grid (NG.), Sirius real Estate (SRE), Taylor Woodrow (TW.), and Unilever (ULVR).

These have been replaced with cigarette companies: British American Tobacco (BATS) and Imperial Brands (IMB). Both have provided very solid gains in their SP  - BATS up 10.5% and IMB up 13.7% - and they both are high yielders. I'm happy having them in the portfolio, I should have brought them in ages ago.

I've increased my holding in TP ICAP Group as momentum builds in the share price - I'm now showing 15% gains.

As a result of Trump winning the US presidency - I'm no fan of his by-the-way - I've invested a 12th of my portfolio value into the S&P 500 via iShares. I've no idea which way the US stockmarket will go, but (if it goes up substantially) I don't want to miss out.

Then there have been some speculative moves:-

Seplat (SEPL): this Nigerian oil company could be sitting on a literal "gold mine", and (fingers crossed) there should be a significant SP move in the coming couple of months.

Helium Exploration (HEX): this is risky - I've no idea about this one, and the "golden rules" of investing are don't put money into things you don't understand - but my gut feeling is that there is money to be made here.

Finally, Palantir (PLTR.US): before last month I'd not heard of this company, and then my 22yo son (he's a mathematics graduate) gets a job offer with a salary attached that makes my eyes water. This company could be the next Amazon and Tesla rolled into one. 

Hopefully, the next time I post I will be reporting some substantial gains. 

5th November - SIPP Update

Time for an update.

I started writing this blog last week, but I wanted to put in too much detail (I will endeavour to expand later this month) and events overtook me, so let's just get this done!

Unfortunately, I have to report that the SIPP has just been going sideways for the past 3 months. 

At my last posting, I held positions in 13 shares totalling a portfolio value of £256,270. 

Probably more out of frustration at the lack of growth, I have been re-structuring the portfolio in the past few weeks.

The current situation is as below:

 

Back in the game! SIPP Portfolio 19th July 2024

After a couple of years on the sidelines I'm back in the market trying to make the most of a depleted SIPP in preparation for retirement day (planned to be Easter 2026).  

When I last posted on this blog, the SIPP was valued at  £271,068 - down from a peak of £307,654 on 8th November 2021.

That decline in value didn't stop on 30th July 2022.

By 31st October 2022, the SIPP value was down to £246,678.

There was a small recovery over the winter to £257,899 by 31st January 2023.

However, the SIPP value went sideways then, dropping to £251,878 by 30th April 2023.

That's when it took another hit (mainly due to the collapse in value of KWS - Keywords Studios), and the value on 31st July 2023 was just £230,970.

As the year progressed things didn't get any better, and by 31st October 2023, the SIPP value was down to £221,197; by which time I was thinking "why didn't I sell the whole portfolio and convert into cash last July?" Oh, for the benefit of hindsight! I had actually sold-off 40% of the portfolio into cash in June 2022, so it could have been worse (or, could it?). 

That was the bottom, and by 31st January 2024 the SIPP value was £234,476 - still nearly 10% down on the previous January value, and nearly 24% down on the all-time-high. 

That was the signal for me to reinvest back into the market, and I've been 100% all-in since 1st February 2024.

Currently, the SIPP portfolio is as per the screenshot below.

The plan is to position the portfolio into more of an income generator than a pure growth vehicle.

As can be seen from the above when comparing the portfolio to previous screenshots from 2022, I caught a massive cold from KWS and Segro (SGRO).

There's a few reasons for posting this blog. 

1) it's fairly obvious now than some of my success at finding decent shares in the past has been pure luck. 

2) buying the right shares is only part of the problem - it's knowing when to sell!  I hung-on to shares in companies whose fortunes had transformed for the worse, when I should have been more mercenary and cut & run. That misguided loyalty and blind faith cost me many tens of thousands of pounds.

3) In not writing the blog, mainly due to my despondency over the falling value of the SIPP, I took my eye off the ball.  There is no good reason for this, I should have spent a weekend analysing the situation and (if nothing else) just lumped the portfolio into a Global Growth Investment Trust like JGGI. As per the chart below, if I had sold my entire portfolio in July 2022 (when valued at around £270k) and put the whole lot into JGGI at the (then) SP of 425p, then my SIPP would have a value today at around £350k. Again, oh for the benefit of hindsight - but that probably would have been a sensible strategy for an investment novice like me. 

I will be back in the coming weeks, with - hopefully - better news. 

Saturday 30th July 2022

 It has been a very difficult 6 months for the world: war, famine, climate catastrophe, inflation - and it's not over yet.

The SIPP Portfolio is down: no surprise there! 

Value of Equities = £266,877.60

Value of Cash = £4,186.22

TOTAL = £271,068.82

On the 1st January, the total value was at £309,757 and in the previous 4 months (1st Sept - 31st Dec) UK equities had been looking flat: no impetus, and nothing on the horizon to produce a better return.  In hindsight, I should have trimmed back at least my UK equity exposure.

Selling Diploma (DPLM) for an average of 2900 in January was a good move, as the SP dropped below 2250 and now looks to be on a recovery mode. And selling GB Group (GBG) for an average of 695 was another good move, as the SP dropped to just under 400 in early July. This is another company that "could" be on a recovery mode, but looks very cheap now and ripe for a takeover bid.  It's highly likely that I will take-up shares in both of these companies in August. 

SIPP value as at 1st January 2022

 Happy New Year!

For sure, 2021 has been a year to remember. This time last year, the SIPP value was £254,298 - so after deducting the annual contributions of £12,000 the total growth in the year has been £43,459 or 17.08%

The sole transaction in the month of December was the sale of Chelverton UK Equity Growth (I was using another quoted Chelverton fund - SDV - to identify the holding). The reason for the sale was that the UK market appears to have lost impetus, and while some investment houses are "bullish" about UK equities - I'm not. Things could all change should the current Prime Minister (or Government) be replaced, but with the current incumbents remaining in-charge confidence is low. An illustration of the weakness of UK equities is shown in the BlackRock Smaller Companies IT (BRSC) graph for the past 12 months (see below).  Up until the end of August the SP was growing rapidly -then September was a bit of a disaster.

I've moved the funds into the infrastructure Investment Trust 3i Infrastructure, which while not being a likely growth investment, is more of a defensive investment against future downturns. 

It hasn't all been doom & gloom, look at the SP performance of Diploma (DPLM) - up 52% during the 12 months of 2021; and while this company was also affected by the September dip, the recovery has been greater than the loss.

The star of the portfolio continues to be Segro (SGRO) - see the 12 month chart below.

My initial purchase of Segro share was in August 2014, when I bought 900 shares at 356p, and they are now 1431p - phenomenal performance and it appears to show no signs of stopping any time soon.

By this time next year, I'm setting target value of over £360,000 for the SIPP; fingers crossed I will achieve it.

SIPP value as at 1st December 2021

 One month on from the birthday blog and it has been a period of consolidation.

Unfortunately, a new variant of Covid has developed and that has put a dampener on the markets, taking a bit of the froth of the recent growth away.  Fingers crossed, we don't go into another spiral of falling values that hit the markets in Feb-March of 2020; but maybe the markets are more resilient now?

It's not a time to be doing anything drastic (just yet), and I'm on the lookout for where the next direction is coming from - so you may see a few share purchases in the next few months as I endeavour to reposition the SIPP portfolio for more growth.

The Birthday Blog - 62yo on Monday 8th November

 It is that time of year again: the Birthday Blog!

The plan is to "retire" on my 66th birthday on 8th November 2025, as that's when I can draw on my UK Old-Age Pension. About 5-years ago, my plan was to carry on working for as long as possible; but - probably due to Covid - I've decided that I'm going to give-up full-time work at the earliest opportunity and enjoy living rather than working.  I've still the same blog photo: taken at the time of my 50th birthday - maybe this is the time to change it.

This time last year, the SIPP value was at £243,147 - the SIPP had made a terrific recovery from the depths of despair surrounding the impact of Covid, and I was confident about the coming 12 months.  As per the table below, the value of the SIPP at close-of-business on Friday 5th November was £307,654 - and increase of £64,507.

As £12,000 of that increase was my own monthly contributions, that indicates a growth of £52,507 or 21.59% - an absolutely brilliant result even if I say say myself.  

I've smashed my target value of £291,000 for the year, and I'm 2-months ahead of my year-end target of £300,000.  You may notice that I have reduced the number of holdings from 13 down to 10, and in doing so I've increased the value of my "plays". 

The above graph doesn't show the value of the SIPP but only the value of the investment holdings not including cash.  The reason for the recent uplift is that after a period of holding +10% of cash, I'm now fully invested.  

Having broken the target for the year, I will recalculate the target for 8th Nov 2022, and (based on the final value achieved for 2021 on 31st December) will recalculate for the year ending 31st December 2022.