Investing in shares - are you making money?

patsy_mccabe

A lot on here giving share tips and advice, but are of you making money?
I'd love to here some honest accounts of long term returns.

I'm new enough to all this. I did get in mostly on the covid dip and have held since. I don't trade as such.

greenfield21

Most of us are pennystock gamblers, what do you think. I'd say most are trying to figure out a way of not losing anymore money or getting back what they already lost.

DeanAustin

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

A lot on here giving share tips and advice, but are of you making money?
I'd love to here some honest accounts of long term returns.

I'm new enough to all this. I did get in mostly on the covid dip and have held since. I don't trade as such.

I'm down around 20% but it was all due to my own stupidity this week on Gamestop. Made a couple of bad decisions on it having made a good few quid on it at one point. Up to that, I was up by a small amount but I tend to buy safe stocks for the long term. Got myself caught up in the hype, got encouraged by early gains and then made two bad decisions coz I got carried away with myself.

Most people I read that comment on their portfolio maintain that they are up but I've read that 90% of retail investors lose money so something doesn't add up.

Wingman2010

Investing in shares was something which always interested me. I set up a Degiro account last year but I only started trading the first week of January. I’m up 16.5% so I’m very happy with that. I’ve a very diversified portfolio (23 stocks currently) and that’s one tip I would give to anyone doing it. If I wasn’t working from home I probably wouldn’t have time to be doing this! I have really enjoyed the experience so far anyways. It beats the interest rates in banks anyways once you have a well diversified portfolio and you didn’t get caught out the wrong side of GameStop etc!

daheff

I've a mixed bag of investments

Made money on BOI, CRH, Volkswagen, fresenius, Unilever over the years


Lost money on BOI, Deutsche Bank, Wirecard,
Currently small loss(unrealized) on GME

Also made money on RABO funds back in the day ....good time in a rising market.

No life changing gains or losses.

Supercell

I'm a degenerate gambler except in my PRSA where I mostly put CEF's (Investment Trusts) and REITs for slow and steady gains over the years hopefully.
My wife's account (which i operate for tax reasons) was up about 30% last year. I tend to be a bit more cautious with my gambling there as she would bend my ear...
My own account was down 50% last year as I totally mishandled the March crash and panicked, brought that back to about 25% down overall since then and am hopeful for break-even overall or better this year barring another market crash...
Major lessons learned along the way, if I had used margin I'd be broke.

Gorteen

I had some small success years ago when I lived in UK. Pilkington was a favourite of mine especially when they doubled in value

I've made some small investments this year. Took me ages to get my Degiro account open but I've invested as follows;

Bank of Ireland. €2000 They have now increased 50%
Dalata. €2000. Some initial gains but struggling to maintain an increase of +/- 10%
Glanbia. €2000, They have now increased 25%

It's a relatively small amount and I'm happy to trundle along for the moment.
My big disappointment was the delay in getting Degiro account open meant I couldn't buy Ryanair shares when they were close to €8 each. They're €15 at the moment

manonboard

I made 0%. Literally evens in the last 2 years.
I made a wreck of things for myself. I can however easily break it down to the reason that hopefully save some others.

I lost money only for 2 reasons.

I took high risk gambles and some how still shocked i lost money. Rather than predictable and very profitable safe investments.

I emotionally reverted positions and took positions depending on how much money i was losing or making. FOMO or fear of loss. This massively narrowed my profit thresholds, and extended my loss thresholds.

I made huge amounts on my safe investments. Huge. I lost the same amounts on stupid trades due to greed and emotion.

I made 2 wise investments 6 months ago, havent touched my money and its all building up nicely. I dont plan to intervene at all for a few years.

theboringfox

Ya similarly panicked in March. Crystallized a loss of about 33%. Went back in almost straight away but similar to posts above I sold too early on good purchases durng dips and stuck with dogs too long. Learned lot of good lessons along way. Around summer time I kind of stopped the madness and eound down to small holding and went back to simple fundamentals of investing steadily over time in steady eddie good stocks I felt were good over longer term. Im back to around the amount of my original investment amount (only about 10% of savings in shares) and Im close to back to breakeven. Degiro reminds me of my loss. Id need to grow another 5% to breakeven. I now only invest surplus money at month end after all outgoings and monthly cash savings.

Telo123

Started off with an initial 5k deposit in June, turned that into 8k ,been getting in and out of positions quickly due to the market volatility while half of my investments would be in steady blue chip investments. Made a separate account for the GME and AMC hype got in early turned 1k into 6k. Obviously these returns are not sustainable in the long term but as we know this last year has offered serious value if stocks were bought at the right time

Timmaay

Jezz supercell/boringfox, I only had a 25% drawdown last March and I absolutely panicked, and liquidised nearly everything when the pain became too great ha. I then pricked about with alot of rubbish, 3x leavered oil and FTSE shorts ffs, I remember one of the oil shorts I took a 2k drawdown on one day, the next day it popped back into profit, and I sold for like a 400e gain, but of course it kept going, and I could of banked like 5k if I'd held on afew hours ha, pure gambling thought. Since I got into NIO very heavily since 5$ in June I haven't looked back, I will admit my portfolio is much too heavily based on growth stocks and the party has to end eventually which will probably see a quick 25% pullback, but it is what it is.

cronos

Timmaay wrote: »

Jezz supercell/boringfox, I only had a 25% drawdown last March and I absolutely panicked, and liquidised nearly everything when the pain became too great ha. I then pricked about with alot of rubbish, 3x leavered oil and FTSE shorts ffs, I remember one of the oil shorts I took a 2k drawdown on one day, the next day it popped back into profit, and I sold for like a 400e gain, but of course it kept going, and I could of banked like 5k if I'd held on afew hours ha, pure gambling thought. Since I got into NIO very heavily since 5$ in June I haven't looked back, I will admit my portfolio is much too heavily based on growth stocks and the party has to end eventually which will probably see a quick 25% pullback, but it is what it is.

I'm hopeful CCIV / Lucid is my Nio. Let's see...

LimeFruitGum

I took profits on a few shares recently, like Ford, TransEnterix, XRP, ADA.
I did take a hit on Saga and I am sick of BoI being in the red.
Aside from those two, my portfolio is moderate but generally trending in the right direction. I have 3 companies that are hovering around Break Even point, so I will sell them as soon as there’s some margin. I bought 1000 MFA Financial stocks at 80c after Covid, and they’re at $3 something now, used to be $7 in the Before Times.
I made around €1k in dividends last year, so I would like to grow that further.
I picked up some Clean Energy Fuel stock at $4 recently and it is around $12 now... I don’t want to sell that just yet
I was busy with a postgrad this time last year, so I didn’t do much with my portfolio. I only got back into the swing of things last quarter.

Gorteen

Is it wrong that I hate the punitive rate of CGT on profits from shares? I think it's a real disincentive to more active trading

Buddy Bubs

Gorteen wrote: »

Is it wrong that I hate the punitive rate of CGT on profits from shares? I think it's a real disincentive to more active trading

The old saying, if you're paying it you're making money

Last September opened Digero account, bought some TRIB then ignored it. It's up over 100%.
Many years ago I invested in some penny stocks on an Etrade account which was a big disappointment so it put me off.

timetogo1

I've been investing for a couple of years.
I was too ambitious (greedy) prior to March last year and lost 40% of my investment during the crash. I was leveraged and experienced emails from my broker telling me to pay up or sell shares. I had to do both partially. It was an expensive lesson.
I nearly gave up but readjusted my strategy. The crash was a huge learning experience.
I stopped chasing "tips" and started investing rather than trading. I still do some risky stuff but it's within my tolerance and has been working out for me. I've a few different strategies on the go at any one time. All my eggs aren't in any one basket.
E.g. I stayed away from the GameStop stuff in the last few weeks and I always seem to regret not investing in bitcoin but I don't understand it at all.

At the moment I'm up 28% of my total investment (I add to this each month).
In January I made $350 in dividends before tax and every month this year will bring in $110 at a minimum. This gets reinvested. And one of my strategies is to increase my dividends each year.

This week was massive for me. Profit increased by 12%. Next week will probably take some of that back.

I know the tax in Ireland is terrible. But my shares are returning way more than anything else I could do with the money. If you have a spouse make sure they're investing too as you both get the €1270 tax free allowance per year.

Green Peter

I'd like to start with about 2k, but haven't a clue where to go or how to trade. Anyone with any links to a good youtube video or article?

timetogo1

Green Peter wrote: »

I'd like to start with about 2k, but haven't a clue where to go or how to trade. Anyone with any links to a good youtube video or article?

Probably a question for this thread https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2055971742/1

Valhallapt

Gorteen wrote: »

Is it wrong that I hate the punitive rate of CGT on profits from shares? I think it's a real disincentive to more active trading

Yea the Revenue don't want you investing in stocks, hence all the complexity. Invest in property - thats all you are encouraged to do in Ireland

Green Peter

timetogo1 wrote: »

Probably a question for this thread https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2055971742/1

Thanks, but I want to use the 2k for getting involved in shares. It's not that I'm looking for somewhere to invest it in general.

Mister Vain

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

A lot on here giving share tips and advice, but are of you making money?
I'd love to here some honest accounts of long term returns.

I'm new enough to all this. I did get in mostly on the covid dip and have held since. I don't trade as such.

Like yourself I got in at the start of the pandemic. Up about 14%. I've been investing a couple of hundred a month so taking the DCA approach.

kippy

Valhallapt wrote: »

Yea the Revenue don't want you investing in stocks, hence all the complexity. Invest in property - thats all you are encouraged to do in Ireland

You've obviously not 'invested' in property if you believe it's not complex and riddled with various forms of taxation.
(I may have missed the sarcasm in your post)

aridion

I started investing on Degiro 2 years ago,. I am 39% in unrealised profit.

Questionee1902

according to my Degiro account I am up 78.59 euros...

if I had held the shares I bought I would have made about 1200 euro.

I am going to invest into stocks further a after I get a mortgage

Supercell

Timmaay wrote: »

Jezz supercell/boringfox, I only had a 25% drawdown last March and I absolutely panicked, and liquidised nearly everything when the pain became too great ha. I then pricked about with alot of rubbish, 3x leavered oil and FTSE shorts ffs, I remember one of the oil shorts I took a 2k drawdown on one day, the next day it popped back into profit, and I sold for like a 400e gain, but of course it kept going, and I could of banked like 5k if I'd held on afew hours ha, pure gambling thought. Since I got into NIO very heavily since 5$ in June I haven't looked back, I will admit my portfolio is much too heavily based on growth stocks and the party has to end eventually which will probably see a quick 25% pullback, but it is what it is.

I didn't diversify enough , was heavy in REITS which got destroyed with the whole WFH thing.
Like yourself I'm heavy on growth stocks at the moment, that negative percentage in Degiro is wrecking my head so engaging in more risky behaviour, its working for now, i think once I'm break even (assuming i get back there) I'll take a more cautious approach.

ffarrell7

I have a DEGIRO account as well. Cheap commission but service isn't great. I find it very difficult to put on a Stop Limit though.

I can put on a Stop Loss limit no problem.

I have also tried to put on a Stop limit and a limit at the same time but DEGIRO doesn't seem to allow that.

Has anybody else a similar experience???

Share trading in Ireland is rare compared to the US where it us as common as muck.

Given the volatility of the market, I have been day trading quite a bit. Am up 10k but should really be up a lot more. I am carrying forward an 11,000 euro loss so I won't have any CGT to pay.

Bank of Ireland shares will hit 5 euro by mid Summer in my opinion..... one od the strongest and safest banks in Europe now with high amounts of capital reserves.

Mister Vain

With regards to CGT, could you not just pocket your returns before you get to €1270? Save you paying any tax.

AmberGold

I have dabbled for years incurring losses in US Tech, AIB, BOI etc. I was also seriously burned on property investments in the 2000’s & I got hit by the Dot Com bubble. My strategy since then had been to stick my cash in the mattress so to speak.

I really only got going last April. I executed a significant share holding I had built up in a company I worked for, this combined with my life savings gave me a sizeable float to start with.

After a messy start with about three months of being down 20k I changed my strategy into mainly ETH, EV’s and SPACs,

I’m now up more than our combined yearly salaries. I also got to write off all all my previous losses on last years tax return.

I’m now all in on one SPAC from nearly day one, they haven’t announced a target yet & I’m expecting to double my money.

Waste of time having cash on deposit but be careful.

Valhallapt

kippy wrote: »

You've obviously not 'invested' in property if you believe it's not complex and riddled with various forms of taxation.
(I may have missed the sarcasm in your post)

Sarcasm yes.. My point being the system in Ireland is geared toward property investment.

With shares if you are buying and selling within 30 days you cannot offset gains against losses, a lot of people who jumped in and out of GME and the like, may have lost everything and still be saddled with a large tax bill

Valhallapt

AmberGold wrote: »

I’m now all in on one SPAC from nearly day one, they haven’t announced a target yet & I’m expecting to double my money.

Oh do tell....

AmberGold

Valhallapt wrote: »

Oh do tell....

No secret I’ve recommended them here before PSTH.

NoraWi

Most of the time people trying in the stocks are from average level, trying their very best to win some small profits only, with the same also worrying to lose the money they are trying to invest or invest for a while as the first time, though knowledge of the stock and it’s history and future plans are the crucial points to consider and if that stock has the global role the international deals or diplomatic changes also matters and play a crucial role as regards to import or export as whole or any linked element to the stock. So by doing a good homework, by investing in right time as when it’s bit low because of some reason which should be genuine and it could overcome that in the time ahead which is not easy to guess or tell in-spite you have good deep know-how of it, so overall just need to analyse well and decide based on the history of the stock then to make the decision accordingly to have less worry of the invested amount. Yes making money is possible but slowly and gradually which need calm and careful steps to take when the market is not playing in your favour as it seems but time changes we must remember and trust on the knowledge of information we got before investing as that will decide most of the time for the returns we will be getting in time ahead. I like it a lot but haven’t enough good time to allocate into stocks study or know-how but try to know what’s happening in the market in my little circle, I did make money not much also didn’t lose any as I took time to understand and waited for a good time to invest not sure I should say if it’s smooth business or not but tricky not always in your favour.

The J Stands for Jay

I've a small Degiro account where I'm buying and holding, and that's up. I also took some of the free GME money that was handed out.

Valhallapt

AmberGold wrote: »

No secret I’ve recommended them here before PSTH.

Yea I've read a good bit about that one, but didn't put any money in yet, might have to rethink that

patsy_mccabe

I was watching a video of Charlie Munger (Buffet's partner) during the week. He was talking about problem solving and how if you invert a problem, then the answer becomes apparent.
So I was wondering what he meant. Well when it comes to making money at stock investment, the problem is 'how to make money'. Invert that and it becomes, 'how not to loose money.
Buffett says this continously, first and last rule of investment is ' Do not loose money'.

He also says that nobody knows what the stock market will do short term, so don't think you are the one that will solve that problem. Trading in sticks short term is nothing more than gambling. From reading the posts above, I think most have lost at this game.

I have made a decent return since May last year, but I got in right on the dip. Am I better to just wait till the next dip to buy again. The answer seems apparent. This is what Berkshire are doing. Sitting on a pile of cash waiting to pounce. They say this openly.

bish76

Long time lurker on Degiro and active for last two months. Pension fund is invested in ETFs, here for speculations that occupies mind in something else but work. Started with 20k in Dec and now up by 10% which is mostly in cash - like to crystallize gains.

Xaniaj

I've been investing since 2017. I invested a lump sum at the time and haven't really added any capital since. I cashed out most of my account earlier this year at a profit of 300% (horrendous timing, if I held it I would be closer to 600% now!).

I started adding capital again in Sept and I'm up a small bit since (10%) or so but that's excluding my 'fun' GME play as I haven't closed that position as of yet except to sell some to break even.

sonyvision

2 years in lost. Overall gain 3.5k, took approx 2k of that between this year and last.

Overall investment approx 10k now, still split between Easyjet, Lloyds insurer such as HISCOX & BEAZLEY. They won't jump 50% overnight but long term could work out with large growth. As these shares are GBP hoping it will strenght against the EUR to increase the gain. Few shars left in banks.

Winners for me was BOI, AIB, SJPI, HISCOX and Ryanair.

Loser were Thomas Cook... there was a few others but can't recall them to hand!...

breadmonster

Just by looking at the stock picking contest thread some folks are making alot, most are beating the index and not many losing much if at all so id say most are doing well currently.

kippy

Valhallapt wrote: »

Sarcasm yes.. My point being the system in Ireland is geared toward property investment.

With shares if you are buying and selling within 30 days you cannot offset gains against losses, a lot of people who jumped in and out of GME and the like, may have lost everything and still be saddled with a large tax bill

TBH, I disagree.
Property investment has been an easier, more accessible option, for people with a certain level of wealth for decades. There are plenty barriers and issues with investing in property and taxation etc tied into it.
It's not a madly efficent investment vehicle for the individual.
Not everyone in Ireland has the finances to invest in property directly in the first place and never have had.
You've also got to realise that property isn't just an investment - many of the incentives there to help with property "investment" are not designed to assist investors.....

Investing in shares etc prior to the last 5 yeards or so has also been "difficult" to do for the average "person on the street" however the past number of years have seen a large number of relatively cheap platforms come available that allows them to invest relatively small sums in any area they want. It's an area open to almost anyone with any level of spare cash whereas prior to this, it really wasn't.

My own story.
I'm not a big investor. I've used degiro for a few years now. Main reason is to have a side interest in something that doesn't involve a bookies.
The last few years have seem a complete uncoupling of organisations fundamentals and their share prices - which really makes things difficult to analyse but I still enjoy it. Never had to pay a tax bill unfortunately but never lost a packet either!


EDIT:
Timing is is key in this game - there are no doubt people making money who got into the right things at the right times.

There's a few google docs linked to in some of the share tips threads that note the tip given, price at the time of tip and price now (linked to Yahoo finance or something)
It's interesting to see where some of these tips are now and look at ups and downs since the original tip.

Valhallapt

breadmonster wrote: »

Just by looking at the stock picking contest thread some folks are making alot, most are beating the index and not many losing much if at all so id say most are doing well currently.

Since the downturn in March the market has rallied in every sector, almost hard not to have made a profit over the last 9 months or so. But as ever time in the market is what wins.

I’m investing about 5 years. Year 1 - no ups or downs about the same. Year 2 down about 30%. Year 3 down additional 20%. Year 4 recovered to being about same as year 1. This year just gone by, up 300%. Most of the profit came from CRSP @ 38 and NIO @ 7

cc87

Started in October but mostly by putting money into funds for more long term investment.

Downloaded Degiro in December then (after spending some time lurking on here!)

Currently up about 24%, mainly from PLTR & GEVO

garbanzo

Have been dripping €100 per month into my DEGIRO account since May 2018. It’s been up and down as you’d expect but as of now I am probably looking at around a 20% gain over the two years and nine months I’ve been doing it.

I’ve shares in seven different companies and a small few in an ETF, the Vanguard S&P500 one. The main reason I’m ahead is courtesy of Flutter Entertainment (Paddy Power) which have exceeded all expectations. Ryanair have also been an excellent performer. BOI is too after a slow start. I put that down to nothing more than luck. On the negative side one REIT i have is a complete turkey.

Plan to keep doing this for as long as I can afford to build up a decent lump sum in time.

Gorteen

Out of interest, what % gain do people think "that's enough for me"?

Bacchus

Gorteen wrote: »

Out of interest, what % gain do people think "that's enough for me"?

1% more than I currently have... always :pac:

positron

Around 2 years in DeGiro - I go on and off time to time, I am illiterate from finance/investment point of view. Reading up here / reddit etc and learning as I trundle along..

Started off with 5k and then another 5k. Degiro shows total gains of 8k - before tax. 6k of it is from Tesla, and rest from Sony and tiny bit from Amazon.

UnknownSpecies

Mister Vain wrote: »

With regards to CGT, could you not just pocket your returns before you get to €1270? Save you paying any tax.

I'll never understand this take. If you think your profit will increase beyond €1270, why would you sell below it just to avoid paying tax. You still get €1270 plus 2/3 of all the additional profit beyond €1270.

kal7

I hold only three shares two up and one down all long term steady companies. Modest 15% up but this is over 15yrs so only one % annually.

however my pension has healthy increase over 15yrs, so fund manager doing ok, but not spectacular. This has most of my money in too.

My dad who is more willing to gamble has done very well, out performing my pension funds by a long way.
He does obviously have losses, but can use these to reduce the cgt though.

best advice is that if he ever doubles his money in share, then my mum gets him to sell half, so that any further investment is risk free.

Mister Vain

UnknownSpecies wrote: »

I'll never understand this take. If you think your profit will increase beyond €1270, why would you sell below it just to avoid paying tax. You still get €1270 plus 2/3 of all the additional profit beyond €1270.

That's grand if you get a lot of profit. But if your profits never went beyond say €1500, would it not make more sense to sell before you get to €1270?

Shedite27

Not trying to get into a big d*ck competition but yeah definitely making money if you're doing it right. Most of what I do is basically leads from Motley Fool and MyWallSt. They've a great bucket of recommendations, I was up 60% last year mainly based on them, currently up another 30% this year mainly built off Bitcoin.

Avoid the penny stock gambling, invest in good companies and the profits will flow.