My strategy

With any goal or vision, you need a strategy and a plan. 

I have been trading shares for many years. I have seen the markets during the banking crisis and COVID. Having a strategy is of vital importance.

People who know me well know me as a quiet and reserved person who likes to observe information, take time to think things through and analyse before making decisions. Call me 'risk-averse' if you need to, but that is who I am.

My strategy is about caution. If you want to invest in high-risk investments and want big returns, this is not the website you need. If you want steady returns, this site will help.

I'm a huge fan of earning money by doing nothing, even when I sleep. Thousands of pounds a year for doing nothing is a dream for many.

Passive income in the form of dividends is important to my strategy.

 Generating a monthly income whilst, at the same time, the share price slowly increases is the aim of this website.  Making money work for you is a skill you should learn.

The other benefit is that if you do this through a Stocks and Shares ISA, you are also getting wealthier without paying tax. What a wonderful situation to be in and I have the evidence it works.

Set yourself SMART GOALS as shown on the right.

My goals take a short-to-medium-term view on shares, with a six-to-eighteen-month view by looking for shares near their lows and then selling towards their highs, ideally within a 52-week range. 

There will be times when things do not go quite to plan, so that is where passive income comes into play, but for the time being, this site aims to make quick profits for decent companies.

Setting goals at the start will help you with you decision making progress.

Beating inflation and the interest rate paid on savings accounts is the aim, but whilst trying to minimise risk. For example, a cash ISA might pay 3%. Looking for a FTSE 100 company with a  5% dividend yield and with the possibility of a 30% share price increase within 52 weeks is the goal of this site.

In my opinion, monetary policy has been a mess since the banking crisis. Knowing the inflation rate, and having a strategy to always beat it will mean your wealth grows in real terms.

Always listen out for news on inflation and cost-push / demand-pull factors that influence it.

One of my biggest ever mistakes was not getting on the housing ladder in my 20s or 30s and having to live with this mistake. Single and contracting whilst living in London meant this was always going to be a challenge.

Now in 2025, I am a believer that the impressive gains in house prices is over and with monetary policy struggling to tame inflation, you will be lucky if property beats inflation in the near-term.

Investing, on the other hand, can beat house prices. Ok, you may have to pay rent, but if that is the opportunity cost of investing and making profits that easily outperform inflation and house prices, this is a risk I am prepared to take.

Example: This graph shows that average house prices went from about £185k to £270k in 10 years. Impressive, but that works out to be less than 4% compounded i.e. 185x1.04*10=273.

Throw in mortgage repayments, council tax, inflation etc and that is not a great investment when I aim for 15% a year compounded.