New Article

Part Four worth checking out!

Worthless Opinions?

In some ways, people who are fundamentally anti smoking companies have worthless opinions. Because they would NEVER change their mind and would NEVER buy the stock. They wouldn't want other people to buy the stock either.

New Article

New article on ShareProphets.

New Posts

Here and here

Save Money on Energy!

Coming up to Autumn and Winter now, where people have BIG energy bills. If you want help saving money on your energy I'm happy to help! I have worked for British Gas, SSE and Npower, am a shareholder in British Gas and SSE and have had articles published read worldwide on energy companies.

New!

New article on ShareProphets. Check it out!

The Science of Influence

I'm reading quite a bit of Kevin Hogan’s "The Science of Influence" book and it's pretty good. I already knew some of it, but I still need to apply what I know! There are some useful other bits in it. I think that's what I should focus myself to do now- be engaged only in high quality material when on the internet. Quite hard to get out of the pattern of just browsing but I'll work on it. I think just filling my mind with high quality material then FORCING myself to act on it will work though.

New United Utilities Article

New post on ShareProphets.

New Labour Article

New Labour article on ShareProphets.

New Article

New article up on ShareProphets very quickly.

New Scotland Post

New Scotland post on ShareProphets

How Effective is High Yield?

New free article on ShareProphets.

New Free Royal Mail Article

New free Royal Mail article on ShareProphets.

Why ‘Independence’ would be Terrible for Scottish Shareholders and the rest of Scotland

Lloyds, RBS, HSBC, Shell, Asda... they can’t all be wrong. All these business people would be screaming for Scotland to be independent if it would make them more money. But it will lose them a lot of money, which is why they are speaking out. The most convincing statement for me was from Douglas Flint, chairman of HSBC. You don’t get to be chairman of HSBC unless you know about money.

It’s quite amusing to see Alex Salmond tell people that they shouldn’t listen to ‘big oil’. I know who I would rather listen to- people from Shell who are the biggest company in the FTSE, and BP who are worldwide experts in oil. That’s much more believable than the ‘counterpoint’ of view given by the BBC for example, of one man saying “We have good oil resources”. Most of the time, companies don’t like to speak out on political issues, as this could turn some customers against them. However this issue is so important that they are prepared to do it.

I’m going to be serious here. As a shareholder, you are a part owner of a business. It is not just some letters on a screen. You have a responsibility to act in the best interests of that business, as long as it does not negatively effect you. And mark my words, it will negatively effect you if Scotland votes ‘Yes’. SSE, Lloyds, RBS, Standard Life... the list goes on and on. They will all fall drastically. Just the speculation from one negative poll was the main cause of SSE dropping more than 2% on Monday the 8th of September. Just imagine what an actual ‘Yes’ vote would do to that share. Lloyds, RBS and Standard Life would all be hit hard- there will be BIG falls across the board. Practically every share will fall if Scotland votes ‘Yes’.

Quite a lot of Scottish people won’t care at all about Banks or Financial service companies. They would when it effects their livelihood- the loss of financial service jobs would hurt the whole Scottish economy. So that could be pain in the future for them. It could actually benefit the north of England, where I live, but I’m still writing this. However what would effect everyone directly and immediately is higher food prices. I’ve worked for Asda, which is part of Wall-Mart, one of the biggest companies in the world. I don’t love them as a company at all- they can be very ruthless. But I cannot recall one instance of Asda becoming involved in a political issue. They don’t in general elections. But they have directly said that food prices will be higher if Scotland votes ‘Yes’- it will be so bad for them as a business that they are saying this even though it could offend nearly half of their customers.

I’ve been thinking for a while of how to word this, but I think it’s best just to instinctively say what’s on my mind. A lot of people are voting ‘Yes’ for emotional reasons- they want supposed freedom and independence almost for the buzz of it. But it wouldn’t even be real independence if they still want to be part of the EU- they would still be just a puppet country that has laws imposed on them by Brussels. They wouldn’t enjoy the freedom when it leads to economic hardship for themselves and their families. I cannot see Scotland voting Yes, but in an imaginary world in which they did, I can see them asking to come back in ten years time.

I believe the vote will be close, but I am convinced Scotland will vote No. However that relies on people like you understanding how important a decision this is, voting No and convincing others to vote No as well.

Part Three

New post on ShareProphets concluding the series!

"Why ‘Independence’ would be Terrible for Scottish Shareholders and the rest of Scotland" Coming Soon!

"Why ‘Independence’ would be Terrible for Scottish Shareholders and the rest of Scotland" will be published here on Tuesday or Wednesday. I think the issue is so important that I am giving up some of the paid views I would get on ShareProphets to bring it to a wider audience.

Why ‘Independence’ would be Terrible for Scottish Shareholders and the rest of Scotland. The Article!

NEW FREE post on Scottish 'independence' on ShareProphets. Classified HOT and one of my best yet!

Part Two

New free post on Share Prophets!

Why ‘Independence’ would be Terrible for Scottish Shareholders and the rest of Scotland

Finally finished my article 'Why ‘Independence’ would be Terrible for Scottish Shareholders and the rest of Scotland' It's emotional because this is an emotional issue, but also contains important real views!

Hopefully will be available on ShareProphets and here soon!

The Practical Process of Buying A Share

Ever wondered how I actually buy shares? You can find out now! This is one of the best articles I've written so check it out! The Practical Process of Buying A Share Part One now up on ShareProphets.

Coming Next...

I'm really happy to have written "The Practical Process of Buying a Share". I have never seen anything written like it in all the different share articles I've read. Will be available soon!

Next articles I'd like to write are on why Scottish independence is bad for shares, and the people of Scotland, and an article on Astra Zeneca.

Is Barclays The Best of The Banks?

New free Barclays article on ShareProphets.

Vote NO

Everytime I hear more about the Scotland debate, the more I'm convinced it'd be good for BOTH Scotland and the UK to stay together. Why would Scotland vote for higher food prices and the loss of so many jobs and eventually having to use a new currency? So remember to vote "NO"... may be doing article on this!

New Shell Article

New Shell article on ShareProphets.

Just in Case...

Another lesson... if you can afford it it's best to leave some cash in your share account 'just in case' there's a sudden buying opportunity. You're only losing a tiny bit of interest if you leave it in for a few days anyway... had chance to buy today but just not quick enough!

National Grid on Radar as Potential Buy...

New free National Grid article on Share Prophets.

Secret of Share Buying...

I think a 'secret' of share buying is to buy only when you think it's a GOOD deal... and even then if you're checking the market enough... you'll find quite a few of those opportunities over time.

New article on Santander

New Santander article on ShareProphets.

New TSB Article

New free article on TSB on ShareProphets.

New LLoyds article

New free Lloyds article on ShareProphets.

HSBC: Buy, Sell or Hold?

New HSBC article on ShareProphets. May well be of interest to my Chinese readers- I know there are quite a few of you reading from my Google analytics!

New BT Article

New BT article on ShareProphets. Will the gamble on football pay off for the telecoms giant?

Legal and General Article

Quickest acceptance of share article ever! Legal and General article now on ShareProphets.

GlaxoSmithKline Article

GlaxoSmithKline article now on ShareProphets.

Share Prophet Comments

I've posted these comments on ShareProphets but they haven't appeared yet. Not quite sure why, might be a technical error. Here they are anyway.

Thank you all for your comments. Some people have a cynical view of writers, especially 'journalists', thinking we just do it for the money. I certainly don't, and like to have a connection with my readers. Writing allows me to clarify my own thoughts too.

Yes it's definitely worth spending time finding out about senior management- lately I've been doing more of this. I actually sat through a 3 hour video presentation of HSBC's results to see how their management reacted to hostile shareholders. They were actually so hostile I was surprised such a corporate company like HSBC allowed the video up on their website! But they handled it well, and that increased my confidence in the share.

On a personal note, I think at the moment I'm better at writing 'strategically' or maybe even 'philosophical' posts on shares than detailed posts on companies, but I hope to improve.

Feel free to checkout www.markhowitt.blogspot.com for more of my writing and connect with me on LinkedIn!

Thanks for your comment Libero.

I think you did the right thing by starting relatively early too. Remember most people never invest in individual share companies, ever. So don't beat yourself up too much about it. 18 is the earliest legal age you can buy for yourself anyway... I think it's OKish to start at about 21 or 22 properly like we did... but like you I wouldn't have minded investing more a bit earlier.

I'm a long term buy and hold investor now, and I think this is an 'easy' way to go about buying shares. It did take me a while to get into this strategy... I realised it maybe a year after in shares. I think I've only ever invested in one AIM share, Fayrewood an IT company, and made decent gains from it without knowing that much about the company. I got that tip from a discussion board.

I would say it's easier and safer to take a High Yield Portfolio approach for a lot of people. Depends how much time you want to spend on shares, and how good you are at stockpicking. End of the day, all that matters is how much money you make and if you make more investing in AIM shares that's fine!

Feel free to add me on LinkedIn if you like.

My Comment on Telegraph Questor Article

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/questor/11065594/Questor-share-tip-Sainsburys-dividend-is-next-for-chop.html

I would describe that as an emotive article. Questor makes 'judgement calls' which a long term HYP investor wouldn't make. The dividend is covered nearly twice, and Sainsbury's have a good consistent record of rising dividends. Sainsbury's does not have the problems Tesco has- no foreign adventures that have gone wrong, less big out of town stores and I believe it has a slightly more loyal cusomter base and a different offering to Tesco.

Exclusive Pictures of Morrisons

I took some pictures of Morrisons when shopping there. Overall I would say this is an example of a 'good' Morrisons store, in Huddersfield. There are plenty of trollies you don't have to pay for, unlike Aldi! The visual display is better than Aldi and there's a wider selections of products- no flowers in Aldi. If all the prices were exactly the same, or if Morrisons were just a miniscule more expensive, I would probably do all my shopping there. Helps that it's close though!

Things to Checkout When Visiting Supermarkets

New article on ShareProphets Check it out :)