a day in the life of.......

This text was previously abridged and published in a much smaller version on the SharePad educational articles pages. Here is the full version and includes much more detail. 

If you are interested in using SharePad or ShareScope yourself, then you can click any one of the various Advertising Banners around my websites and you will get one month of data for free, and I myself get a payment from Ionic Information for introducing you (many thanks !!). You can also simply use the Promotional Code 'wheelie' when signing up for either of the products.

​1. Social handle/SharePad chat name / Name?

@Wheeliedealer

2. How long have you been investing?

Around 24 years.

3. How long have you been a SharePad subscriber?

I was previously subscribed to ShareScope and must have used that for about 16 years or more. I have been using SharePad for roughly 4 years. I switched to SharePad because of the benefits of being able to access via any device (Laptop, Tablet, Fone); no requirement to update database on my laptop; and because the presentation of fundamental information for my requirements is superior. ShareScope wins on Technical Analysis (Charting) capabilities, but SharePad has the technical tools I need and use daily.

4. How regularly do you use SharePad?

SharePad is an essential part of my daily routine and I probably use it for at least 2 hours a day; and I tend to dip in and out of it through the day.

5. What is your typical SharePad routine?

I wake up at 8am (I used to wake up much earlier, but I realised it made no real difference to my investment approach and I value the extra time asleep, because sleep is essential in this game !!) and take a first look at the moves on my portfolio of stocks at 8.20am on SharePad – this gives time for the market to settle down from the initial gyrations and distortions of the opening period. Traders like all that action first thing, but as a Long Term Investor, I can do without the noise !!

On my first look at my stocks I am just getting a sense of what moves are happening, and the first bit I look at is the indexes – particularly the FTSE100 and German DAX; I have a Spreadbet ‘system’ (the GIT Geared Index Tracker) that is based on the FTSE100 this year so it is important I keep abreast of what is going on there. I am particularly looking for anything out of the ordinary and extreme; this could be a sizeable fall (which usually means I have a Profit Warning to get upset about !!) or perhaps a decent rise (which means a good Trading Statement has come out, or a Takeover Bid sometimes – but, sadly, not often enough).

I then move on to the News items for my Stocks and I use SharePad for this on my 7 inch Tablet. I am sitting up in bed when I do this, with the duvet up around me keeping me nice and toasty. I am quite active on Twitter (ok, ‘X’ or whatever daft name it has these days) and I tend to tweet out any news of relevance regarding my stocks and perhaps some information regarding valuation etc, which I get from the SharePad ‘List’ screen which I have setup for things like p/e ratio, fwd p/e ratio, 2 year fwd p/e ratio, dividend yield, fwd dividend yield, 2 year fwd dividend yield, ROCE, fwd ROCE, Market Cap, etc. etc. My approach is very much a mix of fundamentals and charting; so I am constantly looking at chart patterns and candlestick patterns as part of my routine.

I next move on to the general News for the day on SharePad. The filtering functions are very useful here because a lot of the daily RNS announcements are pretty useless and irrelevant for a Long-Term Investor; stuff like Net Asset Value (useful for some types of stocks), Blocklisting Announcements, Form 8.5 announcements during a takeover bid, etc. I tend to start with the most recent news item and work backwards; I am only interested in what I deem to be ‘quality’ companies and I ignore announcements from the vast majority of AIM Garbage (loss making, no hope, jam tomorrow, story stocks) and most AIM Miners (unless I specifically am on the lookout for a miner – but that is rare). 

I read the announcements and if I think it is relevant, then I tweet out a very brief summary of the news item and I often include some information regarding the valuation (fwd p/es, fwd divvy etc.) and I give a clear view on whether or not I think this is worth buying or perhaps holding, or if it is best left alone. I look at the chart on SharePad as well, and I often comment on how the chart is looking and what the major trends are. Sometimes I will move to the ‘Financials’ tab and look at things like the Income section (Profit & Loss account), the balance sheet bit and the historic dividends etc.

I usually do this process of working through the news on quality stocks until about 10am when I have usually got through all or most of the news items, and I am more often than not getting bored and I need a cup of tea !! The reason I work through the news items like this is because I want to be up to speed on how the quality stocks are doing and because I am on the look out for ones that particularly impress me and that could become holdings in my own portfolios. 

At the time of writing this in October 2023, I am trying to reduce the number of stocks I hold and I am in a gradual process of getting the number down; so I am not that actively looking for any new stocks to buy. However, I am nearly at my target number (WD30) and once that happens, it will be a ‘one in, one out’ discipline that I will be employing. I am also suffering from ropey health and as a result I am not as dynamic with my portfolio as perhaps I could (and should) be.

I then at last get up out of bed and I do stuff like eating etc., but then I have a hefty daily routine of sorting my life out. I am paraplegic (I am paralysed from chest level and I use a wheelchair) and this comes with lots of joys like the simple fact that everything takes several times longer to do than for able-bodied people. For example, just getting dressed can take about 15 minutes and is quite a physical and active task. These daily demands and stuff like going shopping and suchlike, take up much of my time during the middle of the day and for the afternoon. So I don’t really do much with my stocks until about 6.30pm, when I have had my evening meal and I want to see how my Portfolios have performed on the day.

Between 10am and this 6.30pm daily reckoning, I am regularly looking at how my stocks are doing and at particular chart patterns and suchlike on my stocks and on the major indexes. The US Markets open around 2.30pm UK time and I don’t tend to look at them until about 3pm (again this gives time for the gyrations of the open to settle down). Quite often I am out at Aldi, Tesco or Asda and I don’t look at my stocks at all (unless I am in McDonalds and waiting for them to bring my Big Mac &Fries to my table and I can’t help getting out my fone to see what is happening !!).

At about 6.30pm I login to my Share Accounts and my Spreadbet Account and I take the valuations and then work out how I have done on the day. I tweet this out along with a list of significant moves that have happened on my portfolios. As part of this exercise, I am looking at the Charts on SharePad and getting my head around the major trends and the moves inside these trends etc., to get a good sense of where my stocks are at. Sometimes I will be planning to topslice or completely sell a position or I might be looking to buy more of a stock I already have; this exercise of looking through the charts helps me with my timing regarding such possible trades. I never rush any trading decisions – quite often I am weeks ahead of a sell or a buy trade and I am ‘stalking’ a good time to actually do the trade.

This ‘daily reckoning’ task takes about 30 minutes and then I ignore the markets and probably watch some TV or something, until just after 9pm when I power up my laptop (most of the stuff up to now I do on my 10 inch tablet apart from the news look-through first thing which is done on my 7 inch tablet) and the focus now is purely on the Index Charts and I also look at Brent Crude Oil and Natural Gas Composite Nymex in the US – I have a fair few Oil/Gas stocks and this is useful. I tweet out what I am seeing on the Major Indexes, in terms of daily candles, RSI, MACD, 13/21 day EMAs, 8/21 day EMAs, Resistance and Support, Bollinger Bands etc. That’s pretty much it for the day then.

Over the weekends, either on a Saturday evening or Sunday evening, I will look at the index charts and tweet out what I am seeing; in a similar way to what I do during the week.

When I have a spare slot in my Portfolio, I will use a lot more SharePad features to help me narrow down and thoroughly investigate a potential candidate for me to purchase. Most often I already have an idea of perhaps a particular stock (in which case it is simply a case of confirming I am confident in the choice), or it can be that I have 2 or 3 potential candidates and I am looking into each of them to narrow down which one really stands out as the one to put more research effort into, and ultimately to buy unless something puts me off.

As part of this ‘hunting for a new stock’ process I use a lot more SharePad features. In particular, I use the ‘News’ feed for the particular stock a lot and look back through the archive and read what I see as the most relevant/important items (Results announcements, Trading statements, Director deals, new products etc. etc.) I also like to look through the Phil Oakley charts and see if these throw up anything I should be aware of and which could be concerning; or perhaps it shows up something that is better than I understood up to that point. I also look at the Balance Sheet and Income bits under the ‘Financials’ tab to ensure debt is ok and things like that. Another really helpful part is the ‘Directors Deals’ tab which can highlight significant holdings and where Directors don’t have much ‘skin in the game’.

I also run an Income Portfolio which is comprised of 15 Stocks and I am looking for a blended Dividend return of about 5% across the portfolio. When a slot appears in this collection, I often use the SharePad ‘Filter’ functions to search for stocks with high dividend yields or I might just grab the ‘FTSE350’ on the ‘List’ page and then sort them in order of Dividend Yield – this is a quick way of highlighting potential new buys. 

Another feature I find useful when hunting a Dividend stock is to use the ability to compare Charts on the charting bit. For example, if I have narrowed down the choice to 2 or 3 stocks, then I can do long-term charts of them and overlay each one; this enables me to easily see the stock that has performed the best over many years, and it helps to pinpoint which stock is probably the best for me to go for. 

Over the weekend I might also review a stock I already hold and that I might be thinking of selling or buying more of. This is similar to the approach I use for looking at new stocks. However, when I hold a stock this is all part of an ongoing process that happens everyday when I am adding to my understanding and knowledge of the stock/business I hold. Much of this understanding sort of happens by osmosis on an incremental basis.

I don’t use all that many features of SharePad really. One of the beauties of this tool and of ShareScope is that they offer so many chunks of information and the ability to customise is considerable. I know many people who use the full functionality and they record all of their portfolio details within the system; it is clear to me that this has huge benefits and can help with tax returns etc. I don’t use those features myself mainly because I have my own methods of recording such details and I am quite set in my ways (you can’t teach an old hound new tricks !!).

Perhaps the best bit about SharePad for me is how I can rely on it to be my daily ‘workbench’ and on the reliability and accuracy of the data. In truth, much of the data/information can be found for free on various websites, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of faffing about, whereas with SharePad the information is all there in one place and it saves me an immense amount of time and effort. The time saved in terms of tracking down the required information is time that can be used for superior research or simply to reduce the overall time you spend on investing, and you can get on and do other things with your life. This is particularly important if you have the demands of a family and/or heavy work commitments etc.

In terms of negatives there aren’t many that I have found. The charting capabilities of SharePad are not as good as on ShareScope, but the advantages of being online and having better fundamental information, more than make up for that shortcoming. I must admit I do get irritated when SharePad change something on a version upgrade, and then I have to faff around for a while trying to get things as I like them; but thankfully this is rare and there is nearly always a way to customize the screens to get them as I want. If I cannot solve a problem, I have mates who use SharePad who I can ask and the Support team is very prompt and helpful.

Something else that isn’t great is when using SharePad on a Mobile Fone. I haven’t done this very often because when I am at home I tend to use one of my tablets or my laptop. As you can imagine, when used on a Mobile Fone (even one with a large screen), the information is still shown in quite a small format, and with my ancient eyes, it is far from ideal !!! Other than those few drawbacks, it really is an essential and time-saving tool that I rely on every day.