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educational blogs |
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We’ve had rather a change in the Weather this Weekend and it has been a bit frustrating for me because I am in the final stages of sorting out the Paintwork on my BMW Z3 but with really strong winds yesterday and rain today there was just no way I could get the final bit of preparation done and the spraying on of the Lacquer Topcoat which then just needs leaving for 2 Weeks before I can finish the job off.
At least I have been able to finish the Front Bumper though and if you see my Tweets you might have spotted my handywork. I am very pleased because I felt that my work on the Bumper had gone OK but the most recent stage was to spray the Lacquer on and I wasn’t too happy with it because it seemed ‘dusty’ or ‘rough’ (bit like Sandpaper really) and I think this might be because the Weather was too hot when I sprayed it on. Anyway, the problem was that I couldn’t know if this was a problem or not until 2 Weeks had gone by which gives the Lacquer time to ‘cure’ and then I could attack it with T-Cut which is described as a ‘Rubbling Compound’ and I like to see it as a sort of extremely fine Wet n’ Dry Paper that comes in a liquid form a bit like a Polish. It is really gentle especially in the ‘Metallic Paint’ form I need to use and it takes ages but with loads and loads of elbow grease I finally managed to get a shine into the Paintwork and it looks really good. It is amazing how good the T-Cut is because when you run your fingers over it now it is super smooth, unlike the ‘Dusty’ feel it had before. I suspect the finish was not a problem it just meant that I needed to do more Polishing work with the T-Cut to make it decent - as always if I was to wait for the perfect Weather conditions then I would never get the job done.
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Even if you have very blunt Eyes, you should have noticed that this is Part 3 of a Blog Series and if you would like to read the other 2 Parts first (which of course is what I would suggest you do !!), then you can find them at these links:
http://wheeliedealer.weebly.com/blog/invest-like-a-shark-part-1-of-3 http://wheeliedealer.weebly.com/blog/invest-like-a-shark-part-2-of-3 Chapter 15 is ‘Digital Dangers’ and goes on about the problems that easy access to Trading Platforms and Bulletin Boards and Social Media etc. can create for you. The message is to understand the drawbacks of such Tools (they can have benefits but these are easily swamped by the downsides) and to be fully in control and not let them take your life over etc. Above all when using any Online Platform it is vital to avoid ‘Noise’ and to be very disciplined about what you are reading and exposing yourself to - it is far too easy to get influenced by stuff that you really should not be reading anyway, and of course you can waste immense amounts of time which you could be using in far more effective ways. Stay disciplined and ‘Cut out the Noise’.
Summer is in full swing and I really am not doing much with regards to the Markets - I can’t see much point. This is enabling me to get on with the Paintwork on my BMW Z3 and I have pretty much finished the Front Bumper and I have now filled the Dent above the Boot and put on Primer so it is now waiting to ‘cure’ before I go for a Topcoat of BMW Black Sapphire Metallic but needless to say I need to visit my good friends at Halfords HFD again as I have run out of Paint (I am sure the staff at Maidenhead HFD will soon start saying, “Hi Wheelie Pete, you back again?”……. On top of this I have three 10p Piece sized areas on the Bonnet to Topcoat and then it is pretty much all done.
There is however some Paintwork on the Rear Wing on the Passenger side that I had a go at a few years back but I didn’t do a very good job of it. I was looking at it today and thinking with the improved Painting Skills I have now taught myself it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to correct the mess and if the good Weather continues and I am in the mood I might attack that bit. I will do the other areas first and see how I am feeling - perhaps this is a task for Next Summer (it may look pants close up but at least it is Black and there is no Rust or anything involved) !!
In this Blog Series I am reviewing Robbie Burns, The Naked Trader’s, latest Book, ‘Trade like a Shark’. To try to bring this to life I have gone through the Book picking out some important chunks of Text and then giving my view of what it says and what makes it significant. If you want a copy of the Book you can find it in ‘Wheelie’s Bookshop’ and you can find Part 1 of the Blogs here:
http://wheeliedealer.weebly.com/blog/invest-like-a-shark-part-1-of-3 Chapter 4 is about ‘Trading in Down Markets’ and Robbie particularly talks about Shorting Indexes as a Hedge: ‘The same is needed in trading. If you run it as a business you need to use all the tools at your disposal. And that should include shorting. When Shares tumble, selling up is very costly. Shorting allows you to hold onto your shares, waiting for the turnaround, while making money from the markets going down.’ You know I won’t be arguing with that !! The Book has quite a bit on this and of course it is worth bearing in mind that recently the FTSE100 has not been so useful as a Hedge due to how it moves with the gyrations of the Pound since Brexit and its uneven Weighting which gives the Top 10 Stocks considerable force over how the Index moves. Regular Readers will know that I talk about this sort of thing quite a bit in my Weekend Blogs.
I got that Title from a comment I heard on one of the News Programmes where apparently this is what White House Aides refer to Donald Trump as - he travels all over the place and round the World and you never know what he will say next and explode, leaving the Aides etc. to clean up the mess. Just recently the Hand-Grenade went off after the G7 Conference following Justin Trudeau’s Speech and then just Last Week Theresa May got hit by the Shockwave as she sat down to her posh Dinner at Blenheim Palace only to find out that Trump had done an Interview in ‘The Soaraway Sun’ slagging her off.
Last Week Overall my Portfolio gained 0.4% Last Week which I guess is ok really. My reticence is because the Markets are just so tedious at the moment but I guess with Summer in full swing it’s not really a surprise. I don’t know though, it certainly seems more painful that other Years and it is just more of the same for 2018 really with Upwards Progress on my Portfolio very hard to come by. Simplistically I guess all the worries and fears over Brexit are probably a factor and I am certainly very cautious myself as we go towards the Autumn which I suspect could be particularly troublesome.
Over the last few Months I have read Robbie Burns, The Naked Trader’s, latest Book ‘Trade like a Shark’ several times. This is supposed to be Robbie’s take on the Psychology of Trading/Investing and to a large extent it is precisely this - although I would add that it is much, much, more than just that.
The first time I read ‘Shark’ I must have thought it was pretty good - otherwise I would not have bothered to read it twice. In fact, I simply can’t remember my initial thoughts but after reading it a second time I was very much of the view that this Book was really something quite special, and I would go so far as to say this is the best thing Robbie has yet written. Normally after reading a Book that I think is significant I will produce a Review of it and shove that with a Link to the Book on ‘Wheelie’s Bookshop’ page; but this time I felt this Book was so excellent it deserved more than that and the structure that fortunately came to my mind was to go through the Book for a third time and to use a Highlighter Pen (once I had actually remembered to buy the rather essential item from Tesco) to mark the bits of text that really stood out to me and then I would type them into a Blog and put some comments with my own view of the point the text was making.
***STOP PRESS - AS I GO TO PUBLISH THIS DAVID DAVIS HAS RESIGNED AS BREXIT SECRETARY - SO A LOT OF WHAT I HAVE WRITTEN ON THE BRINO STUFF MIGHT BE SHIFTING ALREADY. COULD THERE BE A TORY LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE VERY SOON?***
***STOP PRESS 2 - STEVE BAKER BREXIT MINISTER RESIGNED AS WELL - A LEADERSHIP CONTEST LOOKS EXTREMELY LIKELY*** As always I don’t know how much I can cover today mainly because I am typing this in between spurts of rushing outdoors and spraying Primer on the Front Bumper of my BMW - if you follow me on the Tweets you might have noticed that I have been exploiting this amazing Weather to do some dodgy Paintwork on my Z3 which I have been putting off for Years. The bit I am doing at the moment should be fairly straightforward (but seems to take an immense amount of time - it is all in the Preparation and you have to have each stage spot on before you can move onto the next stage - sounds like building a Portfolio of Quality Stocks !!), and I am really using it as a practice run because I have a really difficult bit to do just above the Boot Lid where some Oik dented it (my suspicion is that a Bike fell against it and a Lever or something jabbed into my Z3’s Rear End - it is a tiny dent but if just annoys me). Bear with - I just need to pop out for another Coat of Primer !!
If you are even remotely sharp in the eye department, you will have noticed that this is Part 2. If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, you can find it here:
http://wheeliedealer.weebly.com/blog/the-power-of-patience-the-importance-of-being-idle-part-1-of-2 In Part 1 I was partly going on about where my own reserves of Patience come from and I am pretty sure being a Paraplegic Wheelchair User forces immense Patience upon me. I wasn’t going to say any more on the subject but if you follow me on the Tweets then you might have noticed that I have been doing some Sanding and Painting work on my BMW Z3 to sort out some rusty Aluminium on the leading edge of the Hood - anyway, I have to tell you this because it’s a great example of where Patience is drummed into me and also it is ironically quite funny !! (in a Sod’s Law kind of manner).
What an unbelievable Heat Wave we are having - it’s just so nice being able to get out and about and enjoy it and having now finished my Compost Bin Project (it is such a relief to see the mess all straightened out after many Weeks) I am about to start on a New Project of tarting up my BMW Z3 which has got a few bits of dodgy Paint and I went to Halfords HFD last Week to pick up various essential items like Wet & Dry Paper, Primer, BMW Black Sapphire Metallic Topcoat, Lacquer and T-Cut Metallic etc. It must have caused a mini-boom in HFDs Revenues and Profits because I spent 50 Squids !!
Doing this kind of thing with Spray Paints out in the open air is really not easy and it is extremely difficult to get a decent Finish but I am not after ‘Concours’ condition and really it is more a case of doing a good enough job and the main driver is to stop Rust dead in its tracks and to keep the Car looking half-decent when looked at from a distance !! |
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