Podcasts about conkers corner

On this week's Companies & Markets Show John Hughman and Phil Oakley talk to special guest Peter Higgins, founder of Conkers Corner, about his investment philosophy, the importance of research, and why investors shouldn't be afraid of doing nothing. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to the 34th CONKERS’ CORNER. Recorded 25th October 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @themarketsniper Francis D Hunt, Blogger, Trader, Technical Analyst, Coach and Teacher of Trading. Francis grew up in South Africa. His parents inherited some money which they reinvested into Unit Trusts during the 1980’s. They would check the prices of their investments in the newspaper regularly and this piqued Francis’s interest in investing when he was around 16 years of age. As his parents often discussed how prices had increased and decreased, “the principle of investing grabbed him early”. Francis acknowledged even at a young age that his parents were making money passively. Francis quickly graduated to shares. Francis went into the South African Army in 1987 as part of the compulsory intake. He took all the savings he had and “lumped them into the stock market” just in time to be hit hard by the 35% market capitulation of October 1987. However because he was away with the Army for two years, he had no need for money. This enabled his portfolio to participate in the market’s strong rebound over the next two years. After his time in the Army, he went on to try several jobs before investigating as many trading methods that he could get access to. He then stripped everything back and put together his own winning formula: the Hunt Volatility Funnel Trading Theory (HVF). He has been successfully running his Market Sniper business since 2009, leading him to become a highly sought after trader, technical analyst and commentator globally. Francis is known for making several notable calls correctly including: 1. The China Break down in the beginning of 2016. 2. The Collapse in Oil in July 2014, that was the primary theme of markets for the next 18 months 3. The Militarisation macro bull theme since 2009, including stocks which went on to rise up to 500% 4. Precious Metals Long calls in 2001 from $256, 2009 through to 2011 $962 to $1900 with substantial Risk to Reward outcomes 5. The collapse of the Euro to the CHF (EURCHF Short Trade) in November 2009, inadvertently pre-empting the Greek Crisis trade of 2010. More recently again the floor fail was predicted for 2015 January, leading to a 30% FX move in hours that sent some brokers and trading platforms into financial distress and some into administration. Francis emphasises the need to capture profits and advises that one should have both an investing and a trading plan. http://www.themarketsniper.com/#sthash.De3uPMpX.dpbs Listen now to gain insights into how Francis invests, trades, charts, his macro calls and learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing and trading journey.

Welcome to the 22nd SHARE TALK’S CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 8th July 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Phil Oakley @PhilJOakley. Phil is an Investment analyst at ShareScope. Phil never envisaged a career in the Investment industry, however his love for numbers and Economics led to him doing a couple of Degrees. After he graduated with a MSc in International Banking, Economics & Finance from Liverpool Business School in 1996, Phil went to work for BWD Rensburg, a Liverpool based investment manager. In 2001, he joined ABN AMRO as a transport analyst. After a brief spell as a food retail analyst, he spent five years with ABN’s very successful UK Smaller Companies team where he covered engineering, transport and support services stocks. In 2007, Phil joined Halbis Capital Management as a European equities analyst. However after thirteen years of working for both stockbroking and Fund Management companies Phil knew that he had to get out of the industry. Underlying this was also Phil’s passion for writing and research and the realisation that he wanted to educate private investors. In 2010 Phil went to work as the Senior Investment Writer for MoneyWeek magazine. He remained there for three years before being headhunted for his writing, research and analytical skills by Tim Clarke, who was General Manager of ShareScope. Phil has been instrumental in helping the software designers at ShareScope put together both the more recent ShareScope evolving platform and the SharePad software platform. He has also been writing educational articles for the ShareScope website https://www.sharescope.co.uk/index.jsp Britain’s best-selling investment software. Listen now to gain insights into how Phil invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 23rd CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 8th July 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Reg Hoare @RegHoare on Twitter. Reg is a Managing Director at MHP Financial. As the son of a farmer Reg did not have the opportunity to follow his Dad into the family business as it had not gone so well. He instead went off to Bristol University, where he successfully completed his Degree in Politics which had a big segment in Economics. The City which had been an “alien place” to Reg prior to his studies, now as a graduate seemed “like the logical place to go”. Therefore Reg applied for Graduate Trainee Opportunities in the City and was successful in gaining a position with Laurie Milbank a Stockbroking Partnership firm in 1983. On completing his one year apprenticeship at Laurie Milbank, Reg opted to work within the Institutional part of the firm as a Salesman. He now has over 30 years of City experience, switching to Financial PR in 1995 after a successful early career in investment banking and securities at SG Warburg and Nomura. Reg joined MHP’s predecessor business, Hogarth in 2010 from Smithfield Consultants. At MHP Financial http://www.mhpc.com/ he currently advises a number of FTSE 250 and AIM 100 clients with a sector skew to Financial, Telecom and Technology (TMT) and Built Environment. Reg is also a Board member of the Investors Relations Society. Reg potentially could have been in the ISA millionaire club, however he opted instead to buy land in coastal Andalucia in 2001 and lovingly finished building the stunning Villa Cielo en la Tierra http://villacieloenlatierra.com/ in 2010. This sits well with his view that one should lock in profits and diversify your investments across many stocks and assets. Listen now to gain insights into how Reg invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful journey.

Welcome to the 25th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on the 14th July 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Jonathan Curry @jpsc01 on Twitter. Jonathan is a Trained Accountant, Company Director, Angel Investor, Equity Investor, Blogger and Non Executive Director. Jonathan started investing when he was around sixteen years of age. He had been educated on the merits of investing by his Dad, who bought and sold shares. He remembers fondly his Dad explaining to him, “Shares are one of the few ways you can get rich by someone else doing all the work”. With the little spare money that he had as a teenager, he made his first investments in the Investment Trust sector. After going to University, where he successfully attained a Degree in Politics, he then trained and qualified as an Accountant. His additional knowledge as an Accountant has enabled him to better assess the accounts and assets of a company. He is a great believer in thoroughly reading company RNS’s and also comparing them to previous RNS’s released by that company. This enables Jonathan to notice any red flags that many others might have overlooked. It also enables Jonathan to be comfortable with his selections until he decides that they have reached full value. He also does all this without spending too much time in front of his computer screens. Listen now to gain insights into how Jonathan researches, selects his investments and learn from the lessons in his successful and investing journey. #LEARNING #INVESTING #CONKERSCORNER

Welcome to the 26th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on the 5th August 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @NewchangeFX Andy Woolmer the CEO and founder of the groundbreaking financial technology company New Change FX (NCFX), which provides an independent live streaming mid-rate for foreign exchange. Andy grew up in Gloucestershire and went onto King’s College London where he studied French and German. It was during his studies that Andy first gained an interest in investing and FX. He first began investing with a long-term view by making investments into funds for his pension in the 1990’s. He has always been a conservative investor and continues to be so. He began his career in FX at Kleinwort Benson in 1994 as a spot desk assistant. He was part of the company’s rotation scheme which led to him spending time on various desks in the Treasury department. Andy had a successful five years at Kleinwort Benson as a Foreign Exchange dealer before moving to Citibank as VP for Foreign Exchange. He enjoyed this role for two years before moving to Prudential Financial in 2000 where he took the role of Director of Currency Products. After a further successful period at Prudential, Andy went to work for SEB Asset Management as a Portfolio Manager for the SEB Multi-Manager Currency Funds. In 2012, Andy decided to branch out on his own and that was when he founded New Change FX http://www.newchangefx.com/ , which enables you to measure your FX costs accurately by gathering data directly from the Institutional FX markets. Now with over twenty years experience in the FX industry, Andy is a leading expert in transaction cost analysis. He has also been a key advisor for various global regulatory bodies over the development of independent foreign exchange benchmarks. NCFX’s clients include some of the world’s largest pension funds, asset managers and banks. Listen now to gain insights into how Andy invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful FX journey.

Welcome to the 27th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on the 5th August 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @PaulJKavanagh1 Paul Kavanagh the CEO and founder of Patronus Partner: a discerning, accessible investment management and stockbroking service that provides a comprehensive approach to investment management. Paul grew up in Shenfield in Essex where, as a young boy doing his paper round he shrewdly noticed, “big houses took the Financial Times”. This married to his love of maths led to him being very keen to leave school without even pursuing A levels, which he was more than capable of doing. He instead took an opportunistic leap into the City of London as a sixteen year old, taking his first job with Extel Financial (EXTEL), where he started off with administration tasks. However within eight months Paul alongside colleagues in the U.S, were tasked with building a Mergers & Acquisitions (MNA) database. Having successfully put the database together his bosses tasked the then eighteen year old Paul, with selling the database and service to all the major institutions in the City of London. This led to Paul holding meetings with all the major partners in the City in the late 80’s and early 90’s. To put this into context, it would be the equivalent of a teenager holding court with a combination of the today’s Anthony Bolton, Neil Woodford and Gervais Williams and many others, on a daily basis! Through his work with the EXTEL MNA research database, Paul ended up providing due diligence on potential acquisition opportunities. It was through this connection that he met Paul Killik and Matthew Orr, the founders of Killik & Co. He joined that firm in 1993, becoming Partner shortly after and enjoying 21 years there. During that time, the firm grew significantly and spawned other businesses including 7 Investment Management, Raymond James Investment Services and Killik Employee Share Services. Paul’s role at the firm included managing clients and assisting the build of Killik Capital, leading the research offering and providing media presence. On a personal level Paul is a high conviction and high risk investor who prefers to invest in AIM stocks. He is often looking for special situations and trading opportunities which will provide him with significant returns. Paul has spent most of his career in the stockbroking industry. With a natural interest in stock market investing, he spent five years writing for the Sunday Times Money section, discussing over one hundred individual businesses in some detail during the 1990’s. Paul went on to be a regular contributor on the investment conference circuit and in the media with the BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg and Sky News. Paul formed Patronus Partners Ltd http://www.patronuspartners.com/ in January 2015 with two former Killik & Co colleagues, Kareem Khouri and John Prior, each of whom has extensive experience in investment management and stockbroking services. Listen now to gain insights into how Paul invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 28th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with the co-founder and Director of Private Clients at Investment Quorum, @PetronellaW Petronella West. Investment Quorum is an award winning independent boutique Wealth management service. Petronella started her journey in Financial Services at the age of 18 years opting not to finish her A levels as she had a passion to get into the world of work. Having started off in Administration, Petronella spent ten years at the Halifax Independent Financial Advisers where she completed all Financial Planning exams and achieved great success. She went self-employed in 1997 and co-founded Investment Quorum http://investmentquorum.com/ in October 2000 with Lee Robertson who is currently their Chief Executive Officer. Investment Quorum is a deliberately sized boutique wealth management firm delivering high quality financial planning and investment solutions to private clients, trusts and charities. Petronella has channelled her passion, energy and ability to build and maintain client relationships. She is extremely focused on providing personalised financial planning strategies and excellent investment solutions. Petronella’s ethos for Investment Quorum is to support clients that are enlightened and informed about the valued added benefits of great financial planning. She is passionate about maintaining integrity, having your clients at the core of everything and believes that the client always comes first. Petronella first started investing into her pension in her twenties and then got involved in the property market. She describes herself as a “very high risk investor”. Her principles are aligned with one of her investment gurus Warren Buffett, in that one should “know exactly what you are getting involved in”. Therefore she is firm believer in a long-term equity only, invest and hold strategy, seeking long-term value to have capital for retirement and long term goals. She stresses that one should never get emotionally attached to a Fund Manager and be prepared to leave those funds that are not performing. Listen now to gain insights into how Petronella invests and learn from the lessons in her successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 29th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the privilege of speaking with award winning Investment Fund Manager @gervais_mam Gervais Williams. He is currently the Managing Director of Miton Group Plc, where he and the team monitor the market trend changes beyond the credit boom, and aim to set up funds with investment strategies harnessing forthcoming investment trends. Gervais grew up in Abergavenny in Monmouthshire; a county in South East Wales. As the son of a Farmer, he had always liked business but did not know how he was going to get into it. He attended the University of Liverpool where he attained an Engineering Degree and went onto become a Chartered Engineer. It was in 1985 that Gervais made the switch into the Investment industry, after successfully applying for a Trainee Fund Manager role at the Throgmorton Investment Trust. He started analysing small companies, did his industry exams and remained with the group for five years. Gervais first “dabbled a bit” in stocks and shares during the Thatcher revolution and the Conservative government’s de-nationalisation policy of utilities and services. He participated in some of the privatisations, however he admits that he has never really invested that much of his own personal account, preferring instead to invest in the funds he worked for. He states that when he started analysing small companies they were in fashion and were central to all portfolios His criteria then was to look for small companies which generated good earnings growth, with lowish PEs and limited downside risk. Gervais says that there were a lot of bankruptcies at that time and you had to be mindful of their accounting policy issues. Gervais became an Investment Manager in UK & Irish Small Cap Stocks at Thornton Investment Management (now part of Dresdner Bank) in July 1990. It was during this time that he worked with Peter Webb, managing the Thornton UK Smaller Companies Unit Trust. In March 1993 Gervais was appointed as a Fund Manager with Gartmore Asset Management. There he gained an extensive experience of investing in quoted stocks in the UK and Ireland, with a particular interest in companies with smaller market capitalisations. He headed up the UK Small Cap Desk for many years running portfolios such as UK & Irish Smaller Companies, Gartmore Growth plc, Gartmore Irish Growth Trust plc and Gartmore Fledgling Trust plc.During this period of success the team collected many investment awards. The humble Gervais once said that he joined Gartmore at “a fortuitous time as it coincided with a major shift in the markets after a prolonged period of recession”. He remained with Gartmore for nearly eighteen years. When Gervais decided to leave Gartmore he did so with the intention of looking at all the opportunities available to him before choosing to the best in join Miton Group in March 2011. To build up the assets under management and was able to offer investors opportunities to invest new strategies and funds. Since 2011 Miton have established four new funds that Gervais has managed along with Martin Turner, and taken on the mandate for The Investment Company plc. These funds have genuinely active investment strategies. The funds are: the Diverse Income Trust Investment Trust, the CF Miton UK Multi Cap Income OEIC, the CF Miton UK Smaller Companies OEIC and the Miton UK Microcap Trust. On a professional level Gervais has remained focused on small stocks throughout his career. So much so that his experience and passion for that niche led to him writing his book “The Future is Small” http://www.thefutureissmall.com/ explaining the unique characteristics of the UK’s AIM market for smaller, growing companies. When Gervais joined Miton they issued their Full Year results in April 2011 with Funds under Management of £1.7 Billion. Last month Miton http://www.mitongroup.com/ published their Interim results which showed they had £2.542 Billion in Assets under Management. Listen n...

Welcome to the 30th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview, I have the pleasure of speaking with @tamzinpiworld Tamzin Freeman a private investor, co-founder of 2TF: a video production company for investors and public relations and PI WORLD, which publishes the videos recorded at Mello, ShareSoc, company presentations and other investor events. As a toddler Tamzin learnt essential components with regard to investing from her highchair, as her parents ran a global concern manufacturing CornishWare. She heard talk of Forex exchange rates, investments required to run a business and how businesses coped when things went wrong. This early initiation led Tamzin into a career in Sales and Marketing, with the majority of time in advertising. She also attained a Diploma in marketing, from The Chartered Institute of Marketing. Tamzin is a successful private investor, who has invested in shares for the last 30 years. Over this period, Tamzin has refined and improved her investment strategies with the goal of having a significant nest egg for retirement. In 2015, Tamzin decided to combine her private investor insights with her husband Tim’s 30 years of experience in the broadcast television and video industry. They have set up their own video production business: 2tf.co.uk and Private Investor site: PIWorld.co.uk . If you have attended a recent ShareSoc, Mello or Investor related event, you are likely to have seen the formidable duo, Tamzin and Tim, as the camera crew. Tamzin takes her investing nous as private investor to every event, which enables her to engage with fellow investors, CEOS, CFOs and Presenters from a private investors perspective. Listen now to gain insights into how Tamzin invests and learn from the lessons in her successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 31st CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with the award winning journalist and broadcaster @RobinJPowell Robin Powell. Robin is also an active campaigner for positive change in the investing industry. Robin Powell was a TV reporter, producer and presenter for more than 20 years, working for Sky News, ITV and for The Sunday Politics on BBC 1. He reported from locations including Baghdad, Soweto and Guantanamo Bay, and made award-winning documentaries on the Holocaust and on Britain’s Romany Gypsy community. He is the founder of Regis Media, which provides niche content and social media management for growing fiduciary businesses. For three years he was a consultant to Sensible Investing TV, for whom he produced and presented the highly acclaimed online documentary How to Win the Loser’s Game. He also works as a brand journalist and content marketing consultant for advisers in Europe, North America and Australasia. Robin is a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists and was a Visiting Media Fellow at Duke University in North Carolina. A former intern on Capitol Hill, Robin has supported a number of lost political causes over the years, and a few sporting ones, including Aston Villa Football Club and the England cricket team. Robin’s evidenced based research is sought after globally as he is a recognised specialist on the subject. Listen now to gain insights into how Robin’s invests and learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey and the benefits of evidence-based investing.

Welcome to the 32nd CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @NicTrades Nicola Duke. Nic works for a Fund is also highly sought after for her trading and technical analysis expertise, covering up to 36 markets, including Oil, FX, Metals and grains. Nic is from an Army family and so moved around a lot. Her Mum was always interested in stocks and shares and when Nic was 15 years of age, her Mum opened a sub investing account for her. At this stage she tended to followed recommendations given to her by her Mum and these tended to be Blue Chips. Nic joined the Royal Air Force as a Commissioned Officer and Air Traffic Controller in 1988 and completed her role with the RAF in 1992. After successfully attaining her Civilian Authorities Air Traffic Control qualifications Nic went onto work at Heathrow in 1992. Shortly after starting at Heathrow Nic discovered that a Hedge Fund had recruited some Air Traffic Controllers to see if they could make good Traders. After that Nic interests in trading and investing were reinvigorated and she was determined to teach herself how to become a professional Trader. Nic’s journey to becoming a professional trader took a few diversions and learning as many strategies as possible. Before she went to work at BD Capital in March 2008 as a Trader and Technical Analyst. She remained with BD Capital for seven year and that was followed by a short time as a Commodity derivatives and currency trader, Technical Analyst at FuturesTechs Ltd. Nic currently works for a Fund and is a regular guest contributor when media outlets seek a professional trader with charting expertise. Nic is a huge fan of Fibonacci levels, charting patterns especially Heikin Aashi candles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candlestick_chart and believer in sticking to your strategy and to be patient. Nic’s Technical Analysis based trading strategy is sought after globally as she is a recognised technical charting specialist. Listen now to gain insights into how Nic trades and learn from the lessons in her successful, insightful investing and trading journey. Plus the benefits of charting as a purely Technical trader and finding a simple strategy using Technical Analysis, trading Indices, Stocks and FX.

Welcome to the 33rd CONKERS’ CORNER recorded 14th October 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @Mark_Rogers88 Mark Rogers the current Managing Director of Motley Fool. Mark is also an Analyst and the Chief Investment Advisor of ‘Motley Fool Hidden Winners’ where he and his team write select one high-conviction small-cap share recommendation every month, plus up-to-date coverage for every single active Hidden Winners recommendation. Mark grew up in Lancashire, and went to school in Merseyside. A self taught Private Investor, Mark’s introduction to stocks and shares came from his Dad, who was a stock market enthusiast. When Mark was around ten years of age, his parents purchased a Windows 95 Computer and he became the designated computer person to input prices onto a spreadsheet from those his Dad called out from the Financial Times. He became hooked after that. Mark eventually began investing when he was 13 years old, after he had saved up enough pocket money to enable him to make his first stock purchase, under the supervision of his Dad. This continued and Mark’s love of numbers led to him attending Birmingham University where he studied Economics. Having studied the stock market from all sorts of angles and growing up around a family firm, he has been around businesses all of his life. He has tried and experienced all sorts strategies, including day trading, Ichimoku cloud analysis and top down macro investing, indicators. However the more he experienced, the more he learned the value of simplicity. Nowadays you won’t find any charts, or flashing indicators or complex algorithms on Mark’s screens. To quote Mark “sometimes you’ve got to be a fool before you become a Fool…!” Like many investors, reading Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letters was a revelation to Mark. For many years now, his focus has been on investing for the long-term in high-calibre businesses listed on the stock market. Mark joined the Motley Fool investing team in 2013, and in January 2016 took over as Managing Director. His Team at Motley Fool offer a range of premium investing services to match the needs of a broad range of temperaments and timelines, interests and investing attitudes http://www.fool.co.uk/help/which-motley-fool-service-is-right-for-me/ . Mark’s portfolio has “personal skin in the game” with regards to a large percentage of his holdings being those stocks selected for Motley Fool premium client services. Mark looks to hold shares for years and years when we finds the right ones. Mark’s and Motley Fool’s mission is to “Help The World Invest Better, and to avoid being bamboozled by the jargon and nonsense which is so prevalent in the investing world”. Mark states “I love what we set out to do at The Fool, and I love the challenges of both running a business and running a stock-picking service (as well as my own portfolio). We still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do — and like all good investors, I hope to never stop learning!” Listen now to gain insights into how Mark invests and learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 24th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 9th July 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with the freelance Technical Analyst, Presenter and Host, Zak Mir @ZaksTradersCafe on Twitter. The son of Doctors, Zak grew up in North West London and went to Harrow School in the 1980’s. After that he briefly attended London School of Economics. Zak did not find this to his liking and after less than two months, his passion for stocks and investing lead him pursue a job with a Stockbroker in Mayfair. Even back in the 1980’s, Zak had a great interest in SmallCap and AIM stocks (then known as the Unlisted Securities Market). He made his first investment in stocks in the late 1980’s and in the early 1990’s he tried being a Derivatives Broker. Zak then spent much of the 1990’s doing what is now known as Day Trading using his self taught Technical Analyst skills and very expensive data feed. Today Zak is one of those go-to individuals that Private Investors, Event Organisers, Publications and Shows call on when they want an intelligent affable Presenter, Host or Technical Analyst. He can be found regularly on @OfficialTipTV http://tiptv.co.uk/ , @CityAM http://www.cityam.com/ , his very own Traders Cafe Events at http://www.zakstraderscafe.com/ and more recently on @LondonSouthEast http://www.lse.co.uk/ Listen now to gain insights into the many lessons that Zak has learnt during his near thirty years using Technical Analysis, trading Indices, Stocks and FX.

Welcome to the 35th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 21st November 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @timfprice Tim Price the awarding winning Fund Manager, Author and co-founder/Director of PFP Wealth Management. This business is a UK-based investment and financial advisory practice which advises on and manages £1.5 billion in client assets and is designed to provide investors with global exposure to managers pursuing value investment strategies. Tim is also a columnist for MoneyWeek magazine where he runs an investment advisory service, The Price Report gives individual investors the chance to hear the very latest views, insights and specific tips from top-level City investors and professional managers. Tim graduated with a BA in English language and literature from Christ Church, Oxford University in 1991. He “fully intended to pursue a job in Media” but sadly found that there were not that many jobs suitable for him. The first job that he could find was that of a Fixed Income Salesman in the Bond Markets in what was then a Japanese Bank. It later became Paribas Capital Markets and later Merrill Lynch. Tim helped to set up an award-winning investment management department at Ansbacher & Co. in 2001. He then moved to Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) in London where he was the Chief Investment Officer, global strategies, helping to manage over $1 billion in an absolute return programme for institutional clients. Tim Price has now worked in the capital markets for more than 25 years, his accumulated knowledge, insights and experience led to him being approached by Harriman House to write a book. The result is his first book: “Investing Through The Looking Glass: A Rational Guide to Irrational Financial Markets” for Harriman House https://harriman-house.com/search/results?res=tim+price&x=0&y=0 In his book Tim identifies and questions several investment myths and misconceptions. He questions whether stock markets inevitably rise over the longer term, whether bonds continue to be relevant as a fail safe low-risk asset and whether professional fund managers represent “smart money”. Having identified the problems besetting today’s investor, the focus then moves on to practical guidance to help investors preserve and grow their capital in this age of inflationary and deflationary uncertainty. Jim Mellon, Investor and Chairman, Burnbrae Ltd emphatically states: “Tim Price is one of the most cogent commentators on markets; this book contains wisdom and ideas that every investor should take note of. Tim has summarised the follies of Central Bankers, the avarice and general uselessness of financial advisers, and the bubble in asset prices that currently prevails. He comes up with a Manifesto which is designed to save us from the disastrous policies of the past two decades and to preserve and enhance capital. I thoroughly recommend Through the Looking Glass.” Listen now to gain insights into how Tim presents a route map for navigating one of the most challenging financial environments that anyone has ever seen. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 43rd CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 25th March 2017 at the Master Investor Show in Islington. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking to Jim Mellon @jimmhk the renowned serial entrepreneur, self-made multi-millionaire investor, best selling author and the owner of the Master Investor Show. As one of Britain’s richest individuals with his wealth estimated to be exceeding £900 million, Jim has been described as our very own Warren Buffett. The son of a diplomat, he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University, where he attained his Master’s Degree. However unlike many of his peers, he chose not go into the world of politics as he had travelled widely whilst he was young and had always intended to travel as soon he finished his studies. He was offered six jobs and chose to begin his career as a trainee Fund Manager with GT Management (now owned by Invesco) in Hong Kong. He has readily admitted that at the time, “I only had a vague idea of the workings of shares and bonds”. Jim made a great success of his time with GT Management, however when he was around 24 years of age his first boss and mentor at GT, Richard Thornton left the business. They sent about setting up their own Fund Management business and co-founded Thornton Management. By the time Jim was 28 years of age he was millionaire. After more than six years with Thornton, Jim set up his own business in 1991, now known as Charlemagne Capital and Regent Pacific. Alongside these businesses, he also has a private investment company, the Burnbrae Group, which makes up most of his vast investment endeavours, all of which have made him a potential future self made investor billionaire. Jim has also co-written several best selling books with Al Chalabi which you can find here http://www.burnbrae.com/books . Their new book “Juvenescence: Investing in the Age of longevity” will be released next month, and you can pre-order a copy now at https://www.juvenescence-book.com/ . For those that are intrigued by the title of the book, Juvenescence means “the state or period of being young”. The book discusses the benefits of a healthy life; what is good and detrimental for us and the breakthrough technologies that will enable all of us to live longer, as well as potentially invest in. In the discussion and video with Jim, he provides an insight into the journey that he has taken, which so far has encompassed Fund Management, Investing, Emerging Markets, Asia, Russia, America, Technology, Healthcare, being an Author, Private Investor and much much more. The topics we discussed include: Making informed decisions; Educational philanthropy; Pensions; Financial risks; Investing Strategy; Investment lessons learned; Russian Mafia; His life at risk; Master Investor Show; “Curiosity, Adaptability & Application”; No easy route to riches; Investing; Collaboration of information; Sharing of information; His new book : ‘Juvenescence’; Risks; Longevity. He has experienced several financial crashes and also turned around Regent Pacific from the brink of collapse after the Russian financial crisis. Jim stresses, “Like everyone, I have made a tremendous amount of mistakes”. Listen now to gain insights into how Jim Mellon selects, researches and filters his investments in order to find the best cutting edge long-term potential opportunities for his investing empire. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey and the thought provoking knowledge from his many investing books.

Welcome to the 36th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 23st November 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with the former Deutsche Bank, Liberum and Credit Suisse Oil and Gas Analyst @mundyrob Robert Mundy. This year Robert co-founded Research Tree, which provides Equity research, broker reports and media content to private and non-institutional investors, thus levelling the playing field with regards to access to the latest investment research. Robert studied Physics at Brighton University, where his first interest in investing began, “but not in a serious way”. He admits though, that he did “dabble at a little bit” from share tips, which “turned out to be terrible investments”. After University, Robert went on to work at Deutsche Bank in an Equity derivatives role. However it was not until he went to London Business School to study for his MBA and was taught by amazing professors and teachers, including Luke Johnson of Risk Capital Partners, that Robert got serious about investing. He was also inspired by reading Warren Buffett letters, Joel Greenblatt and their methodology and strategies. After completing his MBA in 2009, Robert went to work for Liberum the broker, as a Trader, then an Oil & Gas research analyst before leading the European Exploration and Production (E&P) coverage for Credit Suisse. Seven years after working with both companies Robert co-founded Research Tree, as an online research aggregator platform for private investors. To enable them to “make better informed investment decisions by having broad access to high quality research for the first time” https://www.research-tree.com/ “Equity research, produced by the UK’s corporate broking houses and independents, has until now been the preserve of institutional investors.” Robert and his team endeavour to provide investors with invaluable research notes and analysis that could enable them to make even better informed choices with regards to to their investments. Listen now to gain insights into how Robert researches stocks and shares and how he invests in his now diversified portfolio. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 48th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 11th June 2017. In this interview, I have the pleasure of speaking with business man, entrepreneur, thought leader, speaker, author, CEO & Co-Founder of Inzsure.com @TunstallAsc Steve Tunstall. Steve grew up in North Nottinghamshire on the edge of a mining community, his Grand-father was a Miner and for a while his Father was also a Miner, later he worked as a Council worker. His Dad advised him to “never go down the pit”, fortunately enough for Steve, when he was leaving school he did not have much choice because most of the mining pits in the nearby community had closed. Steve’s Mother was a Teacher and she had different ideas for him, encouraging him that he could go anywhere and be anything he wanted. Steve stayed on a school at did A Levels, he explains, “I did exceptionally badly, passing only one of them”. He points out that this was in the early 1980’s where within the mining communities, there was not a lot for anyone to do with regards to jobs/employment. Therefore as an 18 year old, he applied for a variety of jobs. He explained “I applied for around 150 jobs without getting even one interview”. So Steve did a part-time course in Mechanical Engineering, which took him to Cumbria, working at Sellafield. This was to be the beginning of Steve’s fantastic education, employment and entrepreneur journey. He was always looking “to upgrade his skills and upgrade himself”. This drive would take Steve all around the world as a global Insurance/Insurtech thought leader and ambassador. Steve now has over thirty years of experience in owning, running and future proofing companies. He has been CEO, Managing Director or equivalent in seven companies in four countries managing teams of up to 500 employees and based in Asia for over 20 years. Steve has been recognised as the No.1 worldwide influencer in Insurtech, according to the Global Instech 100. He features in the Top 20 Global Influencer lists of Rise, Richtopia and Onalytica in the areas of Insurtech, Fintech and Blockchain and has a significant presence on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Tumblr. He is always looking to grow, learn more, share his knowledge, nurture others, whilst always remaining humble, this is his style of leadership and entrepreneurship. Steve had always been interested in investing and saving for his future, however he explains that when starting out, he was not a consistent investor and a bit too flighty. He admits that he would have been well served by Warren Buffet’s advice to buy, hold and don’t lose money. He explains that whilst still in the UK in the 1990’s he did a little bit of trading in stocks. He says that he was “ill-formed and swayed by the influence of lots of people, which probably he should not have listened to”. Many of his early investments “were less than stellar”. Nowadays, Steve has a significant proportion of his investments in Tech stocks such as Facebook, ETFs and cryptocurriencies. With his current business Inzsure.com http://www.inzsure.com/ leveraging cryptocurrency even further. Inzsure is an aggregation solution transforming commercial insurance built on Ethereum – a derivative of Blockchain. The platform leverages chatbot interfaces on a mobile first platform powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and informed through intensive data analysis. The radical transparent business model significantly lowers frictional transaction costs and improves both speed and security. Plus enables SME’s to purchase insurance via a technology platform direct from the global insurers. Steve buys into the vision of where of cryptocurrences is going long-term and now has a significant proportion of his wealth in cryptocurrencies. The topics we discussed include: -Asian Financial Crisis; -Crisis Management; -Risk Mitigation/ Risk Management; -Commercial disputes; -Turnaround expert; -Entrepreneur: Aspiring to run your own company; -The Asian story; -Leadership; -Insu...

Welcome to the 47th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 23rd May 2017. In this interview, I have the pleasure of speaking with business man, semi-professional part-time private investor and blogger @darrenhazelwood Darren Hazelwood. Darren describes himself as a “Council estate boy”, with only a couple of GCSEs. He started his employment journey in a multitude of menial jobs, warehousing and flour mills, however he always held aspirations to exceed his starting point. He had a good group of friends and watched his Dad work “seven days a week to buy his council house”, which he feels empowered him to desire more than his modest start in life. Darren is a firm believer that brightness can not be measured by exam results. He states “any kid can achieve what they want if they are willing to work at it.” Darren has “always had a natural interest in money and finance”, what he did not have was the confidence to believe in his ability. At 19 years of age, after reading the Mail on Sunday’s Midas column, he followed the column’s tip and bought his first stock: Manx and Overseas. Darren admits that at that time he did not have the understanding or knowledge to do the due diligence required. Whilst his first foray was unsuccessful, his aspirations to achieve more led to him reading the Financial Times whilst he was working in warehouses and labouring with mates who were reading the Sun newspaper and skipping straight to sports pages. All the time Darren was learning from the university of life and being open minded in his pursue of greater financial achievements. Darren describes himself as “an ultra-high risk investor” almost predominately in AIM commodity resource stocks. He advocates that investors create a line of communication with the CEOs in order to learn more about the individual in charge of the company, their strategy and goals. Darren’s view is that “only people complicate business” and therefore does not like to deal with complicated people or companies. Darren is an advocate of attending investment seminars, AGMs, Investor Events and taking the opportunity to ask CEOs/CFOs “difficult questions”. Darren is of the view that certain commodity resource stocks have value and could achieve “astronomical gains over the next 18 months”. Darren insists that he is not a trader and always looks to invest. He has had several investment successes and made some mistakes during his investing journey. However throughout he has learnt many lessons from the positives and negatives. This discussion provides an insight into the journey that Darren has taken, which so far has encompassed working in warehouses, Woolworths, setting up his own Builders Merchants business, and much much more. The topics we discussed include: -Stocks; -Learning about opportunities; -University of Life; -Value investing; -Attending Shareholder seminars; -Investor events; -TR 1 Investing; -Trying to find deep value; -Learning; -Winning investments; -Mistakes; -Don’t become too overweight in one stock; -Communicating with CEO’s of companies; -Learning about the business; -Not dealing with complicating people or businesses; -Hungry CEOs; -Aim & Goals; -Importance of research & due diligence; -Strategy & Plan; -Charismatic leaders; -Confetti; -Investment Charter; -Attending investor events; -Speak to CEOs & CFO; -Lessons learnt; -Ask difficult questions; Listen now to gain insights into how Darren invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful investing journey to now being a TR 1 investor (a shareholder that holds a major shareholding in a listed company) .

Welcome to the 45th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 21st April 2017. In this interview, I have the pleasure of speaking with the founding Director and Chief Executive Officer of Investment Quorum, @leerobertsonIQ Lee Robertson. Investment Quorum is an award winning, independent boutique, Wealth management service and Lee is responsible for the business’ strategic direction amongst many other tasks. Lee grew up a working class family in the town of Brechin, Angus in Scotland. He went to Brechin High School, didn’t go to University and instead went straight into the Royal Navy. More recently however Lee did complete a degree in Financial Services with Edinburgh Napier University by distance learning. Lee spent nine years in the Royal Navy and originally worked in the Communications sector, where he learned morse code. He eventually concluded his service career in the Intelligence section. He admits that his start in the Financial sector in 1990 was actually by mistake, as he gained his first job with Allied Dunbar as a Sales Associate. In 1991 he moved to Halifax Group where he worked as Financial services manager, and this is where he first met his now Business partner Petronella West. Lee then moved to Royal Scottish Assurance (Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Marketing Group) in 1993 as a Senior Financial Consultant. He remained with RBS until 1995 when he chose to set-up his first firm Capulet Financial Management with a former manager of his from RBS. Then in October 2000, Lee started Investment Quorum and invited Petronella West to join him. IQ is a deliberately sized boutique wealth management firm delivering high quality financial planning and investment solutions to private clients, trusts and charities. He describes the ethos at IQ as “absolutely client first”. This is proven out by the fact that IQ have won many industry awards, many of which have been voted for by their peers. Additionally Lee* and Petronella have also won individual industry awards for their outstanding work and achievements in the Wealth Management /Financial services sector. *Just a month earlier Lee had won an International business award for leadership in UK Wealth Management Lee describes himself as an international investor with preference for the tech sector. He also likes bluechips that pay a dividend. The first share he purchased was that of British Gas via the privatisation of British Gas Corporation by the UK Government in August 1986. Through its numerous splits, de-mergers and mergers, Lee still holds his shares in British Gas in its current guise of Centrica. With regards to private investments, Lee describes himself as fairly “middle of the road” investor: not too aggressive, not too conservative. He likes the tech, healthcare and biotech industries and likes to collect his dividends. With regards to investing, Lee is an advocate of “stay in the market, get in and stay in” and if you don’t require the money stay invested and stick to your plan as you should not be reacting to macro events. This discussion provides a fascinating insight into the journey that Lee has taken, which so far has encompassed Scotland, Royal Navy, Communications, Sales, Mortgages, Finances Services, Public speaking, Wealth Management, Investment Quorum and much much more. The topics we discussed include: -Stocks; -Power of compound investing; -EIS; -Timing Markets; -Financial costs; -Fees; -Continual learning; -Communications; -TECH/Tesla; -Timing markets; -Public speaking; -Moral compass; -Clients first; -Mindset; -Lessons learnt; -Warren Buffett; Having worked in Financial services and Wealth Management sectors since 1990, Lee had a wealth of knowledge and experience that has been recognised globally. Listen now to gain insights into how Lee Robertson selects, researches and filters his personal investments dependent on the macro environment and the duration that he holds his investments for. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful vast...

Welcome to the 44th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 1st March 2017. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Colin Lloyd @colindlloyd who has been working in the City of London’s financial hub since 1987. During that time he has covered media policy, marketing, sales, derivatives, commodities, bonds, Hedge Funds and much more. He is currently working freelance with Linear Investments, where he writes articles for their magazine and also makes regular TV appearances on their Linear Talk TV channel. You can also find Colin’s brilliant macro blog articles on his own website at inthelongrun.co.uk . Colin grew up in Wirral, where he went to a local prep school and then a boarding school in Shropshire. After that he wanted to go into Sales and Marketing and into his family’s business which was a Broker agent for producers and importers of Tropical Hardwoods from around the world. Following discussions with his Dad, he conceded to doing a business course and went to Salford College of Higher Technology where he undertook the shortest business course he could find. During that two year course he specialised in Marketing and Advertising and then went to work for the family business during which time he also completed a Wood Science course. Colin gained his interests in stocks firstly from his Grandad on his mother’s side of the family. His Grandad worked for Rensburg one of Liverpool’s original stockbrokers in the 1930’s. He gained additional family insight with regards to investing as a young man from his Mum, as she managed her own investment accounts. When he was around twenty years of age Colin made his independent investment in the markets, by making a purchase of Fidelity Unit Trust that was investing in China. He admits to have been terribly excited, and “watched the share price everyday”. Then one day the price fell sharply by around 20% and he states “it scared the living daylights out of him” and prompted him to sell his holdings for a small loss. He explains humbly that he learnt his first lesson “don’t be too myopically focused on price moves when you are taking a long-term investment” . Colin stayed with the family business for around seven years before heading to London for a role with Gerrard & National (GNI) in 1987. He states that he was “very lucky” as he joined the firm after the financial crash of 1987. It was during his tenure at GNI that Colin gained experience of his first love “Global Macro Hedge”. Colin remained with GNI until 2005 during which time he had many great success and several roles which led him to travel globally on a regular basis. Over the last decade or so Colin worked on the institutional side of the investment industry and then opted to set up own his consultancy in 2010 to help Hedge Funds and related startups. Colin began his macro-economic newsletter “In the Long Run” in 2013. This discussion provides a fascinating insight into the journey that Colin has taken, which so far has encompassed Borneo, Europe, USA, Derivatives, Commodities, Futures, Options, Global Macro Hedge, Macro research, Marketing, Sales, Advertising, Consulting, writing, Private Investor, TV presenting and much much more. The topics we discussed include: -Stocks; -Stoplosses; -Managing your risks; -Price discovery; -Exchange Traded Markets; -Liquidity; -Hedge Funds; -Diversified portfolio; -Timing markets; -Be comfortable with your investment time horizon; -Commodities; -QE; -Emerging Markets; -Bonds; -Leverage; -Lessons learnt; -The real key to investing; Having traversed several investment niches within the City of London during the past 30 years, it is Colin’s view that “one is always governed by ones own experience”. Listen now to gain insights into how Colin Lloyd selects, researches and filters investments dependent on the macro environment and the duration that he holds his investments for. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful vast investing journey.

Welcome to the 46th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 18th May 2017. In this interview, I have the pleasure of speaking with part-time private investor and blogger @sholdsworth1963 Steve Holdsworth. Steve was born in Bushey, Hertfordshire, and lived in Borehamwood until he was four, after which the family moved to Perivale, West London. His father was a self- employed carpenter and his mother mixed bringing up two children with various secretarial jobs and had a pretty ordinary upbringing. Steve attended Northolt High School a pretty ordinary large comprehensive. Whilst bright and in all the top streams for most subjects, Steve by his own admission “lacked the kind of drive to excel in anything in particular.” He left school at the age of 16 years age with a handful of O levels as he “didn’t do much work”. On leaving school Steve, found employment as a junior at Barclays Bank, his role was mainly administrative initially but later took on other roles in the Bank, including that of a Bank teller. However after around five years Steve found Banking was not for him. He then took a job as a salesman for the electronics retailer Tandy, but by his own admission he was not a great salesman. In the late 1990’s whilst Steve was working with a large market research company called Taylor Nelson AGB, he gained his first interest in stocks and shares from some of the colleagues he worked with. However it was also at that time when Steve had got himself into a lot of consumer debt. With a determination to clear his debts, Steve stumbled upon the Motley Fool boards for consumer debt. Via these boards Steve found the Motley Fool investor forums and boards. He describes Motley Fool as a wonderful forum of individuals freely sharing their knowledge and experience. He added that he attended their monthly socials in London and found them “great for his learning”. Steve admits that he was a bit impatient and actually started investing before he had cleared his debts. The first stock that he bought was Lloyds TSB in 2005, because it was a big blue chip, high yielding stock. He admits that he made ad hoc purchases and bought and sold shares as they took his fancy. He admits that when he first started out he would not look beyond the tips he found via Motley Fool boards and the Financial Times with very little research. However later he found Digital Look and Hemscott (Morningstar) for screening stocks. Having worked in a series of jobs across many sectors, more recently Steve has worked as a Charity Fundraiser. Starting in June 2017, Steve intends to embark on a phase that will encompass him being a full-time active investor. This ties in seamlessly with the personal blog that Steve has just recently started, which he has called GoStevie’s website http://gostevieblog.weebly.com/ . Steve has had several investment successes and some made some notable mistakes during the past twelve years or so. This discussion provides an insight into the journey that Steve has taken, which so far has encompassed Banking, Retail, Market Research, Administration, Charity Fundraising, and much much more. The topics we discussed include: -Stocks; -Clearing debt; -Keeping records/logs -Value investing; -Attending Shareholder seminars; -Investor events; -Motley Fool; -ShareSoc; -Learning; -Winning investments, -Mistakes -Don’t become too overweight in one stock; -Position size; -IPO’s; -Attending AGMs; -Timing markets; -Public speaking; -Moral compass; -Clients first; -Mindset; -Lessons learnt; -Becoming a full-time investor; Listen now to gain insights into how Steve invests and learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 42nd CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 8th December 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Rodney Hobson @RodneyHobson, journalist, author investor, fiction crime writer, presenter and much more. Rodney was born in the village of Disley near Stockport in a humble background far removed from the world of finance and investing. He states “If I can get into finance and investment so can anyone else”. As a youngster Rodney always enjoyed writing and wanted to be a journalist. After completing his degree in politics and economics he joined his local newspaper group, the Ashton-under-Lyne Reporter. After two years he joined the Sheffield Morning Telegraph as a sub-editor and four years later joined The Times in London, also as a sub-editor. He then became deputy business editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, which was a highly respected Asian weekly magazine and this was Rodney’s first foray into Financial journalism. Rodney also served as Business Editor of the Singapore Monitor before he returned to London and rejoined The Times as News Editor on Business News. He rejoined just before the Big Bang and the transformation of the London Stock Exchange, with modern technology suddenly opening up investing to everyone. Rodney has since been a freelancer, mainly working for The Times and the Daily Mail City desk, as well as Editor of Shares Magazine and two financial websites. At The Times and the Daily Mail he used to get phone calls from perplexed ordinary investors who bought shares in privatisations or received them as building societies converted to banks. Many of these “new investors” did not have a clue what shares were, let alone the basics of investing, so he wrote his first investing book “Shares Made Simple, a beginner’s guide to the stock market” followed by other investment books. Rodney enjoys helping people with regards to their investment queries. He does so via his weekly column for Morningstar, shows on Share Radio, Investment events, his investments columns and of course his numerous investing books. Please pay a visit to Rodney’s website where you will find his numerous insightful investing books and also his fiction crime books http://rodneyhobson.co.uk/ Rodney did not make his first significant investments in stocks and shares until 2009 as he had focused firstly on buying and owning his own home in London. Rodney describes his strategy as low risk, cautious and long-term. He only invests in UK listed stocks with 90% of his holdings being FTSE blue chip stocks. This discussion provides a useful insight into the journey that Rodney has taken, which so far has encompassed Journalism, Fleet Street, Financial journalism, Newspaper Columnist, Fiction Crime Writer, Presenter on Share Radio and Private Investor. The topics we discussed include: Financial crashes; Don’t panic; Lessons learnt; Icelandic banking collapse; Dividends are vitals; Dividend cover; Risks; Investing strategy; You can beat the computers and the safest investments. Having experienced several financial crashes, it is Rodney’s opinion that there will be more crashes in the future. He stresses, “Time is circular….it will happen again….” Listen now to gain insights into how Rodney Hobson selects, researches and filters blue chip and large cap stocks in order to find the best potential opportunities for his long-term investment portfolio. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey and condensed knowledge from his many investing books. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 41st CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 21st December 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Jan Skoyles @Skoylesy, a unique force in the Fintech, Blockchain sector and Gold commodity space. Jan is also a highly regarded consultant, blogger and serial entrepreneur. Jan is also the founder and a partner at Barlings Consulting in Dubai, as well as a Research Executive at Goldcore. Jan grew up in the Midlands in what she describes as a “typical middle class upbringing”. She explained that she was very lucky and her parents encouraged her to be anything she wanted to be, “whether that was a fairy godmother or an astronaut”. After successfully completing school, Jan went onto study for an Economics Degree at Aston University in Birmingham. Jan became very disenfranchised with her studies which she was undertaking during the time of the financial crisis. She felt that things did not add up with regards to views what of President Magabe did in Zimbabwe and that of what Ben Bernanke was doing with regards quantitative easing (QE). Whilst on her final year placement with BP, Jan became very ill and had to extend studies across a further two years. It was during this difficult time that she was introduced to Ned Naylor-Leyland, a well known figure in the world of gold and silver investing. As Jan was still undecided as to what topic to cover for her dissertation, Ned suggested she write her dissertation on “the return of gold and silver to the monetary system”. Jan did just that and graduated from Aston University in 2011 with a Degree in International Business and Economics. She describes her dissertation “as her golden ticket” as it grabbed the attention of a few gold companies. Straight from University, Jan joined the gold investment platform start-up: The Real Asset Co (TRAC), as a co-founder. Jan covered several roles including that of CEO during her tenure at TRAC. Whilst in her role as CEO, the TRAC team did a funding round and implemented a basic blockchain. TRAC were essentially one of the first to get involved in the blockchain space. This discussion provides a useful insight into the journey that Jan has taken, which so far has encompassed Fintech, Bitcoin, Blockchain and Gold. The topics we discussed include: Fintech is many different things; Fintech start-up opportunities; Dubai/Middle East Fintech Bitcoin/Blockchain innovation; First love being Gold; Working with The Real Asset Co, Coinsilium, Goldcore, Barlings Consulting; Where Jan holds her investments; Start-up valuations, the difference between RABBITS and UNICORNS; Our changing relationship with Banks/Financial organisations. Listen now to gain insights into how Jan Skoyles, traverses the Fintech, Bitcoin, Blockchain and Gold space. Learn why Jan states that one of her wisest investments is seizing opportunities and why one of her favourite quotes is “Never turn down an invitation to a cocktail party”. Learn from the lessons in her successful, insightful business/entreprenuerial and investing journey.

Welcome to the 40th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 6th December 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Martin Flitton @private_punter the highly regarded blogger, private investor and Small/Micro cap financial writer for the Cambridge News newspaper. Martin describes his early years in Cambridge as “unremarkable”, however he did attain two O-Levels in English Literature and Language and his interests in writing and reading had been nurtured. He left school at seventeen and took the route of undertaking an apprenticeship, which was normal for most young men in the mid 1970s. After completing a Painting & Decorating apprenticeship, Martin quickly embarked on setting up his own business in the trade. In the early 1990s, Martin gained a real interest in shares and wanted to learn more. However, with the exception of the Financial Times and some other magazines, he found it really difficult to find decent information and to research investing thoroughly. So he went to his local library and ordered a range of books, which he then read and studied and this piqued his interest. More importantly he began watching, studying and then doing dummy runs on stocks without making any real investments. Eventually, following more research, he took the plunge and made his first two investments. Both stocks were subsequently taken over at premiums. From there, Martin became more involved in shares and more focused. Around the same time a group of his friends had participated in the privatisations of British Gas and British Telecom and they decided to form a Share Club. Some time later, “The Cambridge News” was doing a feature on Share Clubs and contacted them. The Share Club, which at the time consisted of around ten individuals, nominated Martin as their spokesperson. After the feature, Martin was contacted by its Editor Jenny Chapman and she asked him if he would write a one off article on a stock that he liked. This proved so successful that Martin was asked to write a monthly column for Cambridge News and this later became a weekly column. Martin has now been writing his column for Cambridge News for sixteen years and fulfilling his passion for writing. With his background in the construction industry, Martin’s early investments tended to relate to the construction industry. He would research, filter and then select his stocks that were fundamentally strong, not too geared, cash generative and profitable. He states that he is “definitely not a trader and does not do spread-betting”. What he likes to do now is to focus on the small cap and micro cap end of the stock market as he feels that “if you actually do your homework and you get it right you can do very well”. Martin is an advocate for thorough research and prefers to speak to and actually meet with the company that he invests in, wherever possible. Listen now to gain insights into how Martin Flitton selects, researches and filters small and micro cap stocks in order to find the best potential opportunities for optimum long-term returns on his hard earned money. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey. #LEARNING #SMALLCAP #RESEARCH #STOCKS #SHARES #GROWTH #VALUE #DISCIPLINE #RISKS #INVESTING #CONKERSCORNER You can find Martin’s regular column for the Cambridge News here: Share price on the up for this beauty and cosmetics firm

Welcome to the 39th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 14th December 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Daniel Crosby @danielcrosby, the New York Times awarding winning author, behavioural finance expert and sought after thought leader on market psychology. He is also the founder of Nocturne Capital. Dr. Crosby created the sentiment and valuation measures that serve as the overlay for Nocturne’s tactical strategy. His ideas have appeared in the Huffington Post, Think Advisor and Risk Management, as well as columns for WealthManagement.com and Investment News. Daniel was named one of Investment News “40 Under 40” and a “financial blogger you should be reading” by AARP. Daniel’s second book, “Personal Benchmark”, co-authored with Charles Widger of Brinker Capital, was a New York Times bestseller that outlines a highly personalised approach to investing that aligns intention with action while fostering an investment experience that is both enjoyable and rational. Daniel grew up the son of a Financial Adviser and he was so immersed in that world he said that he “never had a chance”. He was steeped in best financial practices and his father would always be “talking about stocks and shares at the table”. His Dad was quite a gifted investor and adviser and therefore “in their house, debt was a four letter word”. Therefore, Daniel grew up with some sound principles with regards to money. Daniel went to College and set out to become an Investment Manager, however mid-way through College he dropped out. He chose instead to become a missionary for his Church and went to work in the Philippines for a few years. Teaching English, building schools, doing a little good in the world. It was at that point he became interested in a profession that would help others. He chose Psychology when he returned to his studies at Brigham Young University, with a renewed dedication and later became a Pre Doctoral Intern (PHD) at Emory University in Atlanta. In July 2008, he went onto become a Consultant at Sperduto and Associates, a firm of corporate psychologists and management consultants, based in Atlanta. When he started his first job, Daniel started investing straight away with Index Funds. He remained there until he moved in January 2010 to IncBlot Organizational Psychology which is a management consultancy, comprised of a team of organisational psychologists with expertise in helping business select exceptional people. In March 2016, Daniel founded Nocturne Capital, which is a behavioural asset management firm serving the needs of individuals and institutions committed to the research-based investment principles set forth in his book :The Laws of Wealth. Daniel is also the President of Nocturne Capital and an executive at the Brinker Capital Center for Outcomes, a financial adviser education initiative that helps advisors understand the powerful impact behavioural science can have on their practices. Daniel is a huge advocate of “know yourself” and one of his biggest lessons is ‘the boom of learning to embrace momentum’. However on a personal basis, he does not look at his own portfolio too often, choosing instead to be a rule-based investor. Daniel opens his award winning* book The Laws of Wealth: Psychology and the Secret to Investing Success, with “The investor’s chief problem, and even his worst enemy, is likely to be himself.” – Benjamin Graham. Daniel advocates that individuals should should seek Financial Advice because research confirms that individuals that do well over the long-term will attain better returns in the long-term. Listen now to gain insights into how Dr Daniel Crosby presents a route map for navigating the complex nature of behavioural psychology, behavioural finance and the laws/strategies of achieving long-term wealth. During a time when many investors are making poor decisions and trading rather than investing. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful global investing journey.

Welcome to the 38th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 17th November 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with qualified lawyer, solicitor, corporate financier, former JP Morgan Investment Banker, entrepreneur, co-founder of Strata Partners and millionaire private investor @RoskillEdward Edward Roskill. Edward’s interests in stocks and shares began when he was around 16 years of age after being intrigued by the share price movements in the newspaper and he first started by trading put and call options. Primarily because as Edward puts it “.. with a very small amount, you could make your money do something amazing or lose it completely”. For his 18th birthday, Edward received £500 worth of shares in two companies and this was probably his first proper introduction into investing in shares. Edward went to Cambridge University where he attained an MA Degree in Law. He qualified as a lawyer in 1994 with international law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, practising corporate and commercial law, followed by merger and acquisition work. Edward then made the switch from the legal side to investment Banking, corporate finance, with Robert Fleming and JP Morgan. As an investment banker, he was involved in a variety of transactions including public and private company acquisitions and disposals, private placements, IPOs and follow-on equity offerings. Edward gained a very good ground up view of how deals were put together from his time at Fleming and JP Morgan and then in 2002 he co-founded his own advisory firm Strata Partners http://www.strata-partners.com/, advising technology companies on mergers and acquisitions. Edward focuses, in particular, on IT services, business process outsourcing and software. He has, amongst other transactions, acted for The Capita Group plc on its US$160 million public offer for IBS OpenSystems plc (2008); for IBS AB on its US$100 million sale and, by way of a “Bought IPO”, admission to AIM of IBS OpenSystems plc; for Marlin Equity Partners on its US$32 million public offer for Chelford Group Plc and for SunGard Data Systems on its US$242m successful public offer for Guardian iT plc (2002). Fourteen years on, Edward remains a partner at Strata Partners and he spends about a third of his time working with specific clients and transactions. He spends two-thirds of his time managing his family’s investments, where he focuses on small-cap and microcap AIM-listed investments. Edward’s investment strategy is one of researching smaller companies that are less well examined and less looked at by fund managers, as that is where he finds “little gems” that are sensibly valued. Even then Edward is a firm advocate of visiting the company, meeting and speaking with their management and really getting to know the business before he makes any kind of investment. This enables him to reduce his risks and increase his conviction towards his investments on the occasions that markets impact his shareholdings. Edward stresses that one of his most important tenets of investing is “don’t lose money”. The experienced and astute Edward, states “even now I find I have much to learn”. Listen now to gain insights into how Edward’s deep research, analysis and investments in mainly AIM-listed companies, has led to him becoming an accomplished entrepreneur and Millionaire ISA investor. Learn from the lessons in his successful and insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 37th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded on 17th November 2016. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking Property entrepreneur, millionaire ISA investor, Founder of Mello events and Director of ShareSoc @carmensfella David Stredder. David comes from a very humble background and was brought up in Lytham St. Annes in Lancashire. David states “my Mum and Dad were the best parents you could have” and it is clear that they provided him with the foundations for his entrepreneurial zeal and drive to achieve to attain a good education and financial independence. His Mum would give him spelling and Maths tests after school and when he was eleven years of age, she entered him into the scholarship test for the top school in Lancashire. David passed the test and “went from being on free school milk at my smaller school” to one of the big boys at a part boarding school. David always worked during the school holidays and decided early on that he would not go to University. His mind was always on making money and although he went on to sixth form education, he opted for a computer operator job with a big Insurance company. He says however, that he was rubbish…”it was just way beyond me”. David’s next role was in London as an Information Officer. Part of it was sport journalism and also taking dignitaries around Central London. This job provided David with lots of additional time on his hands and he decided to get into property and he invested some of his growing savings into two flats. He later found that his friends that had chosen to go University, needed to come to London for work and needed accommodation. Before he knew it, he had built up the second largest property management company in South London. He sold this property business to an industry consolidator in the late nineties and decided to spread his money into investments that provided him with a return. Shortly after this David formed a group for a monthly meet-up at a local restaurant called Mello. Thus, Mello events was born and grew and grew http://mello-events.co.uk/about-us/ Since then he has concentrated on his listed and unlisted investments and is an active small cap investor. As a proactive investor, David also became a founder and Director of ShareSoc http://www.sharesoc.org/directors.html fighting on behalf of private shareholders’ rights. ShareSoc do this by promoting shareholders’ rights to companies and by seeking to influence Government and regulatory policy. David’s investment strategy is one of finding small-cap companies that are lowly rated and are often family owned business. He position sizes all his investments and is a very patient investor. David’s winning strategy eventually came to the attention of the author Guy Thomas and he was interviewed for his book “Free Capital, How 12 Private Investors Made Millions in the Stock Market”. A book that I read some years ago and found thoroughly insightful. Listen now to gain insights into how David went from his very humble beginnings to become a property entrepreneur and Millionaire ISA investor. Learn from the lessons in his successful, insightful investing journey.

Welcome to the 9th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Malcolm Palle @malcolmpalle . Malcolm’s career started in the Travel and Leisure sector as a Tour Guide in Eastern Europe and he is now a serial entrepreneur and shrewd private investor. He admittedly had “no strategy” in the 1980’s and learnt a lot of expensive lessons, especially during the 1987 crash. One of Malcolm’s favourite maxims is “Markets are only really there for two things, to make you money or to teach you a lesson”. His entrepreneurial streak started when he was a Managing Director of CBNP Ltd and he pioneered the company going into Value Added Services (VAS) within the mobile telecoms Service Provider (SP) niche. In 2000 the business was acquired and integrated into an insurance administration operator. He also founded Garantia Nationala SA, a Specialist Travel Insurance Service Provider based in Bucharest, Romania. After running the company successfully for two years, the business was acquired in 1998 by the domestic Romanian Insurer, Carrier Alliance Tiriac. He is currently the co-Founder and Director of Catalyst Information Services Ltd. The flagship operation is a fast growing investor hub and web publisher @theminingmaven http://www.miningmaven.com/ focusing on investment opportunities in the mining, exploration, natural resources energy and clean-tech sector. Established in 2009 MiningMaven has grown to become one of the leading investor communications and web publishing services with a primary focus on the UK and Australian small cap natural resources markets. In addition, @UKInvestorForum http://www.ukinvestorforums.com/ was formed in 2013 as an Events organiser with a focus on emerging opportunities and alternative investments. His role within both areas of the business focuses on development, strategy marketing and sales. In March 2014 with an eye on the Bitcoin revolution, Malcolm founded @CoinsiliumGroup http://coinsilium.com/ . Coinsilium was the first Bitcoin/Blockchain IPO in the world when it joined the ISDX Growth Market in December 2014. The company is now set to be a major player in this emerging area. Now a experienced and shrewd private investor with a refined investment strategy, Malcolm has numerous examples of exceptional returns including that of Red Rock Resources. He started buying RRR in 2009 at 0.25p and his timing and cyclical analysis led him to vast profits as the stock hit 16.00p and went as high as 20.00p. Listen now to gain insights into how Malcom invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the first CONKERS’ CORNER. I have the pleasure of speaking with Steve Markus @smarkus on Twitter. Steve first got involved in the investment arena in 1996 and was led by a Financial Adviser. Since 1998, he has been making his investments independently. Steve has a wealth of personal experiences that range from founding a Software House, to working nationally for Oracle and KPMG as an IT specialist. He has been able to transfer the “process redevelopment” skills learned in his professional roles into his investing life. Using his honed skills Steve now trades consistently and profitably with his own tried and tested methodology. Listen now for this refreshing and candid take on investing in stocks and shares.

Welcome to CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Diana E Patterson @dianaepatterson. Diana, initially worked as a Student Nurse and progressed to Ward Sister as well as being an Examiner for the General Nursing Council. Diana eventually swapped what she calls “psychic wages for the highly paid legal profession”. However, what Diana sought was “Financial Freedom” so she made the huge switch to investing. Diana has more than 30 years of investing knowledge and describes her methodology as “buying counter-intuitively into Bear markets”. The Sunday Times “Rich List” has numerous individuals (from old and new money) who have accumulated their wealth through investments in property. Few however were investing in FTSE listed House Builders at their nadir during the 2007-2008 Financial Crisis. Fewer still gained their financial freedom by investing in the Construction Sector when those stocks were “penny stocks” and were yielding more than 12%. Many of Diana’s investments went onto increase in value more than 1000% and interestingly, today Diana still has some of those stocks in her long-term portfolio. Listen now to gain insights into how Diana invests and learn from the lessons in her investing journey.

Welcome to CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Chris Bailey @Financial_Orbit. Chris has just under 20 years of investment industry experience at long-only and long-short institutions as a global multi-asset fund manager, strategist/macro thinker and, in the earlier part of his career, as a securities and fund analyst. He strongly believes in the importance of the fusion of top-down and bottom-up analysis taking a view that an understanding of both aspects is the only way to get a full view of global opportunities across equity, bond and alternative investment markets. Prior to Financial Orbit Limited, Chris worked for a London based fund management group and headed the team for a range of globally directly invested mutual funds, personally running the Growth, Balanced and Conservative funds (collectively c. US$2bn of assets) all of which were either first or second quartile against their respective peer groups from inception in 2010 to the end of 2012. In the four years prior to this, for the same fund management company, he managed global thematic equity and European equity funds that also outperformed their benchmarks. Chris currently runs his own consultancy business providing global investment research and consultancy services to companies in the investment and finance sectors. The company currently has a client base which encompasses wealth management, investment banking and alternative sector companies in the UK, Continental Europe and the United States with plans to expand to other parts of the world. Listen now to gain insights into how Chris invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey. His journey has taken him around the world and back. From a student of the Investment Industry to running his own Funds and being a globally recognised expert in his field.

Welcome to the 4th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this podcast I have the pleasure of speaking with Peter or @wheeliedealer as he is affectionately known by all his friends including those on Twitter. @wheeliedealer started in employment within sales with BEJAM which was a British frozen food retailer which in 1989 was acquired by ICELAND. His Sales & Management skills eventually led to him working for FUJITSU Ltd the global information technology solutions company. It was during his time working for FUJITSU that life-changing events led him to take an early pension. He did so in his words to “focus on investing and take his activities to another level”. So having started investing part-time in 1999, he took the plunge to become a full-time investor in 2009. Using the analytical skills and management nous he honed over more than 20 years, he has traded and invested profitably and consistently for over seven years. His investing knowledge and discipline also led him to document the more recent years of his investing journey at http://wheeliedealer.weebly.com He is so passionate about the benefits of long-term investing that he drew up his own steadfast investing “Manifesto for Making Money“. Listen now to gain insights into how @wheeliedealer invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 5th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this podcast I have the pleasure of speaking with GORDON WATSON @Flash_37 on Twitter. This year Gordon celebrated his 45th birthday and has enjoyed a varied and successful career. In his childhood he was raised in a Local Authority Children’s Home, where he channeled his energies into his love for playing football. He progressed to playing for England Under 21’s and was also signed for his now beloved football team Southampton Football Club for £1.2 Million (a huge sum in 1995). As a forward/striker Gordon’s goals were often a catalyst for improved performance within the clubs he played for. These included: Charlton Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Bradford City City, Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Hartlepool United.His goals often led the teams he played for to achieve great success including Wembley appearances and League promotions. After enjoying a successful professional football career which spanned 1989-2003, Gordon retired to take up Football Scouting and Player Analysis. He also took up making shrewd investments in mostly small AIM stocks. His most recent notable successes include 88 Energy & Keras Resources. Through reflection he has attained personal growth and wisdom, helping him avoid the traps befalling many a retired football player. Gordon is one of the smarter ones because he realised what really matters in life. Listen now to gain insights into how Gordon invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 6th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this podcast, I have the pleasure of speaking with Matthew Bird @mattbird55 on Twitter. Matthew’s interest in stocks and shares started when his Dad gave him some Jim Slater investing books in his mid teens. By his late teens he had started investing in stocks within his Dad’s trading account. With a degree in economics and qualified in regulated financial planning to Diploma level, Matt currently specialises in pensions, investments, mortgages and protection advice. Keen to build a career out of his passion, Matthew has completed his Diploma in Regulated Financial Planning and hopes to gain Chartered status in the not too distant future. Prior to joining Seer Green Financial Planning Matthew spent 10 years managing his family’s wholesale firm. Matthew has a keen interest in all things financial and has been an active private investor for many years. He enjoys researching his own share selections and writing a blog voicing some of his musings on investment-related topics. Whilst he admittedly has a very high risk personal attitude to investing he marries this with his Growth at Reasonable Price (GARP) & Quality over Price methodology. Over the past five years Matthew’s strategy has enabled him to beat the FTSE ALL-SHARE INDEX benchmark measure handsomely. Listen now to gain insights into how Matthew invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 7th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with John Rosier @johnrosier . In June 1984, John left university with a degree in Zoology and started work in The City of London. He enjoyed the first 14 years of his career at Fleming Investment Management, initially as an analyst and then as a UK portfolio manager; in 1997 he was appointed Head of UK Equities. He was a Director at Henderson Global Investors from 1998 until 2004, before moving to the West End and working for two hedge funds. His investment career at Flemings and Henderson was focused on managing UK equity portfolios for corporate and local authority final salary defined benefit pension schemes as well as the reserve fund for the NSPCC. During 2009 he left full time employment, since then he has been managing my own portfolio. He has thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of investing from home and despite some tricky periods during 2011 he has found it a rewarding experience. On 1st January 2012 John decided to chronicle his JIC Portfolio, which he started with cash of £151,110. You can see his outstanding performance here:http://johnsinvestmentchronicle.com/ In October 2014 began writing a regular column “The Diary of a Private Investor” for the DAILY MAIL . You can find his articles here on the This is Money website: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/diyinvesting/article-2778113/The-Diary-Private-Investor-Hunting-best-shares-revealing-winners-losers.html Listen now to gain insights into how John invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey. His passion for investing has enabled him to enjoy the freedom and flexiblility that many of us have as long-term goals.

Welcome to the 8th CONKERS' CORNER. In this podcast I have the pleasure of speaking with Roz Sherali @Aim_Trading or Roz as everyone knows her on Twitter. Roz’s first interest in stocks and shares evolved from the Conservative government’s de-nationalisation policy of utilities and services. She participated in some the privatisations in the early 1990s, including that of Scottish Power. Roz is an ex-Investment Banker and has worked for both Deutsche Bank & JP Morgan. Whilst she sees her trading & investing as a hobby, it is one that she is very passionate about. She describes herself as a “high risk investor” that enjoys “taking very high risks in stocks”. Her strategy of researching strong high risk AIM-listed companies, with strong fundamentals, great management and getting her timing right has led her to some notable successes. These include UKOG, KRS and 88E where she made >1100% on her initial investment. Listen now to gain insights into how she invests, how she manages the high risks and learn from the lessons in her investing journey.

Welcome to the 16th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Leon Boros @Boros10 an ISA Millionaire and serial entrepreneur. Leon started investing when he was only 18 years of age having been inspired by his grandfather who was an amateur stock picker. However, he admitted that he did very little research and was susceptible to “story stocks”. Leon is an Economics graduate and winner of the prestigious National Lord Kings Norton award for Economics for his ground breaking research on the financing of employee owned companies. Leon is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales having trained with Ernst and Young in its tax and audit departments. At the age of 29, Leon co-founded Capital Strategies Ltd, a corporate finance boutique specialising in arranging buyouts, trade sales, originating corporate transactions, share valuations and designing and implementing employee share plans. Leon gained extensive exposure to privatisation, outsourcing, education, recruitment and transport. During his career, Leon has managed or originated corporate transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $1bn in the mid-market arena. His largest corporate transactions to date have been the £100m purchase by Capita plc of IRG Ltd, the £100m IPO of Benchmark Holdings plc, a leading animal health company, and the recent reverse takeover of INVE Aquaculture by Benchmark for $342m. In 2000, Leon co-founded Myshares Ltd, raising in excess of £4m from 3i plc and a trade partner. Myshares acquired the market leading software for the administration of executive share plans from the Institute of Chartered Secretaries. Myshares was sold in 2001. Leon is a well-known private investor and was until recently a non-executive director of ShareSoc, a not-for profit organisation, which promotes the interests of private investors. He recently published an e-book entitled “10 key investing lessons from an ISA Millionaire”. Leon is currently the MD of Equity Strategies http://equitystrategies.co.uk/ a corporate finance boutique that combines Leon’s interest in equity research and investing, with his corporate finance skills and creative approach to advising and originating corporate deals. Leon’s investing journey and discipline has enabled him to become an ISA Millionaire, as well as earning him access to pre-IPO Fund raising’s and Placings as a “Sophisticated Investor”. Listen now to gain insights into how he invests, how he manages his portfolio and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 10th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with David Jones @JonesTheMarkets on Twitter. David has been a Technical Analyst for almost 20 years and has seen Technical Analysis move from – in the early days at least – something of a dark art, to a very mainstream way of trying to forecast markets. When it comes to short-term trading of FOREX, INDICES and COMMODITIES it is probably the most widely used approach, particularly among individual retail traders. David first started trading in stocks over 25 years ago and admittedly went into it with “the wrong mentality”. This was compounded by the fact that like many others before him, his first forays were in “penny stocks”. He admits that at the time he didn’t have the patience for said stocks due to their volatility. In the 10 years prior to the end of 2013 David worked in the SPREADBETTING/CFD/FOREX business with IG (Chief Market Analyst) & CMC Markets (Chief Market Strategist). During those years he was responsible for client education, market commentary, print and TV Public Relations. At the end of 2013 David decided to take a break to look for other opportunities. In July 2014 David joined @SHARESmag http://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/ where he writes a weekly technical analysis and foreign exchange column. David is also currently a @bbc5live http://www.bbc.co.uk/5live BBC Radio 5 Live Markets Presenter on the Wake Up To Money program that airs on Mondays and Wednesdays. David is clearly now an experienced and accomplished investor and trader. Listen now to gain insights into how he uses Technical Analysis to invest/trade and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 11th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Mark Bentley @marben100 on Twitter. Mark’s career started in the IT industry with Logica in 1980, where one of the notable projects he worked on was the Giotto Halley’s Comet intercept mission for the European Space Agency. In 1984, Mark took his first tentative step into investing. He admits that his initial investment approach, was one of an undisciplined approach where he did not give his strategy a great deal of thought. Although as he points out, his Tech background influenced him not to invest in any Tech companies during the tech boom and safeguarded him from the Dot-com bust! With his IT Services & Software Development background Mark decided to start his own IT services business in 1987, Anvil Technology Ltd. He went on to run this business with great success for 14 years. In 2004, he opted to become a full-time and active investor whereby he attends many company meetings each year and publishes his findings on a number of investment orientated web sites. For the past few years, whilst remaining as a full-time investor, Mark has also been a proactive and passionate Director of @ShareSocUK http://www.sharesoc.org/index.html ShareSoc is dedicated to the support of individual investors and shareholders rights. CONKERS CORNER is proud to provide the links below in support of SHARESOC aims, goals and ambitions with regards to the betterment of individual investors and shareholders rights. Shareholder rights campaign: http://www.sharesoc.org/about-us/services/representation/ ShareSoc Investors Events http://www.sharesoc.org/events/ Having refined his investing strategy over 34 years his approach is now one that takes a much deeper thought process, which focuses on research; asset allocation, intrinsic value and taking a top down view. Listen now to gain insights into how Mark invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 12th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Nicolas Marx @marxnd on Twitter. After completing his Apprenticeship in the Hospitality Industry, Nicolas went onto study at Hotel School in Germany. It was during this time that he became curious as to where those in Hotel investing and Operations got their funding. His curiosity led him into the Investment Industry firstly with Merrill Lynch in Commodities trading & Retail Brokerage. Then with Credit Suisse (First Boston) in their Mergers and Acquisitions Team and Private Equity specialising in the Real Estate and Hospitality Sector. Nicolas states that the first stock that he held was HOST MARRIOTT. He explains that he was gifted 100 shares as a young man from his Dad. Although he describes himself as a contrarian that likes high risk, decades on and many share-splits later Nicolas still has Marriott stock in his long-term portfolio. When First Boston was dismantled, Nicolas decided to set up his own shop. The year was 1997 and aged just 30 years of age Nicolas set up NMCO, his very own Boutique Investment Bank. Which he describes as being “in the intersection between Investment Banking and Private Equity”, specialising in Turnaround, Restructuring and Structuring. Nicolas’s passion for Corporate Finance, Private Equity, Real Estate and the Hospitality Industry leads him to travel globally. It is just as well that he speaks Spanish, English, German and Italian. AGILIENCE who measure professional influencers have rated Nicolas within the Top 100 Private equity fund authorities, covering also Private equity and Mergers & Acquisitions. Nicolas recommends that all those that are interested in successful long-term investing should read the memos from Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management. Nicolas is a vastly experienced and accomplished Private Equity investor and he stresses the importance of “Second Level Thinking” and questioning everything. Listen now to gain insights into how he uses in depth research to run his Boutique Investment Bank and Fund, learn also from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 13th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Annabel Brodie-Smith @annabelbrodies on Twitter . Annabel is the Communications Director of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) http://www.theaic.co.uk/representing Investment Trusts and Venture Capital Trusts. These Trusts are currently valued at nearly £165 Billion, most of which are listed on the London Stock Exchange. Annabel’s journey and interest in the Investment Industry began whilst studying for her Geography Degree at Kings College, London where she found herself in a joint department with the London School of Economics. She then did a Economic Geography MA at Syracuse University in New York, where she focused on developments in China and Hong Kong. After returning to the UK and doing some jobs that she did not enjoy, Annabel completed a Public Relations course. In 1996 this led to her gaining a job with the Public Relations and Communications company Hill & Knowlton (H&K) (which is part of WPP – one of the biggest PR agencies in the world). At H&K Annabel worked on some notable projects and events including the Athens Olympic bid. In November 1997 Annabel successfully gained a PR & Communications role with the AIC. Her role focuses on communicating the uses, features and benefits of investment companies to the media, opinion formers, financial advisers, wealth managers and private investors. Now nearly 19 years into the job, Annabel has led the AIC’s public relations and managed the reputation of the industry through great growth and challenges. These challenges have included transforming the profile of the AIC, its advertising campaign and the splits crisis as well as a number of regulatory threats. Most recently she has led the AIC’s response to the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) included in which, she has overseen the training of over 5,000 Financial Advisers and Wealth Managers. AIC’s Industry Overview http://www.theaic.co.uk/aic/statistics/industry-overview AIC’s Dividend Heroes http://www.theaic.co.uk/sites/default/files/hidden-files/Dividendheroes18May2016.pdf Annabel has been a long-term investor for over 18 years and has refined her investing strategy over those years taking into consideration asset allocation, diversification and a broad global approach. Listen now to gain insights into how Annabel invests and learn from the lessons in her investing journey.

Welcome to the 14th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Steve Larratt @slarratt1 on Twitter. Many on Twitter call Steve “Mr 88E” because of the fact that he completed more than a staggering 600 hours of in depth research into 88 Energy after finding what he thought was a once in life-time investing opportunity. Unlike many Steve did not covet ‘his’ research, he instead freely shared it with many investors via Bulletin boards, Twitter, discussion forums and across social media. Steve accumulated shares in 88E over several tranches and the lowest price that he paid for a tranche was 0.33p . At one stage Steve’s profit was more than 1200% on his cheapest tranche. At 88E’s recent peak, Steve ‘s name was lauded every where he went because he made several investors that had followed his extensive research “very rich indeed”. Many of you will be wondering how or indeed why would someone spend 600 hours researching one stock. Well therein lays Steve’s background as an Internal Analytical Research Auditor, where he was employed by a significant organisation to find items and truths that individuals and entities did not want found. Steve only started investing in stocks around 2009 after seeing many of his colleagues making money from investing in stocks. It was around this time that Steve came into some money. He admits that when he first started out investing he didn’t do much research and “would punt money” because he was cash rich. He learned very quickly that that could not be his long-term strategy. Hence he now does what many would call forensic research. As a shrewd private investor and generous sharer of information, Steve has numerous examples of exceptional returns including that of Rockhopper, Melrose Industries, Greggs and of course 88E. Listen now to gain insights into how Steve invests, how he researches potential stocks and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 15th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Mike Rawson @the7cirlces. Mike has been investing for over 30 years, having first got the bug from his Dad. His first investments back in 1984/85, were companies that had evolved from the Conservative government’s de-nationalisation policy of utilities and services. Mike completed a Science Degree in 1984, but found due to the Recession at the time, that he could not find a job in his chosen field. He opted instead to work in Computing, gaining his fist role with Software House. He would go onto work for UBS on Computing Integration Projects. Whilst at UBS Mike also completed a MBA in Finance. Mike has held several other roles over the years including running and maintaining a property portfolio in relation to its tech/computing requirements. Mike admits that he tends to get restless and easily bored. Hence his many varied roles over the passed thirty-two years. During those roles Mike also refined his approach to investing having experienced all the stock market crashes and majors dips of the 1980’s, 90s, the 2000’s. Mike now appears to have found something to address his restlessness, since 2011 he has been running his own investing portfolio full-time. In additional to this, he is a prolific blogger via his website http://the7circles.uk/ . Listen now to gain insights into how he invests, how he manages his portfolio and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 17th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with @stealthsurf, Jason to his friends. Jason is very passionate about trend trading and the importance of position sizing. Jason’s interest in investing started at a very early age and he recalls sitting with his Grand-Dad as he would check stock prices on CEEFAX when he was about 5 years of age. In his early twenty’s Jason thought it was time to sort out his own personal pension and so sought advice from a Financial Adviser. This led him into investing in Funds. He quickly learned that you should run your winners and cut your losers quickly. He used to work in a plastic moulding factory and would work flat out, then travel and surf in places like Australia and New Zealand. In 2008 when Jason returned from travelling he needed to have several operations on his knees and it was at this point that he realised that he could not to return to the heavy duty work related to plastic moulding. He decided at this juncture that he would trade full-time. This time however he decided that he would be trading rather than investing as he needed to make a living over the short-term. Two years ago Jason also started his own trading website http://www.tradingbases.co.uk/ Trading Bases is a systematic trend following technique and an insightful source of knowledge for new and also experienced traders and investors. Jason’s investing journey and discipline has enabled him to become a successful trader so much that he earns his living from trading the stock market. Listen now to gain insights into how he trades, how he filters stocks, uses moving averages, position sizing, compounding and learn from the lessons in his trading journey.

Welcome to the 18th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Todd Wenning @ToddWenning. Todd is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Society of Chicago. He is also the Author of the book “Keeping your Edge: Strategies for Growing & Protecting your Dividends”. Todd started his career as a registered Representative and then became an Equity Trader at Vanguard Group. He later moved to Virginia to work for Suntrust Asset Management where he helped to manage the portfolios of ultra-high net worth individuals. Todd then went onto work for Motley Fool as their lead analyst on Motley Fool PRO, a US-based investing service that employed long and short strategies using stocks, options and ETFs in a $1 million portfolio. Todd then moved to London where he was the the lead advisor of Motley Fool Dividend Edge, a UK-based newsletter service that recommended and purchased dividend-paying stocks in a real-money portfolio. Todd then returned to Chicago in the US to work for the global financial brand Morningstar where he worked an Equity Analyst on the SELL -side. In July 2015, Todd joined Johnson Investment Counsel as a generalist analyst on the firm’s small/mid-cap strategy, where he currently balances the demands of his work with that of a young family and writing. Todd’s most recent article was published in the UK magazine “Investors Chronicle” and you can find an excerpt of his book here: http://www.toddwenning.com/ Todd’s investing journey and discipline has enabled him to become a successful investor, analyst, researcher and Author. Listen now to gain insights into how he invests, the benefits of Dividends, compounding returns and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 19th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Catherine Stott @HypnoTrading on Twitter. Catherine is a Trading Psychology coach and expert, Mind coach and Author of the book “HypnoTrading”. Catherine studied at the University of Reading where she gained a degree in Psychology. After her Degree she went to work as a human factors psychologist at a science and technology company. Her focus was predominantly on training and designing training systems for human use. This gave her a good understanding into how people think, work and interact with each other. She then went on to train as a Clinical Hypnotherapist. Catherine first began working with Traders in 2010 and began developing an in depth knowledge on trading psychology as well as how hypnotherapy, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Havening Techniques can help traders with the wide variety of challenges they face. The accumulation of knowledge, insight and experience gained from working with countless traders led Catherine to write her insightful book “HypnoTrading: A Practical Guide to using Hypnosis and NLP to improve your Trading Performance”. You can find information about Catherine’s book here : http://www.hypnotrading.co.uk/hypnotradingbook Catherine’s journey and continued learning has enabled her to become successful in her field. She has coached, mentored and enabled hundreds of Traders to not only take a better psychological approach to trading but also to make more consistent returns and become more successful traders. Listen now to gain insights into how Catherine invests, the benefits of understanding your own psychology when it comes to trading and learn from her thousands of hours of working with traders.

Welcome to the 20th CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Nick Britton @NickBritton_ on Twitter. Nick is the Head of Training at the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). Nick leads the trade association’s Adviser training programme. After reading English at Cambridge University, Nick began his career in journalism in Shanghai, China, before spending time as a freelance editor in Australia. He joined Vitesse Media in 2007, where he edited GrowthBusiness.co.uk and Business XL magazine, before becoming Head of Research and then Managing Editor in 2010. Nick then spent a year as Head of Research and Editorial at Fast Track, before re-joining Vitesse Media as Editor of What Investment magazine. Nick then joined AIC http://www.theaic.co.uk/ in his present role in February 2015. He is a a regular contributor on the AIC website where he writes articles on all topics covering the Investment industry. In his most recent article, he shared his most commonly asked investment company questions: http://www.theaic.co.uk/aic/news/press-releases/ask-me-anything-nick-britton-shares-the-most-common-investment-company Looking back Nick explains that as a young boy he had an interest in savings, but it was not until working in London in 2006, that his Boss’s interests in markets and indices rubbed off on him. Nick has since been a keen long-term investor in Investments Funds for his Stocks and Shares ISA and more recently his SIPP. Listen now to gain insights into how Nick invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Welcome to the 21st CONKERS’ CORNER. In this interview I have the pleasure of speaking with Edmund Shing @TheIdleInvestor on Twitter. Edmund is BNP Paribas’ Head of Equity Derivative Strategy. In addition to his main role at BNP Paribas, Edmund writes weekly articles for the IBT Times UK, as well as being an expert columnist on the MindfulMoney website and on the Stockopedia financial website. He is also a highly sought after investment expert and you can regularly see him appearing on programs including Bloomberg Markets, CNBC’s “Closing Bell” and Bloomberg “The Pulse”. You can find some of Edmund’s recent appearances here: https://plus.google.com/+EdmundShing All of that is a long way from where Edmund started out, having completed a Degree in Psychology at Oxford University. He followed that with a Masters Degree in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Sussex University and then completed a Doctorate in AI at the University of Birmingham. With no background in investing or economics Edmund gained his first role with regards to Applied Research, looking at strategy at Goldman Sachs Investment Bank. After gaining a thorough grounding of the investment industry with Goldman, Edmund went onto work with Schroders and then Barclays Bank. Prior to his current role at BNP Paribas, Edmund held a Fund Management role with Russia’s BCS Financial Group. He also wrote his insightful investing book “The Idle Investor” in which he explains his simple strategies to earn high returns and beat the professionals. You can find three of Edmund’s strategies here: http://edshing.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/idle-investor-three-simple-strategies.html Listen now to gain insights into how Edmund invests and learn from the lessons in his investing journey.

Alex Mckinley, Founder of Share Talk and Peter Higgins, Business Manager at Share Talk & Host of Conkers Corner caught up with Tip TV’s Zak Mir to update viewers about the Cardiff Event to be held on Feb 18. Higgins and McKinley both stress the fact that the event will put spotlight on variety of topics - FinTech, Block chain, Long-term investing. “The aim is to diversify from oil and mining to a host of other topics,” says Higgins. McKinley also talks about Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas and the reason behind the surge in AIM listed shares this year. #Cardiff, #stocks, #investing, #equities, #macro, #fundamentals, #FinTech, #EcoAtlanticOil&Gas, #UK, #markets