Welcome to the 50th CONKERS’ CORNER recorded live on 26th April 2018 at the MELLO2018 Investors Event in Derby. In this interview, I have the pleasure of speaking with Damian Cannon @RandomAmbler who works full-time as Senior Software Developer.
Damian is an avid part-time investor, researcher and blogger of stocks and shares on Stockopedia, ShareSoc and his own WordPress site http://www.damiancannon.com/. He is also a keen triathlete and artist.
As a child and teenager, Damian was very keen on Maths, Science and Astronomy and this led to him going to the University of Birmingham where he successfully attained his first degree in Astrophysics. After this undertook a PhD in Birmingham and during the years it took him to complete this he realised that he did not want to stay working in academia.
Damian started working in a software company with a view to becoming a programmer. For the first time, Damian was able to put some money away and he starting saving. It was around this time that stumbled across the Motley Fool Investment Guide. From this, he started investing small amounts of money into FTSE.
In 2000 Damian invested in his very first individual stock which was via the Lastminute.com IPO. As it was an oversubscribed offering he was only allocated 35 shares valued at a princely £133. It was a blessing in disguise, as five years later when the company was taken over Damian received £57.75 for his patience. Luckily throughout those years, Damian continued to invest in the FTSE trackers and he also refined his investing knowledge by reading the numerous discussions on the Motley Fool website.
Over the next decade, Damian would refine his investment research and strategy. However, this did not save him from being hit quite hard in the crash of 2008 where his portfolio ended the year being down 42%. Fortunately, due to his family commitments at the time, his portfolio then was a mere 10th of its current size.
It was during 2013 that Damian became a subscriber with Stockopedia and this radically transformed his understanding as to how shares could be evaluated and what characteristics were best to look for. The following year Damian started writing about specific shares on his own blog. That same year he also attended the Mello 2014 Investors event in Derby, which he found exhilarating. He got to speak with like-minded investors and he had for the first time the opportunity to speak face to face with listed company management.
In this CONKERS’ CORNER discussion and video with Damian he provides an insight into the journey that he has taken, which so far has encompassed academia, astrophysics, software development, researching stocks, blogging, lurking on investing boards and sharing his research on social media.
Listen now to gain insights into how Damian completes his research and how he invests and learn from the many lessons in his investing journey.
#CONKERSCORNER: The smarter investing and business journey.
Topics discussed include:
FTSE Trackers;
High yield investments;
Buy and Hold;
Learning how to invest properly;
Research strategy;
Checklist approach to investing;
Construction of a portfolio;
Confidence;
Risks;
Making mistakes;
Breaking rules;
Lessons learnt;
Profit warnings;
Risk aversion;
Compound investing;
Diversification;
Stocks;
Wisest investment decision to date;
Shareholder activism;
ShareSoc;
Books.
I hope you have enjoyed this article, its podcast and video. Please share it with your friends, family, colleagues and investing network. You can find conkers3 on Twitter @conkers3. Email or contact CONKERS3 directly by phone should wish to share your smarter investing and business journey with a larger regional, national or global audience.
This #CONKERSCORNER interview was completed by Peter Higgins of Conkers3 Ltd at the MELLO 2018 Investors Event in Derby and the video was filmed and produced by PI World.
