LM portfolio as at 08/09/2023:
| Code | Sector | Date Bought | Cost | Value | Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM055 LM055-2 |
General Financial | 11/01/2023 02/05/2023 |
£2560 | £3150 | 23.16% |
| LM056 | Media | 11/01/2023 | £1270 | £1440 | 12.64% |
| LM057 LM057-2 LM057-3 |
Gas, Water & Multiutilities | 12/01/2023 30/05/2023 06/09/2023 |
£3810 | £5050 | 32.54% |
| LM058 LM058-2 |
Support Services | 17/01/2023 20/07/2023 |
£2540 | £2770 | 9.26% |
| LM061 | Aerospace & Defense | 20/02/2023 | £1270 | £1440 | 13.53% |
| LM062 | Food Producers | 06/03/2023 | £1290 | £1230 | (4.22%) |
| LM066 | Beverages | 24/04/2023 | £1280 | £1190 | (6.90%) |
| LM068 | Industrial Engineering | 02/05/2023 | £1270 | £1250 | (2.22%) |
| LM071 | Construction & Materials | 24/07/2023 | £1280 | £1220 | (4.87%) |
| LM074 | Industrial Transportation | 24/07/2023 | £1270 | £1400 | 10.75% |
Though the general market appears to be doing very little, and treading water, there are several shares in the LM porfolio which are doing quite well.
A good example is LM057, to which I added another unit as you can see in the above table.
Yes, that goes against my written rules that I will never invest more than two units in any one share but it was steadily climbing so I figured it deserved some more investment. Let's hope it pays off.
A recent headline on ThisIsMoney made me stop and think - "Change in the air boosts fan maker Volution as shares more than double in 9 years".
Hmmm... Volution sounds familiar... I check my records...
Yep, sold it back in February 2022.
Oh great, I think, I've sold this on a small decline and now it appears it has rocketed.
Or maybe not.
Price when I sold - around 420p. Price today - around 360p.
Turns out the article was boasting about tipping this share many, many years ago and for those who bought and held for all those years, they have made a decent profit.
Of course, they also had to sit through a few ups and downs.
And if they sold when I did they would've realised a larger profit than they could if they sold now.
It doesn't really make any difference to me, I'm just glad it hasn't roared upwards.
Last Friday saw me having a very jarring experience at the dentist's. Due to an accident over 20 years ago I have had several different cosmetic procedures to fix one of my front teeth. It all stems from a night out when I had a beer or two then managed to fall over and hit my chin, causing my bottom teeth to 'chink' my top teeth, immediately breaking one of the top front teeth in two.
At first a simple stick-on crown worked. I had that for around 3 years but then that needed replacing after an incident with some pizza. The replacement lasted around 6 years before it was replaced itself with a post screwed into the remaining part of the tooth. That worked great for over a decade but recently failed and so my dentist suggested I get an implant.
I went to see a specialist who confirmed he would be able to do it, told me the price - very high, if you hadn't already guessed - and made an appointment the following week once I confirmed I wanted to go ahead.
The appointment on Friday was for a "simple extraction" and "denture fit". I took my Kindle along to read during all the waiting.
I needn't have bothered. I was in and out of the chair within 40 minutes with what was remaining of my lovely front tooth, part of my mouth for the last 35+ years, in a sterile plastic bag.
The Kindle I brought to read during the wait was completely unnecessary. Two injections in different parts of the mouth and 90 seconds later the dentist was using some pliers to remove the tooth. While I didn't feel a thing - well, no pain anyway - there were some rather strange sensations, made all the worse as I overthought what was happening and hoped he didn't mistakenly work on the wrong tooth.
Frankly, it was worrying how quickly he was able to take it out, sew up the resulting damage to the gums and fit my new denture.
I walked out of the dental practice with a huge sense of regret, something very alien in my mouth and a new appointment in 6 weeks for the next part of the procedure.
It was very difficult to look in the mirror at first. Eating was almost impossible and there was a fair amount of blood. However, a couple of paracetamols later the pain was gone and now, three days later, I'm feeling a lot more positive.
Of course, I wish I'd never fallen over and caused the damage originally but I am now confident that come the new year I will have a brand new, very strong and hopefully permanent front tooth.
Checking my portfolio on Saturday, occasionally running my tongue over the very strange denture in my mouth, I was very happy to see it had climbed around 1.6% in the last week despite this flat market.
So life's not all bad.