CONKERS' CORNER

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 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 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 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 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 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 now to gain insights into how Gervais 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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/+EdmundShingAll 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.

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-companyLooking 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 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/hypnotradingbookCatherine’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 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 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 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 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 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 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.pdfAnnabel 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.htmlListen 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.