Free Capital by Thomas, Guy -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Table of Contents Publishing Details About the Author A Note on Names and Details Preface

What this book covers Who this book is for How to use this book Free capital?

Introduction

Geographers, surveyors, activists and eclectics Performance records and ISA millionaires No drama The role of luck

Part 1: Geographers

Chapter 1. Luke: The Big Picture

Geography Into banking: a lucky break Leaving banking The big picture: the neglected oil sector Leverage, shorts and squeezes A typical day 30,000 posts Conclusion

Chapter 2. Nigel: Catching the swings

Psychology and banking Capitalism on a credit card Shipping cycles Commodity boutique A ten bagger and time out Junior miners Portfolio management: “when it doubles, sell half” Exploiting cross-market intelligence Bulletin boards Conclusion

Part 2: Surveyors

Chapter 3. Bill: Just the facts

A difficult child Privatisations: political profits The tech boom: knowledge doesn’t always help Leaving the day job Spread betting, shorting and over-confidence Knowing what to overlook Working methods Bulletin boards and tail-coating Conclusion

Chapter 4. John Lee: Defensive value and dividends

Doctor’s son Politics Defensive value and dividends Meetings: enjoying the process Portfolio management and ISAs A sense of history A published performance record Stockbrokers and advisors Director and trustee Half a century of investment delight

Chapter 5. Sushil: The apostate economist

Getting started The tech bubble: “synchronised stupidity” Leaving the day job Investment strategy: knowability Few advisors, little mathematics Tax, spread betting and leverage A typical day Company meetings Successes and mistakes Academia Giving it away

Chapter 6. Taylor: The autodidact

Teenage tearaway Getting serious Unleveraged plunging Erinaceous: a lucky escape Sitting tight vs. changing your mind Macro trading as a bear market defence Conclusion: the 20-hole punch card

Chapter 7. Vernon: Buying the glitch

Teenage programmer A small legacy Tech stocks boom Buying the glitch Buying the glitch: QXL Ricardo Research method for glitch stocks Structuring investment decisions: core, secondary and hygiene factors Core, secondary and hygiene factors for two investment decisions Portfolio management and leverage Mental skills for investing Conclusion

Part 3: Activists

Chapter 8. Eric: The networker

Teenage gaming for profit Property management Starting in shares Ten-bagging Ben Bailey Portfolio management and spread betting A typical day Tactics for annual general meetings Keeping a low profile Conclusion

Chapter 9. Owen: Efficiency and opportunism

Growing up young Schoolboy stag Into the City: prop trader Moonshot: Horace Small Split capital trusts Portfolio management and leverage Activism in action Father and athlete Conclusion

Chapter 10. Peter Gyllenhammar: The corporate engineer

“Noble without land” Return to Go “A Swedish Goldman Sachs” Return to Go – again! Attractions of UK micro-caps Corporate engineering in bombed-out shares Britannia Group YJ Lovell Full bids Not taking advice Successes and mistakes Policy issues for the UK Working days and sailing days Conclusion

Part 4: Eclectics

Chapter 11. Khalid: The day trader

The rag trade Ratners Trading the account Starting in CFDs Broker upgrades and downgrades Favourite technical indicators A typical day Day trading in difficult markets: 2007 onwards Conclusion

Chapter 12. Vince: The tax exile

Tuberculosis A job is a means to a mortgage Small-cap investor Geographer and surveyor Portfolio management and debt Options: covered straddles A day in the life of a tax exile Conclusion

Conclusion

Characteristics of the free capitalists

No single blueprint

Life choices and chances

Future time perspective Few dependants Ambivalence about careers No overnight success Ill health as a career constraint Technology as a facilitator

Attitudes

Money is about freedom, not consumption Low appetite for leverage Enjoying the process, not the proceeds Not team players

Working methods

Foxes, not hedgehogs Applying sophistication in different dimensions Concentrated portfolios Mainly smaller companies Not taking advice Bulletin boards A craft, not a science Summary table of investor characteristics

A Note on Research Methods Acknowledgements