Peter Thornhill 2018

{Note - thread continued from here: Peter Thornhill 2017 #2}

 

Great stuff. Look forward to any insights you pick up from motivated money (anything that resonateswith you, questions from your reading etc). Great place to discuss and pull apart the concepts.

 

Welcome. Glad you enjoyed the thread.

Honestly it really is that simple. Nutters like me ramble on about all sorts of investing related stuff because I find it interesting. It can make for great academic conversation. Otherwise given the Thornhill approach is so simple we’d have nothing to talk about.

@Pier1 has done one of the best Thornhill style investing summaries. This is believe it or not the long version taken from a “Guide to LICs” booklet I wrote. I’ve attached the booklet which may be of interest but parts of it are more for those that choose to complicate things and are Optional:

Pier1’s Example:
1. Have a plan and never take your eye of it,
2. Spend less than you earn,
3. Borrow less than you can afford,
4. Select your LIC/s of choice, some conservative LICs with a proven track record and low fees which have been around a long time include:
... a. Australian Foundation Investment Company (AFI)
... b. ARGO Investments (ARG)
... c. MILTON Corporation (MLT)
... d. BKI Investment Company (BKI)
... e. Whitefield (WHF)
5. Buy what you can when you can,
6. Reinvest all the dividends,
7. Participate in SPP where offered,
8. Pin the ears back buying when the market collapses,
9. Never sell.

To be consistent, I’m not liscenced to give advice.

 

Can I triple like that??

 

@Pier1 would much prefer to cut it back to one third of this number of rules. Which I think he has come close to doing in other posts. I’m waiting for him to get it down to one rule.

@Pier1, summary guru, a challenge we put to you. One rule and no stringing it all together in a single sentence. Didn’t U2 write a song about that?

 

Point 1 is the rule... but points 2-9 are the detail

 

And without losing the essence of each rule in the original set of rules.
Need to find that U2 song....

 

Perhaps “ Buy ARG / MLT / BKI / WHF whenever you can”?

 

Thanks @Nodrog I remember you saying that you started a bit late in dividend income investing. I know there are a few variables to account for such as which LICs, the time you bought at, how much reinvestment etc but how many years did it take for you before the dividends hit your desired target?

 

@Pier1, I’ve thrown down the gauntlet. ONE RULE.

 

I actually started dividend investing in my twenties thanks to Daryl Dixon. But then after some years thought I’d be smart and try trading for a number of years. Oops, back to dividend investing. Then wife took on a job down the track that made it near impossible to invest in Shares for a decade so sold the lot again. Wife left that job so back into dividend investing yet again and have stayed there ever since with no intention of ever changing again.

Our circumstances are very unusual. So telling you how long it took to reach our desired target would add little value.

 

Fair enough, I understand. However, from the time your wife left the job and you restarted the journey, did you have any expectations of when you would hit it, even accounting for the restart and the unusual circumstances or were you pleasantly surprised that it happened quicker than expected or anything?

I hope it makes sense?

 

Never planned a desired income or set retirement date. It just got to the point where we decided the time was right. But there was some luck in the later stages. Cashed up when the GFC happened. Wife’s income increased noticeably with some good performance pay leading up to retirement. So yes there were a number of pleasant surprises including retiring much earlier than we ever expected.

 

Awesome! Long may the home-brew days continue

Just considering the actual management of the LICs, should any of them leave - what's the best way to assess any incoming management, in case they may not adhere to the same principles that have served the LICs so well in the past and go rogue?

 

Not even a consideration especially for AFI / ARG / MLT. No key person risk issues plus these have been going 70 - 80 years or more. The risk of them changing their management style is extremely unlikely.

Have you read these. Some good information. The type of thing that matches my investing objective.

https://livewiremarkets.com.au/wires/argo-upgraded-to-highly-recommended-by-iir

https://www.milton.com.au/files/mlt_report_aug_2016.pdf

https://www.livewiremarkets.com.au/wires/afic-upgraded-to-highly-recommended-by-iir

 

Know Thyself.
Market timing is impossible, investing is discipline and patience.

 

You’re only allowed one rule so second sentence is obsolete.

As for the first, too ambiguous. KNOW THYSELF in my case means it must be quality home brew.

 

Ok.
Don't delay starting to invest.

 

Or "Start investing in index funds or old LICs NOW".

 

That’ll do I think but now others need to decide?

Don't delay starting to invest.
Vs
Buy ARG / MLT / BKI / WHF whenever you can.

Peoples what’s it to be? I’m up against the “summary” guru here so I think being a geriatric I should be given a five vote headstart.