Member Info for zac0_4

DGR1980 - I take your point. I only posted my opinion to highlight a possible alternative option to people looking to generate an income. I have (partly) fallen into the trap of investing in dividend paying shares and in all honesty I don't own one that's delivered an acceptable overall return to me (possible exception L&G). My funds, however, continue to deliver good long term returns.

Hi Krustysmegma - you're correct. Your original investment at 16p has delivered handsomely. However, irrespective of your overall return (and well done by the way!) over the last 5 years you're -2.5% down and, as I've said earlier, over 3 years you're 16% down. It might be a good tradeable share from here but as a long term investment, along with many other dividend paying shares, it's not for me any longer. Good luck.

Firstly, I sold out of this around £1.40 about a month ago. Finally came to my senses that, as a long term investor who's strategy is simply to buy and hold, a large number of dividend paying UK shares simply erode your wealth over time. If you'd have bought into this 3 years ago you're now sitting on a capital loss of -35%. In return you've received dividend payments to the tune of 19% of your investment. A nett loss of 16% over a 3 year period. People need to dwell on these figures!

I am also retired. I need income. The majority I take once a year from capital I have invested in well managed investment funds. As an example, if you'd have invested in Fundsmith Equity fund 3 years ago and taken annually the value of the TW dividend ie 19% over the 3 years, your capital is still now worth 28% more than it was 3 years ago. A total return of 47%.

The only reason I've posted this is to try and demonstrate that there are alternatives to chasing dividend when looking to generate and income. Good luck all!

and at a 7.5% premium to today's close!

If this market downturn has confirmed anything to me, it's that UK listed dividend paying shares are appalling as a long term investment. Pretty much everyone I own has cost me money over the last 5 years or so. Once the time is right I'll sell up and move on to better investments.

Davielad - do you invest on a direct basis with Fundsmith? If so, you can set up a regular withdrawal payment with them. The minimum withdrawal is £100. So, depending on the size of your investment you could request this on a quarterly or half-yearly basis, just like a dividend. Whatever suits your needs. In this way you'll be able to judge for yourself in 12 months time if it outperforms any dividend paying shares you own.

pboughton - you're not selling shares, you're selling units in a fund, so no trading costs.

If 5 years ago (2/7/15) you'd have spent £10,000 on L&G shares, today your capital is worth £8,960. However, you'd have received 5 dividend payments worth £3,083 (yr1 £536, yr2 £574, yr3 £614, yr4 £657 & yr5 £703)

If you'd have invested the £10,000 in Fundsmith Equity, and at the end of each 12 month period sold units to the equivalent value of the L&G annual dividend your capital today would be worth £20,709. And you've made payments to yourself over the 5 year period to exactly the same value as the L&G dividends.

I might add I'm invested in both!

hardup - I'm a big fan of Terry Smith. Fundsmith Equity is my largest holding by some way. I invest directly with Fundsmith. They offer a regular withdrawal facility so payments come to me just like dividends although they are from my capital. No complaints with performance so far. The new(ish) Sustainable Fund doesn't differ greatly from the main fund make up so I don't expect performance to differ greatly. I did invest when they launched Smithson Investment Trust in October 2018 and to date that's delivered growth of 46%. Same principle as main fund but mid-cap companies.

I used to hold Standard Life Global Small Cap (Harry Nimmo) but found that small cap funds too volatile at my time of life.

My experiences over the years have definitely brought me round to Terry Smith's view that it's far better to invest for total return, ie no income/dividends, and withdraw capital, for me once a year. Good Luck.

hardup - no, not sold our of all dividend paying shares yet, buy think I probably will when time is right.

I hold both active (managed) and passive (index linked) funds. Examples as below:

Active - Rathbone Global Opps, Fundsmith Equity, Lindsell Train Global Equity, LF Blue Whale Global Growth
Passive - L&G Global Tech Index, L&G Global Health& Pharma Index, L&G International Index

Funds win hands down in my opinion if your strategy is buy and hold.

hardup - I too have investments in a number of dividend paying shares. Unfortunately, I've final come to the conclusion that they all underperform. My best returns to date are in investment funds (OEICs). I don't look at income funds but invest in global growth funds. Much better returns for me to date.

So why have the scare stories had a -70% effect in the NRR share price over the last 6months when other sectors have flourished despite the negative narrative?

smorrisjones - I'm intrigued by your earlier comment ' NRR has a slightly different customer base where a lot of their shops have significant free area'. Who have you in mind? Specsavers, Greggs? Who?

adv11 - I see you also invest in NRR, so I guess you've been investing for dividends / income. NRR has been a painful experience for me having eventually sold out about a month ago at a considerable loss! One of my best income plays, to date anyway, has been via Fundsmith Equity Acc Fund.

You can deal directly with them and they have the facility to set up regular payments to you. This I've done and receive them just as I would with dividend payments.

I built a position with them from Apr18 through to Sep19. Then I set up regular payments from them. To date, 10 months, I've received payments to the value of 4.5% of my initial investment and my capital has grown 22.8% from my initial investment.

The only reason I've posted this is to share a positive experience in generating income that's an alternative to simply focusing on high yield shares. Good luck.

I also hold HHI in addition to HFEL. I did hold HDIV but they cut the dividend right out of the blue a number of years ago so I sold at that point.

Hi Adv11 - I was in a similar position to you in that I was a long-term holder here and had watched my investment decline year on year. I sold just over a month ago. The question you face is, are you buying into this share confident in its recovery or are you simply throwing good money after bad? Good luck in whichever decision you make.

Oilmanmike - I wouldn't have said 2 posts in over a week is 'posting all the time'! Also, I'm not aware of any rules that you have to hold shares in this company to post on this discussion board. And, no I don't understand your '50% of income etc' comment, so feel free to explain. And, yes actually I do have a Post Office savings account!!

Whilst the underlying funds from operations per share is 17.0p it continues to decline. It's down 32% over the last 3 years. So certainly not showing a positive trend. Although you could argue that it's in line with a number of other key metrics for this share.

". . . . will be a test of the management team- which has done a good job for shareholders to date" . . . and when exactly was this?

Yes, I have sold but retain an interest in where this goes from here. People will potentially be investing hard earned cash on the basis of some of the positive claims being made on this board without any substance behind the claims. This BBC article is only intended to provide some balance and clearly indicates the duress the retail and hospitality sectors are currently experiencing, and are likely to continue to face for a some time yet.

All good news so far???? Google 'Thousands of UK jobs go in sweeping retail closures'