imutual.co.uk

As per the discussion here, please vote on whether the club should adopt the following process

richard@imutual wrote:

• 1. Set a maximum number of different investments that the club should aim to hold. (to be agreed separately)
  2. At regular, fixed intervals (to be agreed separately), we hold two parallel votes; a new stock to buy and one to sell (unless at that time we hold less than the maximum agreed above, in which case no sell vote is necessary).
  3. Each decision will be a straight choice between 3 stocks. No "If price reaches X" or "None of the above"
  4. Once the voting has closed, we execute the "sell" decision first and then use the proceeds, plus whatever cash is in our account, to invest in the "buy" stock. These actions take place immediately at whatever is the prevailing price
  5. We automatically apply a standard "stop loss" to all purchases e.g. 20% below purchase price.

i voted YES
Richard's plan isn't perfect but it's a step in the right direction

I voted NO for these reasons:

1) Current methods are not in any way perfect - but I don't think all the proposed is an improvement when considered en-masse and I think more discussion was needed to find common ground before a vote that will probably not currently be agreeable to all members, or at least the vast majority, as it should be in a case like this

2) Whilst I can see the potential trying to enforce more forum participation I don't personally like the concept as set out because I don't feel it is appropriate to share dealing

3) There is no mechanism in this process to recognise there are events that might need us to be more flexible

4) Sale money normally takes a few days to come through, so there is no immediate purchase that can be made

Well you say that and you may well be right
But I haven’t seen any other proposal posted
As for ‘disagreeable for the vast majority’
So far the ‘vast majority’ are in favour

kevinchess1 wrote:But I haven’t seen any other proposal posted

I was waiting for you to post a proposal after your good original post on that discussion thread

kevinchess1 wrote:As for ‘disagreeable for the vast majority’
So far the ‘vast majority’ are in favour

You could well be right but if it is 4 or 5 against I'd feel the that not to be the case in a membership of 16.

garindan wrote:1) I think more discussion was needed to find common ground before a vote

Well I made the original proposal a month ago, and my most recent post had gone without reply for 3 days so it felt like the time had come to make a decision. The poll runs for 2 weeks and you can change your vote so we still have plenty of time for discussion

There is no mechanism in this process to recognise there are events that might need us to be more flexible

Well, ultimately we can change our minds at any time with a simple majority vote. So why not give it a try for a few months first?

Sale money normally takes a few days to come through, so there is no immediate purchase that can be made

If it's true that we can't use pending sale proceeds towards a purchase, then this is a valid point. We can simply have the "sell" vote deadline a couple of days before the buy "vote".

I'm in two minds about this really but one thing I do think is that we need BOTH Richard AND Garindan on-board with whatever we do going forwards.

Richard makes a fair point though: it's not like there is a surfeit of other ideas (other than plodding on, which people seem to be unhappy with aswell!)

I'm holding off adding any new funds to the club until we know what's happening going forwards. I notice only £60 went in last month, £20 of which was mine, so I can't be alone in wanting to pause while we regroup.

I really DO want us to regroup though, so it's important that we are united going forwards.

Don't get me wrong - I thought I should just make it clear that I will of course go with what members want . Any points I raise are my own thoughts in bringing discussion...which I think is healthy for us.

I am hesitant that changing the format of voting processes will be the solution to our more recent losses. The most important change needed is for us to make better decisions on both buying and selling, which is more about the process of selecting shares to purchase, why we'd buy them and what the exit position is.

Another concern I have is capitalising loses on shares we have bought for income purposes. I don't think we are ever going to be a Club that makes a quick buck on shares through rapid turnover and small profits - and the new process worries me, perhaps unduly, that the focus would change more towards these kind of shares, as potentially any share is up for the chop every agreed period.

garindan wrote:Don't get me wrong - I thought I should just make it clear that I will of course go with what members want . Any points I raise are my own thoughts in bringing discussion...which I think is healthy for us.

I am hesitant that changing the format of voting processes will be the solution to our more recent losses. The most important change needed is for us to make better decisions on both buying and selling, which is more about the process of selecting shares to purchase, why we'd buy them and what the exit position is.

Another concern I have is capitalising loses on shares we have bought for income purpose. I don't think we are ever going to be a Club that makes a quick buck on shares through rapid turnover and small profits - and the new process worries me, perhaps unduly, that the focus would change more towards these kind of shares, as potentially any share is up for the chop every agreed period.

I think this pretty much summaries my position also.

garindan wrote:Another concern I have is capitalising loses on shares we have bought for income purposes.

This relates to the stop loss, I assume? We could perhaps have a separate discussion and poll on stop losses, though I do think we should have a set policy rather than deciding this on a share-by-share basis

What's your definition of "income share" and which of our investments to date would fit in this category?