Fantasy folio

29th Dec '23 by gmtrader

11 comments 450 reads

It would be interesting if stockopedia (or a subscriber) setup a fantasy folio competition for a year. 5 stocks max held. 50k starting pot. Allowed 5 buys and sells per month. Maybe a years free subscription for the winner. I would do it but I’m not that good with spreadsheets or know how to go about setting it up. Any volunteers?

If you would be interested in joining in on a competition like this then like the post so an idea of how many would be interested.
I’m sure investors would learn something from this.

All the best for 2024!

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Gmtrader

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11 comments

bryaz

29th Dec '23

THEY DID a comp a couple of years ago not sure why they stopped doing it

bryaz

29th Dec '23

they did run a comp a few years ago not sure why they stopped doing it

Investtrader

29th Dec '23

I liked the fantasy funds (think it was called that) where you could see how top investors performed. Was quite inspiring.

Silver Moon

30th Dec '23

It could be something to do with all that effort for nothing gained.

Silver Moon

30th Dec '23

This scheme would be good for a PI (private investor) to act out for real, I'm not really interested in virtual challenges with people with far more savvy than myself, and Ed Croft's NAPS is more appealing to me. In fact I began a virtual MyNAPS portfolio in July 2022 and forgot all about it when the year was up. I had selected 2 companies from each of the ten Sectors and invested a grand in each. June 2023 passed and I sort of forgot about it but knew in the back of my mind it was a failure due to the decline experienced across the FTSE from January 2023. Looking at it now it is between 8 and 9 percent down although dividends would have reduced this loss. So one lesson learned from it was that a portfolio must be actively managed whatever the formula used.

Rusty2

30th Dec '23

NAPs has not worked well over the last 2 years, was 2022 not down 15%. This years, I make as breakeven, but mine is slightly different from Ed's selection. I do a NAPs, every month. The only ones, that have done anything were Oct '22, when it picked up Yu (LON:YU.) which went up about 500% and the last few months of '23.

NAPs before 2022, did work pretty well, unmanaged, for a year, changing after 6 months, seems to have mixed results.

I would not read too much into the 2022 year.

Definitely need more folios.

Whitbourne

30th Dec '23

Hi gmtrader,

It's always good I think to hear a contrary opinion, so here is one.

These competitons are actively unhelpful, in my view, because of the investing style that they encourage which could best be descibed as 'shit or bust'. You're never going to win with a balanced portfolio of sensible GARP shares. The winner is usually someone who has chosen, out of their specialist knowledge and insights, a company that performs spectacularly well - this year it might have been Plexus Holdings (LON:POS), during the pandemic it was companies like Synairgen (LON:SNG) which 25-bagged during 2020.

One of the most painful (by which I mean expensive) investing lessons I have learned is to steer clear of these story stocks. The temptation is strong: some of them do come good and there are always respected investors who did indeed predict their success. Fair play to them. But for most of us, it's not how we are going to make a return. Most people will be better off most of the time by realising the benefits of diversification, long-term compounding and a methodical data-driven approach.

If Stockopedia ran a competition that involved picking a maximum of 5 stocks and dealing every month, the implied message would be that this is 'investing' and if only you could get good at this game that is how you can build long-term wealth. And for most of us I just don't think that's true. I would hate for new subscribers to get that impression and lose money as a result.

gmtrader

30th Dec '23

Good point

DavidMcCabe

30th Dec '23

Thanks GM Trader, very good points.

From memory, this is exactly why Stockopdia don't run a fantasy fund competion, as it encourages people to just pick very high risk, potentially (but probably not) high reward stocks to win, as there is no real money being lost, and they don't want to encourage that.

David

Edward Croft

30th Dec '23

We have experimented on these things in the past. We ran fantasy funds on the site for a long time, and also created an annual stock picking competition that we ran for a few years.

They were great fun, but we sunsetted them.

The reason is simple. As Dieter Rahms would say "Do Less but Better".

I recommend the UK Stock Challenge. It's been run for a very long time and is very well managed.

gmtrader

30th Dec '23

Cheers Ed. While I do feel a lot could be learnt from a competition, I think Whitbourne’s comment hits the point.

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Gmtrader

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