Updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Wednesday 10th October

 
 I had a feeling yesterday was going to be an entertaining day and I wasn't wrong!

Let me tell you the story. A couple of weeks ago I was approached by BBC2 regarding some kind of audition to present a new finance show.

So I agreed - I had no idea whether I wanted to do it or not but an audition sounded like fun. It was going to be in London and it would be about shares or personal finance and they were auditioning roughly 10 people, some people who were already presenters and some like me with some finance expertise.

Then they said it was going to be in Bristol. Oh well, I thought a day out, yes ok then so it was set up for yesterday afternoon.

Alarm bells started ringing a bit when they wanted to meet me "at Bristol market".

On quizzing them more about the content it transpired they weren't really sure what the content was but one suggested name for the show was "Risk it for a biscuit". So it wasn't quite what I'd been expecting.

Then I thought.. oh whatever, I'll just go and have a laugh. They were going to pay expenses so of course I went by first class train (about time I got something back out of the licence fee).

That was great, took a couple of books and sprawled out in empty first class (£129 return). I did think you might get a free sandwich for that but it was a horrible coffee and a pack of nuts.

I was in a pretty good mood as well having just witnessed my fourth bid in six weeks with Burren (more later).

I got there early so had a wander around Bristol which was ok - seemed a relaxed city. Then I went to the market to meet the production team. The set up was a large camera plonked in the middle of the market plus another bloke with a roving camera. I didn't feel nervous, I thought.. well I really don't care about this so I'll just have a laugh.

They wanted to get on with it however I demanded at the very least a sausage sandwich.. which I did get and had a chat with the crew. Who I must say were a lovely bunch! They were often part of the team producing Wales' version of Watchdog which involved them chasing dodgy geezers down the road. One of them got hit once by one dodgy geezer.

However I was put in a bad mood when I noticed one of them had just bought a Tescos Value Toaster. I enquired as to the price "Oh that was just £3.50".

If only I'd known! All this time I thought I'd found the cheapest one at £7.99 (the one I take to hotels).

At that price you could take value toaster for every hotel visit, make your own breakfast and then dump the toaster in the bin! That would still be £20 cheaper than a hotel room service breakfast with stone cold toast.

I digress! I had to sit buy the juice bar and give 20 second answers on camera to questions like:

"What drives you"? A. a Toyota Prius. Oh, and tea and toast.

Then I got tossed a pack of jammy dodgers. "Sell these in 20 seconds." Well, I love jammy dodgers. So, ten minutes later eventually they got me to shut up about them...

Next? I got given a huge basket of croissants. The idea was I had to try and sell them to people in the street.

I thought hang on a minute. This is the kind of thing Davina McCall does! Well, sod it. I threw myself into it - best I got was 95p. Worst? I couldn't even give it away. People don't really like croissants in Bristol.

The producer said they would never dare to try this in London due to - a, people would tell us to f off and b, there was a chance of getting hit. The people of Bristol were lovely.

I then realised I was by now enjoying it and could have gone on selling croissants all day. I must be missing the cafe I sold!

Anyway that was the end of it, and the producer wandered off to what she called "my next victim". This "Victim" happened to be a blonde looker in her 20s. Which is probably what the programme actually needs!

I had another wander around Bristol and then just couldn't find a cab anywhere to get back to the station. I then realised I was standing by a bus stop and there was a bus there which said "Station" on it.

So I got in and instead of the bus going to the station what I actually got was a tour of Bristol - it seemed to go everywhere on its way to the station - even to the zoo!

Of course it's the zoo where those of you as ancient as me will remember kids show Animal Magic with Johnny Morris was broadcast from - you know what I used to send in pics to that show as a kid and I even remember the postcode for it - Bristol BL8 2LR! Ah, memories!

Anyway when you see a money show on BBC2 in 3 months featuring a blonde woman chasing people up the street trying to sell them croissants, you can go Ahhhhhh, that's the one!
 

You can now pre-order a copy the new book, Naked Trader 2 (even more naked).

What do I mean, pre-order? Well, you order it now and what it means is you get your hands on it the day it's published!

So no waiting around, wondering when that publication day is - you'll get it at least 4 weeks before Amazon get their copies or before it's in the shops.

It took me bloody ages to write and I really hope you find it as good if not better than the first.

To pre-order just copy this link into your browser:

http://books.global-investor.com/books/27120.htm?ginPtrCode=21654&identifier=28516a10

This time I have cartoons, loads more ways to make money from the markets and my top ten strategies!

Publication date is around the back end of November but if you re-order there's no reason to worry as a copy will wing its way to you as soon as it's been printed!

Even better - order two and give it to someone for Christmas! How's that for marketing? And remember I'm very grateful for the massive £1.67p I get per sale. Think writing a book makes you rich? Think again!

More thanks for the continued feedback coming in re the seminar... it is much appreciated.. ever so glad some of you now feel inspired!

The next seminar is definitely going ahead! There has been a lot of interest already and with bookings already made this one looks like it could be a sellout quite early on.

So I can confirm the next seminar will be on Friday December 7th again at London Heathrow and I've booked that date with the hotel.

A quick bit of negotiation with the hotel over the room means I've got it a little cheaper next time so I can cut a tenner off the price of December's seminar so it'll be £440 plus vat.
 

The early booking discount ends this weekend so get your skates on if you'd like it!

If you'd like all the details about the December seminar and fancy coming along and spending a day with me and the markets e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Seminar interested" in the subject line.

More details also somewhere below.

 I thought I'd just sum up a few of the latest money books on the market - these are the best ones recently released. First I've had heaps and heaps of praise from many of you regarding  The Financial Spreadbetting book.

 The book really seems to have helped a lot of you understand spreadbetting a lot more than you did. You say it's really helped you with ideas too. The writer deserves commendation. With the ability to go short so important in these volatile markets, it's a must read. To order click here.

 Several people have asked me for a recommendation on a book which shows how to study accounts in a reasonably easy way. The one I like the most is The Investor's Guide to Understanding Accounts by Robert Leach. Ten crunch questions to ask before buying any company.

 It' s a decent easy-to-read book with several key chapters and it's highly recommended. It's one I keep and dip into from time to time. To order click here.

 The best book on charting and easiest read on the subject is The Investors Guide to Charting by Alistair Blair. Click here to order.

 Another good one is the second edition of The Investor's Toolbox by Peter Temple. Included in this one is how to use spreadbetting, CFD's warrants and trackers to reduce risk. And there are some decent trading strategies too.

 This is an excellent book for new investors and also experienced ones. It explains all the things you may not be sure about in the markets and will explain the tools that are there. To order The Investors Toolbox by Peter Temple (new edition) click here for delivery in 24 hours.

NAKED TRADER SEMINAR LATEST NEWS:

 Fancy spending a day with me, learning all the ways I have learned over the years to find good shares and play the markets? Well, you can at one of my seminars!

 The next Naked Trader seminar is on Friday December 7th at Heathrow. Booking is NOW OPEN!

 Seminar price has been reduced to £440 plus vat - I am happy to offer a further discount for early bookers. That includes three course lunch, Starbucks coffee, parking etc. And most importantly it covers choc bars and fruit gums too.
   
 Topics covered using live market feeds all day include: Market psychology, level 2 - a simple guide to how to use it for better timing; how to value companies; finding companies that are about to rise. I will also cover techiques for handling events such as the recent meltdown and volatility.

 Spreadbetting: How to use it to gain an edge; Market makers - how they work and how to beat them; how to stop losing money and make it instead and plenty more.

 How to plan trade entries and exits - how to research companies and understand reports, plus all those niggly questions you always wanted to ask. How to set stop losses and targets. Charts and how to use them.

 Also covered: Market maker tricks: How to spot tree shakes and use them in your favour, How to tell when NOT to buy a share. I use live ADVFN all day with lots of level 2 and looks at all kind of live market data.

 The idea behind the seminar is SIMPLICITY. I don't use jargon or fancy words - everything is in PLAIN ENGLISH! No question is too stupid and the event is held in a friendly relaxed and supportive environment.

 The idea is you will come away from the event I hope a wise and better investor with lots of new ideas. I try and translate complex topics into easy bite size pieces. I also aim for it to be entertaining as well as instructive.

 If you are interested please e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "seminar interested" in the subject line and I will send you full details of the event including comments from those who have come to previous seminars and you can then decide whether you would like to come.

 I have a new column at ADVFN all about ADVFN's new Level 2 service which includes all the plus market trades and plus market market makers too, click here to read it.

 This means basically you can now see ALL trades live on ADVFN Level 2 which I think is invaluable. Through me you can also get ADVFN level 2 much cheaper than going via them directly.

 I can offer it at £299 for the year including vat - currently through ADVFN directly it's £360 PLUS vat, around £416. So that's a good saving.

 To take up this offer of level 2 complete with plus market trades, e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "level 2 offer" in the subject line.

Exclusive One Point Spread, £250 Cashback Offer

 Still a massive response coming in for the sensational 1 point indices spread offer plus £250 cash back on losses - my mail box continues to be full of enquires - don't miss out!
 
 I have arranged a deal with a spreadbet company that gives you just ONE POINT spreads on all the major indices and very tight spreads on everything else. A one point spread is just amazing and you can use it on the FTSE, DOW, Nikkei etc...

 Not only that, I can offer those of you interested a fantastic £250 cash back on any realised spreadbet losses made within your first 8 weeks. That means you get back any losses up to £250 which could come in extremely handy.

 If you'd like the details of this offer just mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com  with "£250 cashback offer" in the subject line. This really is a great offer which will have a limited lifespan so if you want it, get cracking!

Man Spreads Offer

 I'm glad there's been such a good response to the deal I negotiated with Man Spreads for my readers. Man Spread Trading is one of the few companies that offers spreads on smaller companies valued at just 6 million £ or more, including AIM stocks.

 So now you CAN deal in small companies without having to actually buy the shares in the market and you can deal in them on margin if you wish.

 Every naked trader reader who opens an account with them though me will get a completely free £2 a point bet on the daily FTSE on a day of your choice.

 As you can imagine get it right and this free bet could be worth a few quid - the FTSE was up 80 points the other day which would equal a nice £160 profit for no risk. The bet cannot be a loser, because if you lose, it is as if you never placed it!

 So here is your chance to open an account to spread bet the smaller companies - of course you can deal in the whole range of usual spread betting with them too including the bigger companies and indices bets as well.

 To take up what I think is a brilliant offer, simply e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Man spread" in the subject line together with your full name, phone number, address and e-mail address.

 Unless your mail bounces back, assume I have got it and you should hear from them soon. I hope many of you make a good whack from the freebie.

Naked Rambling

 Yet another Budget statement which in effect puts taxes up yet again.

The inheritance tax thing is a red herring as couples with careful planning could use 600k allowance between them anyway.

Brown has deservedly been rapped in all quarters for, well, let's face it being sneaky. He wants us to believe he'd have changed IT anyway.. or his reasons for not calling an election.

The most telling thing was that horribly grinning/sneaky face when the budget statement was going on. Yuk!!

The BBC is going to have to cut 3,000 jobs.

Well, axe Jonathan Ross and save £18m, that would save at least 800 of them!

Amazing to think of all the journalists losing their jobs when they could be saved by dropping one rubbish off peak chat show...




 There's an absolutely fabulous book just come out that is a must buy! A brilliant and easy read! It's called "The Harriman Book of Investing Rules" - it's a set of rules written by 150 of the world's top investors..

 Each investor gives 1-10 of his or her favourite "rules". There is so much to learn here, and this book is just packed with excellent collective wisdom from people who really know what they are talking about.

 Here are a couple of my fave quotes. Gary Belsky: "The pain people feel from losing £100 is much greater than the pleasure from winning £100. Be careful this does not lead you to cling to losing investments in the hope they'll return to profit."

 This is a cracker from Robert Green: "There is no such thing as a "hold" decision. If you wouldn't buy the stock again today assuming you had additional money, you should either sell, or admit you're confused...."

 What's great is each investor has his favourite area so you can learn new things. I certainly have. And I love the fact you can just dip in and out of it.

 It really contains so much wisdom - more than I have ever seen in one book so far and it'll give you a great insight into how the best investors win.

 This really is a much buy and as such I urge you to buy it now. You will thank me, I promise.  Click here to order, or on the cover below.

 Looking for a good finance book? - why not have a look and see what everyone else has been buying? Here is a link to the top ten finance bestsellers.. all worth a read especially, er, the number one ! click here.

 My book "The Naked Trader" is now on offer via my website at a cheaper price than Amazon! £8.44 from here, £12.99 on on Amazon Click here or on the cover above to order my book at best price.....!.

 My book covers all you need to know to get trading, some tips for all, and plenty of fun and all written in an easy to understand way.

 Buy one for a friend if you know one losing money on the markets. Also some great horror stories of mistakes made by real traders. Learn to avoid the market pitfalls!

 Don't forget Rich Dad Poor Dad is missing, and is probably one of the most important to read. Click here to order RDPD. Another great one to order at number 6 is Come Into My Trading Room by Dr Alexander Elder.

 Plenty of positive reviews for the 2007 Stock Market Almanac. I find it the most useful finance reference book there is. It's a superb diary of stock market events, stats, which companies report when, historical details and so much useful stuff. 

 A book I would never be without and I refer to mine all the time. To order it for next day delivery, click here. If you've not ordered from the website bookstore before you get a £3 discount for your next order which could be handy!

 Naked Mail

 Paul writes:
Just a quick e-mail to say congratulations on the current Burren performance, looks like it's come along way since 2004..I'm a 30 something father of two looking for future 'escape' and reading your website is inspirational. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Paul - it was nice to get the fourth bid in a row so fast.

Vince writes:

Well done on Burren Robbie - I don't know how you do it....

Thanks Vince, it's the tealeaves..

Niraj writes:
I'm very impressed - that's 4 buyouts you've bought! Sadly I wasn't in any of them!

Colin writes:
I have just finished reading your book, 'The Naked Trader' (2005 Edition). A great read! Even though I have been trading for over ten years, I found some useful tips. One thing I am really good at is ignoring the stop losses I set on my shares and hanging on too long before taking the decision to sell. After reading your book I am determined to do better in this area in future.

Good luck Colin - taking losses is one of the hardest things to come to terms with.

Mark writes:

Friday's seminar was really great. I don’t think I have ever been to such an event where the time has passed so quickly. An awful lot to take in but extremely valuable (I hope!).

 Come Into My Trading Room, by Dr Alexander Elder is on special offer at the moment. The online bookstore is selling  it with a near 12% discount ! Click here or click the book cover above to order. Let me know what you think!

ADVFN LEVEL 2 EXCLUSIVE OFFER

 I have 2 great offers from ADVFN. First great deal: If you want level 2, though me it is only £299 for your first year including VAT!

 This compares to £360 PLUS vat from ADVFN direct (£423) so this deal saves you over £100! ADVFN level 2 also includes all the live trades made through Plus Markets which I find invaluable.

 To accept this great deal just e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Level 2 offer" in the subject line and I will tell you how to get it. Level 2 for only £299 for a year (including vat), or under £25 a month!!

ADVFN Bronze Offer

 Deal two is ADVFN's bronze subscription - normally £60pa - available from me for only £40! That's a saving of £20! You get extra time to look at live prices".

 Access to the premium bulletin board which contains my discussion forum with direct access to chat to me and some very good traders.

 Plus ADVFN's premium top lists which I think are a must for finding great stock picks. That includes great lists like ex dividend dates, market maker buys plus chart breakouts and downs.

 To take up the offer, e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with Bronze in the subject line and I will tell you how to claim the deal.

Selftrade Offer 

 Want to try out broker Selftrade superb trading system for no risk? You only have to trade once to get £50 bunged into your account!

 All deals are just £12.50 with no funny small print. So it's a no lose situation! Paste this link into your browser: http://www.selftrade.co.uk/partners/index.phtml?CC=AMRFRZW$HR:LE0/&id=118

Markets

 Well there I was moaning on Friday that none of my companies had been bid for last week..

Oh well, it didn't take long... and I made it my fourth bid in 6 weeks with another one! This time it was Burren Energy!

I happened to be at the screen when it happened and I was delighted! It's always great to see a price suddenly go rocketing up. I was even more delighted to get back home from Bristol to see there were quite a few bidders around for Burren and the price was up more than 250 points!

I guess it shows patience can pay off and the website positions on Burren are now showing profits of nearly £30,000!

Yipee!! I also had a pretty decent spreadbet on Burren too taken out recently which has paid off very nicely indeed.

So my bid hall of fame over the last few weeks now reads Domestic and General, Sondex, Foesco and Burren! Who's next? I have an idea about that but I don't want to tempt fate and name it! But here's hoping for a five timer by the end of November!

As to banking those large Burren profits, normally I do bank on a bid. However with a number of possible bidders in the frame, there is a chance it could go higher so short-term I'll stay with it though I am tempted to part bank....

I think the recent rises in Fenner (FENR) where I've been buying from 200p upwards look pretty significant and so I've added some more and probably my final lot today picking up a further 1,500 shares at 264,49p. Target 320 stop 210. There's been consistent buying here and results are due in early November.

This one is similar in many ways to recent bid target Foseco in the engineering sector and I can see it being quite a tempting proposition. In any event this company has simply grown and grown over the last few years since I originally bought some at 77p. I hold with some confidence.

Vega Group (VEG) is an interesting looking recovery play and I bought 2,200 on Wednesday at 212.8p. Interesting that the price rose after a presentation to analysts.

It's been battered a bit after saying profits would be a bit lower after a recent acquisition. However the future does look good and it appears to be oversold.

I wouldn't like to see it buy any further companies but it looks to me like a classic recovery play. Target 280 stop 195.

Elsewhere as well as Burren, my other major oil holding Dragon Oil has too soared - it really does have to be in the frame as a bid target and I personally feel it's unlikely to be around in a year's time. I'm tempted to pick up another lot but waiting till the log jam of profit-takers and sellers clears at the 281pish level.

And the rest of the portfolio has continued to shine. Dmatek announces a decent contract win today and it should carry on winning contracts.

Celsis continues a slow climb up and I see no reason why it shouldn't head back to 240p. Carclo also continues its decent recovery from the strong support at 100p.

MS International hasn't given up any of its recent strong gains and in fact is going up yet again - it has a habit of doing nothing for a few days but when it rises it shoots up. Looks good to me for another 25 points in time.

So, what can I say? Except I've made a fortune over the last few weeks and glad I had the courage to get back into the market when it looked ropey. But as I continue to add with markets sitting at recent highs, come caution is also required..

 

 E-mail subscription service: If you want to get the contents of The Naked Trader website into your mailbox instead of waiting for the update to come through, plus exclusively news on the progress of my SIPP from the old Sunday Times column, e-mail me at  robbiethetrader@aol.com with SIPP in the subject line for details of how to get it.

Telecom Plus Offer

 Want to quit the rat race? Try and start a new source of income so one day you can tell the boss to stuff it? You could do what I did to escape my grotty office job and become an independent distributor for the Utilities Discount Warehouse.
 
 You get to sell great broadband, phone packages and energy to friends, relatives, contacts and anyone else you find and you get cash for each sale but more importantly you get a cut of their spend EVERY MONTH for as long as they are a customer!

 It's called residual income and is a far better way to enjoy a ripe old age than relying on a pension. Because even after you stop selling the money STILL comes in!

 I still get paid EVERY MONTH for sales I made back in 1999! Every time a customer uses broadband or the phone or switches on a light you get paid.

 It's a great business and backed by a stock market company (Telecom Plus), a dedicated team of advisors.. and me to help you on your way!

 Not only do you get paid out every month for each customer you can take on distributors. encourage them like I do and get paid on their sales as well.

 One day, say you could made redundant, needed a year off or wanted to retire early can you imagine what joy it is to have the regular income coming in. It's wonderful.

 You have to work at it, but if you do genuine repeat wealth could be yours. I did it. You can too. For full details why not e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com.

 An overview is also available at www.telecomplus.org.uk/237058 you can sign up directly there but do tell me! For more on residual income and the power of networking, read Rich Dad Poor Dad,  Click here to order.  

 I have negotiated this special offer from Cantor Index (I use their phone service which is superb).  If you join up through my site, Cantor will give you your stakes back, on your first 10 trades, on any share valued at £4 or more.

 You can go long or short. That's an amazing offer, for example, if your first 10 trades are at £10 a point, on any share costing £4 or more, Cantor will give you back your £400 original stake !  Click here or on the Cantor link above for full details. You need to email me and I will pass on your details.

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