Mini Dorisian case study

[micrographia]

Almost exactly 14 years ago, when CTFs were still a thing, I opened one for my newborn daughter with big plans to feed it until she reached adulthood. The CTF was funded with £1300 in Feb 2010, split half and half between Aviva (bought at £3.75) and National Grid (bought at £6.37). Both on just over a 6% historic yield at point of purchase. Then we decided that handing over a decent sum of cash to an 18-year old might not be a great idea, despite our best efforts at child rearing (at 14 she's a delight, as it happens), so nothing else was added. I basically forgot about the account and got on with family life.

Spring cleaning the office yesterday I came across my records of the CTF which reminded me that I need to track down who it's with these days and how I can access it. Over lunch I worked out how it should have done over the intervening years. Straightforward for NG, less so for AV.

Contrasting fortunes for these companies; NG has been an exemplary HYP share, whereas AV....has not. Nonetheless, AV has contributed £399 in dividends, while NG has delivered £732. Ideally these should have been reinvested rather than sitting idle but there you go. Once I get access to the account again I can address this. Current combined yield for this pair is still north of 6%.

Value-wise, NG has increased by 64% and AV is down 9% (if my share 2021 share consolidation calculation is correct, and which is still considerably better than my own AV holding picked up just before the Crash). Looks like my daughters 18th birthday present should currently contain nearly £2800 of cash and shares, so despite my neglect it's done OK so far. Pretty close to the return from a FTSE tracker over the same period I’d imagine, but with more returned in cash?

EEM

[clissold345]

I think "Doris" is someone who needs a steady income but has little interest in managing her own investments.

[Arborbridge]

I think "Doris" is someone who needs a steady income but has little interest in managing her own investments.

True, but I think the word "dorisian" can be sensibly used to mean a do nothing strategy too - and I imagine has been, many times.

[Arborbridge]

Contrasting fortunes for these companies; NG has been an exemplary HYP share, whereas AV....has not. Nonetheless, AV has contributed £399 in dividends, while NG has delivered £732. Ideally these should have been reinvested rather than sitting idle but there you go. Once I get access to the account again I can address this. Current combined yield for this pair is still north of 6%.

Value-wise, NG has increased by 64% and AV is down 9% (if my share 2021 share consolidation calculation is correct, and which is still considerably better than my own AV holding picked up just before the Crash). Looks like my daughters 18th birthday present should currently contain nearly £2800 of cash and shares, so despite my neglect it's done OK so far. Pretty close to the return from a FTSE tracker over the same period I’d imagine, but with more returned in cash?

EEM

Shows the importance of diversification, in a nutshell. What a lovely unintentional experiment!

Arb.

[micrographia]

Just to update this, regained access to the CTF account which proved to contain a lot more cash than estimated - over £1600. Given that this CTF is very unlikely to be getting any more investment, in the interest of diversification the cash was reinvested into a couple of ITs yesterday. AV. price has now recovered to near what was paid for it, NG. price is well up and both yield well at present so they have been left as is.

EEM