What Investment catches-up with the recently formed all-female group the Double D’s, as they deal with the ongoing market turbulence

Despite their portfolio taking a bit of a knock over the past few months, the members of the Double D’s investment club remain confident that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The club’s treasurer, Christine Trueman, says, ‘We definitely have a lot to talk about at our next meeting. There may be a couple of members who will need reassuring but I am of the opinion that we should keep on investing. After all we are not a bank where we just store our savings.’

This rather old-fashioned view of banking belies a clear investment strategy, albeit one that has been put to the test by the recent market turbulence. The Double D’s featured in July’s issue of What Investment, when they were relatively new to the investment club movement, having been established for just three months, and since then have had to make some tough decisions.

A baptism of fire

‘The last few months have been okay and we have never thought about putting our investments into cash,’ says Trueman. ‘In fact, our strategy has been to reinvest when the market was on its way down in the hope that it will come back. Unfortunately, it has just kept on going down.

‘However, being a new club, everyone is still very enthusiastic, and we will be able to gauge people’s feelings at our next meeting.’

As part of their strategy, however, the group opted to invest in both HBOS and RBS shares – both of which have been very volatile during the last month. Trueman says, ‘We are still hopeful of getting a return on our investment. However, we realise that, rather than seeing a profit in a couple of years, we might now have to wait five years to make our money back.’

She adds, ‘While we will not be investing in banks again, I think the government has done well recently in leading the world with its rescue package and that action should pay off. The markets are all about confidence and the problem has come from people’s fears about borrowing and lending to each other.

‘We currently have engineering stocks and are hopeful that they will pick up soon. Going forward we will stick to the basics, such as food. Tesco, for example, is always seen to be a safer share. It is at times like this when you have to remember that investing on the stock market is a long-term objective. I don’t think anyone could have predicted all the volatility over the last month.’


The better half

Despite being a relatively young club, the members of the Double D’s have been exposed to the stock market’s ups and downs for a number of years, through their husbands, who make up the Duckers and Divers investment club, which has been established for over a decade.

Much to their husbands’ chagrin, the wives got off to a good start and have outperformed their other halves for the majority of the year.

Trueman beams, ‘In terms of percentage, we aren’t down by as much as our husbands are but everything is high risk at the moment, so we aren’t going to bother selling any of our current investments, there’s no point. Our portfolio has, understandably, taken a bit of a knock. However, all of our members are still paying regular monthly subscriptions on top of their initial lump sum.’

Globe trotters

The recent turmoil has made the members of the Double D’s more aware of the impact the events in stock markets in other parts of the world can have on their portfolio of UK stocks. Trueman says, ‘We have learnt a lot in the past few months, so that, for example, we now monitor the Nikkei and the Dow. Previously we didn’t really appreciate that the market isn’t solely dependent on the London Stock Exchange, there is a greater interaction with the world markets.’

But she adds, ‘Even though our portfolio has performed badly, we have still got excitement out of recent weeks and the dramatic market ups and downs.’

And the losses they have experienced in recent weeks hasn’t put a dampener on things. She says, ‘Every single share is down, but we have no regrets because nobody could have predicted what was going to happen, When we started the club, around March/April time, the market was normal. If we had our time again, we probably wouldn’t make the same investments. However, despite our investments being down overall, they have started to recover slightly over the past week or so.’


Doing the groundwork

Throughout their time as a young investment club, and particularly during the recent volatile period, the club’s members have relied on their own research and any handy hints that they could find, particularly those gathered from the research services provided by the Share Centre.

‘We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Share Centre,’ says Trueman. ‘Their online service is fantastic and we all have access to the portfolio. All members also have access to the useful investment tips and the market information is always up to date.’
But unlike many clubs, the Double D’s aren’t obsessed with making huge profits. Their goal has always been just to make enough money from their shares to go on holiday or have the occasional team night out.

‘It’s good to be in a club at times like these, but away from the markets, a large reason for us setting up the club was the social side of things,’ explains Trueman.

‘If I was just investing on my own I would feel pretty lonely. As part of a club you don’t feel quite so bad. I would recommend investment clubs to anyone.’