This article was sponsored by Fidelity, but all opinions are my own.
I am excited to share with you that I am hosting my own league in This is Money and Fidelity’s Fantasy Share Picking Game. There are many opportunities to win prizes. Not only are you in with a chance of winning the grand prize of £15,000 (YES!!) there are also runner up prizes of £5,000 for second place and £2,000 for third place, plus twelve weekly prizes of £500 each (T&Cs apply)
AND if you win my ‘Mrs Mummypenny’ league there is a prize of a £100 Amazon voucher up for grabs (T&Cs for the Mrs Mummypenny league apply-see at bottom of post).
You know that huge game Fantasy Football, that many of us have played so many times? This is pretty much the same a Fantasy Share Picking Game, just choosing shares from the FTSE All share and AIM 100 instead. I have had a practice pick of shares just before writing this, and it was super easy to set up.
Hints from my Share Picking Strategy
I have chosen ten companies to buy using a bit of personal knowledge and views about what will perform well over the next twelve weeks. I have chosen companies in industries that I think will flourish in the upcoming challenges. There are also brands in there that I love and am a customer of. I’m not giving away any more than that, this is a competition after all!
The shares are virtually ‘bought’ from the market using real time pricing and you can choose to sell at any time. You need to keep an eye on your shares prices to sell to bank gains or to minimise losses. This is how you compete in the leagues! After a few hours one company is up 4.5%!! But then 7 out of my 10 choices are worth less than I ‘bought’ them at. Whoops.
It’s up to you how you chose your shares, a complete random guess or you could do some serious research to pick the best companies you think will trade well. I do love a bit of ratio analysis, a skill I learnt whilst doing my university degree. There are also great updates, news, views and expert insights on share dealing from Fidelity’s experts on their Shares insight Hub.
Expert Share Picker or Keen to Learn?
Personally I am not a current trader of individual shares, but I know a lot about economics and personal finance and am a keen reader of the business press. I know how industries and companies have performed over time and how well they are doing financially currently. My entire adult corporate career was spent working in the commercial finance departments of four large companies, Marks & Spencer, HSBC, Tesco and EE. I certainly know my way around a Profit & Loss account and balance sheet. Add to this being a CIMA qualified accountant adds even more gravitas. I think this stands me in good stead of being able to choose some strong performing shares.
Maybe you already trade shares and feel like you have an experience and knowledge advantage? Set up an account on the This is Money website and pick your shares to be in with a chance of winning the bigger prize and/or the Mrs Mummypenny £100 prize.
My Past Experience with Trading Shares in Real Life
I played around with the markets once upon a time in my 2008 first maternity leave and got a bit burnt. There was some time when my new baby slept to research the companies and decided to trade with £3,000 of my own real-life money.
I picked some good companies and made maybe £2-300 profit over the first month. Buoyed on by beginner’s confidence I got braver and bought £2,000 of Tesco shares for £4 per share. A rash decision to buy such a big chunk. Tesco was chosen for emotional reasons; I had just finished working for them after five years and thought that I knew the company well and trusted them. I remember thinking a sure bet, these shares will never go down in value. One week later they tanked to £2 per share, how little did I know!
Lesson learnt. I decided to stop playing my stock market games, sell all my other shareholdings but kept hold of the Tesco shares until they rose back up to £4 again. A long nine years later, I realised this may never happen. The best they had got to was £3.20 so I sold them making a loss. A significant loss when you take inflation into account.
Since then I have continued to invest but always into stocks & shares ISAs in balanced funds. I do accept some risk investing in 100% share funds (as the money is sat tight there for at least five years, more likely longer). I have never thought about trying out stock market investing again.
Getting my confidence back
Until now. I feel like trying this Share Picking Game for three months will help me get my confidence back. It’s just a game, there is no money to be lost, although there is money to be won in the weekly and overall competitions.
I am giving this a go and I hope you will as well. Come join my Mrs Mummypenny League and let’s see who picks the best shares over the next three months. Remember there’s a prize of a £100 Amazon voucher for the top performer in my league. A huge thanks to Fidelity who have sponsored this article.
To join my league set up your share picks and let me know your email address by DM on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or by emailing me on lynn@mrsmummypenny.co.uk. I can then send you an invite to join my league.
How to Play & the Rules
Of course there are rules to the game. You can read the full description of how to play by visiting this page on the This is Money website and then a full listing of the rules are here. Stand out rules are things like you can choose six to twenty shares for your portfolio, and you can sell a company when you think you have made enough money or lost too much. It’s a good idea to keep an eye on the share prices so you can react when you need to! It’s a competition right! To win the Mrs Mummypenny League you will be the player with the best overall performance in the league when it ends on 4th December.
To set up your account and pick your companies head over to this page
See you in the league!
