When it comes to investing, there’s a pretty simple motto that you will hear spouted by novices and experts alike: buy low, sell high.
It is a mantra that needs little explanation. Try to buy when prices are low and avoid selling at a loss if you can (after all, you only crystallise a loss when you sell an asset). Traders do this on a daily basis, but long-term investors typically consider “time in the market”, rather than timing the market, to be the best way to ride out losses and ultimately make a profit.
Since I’m invested for the long term, I lean away from trying to time the market. My diversified portfolio in theory should tick along nicely in the background, with enough exposure to different regions and sectors to weather short-term market movements.
So I don’t buy and sell based on headlines — usually. But this month has been an exception. This is because the Downing Renewables & Infrastructure trust, which invests in renewable infrastructure in the UK and northern Europe, has quickly become my best performing investment.
I bought £500 of shares in a portfolio reshuffle in March, when the price was about 82p a share. Today it’s worth just over £1 a share — a 20 per cent return in a few months.
