‘I’ve sold everything’
Having loaded up with exciting but expensive technology stocks in 2020, including computer chip designer Nvidia, gaming firm Sea Limited and tech giant Apple, Bertie Millis, 27, from Brighton, has now sold out following a sharp drop in tech firm share prices.
“My portfolio has gone from £4,000 to £3,000. So I decided to sell as I am worried that markets will fall even more. I’ve been reading research from people far smarter than me about how interest rate rises will prompt a rotation into safer investments. I think the selling will eventually end and then I will buy the technology firms that I love once again.”
Mr Millis, who works in technology, said the future was still great for firms involved in virtual reality and computer chips, but the time was not right to add more money. “I don’t want to own banks or oil stocks. These are not businesses I understand and their performance will trail off,” he said.
One lesson from the tech crash for Mr Millis was to recognise the value of a sure bet. He is now investing in a Lifetime Isa, which the Government tops up with up to £1,000 every year.
“A free 25pc from the Government is amazing given how scary stock markets are at the moment,” he said.
‘I’m sticking with my bets against the hedge funds’
Bailey Greetham-Clark, 19, from Lincolnshire, began investing in the stock market in 2020. After starting out buying low-risk index funds, he bought shares in struggling American cinema chain AMC Entertainment and US computer games retailer Gamestop.
Both companies were being “short-sold” by hedge funds and Mr Greetham-Clark joined thousands of online traders in an attempt to push up their share prices. One year on, he is still buying more in a bit to force hedge funds to close their short positions at a loss.
