I'm all Twirled out.
Early this week I discovered 25 packets of Twirls that I bought for the last seminar that I'd forgotten to bring.
I ate one of course and then remembered how great they are. Because they combine a flake inside with good milky chocolate on the outside. Best of both worlds.
But I've steadily eaten my way through them, raiding the supply at every chance. Someone help me. My name's Robbie and I'm a Twirlaholic.
Toddler Christopher has discovered the stash so I've had to move it to a new secret location. Trouble is as he gets older he's finding it easier to find stashes.
I think when I order the choc bars for the next seminar they'll have to go straight into the boot of the (newly cleaned) car!

Actually I just found a Toblerone.. forgotten what they tasted like, now I remember, they sort of stick to your teeth or do I need some fillings?
A friend of ours who has two boys offered Christopher his first "sleepover". We weren't sure about it but offered the idea to Christopher.
Who quick as a flash said: "How about a sleepover at Isabella's?"
That is of course his nursery girlfriend. Good try!
Anyway so last night we took him over to our friend's and he seemed very happy especially as he likes her two boys - of course it would be amazing for us to have an evening on our own as we haven't had the heart to leave him since the terrible illness in December.
We left him there and went off for dinner at our favourite restaurant which is still doing three michelin starred courses for £19. Though I ended up going for the £37 menu as I love their duck.
We had a great meal and got home. Then we realised we missed him. Quite ridiculous we were already suffering from empty nest syndrome!
The phone went about 10pm. Christopher woke up and had started crying, said our friend. Let's face it, we were pleased because we wanted him home! So we dashed off in the car to pick him up.
When we arrived he was happily chasing their cat and dog all over the place!
Oh well, maybe he's too young for that yet...
A packed weekend ahead - some friends of Mrs NT are visiting and staying the night and we're off to take Christopher to some museums tomorrow.
The sun's coming out, it's getting lighter and milder, really looking forward to spring!!
Thanks to a few of you who work in the private schools sector for mailing me about the idea of trying to pay upfront for a year two or three of Christopher's schooling and getting a discount.
One bursar reckoned I shouldn't have a problem - in fact he said one parent was interesting in paying up front for the whole of his child's education right up to 18. There is going to be some big discount there!
Ta for the continued nice feedback on the seminar - even better to know that many of you are mailing each other and some close trading friendships have been made. Good to hear!

My next seminar is on Friday March 27th and it's already filling up!

It's sooner than normal as I know many of you couldn't make last Friday.

Come and spend the day with me, the live markets and find out all the tricks I've learned over the years - and meet lots of great people!

It's designed for beginners, dabblers and improvers and deals with everything from how to look for winners, how to research and how to time trades and tons more.

There's a decent early bookers discount available too!

So for more details just e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "seminar interested" in the subject line and I'll send you all the details and info.

There is also more on the seminar if you scroll down. I hope to see some of you there next month!! A review of the seminar is in the second last diary entry which you can get in the archive.
Hurrah! Spreadbetting firm Tradefair (Betfair's sister) has upped its offer exclusively to Naked Trader readers to a £100 credit!
I've been using them for a few weeks to check that I'm happy with the service. As you know I don't take ads or allow referrals on the site unless it's a company I've used and I feel confident about.
What I like about it is it's easy to use, spreads are surprisingly tight on the smaller companies and interestingly an automated stop loss is applied to each trade - so beginners know what their max loss is from the outset.
Anyway they now offer a £100 credit as long as you deposit £100. You get the credit after you placed 2 trades (non equity)

If you'd like to open an account with Tradefair and get the freebie and try them out e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Tradefair" in the subject line and I'll send you info on how to claim the new £100 credit.
Still with BT for your phone line? Why? Move over to Utilities Discount Warehouse under me and pay just £8.99 for your line rental, and deal with a nice company. I get commission and in return you get my e-mail - this site into your mailbox at every update!

You could also add energy, guaranteed cheaper than the top 6 suppliers and get the lot on one bill every month. Mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com if you fancy it. Easy to do!

I'm glad to say MF Global has (after a lot of nagging from me!) - improved its offer to readers....
First you get a free £2 bet on the FTSE.. and secondly when you place your first bet with them they will cover the potential loss of up to £100 if the trade moves against you.
I use MF Global myself for spreadbets on the smaller companies as they have more online than anyone else and offer spreads on pretty much everything.
To take up the offer either click the MF banner you should find somewhere on this page, or cut and paste this link into your browser and you can sign up online:
http://tinyurl.com/6lrpbs
Terms and conditions obviously apply, check them on that link.. I think those are good offers.

Many of you enjoy the cheap advfn toplists bronze deal through me as do many of you with the cheap level 2. However many of you say you want a half-way house to include real-time share prices always on.
So I'm pleased to announce I've managed to seal a new deal with Advfn for its "Silver" service - that's always on real-time share prices for a good saving (Bronze toplists etc are included in this).
The deal is via me you can save £30 for your first year by paying just £138.06 inc vat via me instead of £167.47.
Just mail me for full details if you'd like it with "silver" in the subject line.
The money - real money - is already coming on from my own internet shopping site which is at www.ei42.com/nakedtrader.

In fact I've already made £700 - that's in a very short time and as this grows I think there could be a very good income there.

YOU can make money out of this too - by simply doing your online shopping as normal but via your site (it costs nothing) and then tell friends to open their shopping site using the link from yours - you then get commission on their buys!
I like it as it's so simple. And it has most of the big names like John Lewis, Amazon, Marks and Sparks, Mothercare, Debenhams, Comet, Argos, Play.. Have a look at this link:

http://www.ei42.com/Nakedtrader/

So for free you can sign up and get this site for yourself.

Everytime you buy anything yourself on your site you get commission.. So if you normally shop online anyway with someone like Amazon or Argos it's a no brainer: just use your own site instead of going direct and get some commission every time you shop.
Then you just get some friends to sign up and get their own site too - when they do online shopping using their mall, you get commission too. Simple as that.
It's all explained on the site top right.. just click "Make money with your own shop find out more" and it's all explained. Or click here

http://www.ei42.com/?10850514
So you just shop away as normal - but now you earn commission - and there's also decent money off coupons too on top of that!

The best thing about it is you can't lose anything and only gain as it's free. If you happen to run a website yourself like me, then use that to promote it...

So there you are - good luck and I hope some of you make some decent extra cash out of it. And it only takes a minute to sign up and get it going. Happy shopping and hopefully money for nothing much. And money for your friends too.

They've just re-published "The Zulu Principle" by Jim Slater who's written a 2008 update at the beginning.
This is a brilliant classic book. Reading this is a real pleasure and it was a great idea to republish.
Jim believes like I do the best gains can come from smaller stocks and in an easy to read style takes you through how to evaluate smaller companies that are about to become bigger ones - he uses some excellent examples.
Really this is a must read for all more longer-term investors or anyone looking to grow their money... a number of you have also written to me about this book and praising it.
Here is the link to buy it:

http://books.global-investor.com/books/167207.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Here's a very topical one: The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets by Peter Schiff.
The book is all about how to keep portfolios up in a down market. He focusses a lot on how to play commodities and win with some sensible advice especially on natural resources and precious metals. He is very much a realist and there is no rubbish here: some straight talking and some interesting strategies.
Everyone who invests should think seriously about keeping portfolios up in bad times so this book should be read.
Well worth picking up at this link:

http://books.global-investor.com/books/271958.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
To order my new book Naked Trader 2 for next day delivery click this link... or the cover of the book top right!
http://books.global-investor.com/books/27120.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
I've had heaps and heaps of praise from many of you regarding The Financial Spreadbetting book.
The book really seems to have helped a lot of you understand spreadbetting a lot more than you did. You say it's really helped you with ideas too. The writer deserves commendation. With the ability to go short so important in these volatile markets, it's a must read. To order click this link... http://books.global-investor.com/books/23307.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Several people have asked me for a recommendation on a book which shows how to study accounts in a reasonably easy way. The one I like the most is http://books.global-investor.com/books/15717.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Robert Leach. Ten crunch questions to ask before buying any company.
It' s a decent easy-to-read book with several key chapters and it's highly recommended. It's one I keep and dip into from time to time. To order, click this link... http://books.global-investor.com/books/15717.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
The best book on charting and easiest read on the subject is http://books.global-investor.com/books/15618.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Alistair Blair. Click here -> http://books.global-investor.com/books/15618.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Another good one is the second edition of http://books.global-investor.com/books/23792.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Peter Temple. Included in this one is how to use spreadbetting, CFD's warrants and trackers to reduce risk. And there are some decent trading strategies too.
This is an excellent book for new investors and also experienced ones. It explains all the things you may not be sure about in the markets and will explain the tools that are there. To order The Investors Toolbox by Peter Temple (new edition) click the following link for delivery in 24 hours... http://books.global-investor.com/books/23792.htm?ginPtrCode=10453

Fancy spending a day with me, learning all the ways I have learned over the years to find good shares and play the markets? Well, you can at one of my seminars!
Booking is still open for the next Naked Trader seminar on Friday March 27th. Price is £495 plus 15% vat. However there is a decent early booking discount available!

That includes three course lunch, Starbucks coffee, parking etc. And most importantly it covers choc bars and fruit gums too.

The seminar is mainly aimed at beginners and dabblers though improvers are welcome too.
Topics covered using live market feeds all day include: Market psychology, level 2 - a simple guide to how to use it for better timing; how to value companies; finding companies that are about to rise. I will also cover techniques for handling events such as the recent meltdown and volatility.
Spreadbetting: How to use it to gain an edge; Market makers - how they work and how to beat them; how to stop losing money and make it instead and plenty more.
How to plan trade entries and exits - how to research companies and understand reports, plus all those niggly questions you always wanted to ask. How to set stop losses and targets. Charts and how to use them.
Also covered: Market maker tricks: How to spot tree shakes and use them in your favour, How to tell when NOT to buy a share. I use live ADVFN all day with lots of level 2 and looks at all kind of live market data.
The idea behind the seminar is SIMPLICITY. I don't use jargon or fancy words - everything is in PLAIN ENGLISH! No question is too stupid and the event is held in a friendly relaxed and supportive environment.
The idea is you will come away from the event I hope a wise and better investor with lots of new ideas. I try and translate complex topics into easy bite size pieces. I also aim for it to be entertaining as well as instructive.
If you are interested please e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "March seminar interested" in the subject line and I will send you full details of the event including comments from those who have come to previous seminars and you can then decide whether you would like to come. See you there!

One seminar attendee Clare wanted to write a testimonial about her experiences at the seminar which follows now!
"I've just come back buzzing from one of Robbie's seminars. What a day! He's just brilliant, and manages to pack an awful lot into one day, and with his enthusiastic and humorous delivery the day just flies by. There are no gimmicks, no sell, no "˜get-rich-quick' promises, just his own solid, sound approach which he has learnt over the years and which works.
He shows you how to minimise the risks and maximise the profits and points out the banana skins on the way. Where the seminar really comes into its own is when he teaches using live level 2. Hearing him talk through his thought processes and reasoning is invaluable, and really brings home everything from the book. He has endless patience answering peoples' questions, and really seems to care that everybody understands.
On top of that, you meet some really nice like minded people and swap e mail addresses, you're plied with
chocolates and coffee all day, have a great lunch and spend the evening getting tiddled with Robbie in the
bar afterwards! You might even get to see the amazing crocodile boots . . . .

Don't worry about the cost, it's easily worth it, and you'll soon make it back with your new-found investment skills, and in what you're no longer losing. If you're thinking of going along to his next seminar, whether you're a novice or an experienced trader, don't hesitate ""just go!
Thanks Clare, did you want the tenner in cash, or will a cheque do?

Exclusive One Point Spread, £250 Cashback Offer

Still a massive response coming in for the sensational 1 point indices spread offer plus £250 cash back on losses - my mail box continues to be full of enquires - don't miss out!
I have arranged a deal with a spreadbet company that gives you just ONE POINT spreads on all the major indices and very tight spreads on everything else. A one point spread is just amazing and you can use it on the FTSE, DOW, Nikkei etc...
Not only that, I can offer those of you interested a fantastic £250 cash back on any realised spreadbet losses made within your first 8 weeks. That means you get back any losses up to £250 which could come in extremely handy.
If you'd like the details of this offer just mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "£250 cashback offer" in the subject line. This really is a great offer which will have a limited lifespan so if you want it, get cracking!

. Mf Global Spreads is one of the few companies that offers spreads on smaller companies valued at just £6m or more, including AIM stocks. And you can trade them online too.
So now you CAN deal in small companies without having to actually buy the shares in the market and you can deal in them on margin if you wish.
Every naked trader reader who opens an account with them though me will get a completely free £2 a point bet on the daily FTSE on a day of your choice.
As you can imagine get it right and this free bet could be worth a few quid. The bet cannot be a loser, because if you lose, it is as if you never placed it!

And MF now also offers £100 refund on your first bet if it becomes a loser.
So here is your chance to open an account to spread bet the smaller companies - of course you can deal in the whole range of usual spread betting with them too including the bigger companies and indices bets as well.
To take up what I think is a brilliant offer, simply cut and paste this link into your browser and sign up online:

http://tinyurl.com/6lrpbs

I've started using Tradefair for spreadbetting - I like the auto generated stop losses which help to maintain discipline and that's good for beginners I think. And exclusively for Naked Trader readers they upped the offer to £100 credit!

So there's now a £100 credit on offer for anyone opening an account via me. You get that after 2 spreadbets (non equity).

To get the offer, click here:

http://promo.tradefair.com/nakedtrader100/

Gordon Brown's yawnathon monthly news conference. He continues to not answer questions and instead talk and talk till we're all bored into submission. Yes Gordon get us into even more debt, anything just stop talking!
But can he really keep claiming the UK has "Low debt" after it's been counted up now to a staggering £2 TRILLION!
Of course all MPs are off for half-term. I got to thinking isn't it unbelievable that MPs are literally away from Westminster for something like 20 weeks a year?
Isn't it time they had to fall in line with everyone else? Ie Westminster and Parliament should be in action ALL the time and MPs apply for say five weeks holiday like everyone else has to?
Because surely it's weird when things move quickly in the world that we have noone at the seat of power discussing anything. Time this was sorted out.
One council has seen sense. Kensington council has scrapped parking charges on a Saturday to help local businesses.
How sensible. Isn't it ridiculous that it's impossible to stop for a bit to pick up some shopping? And perhaps it's time for even more radical thinking.
How about all road parking charged scrapped across the UK at weekends?

Or, you can park for a max two hours free. Could get even more radical and look at scrapping parking fees say on weekday afternoons too.

Parking controls have got out of hand and have become revenue raising and draconian instead of being sensible.
We really need some different and radical thinking in these poor economic times but it's not coming from this Government which is running scared. Many Labour MPs know they are going to be out of a job next year and there is a lot of scuttling for position.

Don't forget the brilliant Mad Men, Tue BBC4 and it's the Masterchef final next week, could be good. It's got to be Christopher hasn't it?
For a betting preview of the weekend sport, click "sport" above..
If you want to bet on sport here's the sign up link, very large free bets for newbies: To open a Sporting account click here:
http://www.sportingindex.com/?tpid=6755
Do remember if you do bet you ought to treat sports spreadbetting as entertainment - and expect to lose! Also with spreadbetting work out what your max loss could be and make sure you can afford it! In other words if you say backed the favourite at 15 for a fiver and they come nowhere your max loss is £75.

Bode writes:
Thank you for the wonderful seminar on the 30th of January. The seminar like your book was fully informative and entertaining at the same time. Your passionate enthusiasm for informed trading was obvious and very infectious. You did not disappoint. You have totally demystified stock trading for me. I suppose the best way to thank you will be to flourish in my trading.

As you may have gathered the night after the seminar was full of drama, maybe one day I will fill you in but for now suffice it to say that the last thing you want to deal with at 3am when you have just settled your totally plastered NT seminar colleague in bed after a riotous cab ride, and an even more eventfull trek, drinkard in tow, to the hotel room, is an evacuation of the hotel due to a fire. And that was just the start.

Hi Bode! You made me laugh!! I heard about it already! DO fill me in with the rest of the story! It was great to host you and glad you enjoyed the day and thanks very much for all the kind words and congrats on running up the bar bill..
Jim writes:
I had a great time at the seminar. Couldn't believe how late it finished. It was good to see you look for the new stock. The market timing piece and level 2 was my favourite and couldn't have helped me in the past which is why I wanted to be at a seminar now instead of in a couple of years time to see the benefits from the word go.

Hi Jim! Glad you liked it!

Anthony writes:
I had a great time at your seminar as usual. You can pass on details of mysellf on your website on how I am one the traders who attend many times and still get a result.
Thanks Anthony - I think that was the fifth. I guess I'm going to have to start doing loyalty cards..
Jim writes:

After reading your book, I am thinking about putting money into stocks. I remain cautious though as I watch the US market dip daily and it appears even pressure from OPEC does not make the cost of crude rise or the market jump as it has in the past. Recessions are very interesting occurrences. I chuckle as governments run around attempting to woo falling markets with middleclass taxpayer monies. For some reason, this gives me visions of Benny Hill running around chasing women with his theme song playing in the background. Did he ever catch the girl in the end?
Hi Jim, I don't think he did which is just as well for the girl! I agree it's a time to be very cautious - the thought of Gordon Brown as Benny Hill, hmm, interesting idea.

I have 3 great offers from ADVFN. First great deal: If you want level 2, though me it is only £299 for your first year including VAT!
This compares to £360 PLUS vat from ADVFN direct (£423) so this deal saves you over £100! ADVFN level 2 also includes all the live trades made through Plus Markets which I find invaluable.
To accept this great deal just e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Level 2 offer" in the subject line and I will tell you how to get it. Level 2 for only £299 for a year (including vat), or under £25 a month!!

Deal two is ADVFN's bronze subscription - normally £60pa - available from me for only £40! That's a saving of £20! You get access to the premium bulletin board which contains my discussion forum with direct access to chat to me and some very good traders.
Plus you get ADVFN's premium top lists which I talk about in my book and think are a must for finding great stock picks. That includes great lists like ex dividend dates, market maker buys plus chart breakouts and downs.
To take up the offer, e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with Bronze in the subject line and I will tell you how to claim the deal.

Deal three is ADVFN's silver subscription - for those of you who want all the benefits of Bronze AND always on real-time prices.. no more using the back button and getting frozen out!

The deal is via me you can save £30 for your first year by paying just £138.06 inc vat via me instead of £167.47.
Just mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com if you'd like this deal with "silver" in the subject line.

Want to try out broker Selftrade superb trading system for no risk? You only have to trade once to get £50 bunged into your account!
All deals are just £12.50 with no funny small print. So it's a no lose situation! Follow this link...

http://tinyurl.com/57hp4n

Well, with all the volatilty you might expect to think I've been busy when actually I haven't! I've made some smallmoney on one or two quick shorts which I won't add here as they were between updates. Mainly managed a few short term FTSE shorts on spreadbets. Haven't held onto them for a change which could be a mistake! But after making a quid on short term shorts there could easily be a bounce after such falls.
Other than that, it's been quiet for me as I still hold the cash and wait. Yes, indeed I am playing a waiting game as I have the feeling at some point the markets will have a (hopefully final) lunge down and I'll be able to swoop in with the cash!
However I have made one buy. The buy is a strange one for me as it's an AIM stock (drat!! Can't put it in my ISA). But though it's AIM it is a big company. So I bought a few outside it - and also a few through a spreadbet.
The share is Lancashire. (LRE) What I like about it is first it moves to the main market next month and also its tremendous performance in a poor market.

I like shares about to move up - funds will have to buy in as it'll get automatic entry into the FTSE 250. I got 750 shares at 468.5. Stop 440 target 550.

The downside? Well it could be a good share but I could also be buying at the wrong time after a big rise. Tricky decision but worth a go with a tightish stop loss. With promotion due soon my guess is some funds will be looking to get in.
If my timing is wrong (currently losing on it as it's 465p) I'll take a quick loss and try and buy back in lower before the move to the main market.
There's nothing else really screaming buy at me for now and cautiously I remain in a lot of cash, will carry on with some short-term shorts but otherwise take it easy and see how things settle. After taking some nice profits earlier in the week.
Wow - the Yell shorts are really paying off now! In profit by nearly £3,000 - those of you who came to the seminar will remember the one I put on live - mainly as I said at the time because of the huge debt. The website one put on a week later is also paying bigtime. The question now is to whether to bank the profit but it really is looking in terminal decline and I wonder if the debt will just swallow it up.
The ETF FTSE short I have is also paying off nicely of course and it's great to have something like that in the ISA to make some gains as the FTSE falls.
Otherwise surprisingly perhaps most of my other remaining holds are all doing all right for the moment. Those great profits in Heritage are still there and it's holding firm. Senior and SDL are close to stops and I'm close to exiting those.
Eaga holds up pretty well even though perhaps I should have taken the decent profit by now. Dialight holds up too and is in profit as is BTG, Telecom Plus and Tribal.

My broker confirmed today my "yes" vote for the Dmatek bid has been sent off to the vote meeting and I hope to hear in a week or so all is approved and I'll get the 215p in cash. As I bought mainly at 120p that makes me happy!
I think I have got to be cautious right now on any buying: the FTSE breaking below 4,000 doesn't look good and as I said last time February could turn out to be a nasty month. Continues to be great trading conditions for daytraders.

I've started using Tradefair for spreadbetting - I like the auto generated stop losses which help to maintain discipline and that's good for beginners I think. And exclusively for Naked Trader readers they upped the offer to £100 credit!

So there's now a £100 credit on offer for anyone opening an account via me. You get that after 2 spreadbets (non equity).

To get the offer, click here:

http://promo.tradefair.com/nakedtrader100/
(currently says offer expired Dec 31st but ignore that, it is still going)

If you want to get the contents of The Naked Trader website into your mailbox instead of waiting for the update to come through, plus exclusively news on the progress of my SIPP from the old Sunday Times column inc new higher risk Aim buys made for that, e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with SIPP in the subject line for details of how to get it.

Want to quit the rat race? Try and start a new source of income so one day you can tell the boss to stuff it? You could do what I did to escape my grotty office job and become an independent distributor for the Utilities Discount Warehouse.
You get to sell great broadband, phone packages and energy to friends, relatives, contacts and anyone else you find and you get cash for each sale but more importantly you get a cut of their spend EVERY MONTH for as long as they are a customer!
It's called residual income and is a far better way to enjoy a ripe old age than relying on a pension. Because even after you stop selling the money STILL comes in!
I still get paid EVERY MONTH for sales I made back in 1999! Every time a customer uses broadband or the phone or switches on a light you get paid.
It's a great business and backed by a stock market company (Telecom Plus), a dedicated team of advisors.. and me to help you on your way!
Not only do you get paid out every month for each customer you can take on distributors. encourage them like I do and get paid on their sales as well.
One day, say you could made redundant, needed a year off or wanted to retire early can you imagine what joy it is to have the regular income coming in. It's wonderful.
You have to work at it, but if you do genuine repeat wealth could be yours. I did it. You can too. For full details, why not email me at robbiethetrader@aol.com.
An overview is also available at http://www.telecomplus.org.uk/fabdeal you can sign up directly there but do tell me!
****
Trade tables follow! Trades are current open and recently closed trades. Closed trades feature the closing price and the amount I won or lost. All others are open. Trades get updated a little later than the narrative. Trading costs are ignored, however I also do not add in dividend payments and with the kinds of companies I buy, dividends tend to equal or outweigh costs. Spread rollovers ignored for web purposes. Tables as accurate as poss however a mistake or two can creep in and very occasionally if I forgot I sold or bought something it will be added at a later time.