Take profits and run

[sapioking]

When I sold my shares two years ago a lot of my colleagues called me crazy because I was taking the tax hit. As a result of recent events this worked out to be a better option and the recent slump in price is a smack in the mouth for RM employees who are ready to sell. If you know anything about stocks & shares, take profits at the earliest opportunity unless you have inside knowledge because the big boys will crush you. Some of you may say let me wait until the price picks up again but you can't predict the future so take what you have and bank it. I've just sold the latest shares that were released even though they were worth £200 more a couple weeks ago...

[worktotime]

When I sold my shares two years ago a lot of my colleagues called me crazy because I was taking the tax hit. As a result of recent events this worked out to be a better option and the recent slump in price is a smack in the mouth for RM employees who are ready to sell. If you know anything about stocks & shares, take profits at the earliest opportunity unless you have inside knowledge because the big boys will crush you. Some of you may say let me wait until the price picks up again but you can't predict the future so take what you have and bank it. I've just sold the latest shares that were released even though they were worth £200 more a couple weeks ago...

how was taking the hit of tax and ni worked out better than now ? as you have lost out on at least 4 dividends payments others have received , and even on the latest price as of today £3.44 would be 2109.00 to sell . and your right nobody can predict shares but me personally will hold on and take the next divi , we got them for nowt so it doesn't make any difference and we all knew this would happen when the 15th October came .

[sapioking]

I sold 613 shares for 500p (£3000), when everyone sells next week the price will likely drop to 300p or even lower (£1800)...the dividend payments were not that significant

[worktotime]

I sold 613 shares for 500p (£3000), when everyone sells next week the price will likely drop to 300p or even lower (£1800)...the dividend payments were not that significant

you got £3000 , so did you get £2084 after tax and ni ? and the last divi was £148 , and the way the shares have gone because of our new leader trying to throw a spanner in the works to affect the price I cant see many people selling but that is just my way of thinking , and I can see the price going up again after that date as I think all the money men on the stock market where hoping to get these for next to nowt ,

[chickenwittle]

When I sold my shares two years ago a lot of my colleagues called me crazy because I was taking the tax hit. As a result of recent events this worked out to be a better option and the recent slump in price is a smack in the mouth for RM employees who are ready to sell. If you know anything about stocks & shares, take profits at the earliest opportunity unless you have inside knowledge because the big boys will crush you. Some of you may say let me wait until the price picks up again but you can't predict the future so take what you have and bank it. I've just sold the latest shares that were released even though they were worth £200 more a couple weeks ago...

No offence but each to their own , will you be back on here after Xmas when the shares are up around £5 again ?

[RobertT]

When I sold my shares two years ago a lot of my colleagues called me crazy because I was taking the tax hit. As a result of recent events this worked out to be a better option and the recent slump in price is a smack in the mouth for RM employees who are ready to sell. If you know anything about stocks & shares, take profits at the earliest opportunity unless you have inside knowledge because the big boys will crush you. Some of you may say let me wait until the price picks up again but you can't predict the future so take what you have and bank it. I've just sold the latest shares that were released even though they were worth £200 more a couple weeks ago...

Have you ever watched Homes Under The Hammer?

After they've renovated their auction property, some people go for the quick profit and sell asap. While others go for the longer term approach and rent their property out, getting someone else to pay the mortgage and possibly giving them an income too.
Both have their pluses and minuses, and holding shares is very similar!

If you sold your 613 free shares at £5.00 each two years ago, the effective price after income tax and NIC's have been deducted would be more like £3.80*, giving you about £2330 in your pocket.

The closing price today(9th Oct) was £3.53, making a difference of about £166 in value.

However if you'd kept those 613 shares for another 2 years, you'll have received about £280 in dividends from them.

So holding onto them would make you around £114 better off today.


*The headline rates for the deduction of income tax and NIC's are 20% and 12% respectively. However, the way these things are worked out, means that some of the sale proceeds would take a 12% hit and the rest only 2%. Details here.

[Hitcher]

They've always dropped off after the lighter summer period and picked up again in the new year after the Christmas period.

[toomuchcoke]

If you know anything about stocks & shares, take profits at the earliest opportunity unless you have inside knowledge because the big boys will crush you.

What dividend producing shares did you invest the proceeds of your sales into, how well has the growth in their dividends matched the Royal Mail's over the last 2 years and how well is it predicted to perform (again versus the Royal Mail) over the next few years? Or did you spend a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars before squandering the rest? Which to be fair, is an entirely acceptable decision to make if that's the way you want to go but it's definitely not the way I want to go!

As it happens I do know at least a little bit about stocks & shares and "take profits at the earliest opportunity" has never been my mantra, it's been "never sell unless forced to" (with a side helping of "reinvest the dividends and aim to retire early off of them").

[loyalsnail]

When I sold my shares two years ago a lot of my colleagues called me crazy because I was taking the tax hit. As a result of recent events this worked out to be a better option and the recent slump in price is a smack in the mouth for RM employees who are ready to sell. If you know anything about stocks & shares, take profits at the earliest opportunity unless you have inside knowledge because the big boys will crush you. Some of you may say let me wait until the price picks up again but you can't predict the future so take what you have and bank it. I've just sold the latest shares that were released even though they were worth £200 more a couple weeks ago...

Have you ever watched Homes Under The Hammer?

After they've renovated their auction property, some people go for the quick profit and sell asap. While others go for the longer term approach and rent their property out, getting someone else to pay the mortgage and possibly giving them an income too.
Both have their pluses and minuses, and holding shares is very similar!

If you sold your 613 free shares at £5.00 each two years ago, the effective price after income tax and NIC's have been deducted would be more like £3.80*, giving you about £2330 in your pocket.

The closing price today(9th Oct) was £3.53, making a difference of about £166 in value.

However if you'd kept those 613 shares for another 2 years, you'll have received about £280 in dividends from them.

So holding onto them would make you around £114 better off today.


*The headline rates for the deduction of income tax and NIC's are 20% and 12% respectively. However, the way these things are worked out, means that some of the sale proceeds would take a 12% hit and the rest only 2%. Details here.

Well said, you are a continued voice of reason and fact on a topically reactionist and scaremongering forum.

[RobertT]

Well said, you are a continued voice of reason and fact on a topically reactionist and scaremongering forum.

Thanks, but I don't always get it right!

A lot of people tend to concentrate on the share price when in comes to the free RM shares. But in reality the dividends are just as important, if not more so.

As long as those dividends keep coming, which I know isn't guaranteed, the share price itself becomes less important over time.

[Celgar]

Well said, you are a continued voice of reason and fact on a topically reactionist and scaremongering forum.

Thanks, but I don't always get it right!

A lot of people tend to concentrate on the share price when in comes to the free RM shares. But in reality the dividends are just as important, if not more so.

As long as those dividends keep coming, which I know isn't guaranteed, the share price itself becomes less important over time.

If RM go back on their aim to increase dividend returns year on year then the share price will likely drop and never come back up. I fear they will follow the example of the privatised water companies and borrow money each year to pay out in dividends to the shareholders. I don't have much confidence in the board to run the business to be honest. Any dividends paid out to shareholders should be based on profits made that year and not numbers drawn out of a hat or what they would like to pay out to shareholders.

[toomuchcoke]

If RM go back on their aim to increase dividend returns year on year then the share price will likely drop and never come back up. I fear they will follow the example of the privatised water companies and borrow money each year to pay out in dividends to the shareholders. I don't have much confidence in the board to run the business to be honest. Any dividends paid out to shareholders should be based on profits made that year and not numbers drawn out of a hat or what they would like to pay out to shareholders.

Say the RM cut, or perhaps merely hold their dividend in some future year and then once whatever caused said "Whoops!" was dealt with go back to increasing their dividends year-on-year again. Why would the RM's share price never recover from such an event, when the share prices of other companies that have previously done the same has recovered?

As far as I'm aware, dividends can only be paid out from profits? Though it can include being paid out of retained profits that where made in previous years, which is fair enough in my opinion. Or did you mean that there should be a fixed percentage (perhaps legally mandated?) of profits that should be paid out of the profits each year regardless of whether the shareholders want a dividend or whether the company feels it could use the money for something else?

[matt76]

When I sold my shares two years ago a lot of my colleagues called me crazy because I was taking the tax hit. As a result of recent events this worked out to be a better option and the recent slump in price is a smack in the mouth for RM employees who are ready to sell. If you know anything about stocks & shares, take profits at the earliest opportunity unless you have inside knowledge because the big boys will crush you. Some of you may say let me wait until the price picks up again but you can't predict the future so take what you have and bank it. I've just sold the latest shares that were released even though they were worth £200 more a couple weeks ago...

Share prices can and do recover, added to that all the divi’s that you’ve missed out in the past and in the future suggests to me that your colleagues were right.... Appreciate financial circumstances are different for everyone..

[mickeymacca]

If RM go back on their aim to increase dividend returns year on year then the share price will likely drop and never come back up. I fear they will follow the example of the privatised water companies and borrow money each year to pay out in dividends to the shareholders. I don't have much confidence in the board to run the business to be honest. Any dividends paid out to shareholders should be based on profits made that year and not numbers drawn out of a hat or what they would like to pay out to shareholders.

Say the RM cut, or perhaps merely hold their dividend in some future year and then once whatever caused said "Whoops!" was dealt with go back to increasing their dividends year-on-year again. Why would the RM's share price never recover from such an event, when the share prices of other companies that have previously done the same has recovered?

As far as I'm aware, dividends can only be paid out from profits? Though it can include being paid out of retained profits that where made in previous years, which is fair enough in my opinion. Or did you mean that there should be a fixed percentage (perhaps legally mandated?) of profits that should be paid out of the profits each year regardless of whether the shareholders want a dividend or whether the company feels it could use the money for something else?

I think I read that RM are committed to increasing the dividend, although I would n't be surprised if the interim payment in January is reduced. It was also stated that all 'short term levers' would be used to reverse this decline, that is open to interpretation, but in my opinion could be alluding to the reduction in the interim payment.

I think one of the issues with the 'blip', could be if RM falls out of the FTSE100, that can result in funds that track the FTSE100 obviously replacing it and could lead to further decline in the price. However its all a confidence game, and with the good period in front of us, I think (like you?) that the price will climb quite a bit, and actually represents an opportunity to provide a return on capital as well as being a reliable dividend that it has been since it was launched. I'm new to investing so would be interested to hear what your views are?

[vigilante]

Well said, you are a continued voice of reason and fact on a topically reactionist and scaremongering forum. (loyalsnail)


When you have been in RM so long as I have and have experienced their alleged, dirty ways, you see why there are so many militants aboard here.
By the way, look up reactionist!...right wing?