Why did you pick those stocks?

Add up the number of stocks that you have. How much are you spending on transaction costs? What percentage of funds are going towards transaction costs? … The same percentage your portfolio has to perform to get back to zero How can you make this better?

Would you prefer to have 1000 shares at 0.10 or 100 shares 1.00? What is the difference between 10% of 100 and 10% of 100? Did you buy shares just because you could buy many of them? It is the amount of money you invest that matters, rather than the number of shares you have.

Did you buy over, under or fairly valued stocks? Would you expect an overvalued stock to gain in price? Would you expect an undervalued stock to gain in price? Is an undervalued stock guaranteed to increase in price? What do you do?

Have you many of one sector i.e. financials? Do you know anything about the sector that you chose? Is it wise to just invest in one or two sectors? Is it wise to invest just on the basis of sector?

What countries and continents did you buy in? Did you buy just in Ireland? Is it a good idea to stick with one country or area? Is it a good idea to invest in another market, just for the sake of diversification?

Now that you know a lot more about how to pick a portfolio,… go back and do it again.

Why ?