Selftrade's 10th Birthday Quiz Results
To celebrate our first 10 years as a leading online Stockbroker we held a quiz to win an iPad. We’d like to say thank you to all 3,000 of you who entered our Birthday Quiz, in particular, to those who thought up inventive and original words that we’ll be sure to use in the next decade.
The winner of the Birthday Quiz is Mr D Jackson who scooped the iPad prize with his tie break answer. The winning word selected by the Quizmaster which he deemed likely to be used in the next decade is:
Priveteer: a hedge fund manager
See runner up tie-break answers
Find out the answers
Appfrapp - used to describe a work-break trip to a coffee house. Traditionally refers to a quick visit by a high-flying city type. Will usually involve drinking a Frappuccino and playing with their latest toys from Apple. Use: "These spreadsheets are driving me crazy. I'm just popping out for an appfrapp”
Austertunity - this is defined as a business or investment opportunity that arises out of the nation's austerity
Binventry - with the increase in recycling, the monitoring of the contents of your rubbish disposal.
coalicious - (co-a-licious) - how the relationship between the Lib Dems and Tories will be described during the next decade or possibly coabolical - (co-a-bolical) - how the relationship between the Lib Dems and Tories will be described during the next decade
Hardigan - a difficult to knit jumper
Obummer - unpopular American President
Slavatar - a person stuck in a computer based virtual existence in preference to the real world. The glossy virtual worlds trap people with real world problems that only get worse during their escapism.
Appy - the way you feel after finding the perfect app for your phone
Mothkat - synonym for a hard working dad (stands for Mortgaged to the Hilt, Kids, Always Tired)
For those of you who got stuck, here are the answers to our Birthday Quiz. Remember, that the first letter of each answer made up a relevant phrase:
The Rolling Stones went first in the first, in 1964. They also went first in the last, in 2006. Which British music institution?
Top of The Pops
Since 2002, what have featured fictional windows or gateways on the front, and fictional bridges on the back?
Euro bank notes (NOT coins)
In 2008, what did Blackpool-born Jodie Prenger win the right to play?
Nancy (in the West End production of Oliver!)
Which technology start-up, founded by three former PayPal employees in 2005, was bought by Google a year later for a reported $1.65billion?
YouTube
Which Houston-based energy company saw its stock plummet from $90 per share in 2000 to less than $1per share in November 2001?
Enron
In November, 2006, who left the Piccadilly branch of sushi restarant Itsu with lethal amounts of polonium-210 in his body?
Alexander Litvinenko
At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, who was the “skip” of the Great Britain Gold Medal-winning women’s curling team?
Rhona Martin
First issued in 2003, what is now used in more than 80% of all journeys run by Transport for London?
Oyster Card
Since 2008, Switzerland can lay claim to having the coldest place on Earth. What is its name?
Large Hadron Collider
Who spent most of September and October 2003 in a Plexiglass box, suspended 30 ft above the south bank of the Thames?
David Blaine
Selftrade's First Decade
It has been ten years since an ambitious start up called Comdirect launched in London, competing with a whole host of new online brokers, including one by the name of Self-Trade with which, years later, it would merge. While this small subsidiary of the German Commerzbank predicted at launch that the industry would consolidate, those who moved into the Crossharbour office in 2000 were determined that this business would be one of the survivors. And it has not only survived but also prospered over an extraordinary decade for markets, the global economy and the self directed investor Selftrade champions to this day.
The birth of online brokers in Britain coincided with the dot com bubble which not only engaged a new army of private investors but also taught many of them important lessons about managing their portfolios. Indeed, such lessons learned a decade ago, stood Selftrade clients in good stead during the volatile times of the credit crunch of 2008 and subsequent turbulence. And it is these two great market events which represent the bookends of Selftrade's first ten years. Comdirect launched just as the tech bubble burst making that first year a tough one for the fledgling business but perhaps not as tough as its over-stretched competitors or even nervous shareholders across the country. Comdirect built a great relationship with its customers and a great reputation for its ‘fair deal policy' of open, transparent pricing. At the end of the decade, the confidence of self directed investors to weather and indeed profit from the financial crisis is testament to what these pioneers of online broking did to make investing affordable, straightforward and understandable to provide data and tools once the preserve of the professional.
Already on the third US President and British Prime Minister of this decade, the great events of these years have had a fundamental impact upon investors and their portfolios. These included the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York which saw markets around the world freefall and with the FTSE100 dropping below 4500; Wall Street never opened that dark day and when the bell was rung again six days later, the Dow suffered its biggest ever one day loss (at the time), falling 684 points. The 7/7 2005 attacks on London were a similar story, all the more pertinent for staff getting into work on a day which also launched the new and briefly held name ‘Squaregain' following an institutional buyout. Here though the FTSE recovered its early losses by the end of a turbulent trading session.
Read more...
This has certainly been an eventful decade for the FTSE 100 which despite a somewhat dramatic change in composition and bouts of pessimism and optimism in not so equal measure has never been as high as the near 7000 points it touched on 31 December 1999. And as troops entered Iraq in March 2003, the index fell to 3287. It recovered of course, re-establishing the 5000 level within two years. Another two years and it was back above 6700. But the credit crunch made 2009 a volatile year, dragging it to a low of 3512 although putting on almost a fifth by the end of the twelve months. For investors with sound judgement, there were good profits to be made.
This decade has been about more than the FTSE. Ten years ago, portfolios were almost entirely domestically focused but years of globalisation has meant that for investment strategies to be optimal requires exposure to the best the world has to offer. The Chinese, Brazilian and Indian markets, for instance, have seen a threefold increase in valuations over the period, reflecting phenomenal economic growth. And it has been Selftrade which pioneered the bringing of new and innovative products to market, giving investors access to these indices and sectors. These have included index tracking ETFs and more speculative instruments such as Covered Warrants and Turbos.
And what of the next decade for self directed investors? Technology is back as a sector though not the over-valued companies of ten years ago. Now it is green technology, clean energy and sustainable infrastructure which have established a powerful trend in uncertain times. Investors will continue to stretch their tentacles into the four corners of the world supported by ever more refined products and instruments. And retail trader technology will continue to get better, faster and more sophisticated. Here's to the next ten years.
Timeline
2001
- Limit orders for up to 90 days and stop loss orders launched
- Flat £12.50 dealing fee for online and phone trades
2002
- SIPP Dealing account launched
- First UK broker to offer straight through dealing online in covered warrants, enabling customers to obtain a live quote and trade immediately
2003
- Cripps/Fieldings Investment Management - Discretionary Investment Management launched
2004
- Lloyds TSB Shareview Dealing nominee launched
2005
- Capita SIPP Services - FIXML-based SIPP service launched
2006
- Standard Life Savings/FNZ - FIXML-based service in support of Standard Life Wrap launched
2007
- Barclays Global Investors - PA Dealing platform launched
2008
- First to launch mobile share dealing service in UK
- Introduction of Regular Investment option
2010
- Launch of dividend reinvestment facility
;)
Read more...
;)
See runner up tie-break answers;)
Find out the answers