I've never had any previous dealings with brokers and so it's hard to compare London Stone with anybody else. But I'll tell you my story very quickly.

So I started dipping my toe in the stock market in 2019 as a complete novice. I didn't even know what the difference between a stock and a fund was, or what a spread was, or what a market maker did - it was all new to me. At the time I was with Barclays ISA Investments and started trading for myself. I was trying to get to grips with all of it but it was way over my head. I was running limit orders without even understanding what they were. But I wanted to make back for the lost time, and so I just dived in, without any strategy - head first! Well, that didn't end well.

Four years later, I'm down 65% on my portfolio after investing a six-figure sum. Not great! Then earlier this year (2023) I was on the Dividend Data website doing some analysis (as if that was going to help!), and came across the DIP book. 

Then I started watching the videos and read a few articles. Suddenly, I realised all of the mistakes that I had made and was still making. It was like these videos were made just for me. Every single one of those videos had a lesson in them - they're brilliant. I watched them over and over again. Each one explained something really powerful, a little trick or tip, what to do or not to do. It was just what I needed. I'm not a technical kind of guy, I just want somebody to tell me what to do and how to do it, make it simple. And that's what they did.

I could see all the things that I was doing, was actually wrong. It was upside down, back to front! What a mess. So now I'm going back to the start and rebuilding my whole portfolio with what I'm learning.

I like the buzz of investing and cannot wait to get my portfolio back to break-even.  

And with the book and the videos, it's like I'm getting personal mentoring. It's brilliant. And finally I'm starting to see some real progress. It will take a while to make back all of those heavy losses but at least I have a clear path now. Hopefully, one day I can start to enjoy the trading side of things fully and earn money from this side hustle so I can work when I want to rather than when I have to.