One of the first websites we turn to each day is the ‘Portfolio Investor’, which details the ongoing progress of one man’s real-life quest to make money betting through tipsters.
Run by SBC member, Rowan, his entertaining blog openly shares on the tipsters he follows, the profits being made and just how he juggles his betting around the demands of modern life.
Curious to find out more, we recently interviewed Rowan to find out just what makes him tick. Below are a few excerpts from our recently published interview:
SBC: Why did you choose betting over other forms of investment such as the stock market?
Rowan: Well I did try the stock market for a while with an ISA or two, and quite frankly over eight years, the returns were pitiful. In fact one of them was showing a loss. I couldn’t help but think that betting, although higher risk of course, had a lot more potential because of the ability to turn over your bank much more frequently. I actually used the money from the ISAs to provide the funds for my betting bank. Inspired or foolish? Not too sure, but I have no regrets so far!
SBC: Describe your approach to betting, how do you decide upon the make-up of your portfolio and the services you join?
Rowan: I’ve learnt over time that I don’t do losing spells well. I have the sort of personality which dictates that I would rather make a long term 8% ROI with relatively few massive downs than a 15% that comes at the cost of having to ride a rollercoaster of huge highs and depressing lows. Thus over time, I’ve learnt to go primarily with services that demonstrate higher strike rates and shorter losing runs. I’ve learnt that the shrewd use of Asian Handicaps can make the path we tread smoother too, so perhaps I pay more attention to services that use this angle in their betting.
I simply look for services which display characteristics that the SBC have taught me to look for. Transparency of results, long term record, customer service, and of course value for money are all boxes I look to see ticked now before subscribing to a service. Of course the reports in the SBC mags have all this info to hand – I still think that even as the SBC has grown over the years, its core strength remains it’s tipster reports.
I still look to maintain diversity and where I am now with the portfolio is that I need to look at what a new service might provide that isn’t already provided for. For example, I’d be reluctant to sign up to a service providing tips in the top leagues in Europe and gives out about 100 bets per season as I already have a service that does just that.
So, identify a hole in the portfolio, and then look to see what might fill it. That’s my strategy now.
SBC: Where do we at SBC come in? You have been a long-term member of the service, can you remember when and why you first joined?
Rowan: Put it this way. Without the SBC, I wouldn’t now have a portfolio of services to run, and there wouldn’t be a blog to write. So it’s fair to say the SBC have had a fundamental influence on my life, which sounds rather dramatic!
In a nutshell, I have learnt almost everything I know about sports investing from the SBC. That covers everything from identifying a worthwhile service, to staking, to bank management ,to handling the psychological ups and downs, and everything in between.
Why did I join the SBC? I remember finding them on the internet and my first thought was that it must be a scam. It must have been a good few months between my becoming aware of them and actually joining up.
SBC: Now the critical questions – just how successful has your betting been for you through using tipsters?
Rowan: I’d say satisfactorily successful up to now, but I’m confident that my performance levels will improve further.
Look, I made mistakes with my betting, even with guidance from the SBC, and ultimately mistakes in this game are punished – quite simply your profit levels suffer. It’s taken time to get to the point where I’m completely happy with the make-up of my portfolio, with my staking, with the psychological demands my portfolio places on me. Like anything, you get better with practice and experience. I’m a better gambler now than I was this time last year, and I feel I’m on a completely different level to the one I was at two years ago. That’s not to say I’ve made it. I certainly haven’t, and I would anticipate that in twelve months time, I will be able to say with justification that I am better at it than I am now.
My target ROI has always been 10% across the portfolio. I’m getting there now but for a long time I was running at about 5-6%.
12. Do you feel the time involved to date has been worth the financial reward? Do you plan to stick with following tipsters in the future?
Yes, and yes. As far as the financial reward, I’m at the stage now whereby the additional income does make a difference to my life, so the work involved now is certainly worth it.
Read More From The Portfolio Investor
You can read our full 2-part interview with Rowan as an SBC member with part 1 now available and part 2 due to be published in the next fortnight.
In the full interview, you can read more on the make-up of his betting portfolio, the practicalities of following tipsters and his advice for others looking to copy him.
You can gain access to all of this and more with a Smart Betting Club membership.
