Alistair Blair

Alistair was a freelance contributor to The Investors Chronicle, writing its No Free Lunch column for 15 years and The Investors Chronicle Guide to Charting (still available on Amazon). He wrote for many other publications including a weekly column in The Financial Times. In 1999 he  was voted the Periodical Publisher’s Association Business Writer of the Year. At the same time he was developing a totally unrelated online retail business (thefishsociety.co.uk) which eventually grew to a point demanding his full time attention apart from a few writing assignments. He runs his own pension fund which has a very low turnover and a decent record.

Like my fellow contributors Richard Beddard and Maynard Paton, I buy for the long term. Indeed, glancing through their recommendations, I found several of my own favourite shares. As a retail investor, I’m an outsider but I have found that painstaking research into not just the numbers but also the “feel” of a company, especially its stewardship, can yield good returns.”