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Help to take stock of dealing with shares
THE ARGUS - 15/02/05

By James Lancaster

In the late Nineties Alan Green hit the jackpot on the stock market. He made enough money to quit a well-paid job in marketing and launch his own business. It sounds like one of those dreams come true - like winning the lottery or scoring a last-minute winner for Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup Final. Yet Alan was just an ordinary punter who invested in the right shares - in this case telecoms and software companies - at the right time.

"I had no expertise," he insists, "just a clear idea about where I thought these companies were going - and they did. It wasn't rocket science."

Now Alan runs ShareCrazy.com, an online share trading company which prides itself on taking the mystery and jargon out of buying and selling shares. Visitors to the website are guided through the process by Joe Public - a cartoon character dreamt up by Alan when he was putting the site together. Dressed casually in T-shirt and jeans, Joe represents the Every-man, selling the idea that anyone with a bit of disposable cash can have a dabble on the markets.

Rewards

Alan says: "There is mysticism which surrounds the stock market, people often scratch their chins and says, 'but I might lose a lot of money'.

"Well, there are risks and you should never invest what you can't afford to lose, but if you invest wisely the rewards can be great.

"The site is about empowering the private investor. If you go through an investment trust some fat suit in the city will cream off most of your profits."

"Web site offers advice to the average punter on right investments"

Alan launched ShareCrazy.com in 2000 after reading Armchair Tycoon, a collection of hundreds of stock market tips by author and Radio 4 journalist Malcolm Stacey. The book is aimed at the "man on the street" and explains how to play the stock market in the words of a man who made several millions doing just that. It was a lack of obfuscating jargon that appealed to Alan, who plucked up the courage to approach Malcolm when he was looking for investors to back ShareCrazy.com. Malcolm loved the concept of Joe Public and agreed to invest in Alan's company. The author is now a co-director of Sharecrazy.com and writes a regular column for the website.

ShareCrazy, which is run out of an office at the Sussex Innovation Centre in Falmer, has gained a large and loyal following. Currently ShareCrazy has 2500 active and serious day traders using the trading facility, while casual punters and novice traders are subscribing to the site at a rate of four or five an hour. The site provides daily shares content for Yahoo Finance and The Sun websites with Joe Public - who comes in several guises including Super Joe and Hyper Joe - ever present.

Alan's fascination with the stock market began when he joined a company shares scheme with his previous employers, Thompson Directories. During his 17 years with the company he honed his marketing skills and grew to appreciate the value of having a company mascot.

"When I worked for Thompson I was able to see how a brand - in their case a cat - could help a business move forward. It became central to their business.

"So I am a strong believer in brands and if you go on to the bulletin boards on our website you can see how strong a brand Joe Public has become.

"People ask for his advice - to them he has become a real person."

Temptation

A keen fan of the Seagulls (and Tottenham Hotspur) Alan draws parallels between pouring over the football results and catching up with share prices.

"Because its a website there is always something happening and the temptation is always there just to check what's going on. It does become addictive."

Not that he doesn't find time for other things. Until last year he was a football referee and coach of the under-16s team, Brighton Dynamos. He used to play a bit himself but admits the theory about poor footballers becoming referees holds more water than the pitch at Withdean. ShareCrazy has developed close links with the Albion and Alan is not afraid to put his two-penny's worth in about the stadium crisis hanging over the club.

"I was baffled by how, after all the time and money it took to put the case for Falmer, all it took was one planning inspector to pull the rug from under the whole thing.

"Speaking as a seaon-ticket holder, I would have thought more effort would have been made to ensure the planning inspector's visit would have been a rubber-stamping exercise.

"It would be great is a stadium was built in Falmer, because I wouldn't miss any night matches but the whole thing just seems to be going on and on."

There is a signed Albion football shirt on Alan's desk and pictures of various players on the wall. If you ever needed proof that normal blokes can win on the stock market, here it is. It turns out that he left school at 16 and trained to be a policeman before opting for a life on Civvy Street. It was a decision that seems to have paid dividends. I leave his office fancying a dabble on the markets myself.

www.theargus.co.uk

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