In 2000 I founded t1ps.com and over 12 years, up until May 2012, served up 241 tips which delivered an average gain of 42.7% with an average holding period of 35 months.

For ther last few years at t1ps I worked alongside a brilliant young analyst Steve Moore who I recruited direct from University. In September 2012 I left t1ps. A month later on a matter of principle Steve also left. I launched the Nifty Fifty in November 2012 and two months later Steve agreed to come on board. The entire team that delivered the results from t1ps is now working on the Nifty Fifty. No-one else can claim credit for the successes of t1ps ( or take blame for its bad recommendations and like all sites we had a few) but Steve and myself.

But the Nifty Fifty is NOT a tipsheet. If you want a constant diet of share t1ps produced simply because a publication promises x share tips a year go somewhere else – try t1ps.com or Red Hot Penny Shares if you wish. The pressure to deliver a tip by a certain deadline forces one to make marginal calls. Steve and I have learned from our mistakes and are not interested in doing that.

The Nifty Fifty also sees me link up the UK’s most cerebral short seller Lucian Miers. More on that later. For my part, I will instead of tipping shares, create and track five model portfolios of 10 stocks each: Growth, Income, Gold, Recovery and Penny share. In each company a nominal £1000 is invested at the offer price and, if sold, it will be sold at the bid price.

I started with a blank canvas. Each week Steve and I introduce at least one new stock into the portfolios until all five are fully loaded. That should happen by June 2013. Some of the stocks we have covered before, others not. As we introduce each stock into the portfolio we will explain what it does and why we think it will make money for the portfolio.

Upon significant news from any stock in the portfolio we will provide a detailed commentary explaining that news and how it impacts our assessment of the value of the stock.

We reserve the right to run a 100% cash position in a given portfolio if we feel that is appropriate. We certainly would not do so at present.

Each portfolio will be shown on the website with live prices and an up to date valuation.

We aim to serve up a diet of video interviews with the men and women who run the companies in the Nifty Fifty.

And every few months we will assemble 3 or 4 of these CEOs to present their case in an evening at the Real Man Pizza Company in Clerkenwell and invite only members of this site to come along and quiz them directly.

We will also publish on a weekly basis, “A short letter.” That is where Lucian comes in. Each week he will highlight a stock where he is short, explaining exac tly why he is short and where he sees the shares going.

And now and again the short letter will appear in video format – Lucian and I in conversation. That video will appear ONLY on this site.

And I shall serve up a weekend editorial here, as I did every seven days for 12 years on t1ps.

So to recap our “Nifty Fifty” is not a tipsheet. Steve and I are not offering share tips or giving investment advice in the way you might have expected. This site is not offering investment advice as you may see elsewhere. I just do not think that is an effective way of communicating ideas. Tipsheets are cheap and cheerful. The Nifty Fifty is rather more serious and offers:

* 5 model portfolios carefully assembled with the rationale behind each new entrant explained: Growth, income, gold, recovery and penny share ( by which I mean companies valued at less than £20 million).

* Detailed updates on any significant news from a portfolio member.

* A weekly short letter looking at sectors or stocks where Lucian sees mammoth downside. Lucian will be writing two or three of the short letters and we will do a joint video once a month looking at a few topical issues.

* A weekly editorial on wider market themes.

* CEO videos, where I hope that Nifty Fifty members will tell me what they wish to ask.

* Regular chances to meet the CEOs of the companies we follow in exclusive members only events.

If you have questions for me, feel free to email me at any stage on tomat49@gmail.com

I hope that you enjoy reading this website as much as Steve, Lucian and I enjoy writing it.

Tom Winnifrith