We entered the final quarter of 2015 in confident fashion last week with all four of our investment portfolios showing signs of stabilising after enduring some of the toughest stock market trading in recent history.

True, our performance over the previous three months was nothing to write home about with the total value of our four investment portfolios showing a 2.25 per cent drop to just more than £34,000 when we carried out our review of progress on Wednesday morning.

But that was considerably better than a near 9.0 per cent slide in the valuation of the benchmark Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 share index over the same period as investors took fright over the Chinese economic slowdown and America's continued dithering over interest rates.

The out-performance was a direct result of our ruthless stop-loss policy where we sell any share which has fallen 10 per cent from previous peaks and put the proceeds into reserves before deciding on any re-investment.

The policy saw us ditch no fewer than 10 disappointing shares in the last quarter, including heavyweights WPP, Experian, Compass, Rio-Tinto, Lloyds, FirstGroup and Croda as well as smaller companies such as Carrs. Mears and Parkmead.

Much of the cash was re-invested in companies less concerned with prospects for global trade and commodity prices such as Young & Co, the Restaurant Group, Bookers, Tracsis, Cambian and National Grid although we also made a notional purchase of shares in international operators Rentokil and Reckitt Benckiser which both have a range of must-have products and share healthy balance sheets.

We continued the process last week when we sold our notional holding in luxury wallpapers group Walker Greenbank at a healthy profit after the shares slipped back to our published stop loss target after a good run.

The sale was balanced balanced by a purchase of shares in banking newcomer Aldermore which is enjoying increased efficiencies through the rapid growth of its mortgage business and loans to small business and has none of the legacy problems from past abuses associated with its bigger rivals.