How did it go? Did you not find that too much changes over six years for the research to still be relevant?
Not bad overall, but it's not for the faint. Need to have patience really, I picked a bad time to start i.e. just when the markets dived at the end of 2008. The first 6 months were bad down 50%, however after 18 months was 200% up. My target was just to make more than the interest the bank would pay on savings, not that I used all my savings only a 'small' amount. So I set a figure of at least 10% up per year and tried to stick to it.
The research never becomes irrelevant, however the 6 years I spent looking at shares were the boom years. So when 2009 came round an the FTSE plummeted (actually the worst was between Sept '08 - March '09), hence I looked into what happened in the 80's/90's 'crashes', not that it was going to be same this time round (that's a whole lot more research into the present financial state/prospects of companies, etc).
In the end I've made more than I put in and exceeded my 10% target by some margin, but I pretty much pulled out last year. Don't have the time to do the research, while holding down a full-time job. The funny thing is I had two lists one was safe investments and the second was risky ones, basically just lists of companies I considered would be profitable in future. I always chose from the safe list, had I have chosen from the risky list; I'd have made a lot more, multiple times more. Was asked if that bothered me, not choosing from the risky list; but as I'd followed a plan and can't say it has.
I still keep an eye on the FTSE, just not enough to actually know enough to buy in again (at the momeny). I do though still maintain one list, titled 'companies that will still be here in a hundred years'. Might have another go in a few years time or sooner