Thread: Up 40.84% for 2011

*** I just realized I put 2011 in the title. Oops. I meant 2010, sorry ***

I have never discussed my investment partnership too much on here but thought I would start a thread with the hopes of helping other current or aspiring investors.

I am also interested in feedback from other investors with their style and trading rules.

With that said, I manage a private investment partnership that finished 2010 up 40.84%.

This is not my first year as I have been an investor for many years, however this is only my 2nd year tracking every aspect of the portfolio and managing others' money.

The portfolio currently has 25 equities and has 18.25% of the assets held in cash.

During 2010, I had 4 negative months and only one month that did not outperform the S&P500.

ATUSF - 7.02%
MO - 5.31%
NLY - 3.35%
BLX - 5.22%
CIM - 5.18%
CBEH - 1.32%
CCME - 2.19%
CCM - 1.33%
XOM - 5.15%
GRS - 1.36%
EWJ - 3.05%
GDX - 2.55%
GDXJ - 4.42%
MCD - 3.39%
MFA - 1.28%
MSFT - 3.89%
PM - 4.26%
PSEC - 1.89%
PUDA - 5.13%
O - 5.84%
V - 2.92%
WMT - 2.36%
WAC - 2.08%
YONG - 1.16%
VGPMX - 3.64%
Cash - 18.25%

You will notice the sum of the assets is greater than 100%. This is due to open options positions held in the portfolio. I use options to generate income and to hedge risk in the portfolio, however I never use leverage (debt) for trading. I also maintain at least 2-3x the amount of my open options positions in cash. This gives a significant margin of error in case the s#%t hits the fan.

You will also notice a large portion of the portfolio in non-US or diversified equities. I am not bullish on the US long term. I am also bearish on the US dollar, thus the gold stocks.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

PS. As a side note, I don't offer any recommendations into the purchase of these equities. Many of them are now well above my 'buy up to' price.

Great performance! Well done.

Have you followed FINRA requirements and/or CFA institute CIPS guideline?
Would be a really nice thing to show that to prospective investors.
VERY few brokers/investment managers can show an independently-audited investment return track record.

I am confused why you are not confident on gold vis a vis your bearish US dollar views. Look at the ten year chart of gold vs the US dollar. Inverse image!
Gold has gone up for a decade and the dollar has gone down for a decade (with standard and normal corrections).

Why would you expect the correlation to unhinge now?

Sweet year in the equities, but not nearly as good as the metals:

2010 Metals performance.
Gold %27.74
Silver %80.28
Platinum %18.08
Palladium %96.77

Best to all in 2011...

Originally Posted by max momo

I am confused why you are not confident on gold vis a vis your bearish US dollar views. Look at the ten year chart of gold vs the US dollar. Inverse image!
Gold has gone up for a decade and the dollar has gone down for a decade (with standard and normal corrections).

Why would you expect the correlation to unhinge now?

Maybe I wasn't clear in the original message. I am bullish on precious metals and bearish on the US dollar. That is why so much of my portfolio is tied to non-US equities and gold.

Originally Posted by GreenHouses

How about you list a couple of basic facts next to each code so we can get a bit of a feel for what your portfolio actually consists of... such as company name, industry, country its based in, market cap.

I tried to post up my spreadsheet showing exactly what you are asking, but it was jumbled up when I previewed the post. To be honest, I just don't have the time to put that much detail into a forum update.

I will say I keep trailing stops (not with a broker, but tracked in a spreadsheet) on each position. The trailing stops range from 10-25% depending on size of position and volatility. This is how I keep my trades unemotional. If they hit my stop, they are sold, period.

My options trading is much more interesting. I sell naked puts on companies I want to buy at a strike price I would like to pay. I also sell put and call spreads on speculative trades like interest rates, various country etf's, gold etf's, and a few companies.