I am back with my first post of 2023. In case you were wondering, no I didn’t abandon my stock investments on account of a disappointing 2022. If anything, I was buying more shares throughout last year as stocks went downhill. Here’s a recap of how my stocks performed in … [Read more...] about Year-end 2022 portfolio performance
My Investment Portfolio
What's in my portfolio and why
Near-term returns versus long-term
I admit that my stock portfolio is not doing well this year. Nearly all my major holdings are down by double digits. More than half are down by a third or more. Five are down by 50%. My top 25 holdings make up vast majority of my stock portfolio – about 88% of it. Here is the … [Read more...] about Near-term returns versus long-term
Better to be too early than too late
Stocks went down again in September, this time dropping below the June lows. Year to date, the S&P 500 index is down by about -24%. It is a veritable bear market indeed. In response to the S&P 500 touching new lows, I invested more of my dry powder cash at bargain … [Read more...] about Better to be too early than too late
More stock buys in June
Ken Fisher (founder/CEO of Fisher Investments) recently asked this on Twitter: Is the amount of ink and time spent on [this] “Bear Market” relative to the total time down below -20%—bullish or bearish? He was referring to that short period of time in June-July (about a … [Read more...] about More stock buys in June
Mid-year dry powder update
As the S&P 500 swooned to a new low in late May, down 20% from its peak, I bought more shares. I have now nearly one-third of my dry powder cash invested in stocks. What did I buy? Here’s a list of all my stock purchases since this drawdown began late last year: In my … [Read more...] about Mid-year dry powder update
How my stocks did in 2021?
As promised in my last blog post, here’s a recap of my stock holdings’ performance in 2021. In this post, I will let the charts do most of the talking. For context, see this post for my year-end 2020 performance. For my one-year performance, see below chart. I underperformed … [Read more...] about How my stocks did in 2021?
My top-10 holdings today
This blog post is about my top-ten stock positions—today and since the Covid recession. The pandemic induced economic recession lasted only two months in the USA—from February through April 2020. The resulting bear market in stocks lasted about a month (peak to trough) and then … [Read more...] about My top-10 holdings today
Oaktree’s specialty lending platform
BDCs, like REITs, are income producing investments. Investors don’t expect a lot of share price growth and only modest (if that) dividend growth. They make up for this lack of growth by generating high current yield. For instance, many BDCs today yield between 7% and 9%. In my … [Read more...] about Oaktree’s specialty lending platform
Did you double your money since the recession?
I didn’t! If you have been following the financial media, you must have seen recent headlines like this one: “If you’d bought stocks in March 2020, you would have doubled your money by now”. This one was from Yahoo! Money. There were similar mentions in CNBC, Financial Times, and … [Read more...] about Did you double your money since the recession?
SoftBank – a second look
SoftBank is an enigma for me. On one hand, it has all the traits of an excellent owner-founder run business—the kind that I love to invest in. On the other hand, some of its management’s recent moves have spectacularly failed, making me think twice before investing again. As I … [Read more...] about SoftBank – a second look