Slew
A different perspective?
I never assumed the strawman portfolio to be representative of actual RL investments, mine, or anyone else’s.
In my case my SM folio and RL investments are nothing alike.
- RL: 75% invested in core, solid business’s/25% in speculative growth companies,
- Core positions are held long term, spec positions are actively managed as needed.
- Cash levels increase/decrease on a sleep at night basis and current market conditions, currently 32%.
- Portfolio’s are regularly stress tested for draw down tolerances
- SM folio does not reflect the companies & position sizes I have in RL. I own 3 stocks in RL & SM, in all cases I bought them at a far lower prices than reflected in SM, I added them to monitor straws.
Since premium began, I have wondered if this is disingenuous and if I should move the SM folio to reflect RL, or at least the spec component of it. I did reset my portfolio to 0 when premium started thinking I would become more active in managing it… yeah that didn’t happen.
I use SM as an idea generator and a working watchlist of companies that interest me for a variety of reasons, good and bad. For example, I added CGS, it is a position I have held for a couple of years and wanted to monitor the sudden surge of interest in the stock. Likewise, I added CRYP to monitor comments as I am trying to maintain a rudimentary understanding of the space, but not held in RL.
So why didn’t I use the company follow option instead? Putting it in the portfolio gave me a date and price, a quick reference on the SP performance and a way to see any unread straws I may have missed, it was an easier reference point.
I rarely look at the top companies, the portfolio, or members performances, although I read the straws regularly.
As a group, our investment timelines and risk tolerance would be hugely variable. I have no interest in maintaining a paper folio when my time is better spent elsewhere, there is a level of commitment needed to do it properly. I have been investing for 30+ years, my plan and systems have constantly evolved over that time. However, if I was in my 20’s with a lot less capital, maintaining a SM portfolio could be a good way to help define/fast-track your personal investment process and thesis.
Like @Alpha18 I am very wary of group think and agree with @Vandelay I put no weight on the index
So given my apparent lack of interest in maintaining a “realistic” SM folio I am resetting to 0.
Rick
Ditto @Slew. Strawman has been my research lab for the past 12 months. I’ve learnt a lot from the community about different styles of investing and different perspectives, and have had a lot of fun along the way!
Typically (IRL) I invest in profitable businesses with growing earnings and a high ROE that pay some dividend and are fair value. I sell businesses if they get too pricey. IRL my largest holding is BHP, at one stage it was 50% of my holding. I don’t hold BHP at all in Strawman at the moment. It wasn’t the right time to buy BHP when I joined, in fact I think I was reducing BHP IRL not long after I joined.
To date, I have used Strawman to experiment with unprofitable businesses with high sales growth (the so called ‘growth stocks’). I can’t say I done well out of any of these companies. Most I’ve now sold at a loss. This could be much to do with the timing of joining Strawman (Feb 21) when growth stocks were hot, and exiting with in the era of inflation when unprofitable growth stocks are in the dog house.
Basically, I’ve learnt that I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to unprofitable businesses! I’m mostly a speculator buying a CEOs story about the big sales and profits to come. I seemed to buy the growth stocks where the profits were like the carrot and the donkey. I was the donkey and the carrot seemed get further away with each ASX announcement! :D
So apologies fellow Straw People, I’ve helped to move the index down over the past 6 months! My challenge now is to select stocks to get me back to $100k when I’ve got a -5% handicap! Wishing all Straw People a much smoother ride over the next 6 months!
Cheers
Rick
wtsimis
Not pretty indeed.
We simply don't get these opportunities very often .
Topping up to drive average price lower is what i have been doing in my real life portfolio
Unfortunately capital is limited.
I have really been doing a deep dive into companies whom present long term value and been hit hard .
As a result i have become more concentrated in my portfolio .
Andrew is there a thought to issue a fresh amount of monies for our strawman accounts to deploy eg 50k or 100k?
Just like real life and playing the long game these times are what can drive out performance long term ?