Your 2014 portfolio return

[CorpRaider]

Fidelity finally updated the performance page with the Dec 31, 2014 numbers. I posted this last year when I had an exceptional year, so I'll post it again this year when I under-performed the market by quite a bit.

 

Nicely done.  Do you find Fido to be accurate in computing the returns?

[rkbabang]

Fidelity finally updated the performance page with the Dec 31, 2014 numbers. I posted this last year when I had an exceptional year, so I'll post it again this year when I under-performed the market by quite a bit.

 

Nicely done.  Do you find Fido to be accurate in computing the returns?

 

I think it is fairly accurate.  I figured it out myself a few years ago and got reasonably close to the Fidelity number.  I take out money rarely, if ever, and only add a few times per year.  My accounts are all for separate things (IRA, taxable brokerage, ROTH IRA, my wife's ROTH IRA, the kids UTMA accounts, etc, so I never move money back and forth between them, just deposit money from the outside into the appropriate account.  I think the calculation is pretty straight forward.

 

 

[rkbabang]

Congrats, extremely impressive. Would you mind sharing your strategy roughly? Microcap / large cap? US / international? 5 positions or 50 positions? Heavy turnover? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to get a general gist of what you are doing.

 

I wish I could say that I have some magic formula (because that would mean that those over-sized returns are going to continue), but they are mostly from a handful of really good ideas that I had which all happened to work out.  So I guess a some good ideas and a good dose of luck too.

 

I was shadowing Biglari for a while. I put a large amount into Friendly's and made out great when it got taken private. I invested a huge amount into SNS around its low point.  I owned WEST for years as well.  I also made out well with the MIDD / OVEN buy-out.  The market was pricing OVEN as if the deal was going to fall apart and I was confident that it wouldn't.  It went through as agreed upon and I made out very well.  I posted that idea to the old MSN board and I know a few people thanked me for it.  That happened during the financial crises and I also happened to have a large Fairfax position at the time, so I didn't do too badly at a time when everyone else was losing their shirts.  Then the last few years it was my large leveraged BAC position that made 2013 a huge year.

I tend to stay 100% invested, using BRK and FFH as a place to park my money when I have no other ideas.

 

Unfortunately after BAC plays itself out fully, I have no idea what is next.  I'll just put it in BRK, FFH, and maybe PRDGF until the next big idea comes along.

 

I've been extremely lucky that everything I've gone big into has worked out so far <knocking on wood>.  I've had a lot of smaller positions that haven't over the years.

 

[oddballstocks]

Fidelity finally updated the performance page with the Dec 31, 2014 numbers. I posted this last year when I had an exceptional year, so I'll post it again this year when I under-performed the market by quite a bit.

 

Nicely done.  Do you find Fido to be accurate in computing the returns?

 

I think it is fairly accurate.  I figured it out myself a few years ago and got reasonably close to the Fidelity number.  I take out money rarely, if ever, and only add a few times per year.  My accounts are all for separate things (IRA, taxable brokerage, ROTH IRA, my wife's ROTH IRA, the kids UTMA accounts, etc, so I never move money back and forth between them, just deposit money from the outside into the appropriate account.  I think the calculation is pretty straight forward.

 

As long as you don't invest in international equities they are accurate.  If you have an account with $1000 and invest $200 in a German stock Fidelity counts the $200 as a withdrawal and only computes performance on the remaining $800.  If you sell the stock and put it back in to dollars it's considered a deposit.  I keep a lot of my cash in foreign cash, which to Fidelity means it has disappeared.

[kirkomi]

Ok, so this is interesting. I was up 6% last year and I lost 15% of my portfolio today ... because of the EUR/CHF peg.

[tombgrt]

Ok, so this is interesting. I was up 6% last year and I lost 15% of my portfolio today ... because of the EUR/CHF peg.

 

Awch. Other way around for me. Was down a good 15% for 2014 and up over 15% again. Long live concentrated portfolios. ;x

[rkbabang]

 

As long as you don't invest in international equities they are accurate.  If you have an account with $1000 and invest $200 in a German stock Fidelity counts the $200 as a withdrawal and only computes performance on the remaining $800.  If you sell the stock and put it back in to dollars it's considered a deposit.  I keep a lot of my cash in foreign cash, which to Fidelity means it has disappeared.

 

I don't have that problem.  I've owned foreign companies which I could trade in the US, either ADR or pinksheets, but I've never made a trade on a foreign exchange.

 

[Ham Hockers]

Fidelity finally updated the performance page with the Dec 31, 2014 numbers. I posted this last year when I had an exceptional year, so I'll post it again this year when I under-performed the market by quite a bit.

 

Nicely done.  Do you find Fido to be accurate in computing the returns?

 

I think it is fairly accurate.  I figured it out myself a few years ago and got reasonably close to the Fidelity number.  I take out money rarely, if ever, and only add a few times per year.  My accounts are all for separate things (IRA, taxable brokerage, ROTH IRA, my wife's ROTH IRA, the kids UTMA accounts, etc, so I never move money back and forth between them, just deposit money from the outside into the appropriate account.  I think the calculation is pretty straight forward.

 

As long as you don't invest in international equities they are accurate.  If you have an account with $1000 and invest $200 in a German stock Fidelity counts the $200 as a withdrawal and only computes performance on the remaining $800.  If you sell the stock and put it back in to dollars it's considered a deposit.  I keep a lot of my cash in foreign cash, which to Fidelity means it has disappeared.

 

I think Fidelity also records dividends on a cash basis? I think most pro return figures including indices will be on an accrued basis.