Santayana Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 the dow was up over 8% and the s & p was up over 2%. ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynamicPerception Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Up 5.31% thanks to FFH for the increase. 100% cash at present. Recently upgraded some real estate. Waiting to see what 2012 brings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraven Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Up 3.9%. I attribute it primarily to having the ordinary intelligence that Buffett refers to and not having to worry about whether having a 160 IQ can in fact beat a130 IQ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Up 3.9%. I attribute it primarily to having the ordinary intelligence that Buffett refers to and not having to worry about whether having a 160 IQ can in fact beat a130 IQ. Ordinary is, by definition, 100 IQ :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShahKhezri Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Up 10%. What worked: Shorts: NFLX, CRM (shorted it 3x), LULU, FOSL, VXX, MGM, WGO, BC, RST. Longs: Started the year heavily in FFH (which I look at as cash) and bought a very meaningful position in MKL at $355, Visa at $71, VRSK, VRX. In November, initiated a 5% position in MBI-February $10 calls after reading the 3Q11 CC and hearing Jay Brown pretty much hint at big announcements. Selling Puts: Sold a lot of puts on Dell at $14, MBI at $7, Visa at $70, $72.50 and recently with RIMM at $12. Getting Lucky: About 20% of the portfolio was in WMT and MSFT, with covered calls at $55 and $25, respectively. In July, I was called out and with an unexpected August drop in the markets, it worked out. This year, I sold puts on SHLD 3x, at $75 (collected $3, bought back at $0.78), at $67.5 (collected $1.35, expired), and at $60 (collected $2.20, bought back at $.55). Backed off from selling puts on SHLD in July as I feared that he would be less likely to repurchase shares given the fixed charge coverage limitations. I definitely got lucky with this one. But I'm back to selling puts on SHLD starting last Wed. What didn't work: Long: a 20% position in BAC at $8.50, resulted in 10% damage to the portfolio. I don't think I made a lot of mistakes with understanding the situation, because I know BAC was hit twice for reasons that I could never foresee: 1. The $5 fee PR fiasco. 2. Systems outage. Shorts: I was short some REIT's PSA/SPG/VNO. The trade worked successfully, closed it. Euro bailout, they rally, re-short and didn't work. The dividend headwind also limits upside. Still think most REIT's are WAY overvalued, but in a 0% interest world, people have to chase yields somewhere. Shorted CMG $320, that didn't work. Over trading: Bought GOOG at $495, sold it two weeks later at $522. I sold because I only purchase 1/8 of what I wanted. Bought MA at $305, sold it at $315, same story as GOOG and not being able to build a full position. Selling Puts: Wanted to own AAP, got cute with it and sold puts instead at $55, next thing I know the stock was at $63. All in all, probably looking at 150% turnover in 2011, going to be A LOT less in 2012 as my core holdings in FFH, V, MKL, VRSK, VRX, Y are about 85% of the portfolio and I plan to hold them for a very long time, RBA/CHK/MBI/LVS/ARCO the rest. I will sell 1/5th of my remaining FFH position post dividend as my industry exposure to insurance with the addition of MKL/Y and less so with VRSK is high. I have a lot of friends that still work in the insurance industry and I don't think I have any other group of friends that are as excited/optimistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Hester Posted December 31, 2011 Share Posted December 31, 2011 Up 10%. What worked: Shorts: NFLX, CRM (shorted it 3x), LULU, FOSL, VXX, MGM, WGO, BC, RST. Longs: Started the year heavily in FFH (which I look at as cash) and bought a very meaningful position in MKL at $355, Visa at $71, VRSK, VRX. In November, initiated a 5% position in MBI-February $10 calls after reading the 3Q11 CC and hearing Jay Brown pretty much hint at big announcements. Selling Puts: Sold a lot of puts on Dell at $14, MBI at $7, Visa at $70, $72.50 and recently with RIMM at $12. Getting Lucky: About 20% of the portfolio was in WMT and MSFT, with covered calls at $55 and $25, respectively. In July, I was called out and with an unexpected August drop in the markets, it worked out. This year, I sold puts on SHLD 3x, at $75 (collected $3, bought back at $0.78), at $67.5 (collected $1.35, expired), and at $60 (collected $2.20, bought back at $.55). Backed off from selling puts on SHLD in July as I feared that he would be less likely to repurchase shares given the fixed charge coverage limitations. I definitely got lucky with this one. But I'm back to selling puts on SHLD starting last Wed. What didn't work: Long: a 20% position in BAC at $8.50, resulted in 10% damage to the portfolio. I don't think I made a lot of mistakes with understanding the situation, because I know BAC was hit twice for reasons that I could never foresee: 1. The $5 fee PR fiasco. 2. Systems outage. Shorts: I was short some REIT's PSA/SPG/VNO. The trade worked successfully, closed it. Euro bailout, they rally, re-short and didn't work. The dividend headwind also limits upside. Still think most REIT's are WAY overvalued, but in a 0% interest world, people have to chase yields somewhere. Shorted CMG $320, that didn't work. Over trading: Bought GOOG at $495, sold it two weeks later at $522. I sold because I only purchase 1/8 of what I wanted. Bought MA at $305, sold it at $315, same story as GOOG and not being able to build a full position. Selling Puts: Wanted to own AAP, got cute with it and sold puts instead at $55, next thing I know the stock was at $63. All in all, probably looking at 150% turnover in 2011, going to be A LOT less in 2012 as my core holdings in FFH, V, MKL, VRSK, VRX, Y are about 85% of the portfolio and I plan to hold them for a very long time, RBA/CHK/MBI/LVS/ARCO the rest. I will sell 1/5th of my remaining FFH position post dividend as my industry exposure to insurance with the addition of MKL/Y and less so with VRSK is high. I have a lot of friends that still work in the insurance industry and I don't think I have any other group of friends that are as excited/optimistic. Interesting post. I was/am short a basket of REIT's too (as well as Rosetta Stone), although lower quality REIT's in my opinion. Unlike frauds or obsolscence, even overvalued REIT's do produce some economic value, which comes in the form of a dividend which is a headwind as you mention. But the yield chasing is ridiculous, and risk is getting thrown out the window on many names. It's been my experience that people investing for dividends are generally less sophisticated anyways. I could list a half dozen names who are just selling stock and using some or all of it to just raise the dividend, and are seeing their share prices soar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuhndan Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Down 5 percent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treasurehunt Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I am down 10% this year. The rout in financials was responsible for practically all of my underperformance. On a positive note, the IV of my portfolio is at an all time high! :-) A Happy New Year to everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uccmal Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 This year down 34% 7 yr. Cagr: 26% The bad: rimm leaps, GE leaps, BAC leaps, BAC common, wfc warrants, bby leaps, ssw, mfc, slf, other small positions of small caps. Obviously the leverage of leaps has worked against me this year. The neutral: ssw- bought a whack more to arbitrage after proxy came out, mtl, pd, rbs preferreds, ylo preferreds, Cfx, sfk Positives: ffh, Bce, Present position - most leaps have been significantly reduced in value. The bets are now all asymetric, except rim which I sold out. I.e. A 10% drop of the underlying common will not cost me a further 10 % on leap positions, where a 10 % increase will result in an overall gain of 30-50%. Ffh is well - my better than cash position and I won't be parting with the position below 800/ share. Planning to tender some ssw next week to solidify the arbitrage. Glad to see the back end of 2012. - plan to trade alot less and take more time putting on new positions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
original mungerville Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 After being up about 60% at the peak this year and averaging being up 35% for most of the year, I lost about 1 to 1.5% for every trading day in December to finish up only 10%. Biggest gainers: - Gold bullion - Options on Silver and selling 30 to 40 percent at the peak in April/May Small gains: - After holding for a couple years, sold KO near peak (to acquire Berkshire Hathaway shares near book value) Options on silver miners and silver and generally churning my hedges on the market cost me a lot this year without great payoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uccmal Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Incidentally, my 7 year numbers are after tax - pay annual cap gains out of brokerage account. S&p total return to the end of 2011 over same period are < 2%. After tax probably 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arden Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 What tax rate did you pay? at least you can use your losses this year for the next few years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onyx1 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Up 2% The bad: Regional airlines, where I way underestimated how severely the market can punish these stocks. The good: Uncorrelated special situations stocks GRYO, MMPIQ, COF.H, and PRXI. BBSI, a small cap PEO approaching a triple from its 2009 low. WRB, up 30% and has become one of my largest positions. Lucky: 60% gain in one month on shares of RRBG, due to activist catalyst Lessons learned: Be more patient. Resist the urge to buy in early; the market often offers attractive entry points when information is lacking between quarterly earnings releases. To do: Look for opportunities to run a more concentrated portfolio. Read Fortunes Formula. Congratulations to all those with double digit returns, very impressive performance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharperDingaan Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Up 5% The good: (1) Volatility hedging under leveraged conditions saved our butt. (2) Ongoing focus on risk reduction. The bad: (3) Not periodically re-evaluating an investments premise (FBK). The lucky: (4) Withdrew 45% of the chips in May just ahead of the more extreme Euroland volatilty. We would have had negative returns if we were still working with this capital. Lessons learned: (5) Annual returns for the next few years will not reflect the declining risk in the underlying portfolio. We hold sizeable weightings in (mostly) high quality equities (MFC, PD, NEM, FBK/ABH) at cost bases well below market, & funded with a growing portion of house money. Going forward, Year-on-Year return will be primarily a measure of how well we are recovering our initial investment. (6) Its OK to let equity weightings grow downwards by redeploying recovered investment to T-Bills/Margin reduction. SD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crip1 Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Up 4% versus index that's down 75%. (I decided to index myself to RIMM) So my relative performance has been truly outstanding. BRILLIANT!!!!! I was down 1/2 of 1% for the year, a strong December helped. -Crip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uccmal Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 What tax rate did you pay? at least you can use your losses this year for the next few years! Actually, in Canada we can use the capital losses against past years capital gains at the same rate of taxation. I don't know if that is the same in the US for individuals. Anyways, I will get cash back from 2010, and possibly some of 2009s back as well. A dubious benefit of sorts. Best to use the losses up as fast as possible. Governments sometimes change the rules suddenly - advice from a friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERICOPOLY Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 What tax rate did you pay? at least you can use your losses this year for the next few years! Actually, in Canada we can use the capital losses against past years capital gains at the same rate of taxation. I don't know if that is the same in the US for individuals. We can't, unfortunately. You can make a big fortune one year, pay a lot of tax, lose it the next and you are left with nothing -> the government keeps your tax even though you have no gain. You can carry the tax loss forward to future years but you may never use it up if you've lost a fortune and are broke. -25%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DynamicPerception Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 ONYX1: Lessons learned: "the market often offers attractive entry points when information is lacking between quarterly earnings releases." Amen to that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
original mungerville Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Ucc, Congrats, that's a great 7 year return after tax. I am not surprised. As a Canadian investor in US equities, I use the S&P 500 returns in $CND as a benchmark which, due to the rise of the $CND over the last decade, has done worse than the S&P 500 as normally measured in $US. So I figure your relative returns are even better than you suggest. (My main account is a registered tax-free one where my 11 year returns are around 24 to 25% - but this is before f/x fees where I have gotten killed except in the last year or so as they have just introduced a $US settlement option.) In any case, congratulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCG Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 What do you guys use to calculate your annual returns? Excel? Is there any good automated system out there? I tried using Morningstar, but it is really buggy (it randomly says i own thousands of shares of certain companies). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclecticvalue Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 What do you guys use to calculate your annual returns? Excel? Is there any good automated system out there? I tried using Morningstar, but it is really buggy (it randomly says i own thousands of shares of certain companies). You should take a look into wiki invest. They use your brokerage information and calculate your track record. Check if your brokerage is supported. If not you have to create your own in excel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woltac Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Down 1% with some mutual fund distributions that need to be recorded. No spectacular gains or losses Largest $ gains from AXP, WASH, Vanguard Healthcare Largest $ losses from ALS.TO, BRK.B, LUK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baoxiaodao Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Up over 40% overall, thanks to our huge overweight in LRE, including long term, nonrecourse, total return derrivatives. The remainder of the portfolio is down about 7%. :( Outperformance eventually regresses, often with great force. :( This is most likely to be true. Things could go either way. Staying humble is key to better investment return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alertmeipp Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 If your account is down in dollar amount but up in # of shares. Are you up or down? :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txlaw Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Down about 19%. Main drag on my portfolio was BAC exposure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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