Pooling of human capital for the unofficial \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

Given there are a number of people who spend very many hours a week researching and looking into investments, how about we pool this knowledge to create an unofficial 'Two Plus Two Portfolio'.

Given the entire forum's knowledge, surely we could outperform the market.

I imagine most people in their portfolio's have some stock(s) they particularly like and invest in them, but to diversify also have stocks in other companies and sectors.

Surely if we were to create a Two Plus Two Portfolio, whereby each person puts down their stock(s) they particularly like, and then we can choose those which diversify the portfolio the best.

Admittedly one could say that why should people like myself (who do far less research than others) get the benefits of those who do a lot of research? Well, I'd say those who do a lot of research will also gain the benefit of others who do a lot of research, plus people like myself who are always trying to read up and learn more will be able to chip in down the line.

If we can come up with this, I will be willing to invest $20K.

In an ideal scenario, each poster puts down 1-3 stocks in an area of their expertise, says how much research they have done into this, as well a target sell price. Also, if they ever decide it is no longer worth investing, they post it here, and then we sell it from the portfolio.

I think it would be a very interesting experiment. I think it would be a great learning experience, especially for people like myself who are trying hard to learn about investing.

I am in the process of ordering investing books, so I will be reading these as well to gain more understanding. Basically, I want to learn as much as I can, but I think while learning, I could also invest my money in those who already have gone through this learning process.

Also, I know this is similar to the 'what is your biggest holding' thread, but this would be one which would be kept up to date by me, and once the portfolio had been settled on, then I would provide updates of how it was performing every month.

Sorry if this has come across as a 'I am trying to get lots of free advice'. I honestly want to learn, as i'm sure some of you can tell given all my posts in here of late, and hopefully it would benefit everyone else as well.

If you've already posted about a company/ies and why you think they will do well (if it's still relevant to investing now) then just put down the company, and I will search and copy and paste in this thread what you wrote about them.

Apologies again if this comes across badly, i hope it doesnt.

And please nobody post 'Vanguard Index Fund'. I believe by pooling all of 2+2ers knowledge together, we can get a great portfolio going.

If we could spend say the next 5-6 days firstly by compiling a list of stocks, then deciding how to split it (stocks/bonds/funds - i understand this will depend on the type of investor, but we could give rough %s depending on type of investor), and then we will have a finished Two Plus Two Portfolio.


Thoughts very welcome.

Edit: John, will be fun. Just gotta add that 2+2 has no connection to this portfolio in any way.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

If Mason isn't okay with there being a 2+2 NCAA pool I can't imagine endorsing an investment fund is going to fly.

Aside from the 2+2 name, how are you going to run it? Random people poting stock tickers is probably not going to make very big returns for anyone invovled.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

Great idea, especially since you're going to do most of the work maintaining it. It can't hurt anybody to advertise the stocks they own. If anything it pumps them up. I happen to be in cash right now. I'm thinking about AT&T and GE though.

This could be the start of something big.

PairTheBoard

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

I would be in, but am new to the game.

The stock I've been doing most my research and spending time on is Cemex (CX)

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

[ QUOTE ]
If Mason isn't okay with there being a 2+2 NCAA pool I can't imagine endorsing an investment fund is going to fly.

Aside from the 2+2 name, how are you going to run it? Random people poting stock tickers is probably not going to make very big returns for anyone invovled.

[/ QUOTE ]

We could change it to the 'Help John Kane Portfolio'. edit: actually not my name in it, it has to be a community portfolio, so maybe 'Poker Portfolio', or' F&I Portfolio'

As for running it, I suggest come next Monday, I will list all the stocks suggested, what sectors they are in, and if any hedge against any others. Also if people could put in if they are high, medium or low risk, then we could make sure we had differing risk level stocks.

Come next week, we would of all devised a list of x number of companies, funds and bonds and a % of each - which as a group we decide upon. we could have different %s for different risk aversion groups of investors.

Each weekend, I would put down the return, a brief review, and what is to be expected in the week ahead. As can anyone else obv.

Whenever necessary, we review the stocks, and what changes to make.

In addition, we could have say 5% allocated to short term stocks, ones in which were of more of a week long basis.

[ QUOTE ]
Random people poting stock tickers is probably not going to make very big returns for anyone invovled.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe, but I am willing to go briefly research each company before investing in it to make sure what reasons people give hold potentially true. Obv everyone if they disagree with a stock can put across their argument, and we can come to a conclusion. Hopefully some stocks we will all agree on.

Although I would be happy to post up what the returns were etc, it would be a community portfolio, given a lot of you would be able to suggest the best way to integrate the portfolio to be composed of our best stock suggestions as well as any funds and bonds.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

I don't think this will work. A better plan might be to have people suggest a stock, and then get 3 or 4 others to do their analysis on it. The problem with what you are trying to do is filtering out the noise. What if you want to have a portfolio of 10 stocks and 20 people give you 20 different recommendations that they all stand by?

Its clear from reading posts here that there are quite a few people who don't understand stock market investing, although they think they do. They are going to be as adamant about their suggestions as the guys who really do beat the market. How will passersby know the difference?

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

I'm fairly confused about what the goals are. Do you want to have an actual fund or are you just going to basically post lists of stocks that people mentioned and suggest what people buy? Do you want to actually manage their money?

I don't know, there are more holes in this plan than I can count. That being said, you sound committed to it so good luck.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

I don't have a problem with a mock portfolio.

Here's my entry:
HERO.
PE of 7.1. Grew 100%+ last year. Anticipates 50%+ growth this year. Solid financials (ie. low debt, high cash) and a simple structure. Solid acquisitions scheme (acquiring rigs and liftboats, not the companies that own them) and previous acquisitions have been very smooth. Lots of potential acquisition targets. Analysts are very positive. Management appears to be VERY sharp.

If there's any dirt, I can't find it.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

I like the general idea but if everyone post their favorite stocks, I believe it will be quite a mess to build a portfolio around this.

If your goal is to learn about investing by looking at how others do it, then you could simply ask everyone to post 1-3 stocks they like along with a detailed analysis as to why it is a good thing to invest in these particular stocks. Then you could simply keep track of all the suggested stocks and see if it outperforms the market in a certain time frame horizon.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

List so far:

(NasdaqGS:HERO): Hercules Offshore. (out of interest are you worried it has slowly gone from $44 to $26 in last 10 months? currently at $26.10)

(NYSE:CX): Cemex.

(NYSE:T): AT&T

(NYSE:GE): General Electric

ill also add:

(CDNX:RSC.V): Strateco Resources (on behalf of missmisery)

After we have a list of say 30 companies, we could go over what each company does fully and then decide which sector(s) we are too heavy in and decide which companies to drop.

Ideally I imagine we need as much diversification of sectors.

As I mentioned above, I hope people with far greater knowledge than mine will help, but if we can say get 20 different companies, then put 3% of the portfolio to each stock, that leaves 40% left for safer options such as international funds, property, index funds for some safety.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

[ QUOTE ]
List so far:

HERO: Hercules Offshore. (Nasdaq) (out of interest are you worried it has slowly gone from $44 to $26 in last 10 months? currently at $26.10)


[/ QUOTE ]

That's precisely WHY I want to buy it - it's a fantastic deal. It got run up post Katrina because they were booked solid doing rig repairs, and then when that ended HERO became suddenly un-sexy but they're making more money on an average day now than they were back then because they acquired a rig or two and some extra boats.

If there's a downside to HERO, it's in the accounting or operations (and I can't find it), NOT the low price [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

bump

could you please put down your favourite stock for the coming months.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

BJS, HAL, VLO

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

AUN.V

It is a near-time silver producer (production should begin this month) that is ridiculously undervalued. I may post a detailed analysis if anybody cares.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

missmissery,

I'd like to see your writeup.




As for a few suggestions NXG is a definite bargain. P/E is well below industry standards serious room for growth.

I also like BVX.TO and ISE

and of course HAL

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

Here's my analysis on AUN.V (closed today at 1.25$)

Disclaimer: I own shares of this company so it is in my best interest to promote it. You should do your own DD and double-check my analysis.

I follow exclusively the resources sector and for investment purposes, I like to focus on near-term producers as they offer a very good risk/reward ratio.

With the recent closing of the private placement, Aurcan has a market cap of ~100M with 90M shares (fully diluted). AUN will start miling 1000 tons per day (tpd) at their LaNegra mine in mining-friendly Mexico this month.

In order to evaluate AUN, we need to see how much money each milled ton will generate. Based on historic data of the area, each ton should generate between 125$ and 180$. (125$ being very conservative. I believe the true cost will be closer to 180$). For this analysis, let's use 150$ / ton. This would cashflow 50M in a year, or 0.55$ /share. Small producers usually trade at a multiple of 8 times earnings. So based on these numbers, we get a 4.40$ target. Since AUN will start production right now, I believe the share price will start to climb very quickly and we could see 4$ by the end of the year.

Aurcana recently announced the acquisition on an other mine that could be put in production in 2008 and add an additional 600 tpd. Using the same numbers, it would cashflow 0.87$/share and thus a valuation of 6.75$ would be in order in 2008. As the production increases, it should trade at a higher multiple of earnings so 8$ would be more realistic.

In addition, I expect a few other acquisitions in the upcoming weeks/months. The company was already well financed and they are on the verge of being a producer. They closed tonight a private placement of 21M $. Why would they such a large amount of money right now? This is pure speculation, but I strongly believe that a few major acquisitions are in the work. This is the only logical explanation for such a large financing right now. It is well known that management is looking to acquire projects that can be put in production very quickly.. They know that sooner or later, precious metals will appreciate and they want to acquire projects right now in order to be a producer during the bull market.

My previous targets do not take into account further acquisitions since it is speculative. But if Aurcana can acquire one or two projects, the production could be greatly improved and thus a target well over 10$ would be required.

Finally, I like to look at the exercise price of the warrants in private placements as an indicator of where the management thinks the company is going. Each warrant allow the holder to buy a common share at 1.85$ and the company can accelerate the expiricy date of these warrants if the stock trade 20 consecutive days above 3.00$. This 3$ says to me that management believe they can reach this value sooner than later. Usually, I find it a very good sign when the warrants and their trigger price are way above the current price.

In resume, what I like here is the risk/reward ratio. Unless their mine collapse, I can't see a lot of risk and the potential is huge. I have 24 months target of 8$ and the upside is quite huge with a few key acquisitions. While I believe risk is low, it can be very volatile as any stocks that trade on the TSX-Venture.

They just announced the closing of the private placement which was holding the share price. Now that is it behind us, I expect a lot of news in the upcoming weeks and I believe it won't be long until we reach 2$. It may not reach my targets, but I just don't see how this stock would fail to return 100% to any investors patient enough to hold it for a year or two.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

Where is the $125-$180/ton figure coming from? Is that revenue? Net income?

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

[ QUOTE ]
Where is the $125-$180/ton figure coming from? Is that revenue? Net income?

[/ QUOTE ]

From each ton you process, you extract a certain quantiy of silver (plus other metals too) depending on the grades (usually expressed in grams/ton). Let's say that when you process one ton, you get for 200$ worth of silver. It costs 50$ to extract it so you get 150$ a ton.

This recent article ( http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=29510 ) about another near-term producer used close to 125$/ton in their estimates. However, based on historical data, Aurcana has higher grades than ScorpioMining. Therefore, for each ton processed, Aurcana will recover more silver than Scorpio. Thus my 150$/ton approximation

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

(NYSE:CX): Cemex.



Cemex SAB de CV ADR CX


Analyst Picture by Matthew Warren


Analyst Note 01-31-2007

Cemex CX reported solid fourth-quarter results Monday, with sales and operating profit up 13% and 21%, respectively. This capped a year in which the firm produced nearly $2.7 billion in free cash flow (before growth-oriented capital expenditures), or more than 10% of its current market capitalization. We are maintaining our fair value estimate at this time.

Despite the fact that U.S. sales and volume worsened throughout the year, pricing and productivity gains still allowed for substantial profit growth in this key market. As price increases become increasingly difficult in the states, we expect margin pressures to emerge in the year ahead. This tough situation is highlighting Cemex's improved diversity, as its home market in Mexico improved in 2006 and its enhanced position in Europe is really beginning to bear fruit. The firm's strength in Europe is directly attributable to the RMC acquisition in 2005, and promised cost savings are coming through just as its end markets begin to pick up speed. That large deal looks smarter with each passing day.

Cemex is waiting for its Rinker RIN acquisition to be blessed by regulators on both sides of the Pacific before it contemplates any further moves. In the meantime, we expect Rinker's 2007 profitability to suffer relative to 2006 as it laps price increases put in place before its key U.S. end markets turned south in dramatic fashion.
Thesis 11-01-2006

Cemex's assets would be nearly impossible to replicate. This narrow-moat firm enjoys enviable positions in some of the world's most attractive markets, and its seasoned management team boasts one of the lowest-cost structures in the industry.

While similar grades of cement are essentially commodities, transport costs act as a barrier to entry for incumbents in geographically protected markets. The cost structures at the cement plant as well as the distribution level--Cemex is a leader in both, thanks in part to its flexible energy strategy and advanced logistical capabilities--determine the baseline economics in a market. If production costs are lower in another region, this disparity can be profitably arbitraged only as long as transport costs don't chew up the difference.

While waterborne transport is by far the cheapest, this service has doubled in price over recent years because of tight ship supply and escalating fuel costs. Despite this, cement continues to be traded among coastal regions to alleviate supply and demand imbalances. As one of the industry's largest cement traders, Cemex benefits not only from its well-protected inland plants, but from seeking out underserved markets as an outlet for highly profitable incremental production.

Another barrier to trade involves government intervention, often in the form of quotas or tariffs. In fact, Cemex will be a prime beneficiary of the unwinding of one such situation. The U.S. and Mexican governments have negotiated a reduction and eventual elimination of long-standing limits on Mexican cement imports. Because U.S. demand has long outstripped domestic supply, Asian plants have filled the gap. If Cemex can supplant a portion of this business with its Mexican cement, the additional volume and attendant operating leverage could yield quite a windfall.

Cemex has a long-running record of using the steady and substantial cash flows from its Mexican operations to support the cheap debt necessary to opportunistically acquire competitors around the globe. With Mexican population centers largely landlocked, Cemex has captured more than 50% of the market. And because self-construction is so prevalent, the firm has amassed a substantial brand and distribution advantage, which allows for prolific margins on bagged cement. Now a global powerhouse, Cemex is well positioned in an increasingly oligopolistic industry.
Valuation
We have raised our fair value estimate to $45 per share from $33 to reflect higher assumptions for Cemex in its existing form and the value creation we expect from the proposed Rinker acquisition. With the RMC acquisition in 2005, Cemex management once again proved its expertise in merger integration and the sharing of best practices. We expect more of the same if the Rinker acquisition moves forward. Modeling the combined entity, we project 6% compound annual revenue growth over the next five years and expect operating margins to fall below 15% (thanks to the tough residential construction environment in the United States) before returning to our midcycle margin assumption of about 17%. Though revenue and margins decline during global downturns, average cement volume growth generally tracks GDP growth, and prices tend to move in step with inflation. We employ a 9.3% cost of capital in our discounted cash-flow model.
Risk
Cemex's Mexican operations still produce a significant portion of the firm's cash flow, though this would decrease to less than one third if the Rinker acquisition is completed. As professional homebuilding grows faster than self-construction in this market, lower-margin ready-mix sales are advancing faster than higher-margin bagged cement sales. With the Rinker acquisition, Cemex will have increased exposure to now-busting residential construction in formerly hot U.S. markets.







Cemex is now a 5 star stock on morningstar

Cemex has dropped significantly with the how the market is going. Even if we don't decide to invest in cemex, I definitely think we should get this up and going ASAP since the markets are somewhat down.

Stock Price
As of 01-31-2007
$35.38
Fair Value Estimate
$45.00
Consider Buying
$34.70
Consider Selling
$56.40

Closed at $32.80 today

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

just go to MSN stock selector and pick their top ten stocks for the day, or go to CAPS at motley fool and find recently added 5 star stocks added by the top ten performers and you have just as much chance at 'beating the market'

Personally I have done research on a number of "clean tech" and renewable energy plays that I think will significantly outperform the market as medium-long picks (ie 3-4 years, but who knows where energy will be in 7 or 8). PZD is actually a decent way to play them I think (though i think they should pick up FTEK) but I'll write up the most promising of the candidates sometime tomorrow if anyone has any interest in the sector.

if you don't want pure granola hippie exposure, CY and AMSC are both good plays. more tomorrow.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Where is the $125-$180/ton figure coming from? Is that revenue? Net income?

[/ QUOTE ]

From each ton you process, you extract a certain quantiy of silver (plus other metals too) depending on the grades (usually expressed in grams/ton). Let's say that when you process one ton, you get for 200$ worth of silver. It costs 50$ to extract it so you get 150$ a ton.

This recent article ( http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=29510 ) about another near-term producer used close to 125$/ton in their estimates. However, based on historical data, Aurcana has higher grades than ScorpioMining. Therefore, for each ton processed, Aurcana will recover more silver than Scorpio. Thus my 150$/ton approximation

[/ QUOTE ]

Keep in mind miners aren't generally valued on something like p/e and for good reason. Two mines might currently be producing the same amount of product, but one of the mines will run out in 2 years, the other runs out in 100 years. If you valued them both at a certain p/e then you'd be way off in both cases.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

Unibanco(UBB) is a great buy
brazilian banks are always making money no matter what
I'll elaborate more later

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

Okay, here is the list of stocks:
(NasdaqGS:HERO): Hercules Offshore.
(NYSE:CX): Cemex.
(NYSE:T): AT&T
{NYSE:GE): General Electric
(CDNX:RSC.V): Strateco Resources
(NYSE:HAL) Halliburton Co.
(NYSE:VLO) Valero Energy Corp.
(NYSE:BBW) Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc.
(NYSE:BJS) BJ Services Co.
(CDNX:AUN.V) Aurcana Corporation
(AMEX:NXG) Northgate Minerals Corp.
(Toronto:BVX.TO) Bow Valley Energy Limited
(NYSE:ISE) International Securities Exchange Holdings Inc.
(AMEX:PZD) PWRSHRS CLEANTECH PO
(NYSE:CY) Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
(NasdaqGM:AMSC) American Superconductor Corp.
(NYSE:UBB) Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros S.A.

Please add anymore. Tonight I'll divide them into sectors and we can see what we need to add for diversification purposes.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

hey guys, im new to modding and such, but im pretty sure you cant call it a 2+2 portfolio. Site cant be liable for any losses that occur. If you want to invest in these stocks on your own, fine, but it must be clear this is an independent investment portfolio with no relation to this site.


That said, I like Coach (COH) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

okay cool ahnuld, ill set up a new thread saying 'The Great Portfolio'

also nice to see your a mod, you clearly have been learning a lot over recent months and im sure will go on to be a very good finance guy.

if you reply saying that new portfolio name is good, ill set up the new thread and we can go from there.

and ty for COH.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

you can leave this one here, its fine. I just changed the name to unofficial, and we are good to go.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

Many moons ago, we were approved to use "2+2 Poker Players" as the Marketocracy club we setup for play ports, and competitions.

There are 80+ posters represented there, and I would encourage anyone who hasn't already, to signup at Marketocracy , create a free play money portfolio, and join the "2+2 Poker Players" club. We sit squarely in the middle of the first page of club listings. It would be nice to see that count go above 100+.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

i own WILC SPAN PONR POPEZ and all have done well this year and should continue to do so. i also own twelve other stocks that are just as solid if you want me to list them. i have detailed reports for each but, unfortunately, the motherboard on my laptop is fried and i havent had time to pull them off the harddrive.

if this is to make a 2+2 index that is fine but i do not recommend buying anything in this thread with real money without doing significant research of your own.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

I put 30 k a week ago on (HERO) and it opened down 8% on buyout anouncment of much larger company today. Climbed back to -3.5% midsession (and still climbing). anybody else buy this? how do we make a valuation for this company after deal?

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

By posting that you have reminded me about this. Due to my lack of posts in this forum for the last week or so you can guess that I have taken a backseat from trying to invest and have taken the advice of putting it in a savings account till I learn now. However, I will continue with this, for this portfolio, I will be buying them now at the after hours price:

(NasdaqGS:HERO): Hercules Offshore.
25.40
(NYSE:CX): Cemex.
32.60
(NYSE:T): AT&T
37.65
{NYSE:GE): General Electric
34.57
(CDNX:RSC.V): Strateco Resources
2.89
(NYSE:HAL) Halliburton Co.
32.15
(NYSE:VLO) Valero Energy Corp.
60.80
(NYSE:BBW) Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc.
27.61
(NYSE:BJS) BJ Services Co.
27.43
(CDNX:AUN.V) Aurcana Corporation
1.50
(AMEX:NXG) Northgate Minerals Corp.
3.51
(Toronto:BVX.TO) Bow Valley Energy Limited
5.77
(NYSE:ISE) International Securities Exchange Holdings Inc.
46.87
(AMEX:PZD) PWRSHRS CLEANTECH PO
25.59
(NYSE:CY) Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
18.52
(NasdaqGM:AMSC) American Superconductor Corp.
14.04
(NYSE:UBB) Uniao de Bancos Brasileiros S.A.
85.83
(NasdaqCM:WILC)G. Willi Food-International Ltd.
6.99
(NYSE:COH) Coach Inc.
49.34
(NasdaqGM:SPAN) Span-America Medical Systems Inc.
16.18
(NasdaqGM:PONR) Pioneer Companies Inc.
27.49
(NasdaqGM:POPEZ) Pope Resources LP
44.72


That is a 22 stock portfolio. At the end of every month of if anyone has an alert about any of them, or has any to add, please post.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

that took ages but i got it all set up in a yahoo portfolio acccount so its easy to keep track of. pumped approx $10K into each stock, not including fees after first hour its already up 0.28%!!!!

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

hire a good financial planner and let a pro pick the stocks.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

[ QUOTE ]
hire a good financial planner and let a pro pick the stocks.

[/ QUOTE ]


no thanks. overpaid and cant beat the market

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

[ QUOTE ]
that took ages but i got it all set up in a yahoo portfolio acccount so its easy to keep track of. pumped approx $10K into each stock, not including fees after first hour its already up 0.28%!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

This is an interesting thing to do and especially to watch, but in order to learn more from the experience, maybe you could consider a few more things:

1. How do you know how much to invest into each stock? A small volatile company represent a much greater risk than a bigger company like GE. Why invest the same amount in each? How about volatility-adjusted position sizing?

2. Have you considered stop-losses and how much of your portfolio are you prepared to risk on each trade before you sell?

3. Why/when/how will you sell?

4. You said 'pumped approx $10k into each stock' so was that all at the same time? What conditions led you into choosing that particular entry?

5. If you have cash reserves, how/when/why will you add to or trim down a winning posistion?

Sorry to be a bit serious, but you can learn a lot from paper trading and when I paper trade I try and treat it as if it were real cash. I know you've been learning and laying your mistakes bare on this board. I think this will be a useful exercise if taken seriously enough.

Anyway, I'll be watching this thread and I'll drop these stocks into my own system and see how they look.

PS - You're a UK investor, right? How are you going to manage the internation diversification side of things?

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
that took ages but i got it all set up in a yahoo portfolio acccount so its easy to keep track of. pumped approx $10K into each stock, not including fees after first hour its already up 0.28%!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

This is an interesting thing to do and especially to watch, but in order to learn more from the experience, maybe you could consider a few more things:

1. How do you know how much to invest into each stock? A small volatile company represent a much greater risk than a bigger company like GE. Why invest the same amount in each? How about volatility-adjusted position sizing?

2. Have you considered stop-losses and how much of your portfolio are you prepared to risk on each trade before you sell?


[/ QUOTE ]

As a newcomer to devising portfolios, I hope I can learn how to do what you suggest. Either by reading about it or people on here suggesting which to put stop losses on and how to balance the portfolio in respect to risk and volatity, or hopefully through both means.

I chose $10K for each stock as it seemed like a realistic amount that some people on here put into each stock.



[ QUOTE ]
3. Why/when/how will you sell?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hopefully through those posters who recommended them, or anyone else, saying when it's time to sell. I'll try to read up on them myself and be able to express my own thoughts based on facts.

[ QUOTE ]

4. You said 'pumped approx $10k into each stock' so was that all at the same time? What conditions led you into choosing that particular entry?

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree something may of changed in a couple of these stocks which means it is no longer a wise investment, but I figured I might as well put them all in the portfolio and see how it goes to begin with.

[ QUOTE ]

5. If you have cash reserves, how/when/why will you add to or trim down a winning posistion?

[/ QUOTE ]

To allow for more suggestions, I will limit the portfolio fund to $300K. I also want to add the GLD etf for anothter 10K and SLV as well, so that leaves another 6 more available buys, either that or we put the remaining $60K into sectors not already invested in to diversify or into the lower volatile companies already in the portfolio.

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Sorry to be a bit serious, but you can learn a lot from paper trading and when I paper trade I try and treat it as if it were real cash. I know you've been learning and laying your mistakes bare on this board. I think this will be a useful exercise if taken seriously enough.


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I am to treat this as seriously as I can, I feel hopefully over the course of the next few months I can have a much better understanding of investing in stocks.

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Anyway, I'll be watching this thread and I'll drop these stocks into my own system and see how they look.

PS - You're a UK investor, right? How are you going to manage the internation diversification side of things?

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I would like to have a good degree of international diversification but this will have to come over time as right now I just wanted to get it up and running, but I can assure you I aim to make this as good a portfolio as we can in terms of diversification.

Thanks a lot for posing those questions and taking an interest in this

John

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

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hire a good financial planner and let a pro pick the stocks.

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no thanks. overpaid and cant beat the market

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That's interesting. So, I'm assuming that you change your own oil, seed your own lawn, cut your own hair, sew your own clothes, etc.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
hire a good financial planner and let a pro pick the stocks.

[/ QUOTE ]


no thanks. overpaid and cant beat the market

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That's interesting. So, I'm assuming that you change your own oil, seed your own lawn, cut your own hair, sew your own clothes, etc.

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Obeyan... you go to specialists when they can do a better job than you can do on your own... in the case of financial planners, whether they can in fact do that, is very situation dependent.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

a good first week for the portfolio, up 2.89%.

only 3 downs and 19 ups.

Downs:
POPEZ -8.41%
HAL -3.33%
BVX.TO -0.52%

Top 3 gainers:

AUN.V 10.00%
AMSC 6.91%
WILC 5.72%

Also above 5% but not in top three: CX, HERO, UBB.

Unfortunately I do not have data for how the indexes performed, after all that is the key comparison.

Anyone know how I can find the prices on the opening for last Tuesday?

I had now bought GLD and SLV so there is still $60K/6 share purchases which can be made if anyone has any good stocks. Also, if anyone believes we should sell any of the above then that can also be up for discussion.

Good luck

John

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

I added to my position when HAL took a dip. You could have gained a few more % points had you done the same.

Re: Pooling of human capital for the \'Two Plus Two Portfolio\'
 

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I added to my position when HAL took a dip. You could have gained a few more % points had you done the same.

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I've tried checking every day to see how much a stock has moved (with the stocks i used to hold), whether i should buy more, hold, sell etc etc.

Instead I want this to be passive investors portfolio. We buy, he hold, then 6-12 months down the line a stock is sold becuase we feel it is will not continue to outperform the market. Simple as that, I'm not looking to keep buying and selling, just find 30 stocks we think will do well and outperform the market, put them into a portfolio, and see how it goes.