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

[john kane]

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.

[Evan]

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.

[PairTheBoard]

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

[burkoboy]

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)

[john kane]

[ 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.

[maxtower]

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?

[Evan]

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.

[SplawnDarts]

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.

[missmisery]

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.

[john kane]

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.