On my watchlist I highlighted how many financial sector companies represent what appears to be ’good value’ right now. Financial companies are a slightly odd bunch in that you can measure them on ’net assets’ (which in effect area usually loans and claims on assets such as buildings or companies) or on free cashflow (repayments […]
There’s a regular topic of conversation in investing circles around managing a diversified portfolio and how many stocks an investor should own to be sufficiently ’diversified’. The general consensus seems to be that portfolio diversification runs on a spectrum of portfolios with 10 or less stocks being super concentrated ’high risk, high return’ and 40
In part three of this series on when to sell, I’m going to explore more concepts that help me to decide when to liquidate a position. You can find parts one and two linked here. The grass is greener on the other side The first of these is undoubtedly when I identify a better opportunity
Half way through writing part one of this series, I realised that this is actually a much more complex issue than I can do justice to in a single article. As such, I’ve decided to split the topic into a series. In the first article, I covered my thoughts on selling; as a first rule,
If asked, I generally describe myself as a ‘buy and hold’ investor. The buying bit is mostly easy – I enjoy looking for good quality or undervalued assets and acquiring them. The ‘holding’ bit is where it all starts to get a bit tricky. I’m fairly averse to selling assets. The amount of work that
The key building blocks of my approach to portfolio management are to keep risks tightly managed and to develop an easy to follow method of identifying opportunities to buy and sell. I try to keep these goals at the forefront of my thinking to tilt the odds of making money in my favour. When I
I recently read an article from a fellow blogger regarding their portfolio where they looked at their actual behaviour vs their published strategy. In a similar manner to myself, this investor believes in buying long-term value plays, buying for income and holding for the long term. I’ve followed their blog for several years and have
I forget where I first heard the quote, but several years ago, I was watching a video with Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet where one of them said something to the effect that “Diversification is for people that don’t know what they’re doing”. It was a typically astute observation from the duo, and it made
I was watching a video of the 1996 Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting where a member of the audience asked Warren Buffet where Berkshire kept their cash. If you watch the clip you might get some amusement from Warren casually stating “we have a billion and something in treasuries, and a little something extra in commercial
Corporate bonds, or financial obligations owed by companies, have been increasingly year on year for a long time now. A few months ago, a fellow investor pointed out to me the growing issue not just of net bond values in issue, but the grade of those bonds. How are bonds graded? Bonds – both corporate
Earlier this week I was speaking to a friend about his portfolio and some options he was considering taking to reduce volatility. Put simply, he wanted to sell out of a number of positions which were rapidly declining, move into cash and then buy in again at a lower level. When I asked him why,
Reader Question: How often do you sell positions? Read More »
In my previous article, I wrote about my approach to portfolio risk management and the steps I take to reduce my risk profile and qualify potential opportunities. Underneath the hood of any investment engine is a financial model of factors which affect a company’s performance. My ideal portfolio is one which is high yield (compared
When it comes to investment assets there are lots of ways to categorise them. You can categorise by asset type, geography, sector, and so on. One of the most commonly overlooked is liquidity. Generally speaking, assets fall somewhere on a spectrum of liquidity, which refers to how easily convertible they are into cash. Large, listed
Does your portfolio contain sufficient liquidity? Read More »
Earlier this month I was speaking to an old colleague who had discovered my blog and wanted to know about the biggest hurdles that I faced when building my portfolio. Truthfully, the biggest challenges I’ve faced are ones which I’ve only partially overcome and I’m pretty sure I’ll always face them. Building capital. When I
Three things that people won’t tell you about building your portfolio Read More »
Any savvy investor worth their salt is aware that diversifying your portfolio is a key way to reduce your risk. You might have also heard of the concept of ‘hedging’ your investments, which is a method of reducing the risk of declining prices in an investment. A ‘hedge’ position usually refers to an something which
