Hi BA, VTSS and I have been great "partners" since I first came across the stock in '93. I've used AIM all along the way. It's done a good job of capturing much of the gains and can be considered a middle ground between Buy & Hold and ST Trading. I pay some tax, but overall portfolio turnover is low. All of my VTSS cap gains are LONG TERM, so what taxes there are get paid at the long term rate. Those other stocks look like they'd do well with AIM also.
<OT>(sort of)
I've been using AIM since January of 1988. That's no small coincidence that it is just 2.5 months after the October, '87 "crash." I read the book in '85, contemplated it in '86, ran side-by-side comparisons in '87 and implemented it in '88. It was more systematic than what I was doing on my own, yet similar in that I was using a cash hoarding method as well.
AIM loves volatility more than any other single aspect of the underlying equity. I think that using UOPIX or Rydex's 2X Nasdaq 100 fund will provide greater profit potential in the long run over QQQ. However, there's also higher risk with UOPIX and a convenience aspect of owning QQQ and trading it with GTC orders instead of "end of day" orders typical of mutual funds.
If you desired to create an "investment pyramid" you could use the SPY as the pyramid's base or foundation (largest part) and then layer on less diversified, higher BETA items on top of that up to highly speculative items at the peak. Obviously the peak will also contain the least total initial value because it's the highest risk.
There's a tendency to want to second-guess AIM. It's wanting to sell off shares of what's rising the most and fastest! We want to say, "Well, I think I'll wait for another 20 points and then execute the trade." Many times this is when we take direct AIM at our own foot! AIM's a contrary model. It sells shares when the demand is high and buys shares when they are available at a relative discount. The hardest thing for many active traders is to let it alone and do its "thing."
Maybe for starters you might try setting up a portion of your investments as AIM accounts and then do some real time comparisons.
Yes, I use the Newport software as my primary tool. It's simple and easy to use for the many investments I have. I don't do much in the way of "simulations" any more, so the other software types aren't as useful to me. I really like Newport's graphs. Newport's not an all inclusive accounting package or anything like that. It's application specific to AIM.
I'll be happy to help as you investigate it further.
Best regards, Tom |
