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Strategies & Market Trends : Value Investing -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Senior who wrote (52614)	10/26/2013 4:28:54 PM
From: Spekulatius	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 78774

I have been hiding in OTC stocks to some extend, as well as some really illiquid bank stocks, that i think are decent values. I think the fact that this board has been quieter is not just by the higher market, but also because Siliconinvestor's slow slide into obsolescence has accelerated in the last 12 month, imo. I have been finding myself spending more and more time in other places like seekingalpha (lot's of poorly written Articles but also some good commentators), Gurufocus, several blogs and cornerofberskhireandfairfax. The latter has really high quality posts with a strong value tilt.

To: Paul Senior who wrote (52614)	10/26/2013 7:12:17 PM
From: E_K_S	Respond to of 78774

Portfolio management and maintaining cash reserves Paul - I tend to maintain at least a 5% cash reserve all the time in my brokerage account. Another 5% cash is kept at my credit union for an emergency fund and/or available for extreme value buys (ie distressed real estate). When I buy something, I have something else in mind to sell. When I sell something (for fair value reasons), I may not have a new buy in mind so those proceeds just go into the cash reserves and/or a high yielding preferred. I do hold almost 12% of the portfolio is prefereds that can be used as another source of funds if needed for an urgent "value" buy. Many of my recent new buys have been IPO's (OCIR, FISH, OCIP, ENZY) or secondary offerings (O, KMI, KMP, EEQ). One sideways trade I am looking at is selling my high priced OKS shares (still w/ a profit) and moving those proceeds into DPM now selling below it's recent secondary price (as of last Tuesday it was). Many of my trades are done in different lots w/ different cost basis. I can raise funds selling off the high priced shares and move those proceeds into stocks in the same sector and/or build up those where I have little or no exposure (recently bought ENZY which falls into health/drug sector which I want to increase exposure in) . I achieve a lower cost basis for the position w/ the lots left (I usually buy w/ a minimum of three lots bought over several months and/or up to several years). I keep most of my gains in the portfolio (gains not yet realized) now represent almost 30% of the total for the portfolio(s) I manage (taxable, IRA & ROTH). Most of these positions are long term Buy and Hold positions like (CHV, XOM, COP, AAUKY, BHP, GLW, KMI & EPD from EP, WMB, etc). There is no real need to sell and pay the taxes as the companies either continue to perform, pay a good dividend and/or are there to provide as a hedge. Many of those positions have split several times and my cost basis is very low. I never use margin either. Perhaps the one factor I need to do is buy more shares on my initial buys and build up larger positions (nothing less than a 1% portfolio position). I tend to start new positions at 0.5% of the portfolio and add new shares in 0.5% increments. I probably should bump this up to 1% or even 2% portfolio increments especially w/ my IPO buys. I still am convinced that holding a stock longer than 24 months is not a "sin" and some of my best gains are/were achieved w/ a steady buy and hold (or buy, add more, add more, peel off high priced shares and continue to hold) philosophy. Many of the traders I frequent buy IPO's to "flip" (they hold usually days and typically no longer than weeks) and move on. I buy and hold (if I buy at all). Yes, I read the complete prospectus and study the company. I could do better if I flip 50% of those shares I buy. Buying larger lot sizes does limit when I sell and/or peel off shares from that lot. If I am wrong on such a large position, I am underwater longer. I typically never use stops and when I do they are mental stops. Did this recently on NSH and now up over 30% from my sell where I closed out my initial position. I think Spekulatius said that his buys are large since a lot of his time is spent in researching them. I tend to see it the same way too. I am spending a lot of time researching several companies and those that pass my scrutiny, I should commit at least 1% of the portfolio to those "Buys". I am still learning better portfolio management techniques even as I pass 35 years investing in my own account. I own no banks and very few foreign stocks (ENZY is one new foreign stock I recently added) . EKS