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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bluejeans who wrote (32458)	9/9/1998 9:58:00 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 132070

BJ, No, I don't, for several reasons. One is, I live on my income portfolio, so I am constantly reducing the return by eating and buying gasoline, etc. I have occasionally calculated returns at the end of the year vs. the average assets, but that isn't really accurate and I draw down in variable amounts. I need 8% of that portfolio if nothing big happens, new car, new woman, etc. My feeling is, if I have more money at the end of the year than I started with in the income portfolio, and have no debts, then I am doing fine. As far as the other two parts of the portfolio go, the cap app and the 90/10, I usually calculate returns for the full year after The Rose Bowl. So, each portfolio is not a problem. The total is, as gains are divided among each portfolio according to the % that each is allocated. So, this year so far, for example, just looking at a cash on cash basis, the returns on 90/10 and the income portfolio would probably be understated while the returns on the cap app portfolio would be overstated. That's because I have made big money on 90/10 and income, but have lost my shorts on cap app. So, the cap app portfolio, though 10% of the total, is getting more than 10% of the gains to beef it back up. I can say that in 1995 and 1996, the 90/10 portfolio earned more than 100% each year. 1997 was not nearly as good, with the returns in the 20-30% area. So far, 1998 looks like a return to the good old days. In the cap app portfolio, the returns in 1995 and 1996 were also pretty darned good, more than 60%. 1997 was major underperformance vs. indices and 1998 has been a disaster. The good news is, my allocation in 1995 and 1996 was 40% and in 1997, it averaged 22%, as I dropped it gradually from 40% to 10%. It has been 10% all of 1998. The income fund usually has returns of approximately 14-19%. That is where I have real expertise and no income portfolio manager can touch my returns over a several year period. I know this is confusing, but I simply don't care that much about past returns, but more about what am I going to make or lose next. MB