But how many are still standing when the bear hits?
Portfolio as of 2nd May 2018
These few months have been rather interesting, given the huge volatility among global uncertainty and overvalued markets. The DOW's meteoric rise took a tumble, and we're still in the red for 2018. Seeing the markets go higher and higher is nothing spectacular for individual stock picks if the entire market is rising as well, everyone thinks they are Warren Buffett when the stock they buy appreciates in value when the market is going up, but simply chalks it to bad luck when their shares falls with the market.
In in a situation like that, you are no better off than the market, your share price did not appreciate because of your analytical skills, it's because you're lucky and simply did nothing too wrong.
Interesting enough, while I did not exactly beat the market or have significant profits over this bear period (still long everything actually), days like these are getting more and more frequent. If you notice, EVERY Index ETFs are in the red, except the individual stocks I bought. These are the guys that survived the near 20% drop in the DOW; retaining most of their peak valuations. In addition, I bought these stocks based on hugely differing standpoints:
- Emerson for it's astounding track record in operations and dividends payout, and also extremely widely diversified and active in acquisition and maintaining relevant.
- Berkshire Hathaway for it's ridiculously diversified businesses, led by my idol WB, and generally strong earnings replicating the US economy without being subjected to volatility in share prices as their businesses are all privatized under the umbrella of BH. They also do not pay any dividends.
- NVIDIA for being the forefront and largest market share in technology. Extremely overvalued, entirely new sector, also pays dividends of next to nothing.
Of course I am not saying my stockpicking skills are godlike and that I strike winners every time, today is just a day where my picks stand out. They don't do that everyday - just often enough to make a difference. I also diversify my risks appropriately as much as I would like to believe in my analytical capabilities, evidenced by the fact that I do hold indexes ETFs.
