Could be a Pandora's can of worms I'm opening here, but I'm curious how many people on here are actively investing their own assets, and what types of things people are into - whether that's strategies, particular securities, philosophies, etc.
I'm partly trawling (nb: that's different from trolling...:)) for new ideas and thoughts of course, but also a great deal of genuine curiosity on what people are doing. As silly as this board can be at times, there's no doubt there are quite a few smart and experienced people lurking around. I'm lazy so I've not used the search button yet - if you know of good posts let me now.
I'm personally what I'd consider a budding value investor - I've recently gathered a little over $10k of my own and my direct family's money to invest and looking for opportunities to put money to work on a long-term basis. Strategy/philosophy is best described as well-aligned with Buffett/Klarman/Marks' ideas: buy things really cheap, and wait it out - have conviction in your valuation and don't sway when the market moves against you, a lower price just means a better deal (buy) so long as your assumptions still hold. Understand the companies and drivers well, and if there are no good opportunities, cash is your friend. Capital preservation is rule 1 - years of 20% returns might be no good if you have the occasional minus 40% year. Risk is qualitative, not quantitative, and betas are inherently flawed and in most cases meaningless. Most investors are driven by fear and greed, and this gives an advantage to those with long-term commitments and in short, big balls but also the humility to admit when they are wrong, and learn from mistakes. I'm usually looking for the 3-5 year win, not the price performance over the next twelve mos. - because another tenet of my investing is that assets can remain undervalued for a long time - it only takes a small percent of the market cap of a stock to set a liquid market for a stock, and those people can be really wrong for a really long time.
A few buys I'm looking at are FirstGroup plc in the UK/US, scandal ridden Olympus in Japan, and Kohl's in the US. Short theory for each is they've been unfairly punished and under conservative forecasts should value much higher - so over time they'll on average beat analyst consensus and hopefully the price adjusts to reflect. There are a few other catalysts I can go into if people like. Would've shorted facebook if I'd been up and running...the gf and my school buddies will attest to how much I despise that company...
That's enough of my ramblings, really intrigued to hear some ideas/thoughts from you guys.
All the best
frgna
