We are constantly reviewing our 2008 transactions to determine if there is anything new that we could learn about how a positive gain of 14.35% could be accomplished when major stock markets around the world had declined by 40% or more.
It should be noted that for the portfolio in question, there were no material gains derived from precious metals stocks and short selling ETFs. Also worthy of mention is that by the end of September, the portfolio had gains of 36.35%.
Below are all of the opened and closed transactions for 2008 with the percentage realized gain or loss along with the percentage of the portfolio of each position.
Closed positions are those that were done after the purchase of the stock took place. Therefore, purchases that took place in 2007 may have been close in 2008 while purchases in late 2008 are reflected a gain or loss until 2009. As an example, FDO was purchased in late December 2007 and sold late January 2008. Several transactions that took place after November 2008 were not closed until 2009 and are not listed.
All of these transactions took place within tax deferred accounts. After transaction costs, the total return in the portfolio for 2008 was 14.35%. The dividend yield received on the account was 2.53%, with the dividend accounting for 17.62% of the total change in the account value.
Another tax deferred portfolio being managed at the same time did not include precious metals trades or short ETFs (wife's account) had an end of September gain of over 45%.
The general strategy that was utilized is based on our buying stocks at or near a new low and not hold for the "long term." In addition, we pay strict attention to how much we might lose before buying the stock. Our strategy is outlined in every Investment Observation and Sell Recommendation. Comments and insights are appreciated since we are students of the market.