is your portfolio from a standing start or did you add funds to the account between the 2011 first purchase of MSFT and then subsequent stock buys? Like do you need to sell something to buy something new or do you add funds, because that's obviously a different benchmark to SPY which would be static.
Brent - I've made additional deposits into the account over the past decade, but naturally Fidelity's return calculations account for that. Looking forward, I will make additional deposits from time to time (as cash accumulates in my checking account from personal savings). Naturally, I will disclose / discuss those cash infusions when they are used to fund new investments. Thanks for the comment!
KHC had 3G and Buffett's involvement 3 years prior to your investment. JCP had Ackman's involvement 2 years prior. Did their involvement influence your decision to buy at all? If so, are there any lessons for how much weight to put on activists' involvement today, for example Elliott in MTCH?
Hey Daniel - Yes, that was part of my decision-making on those investments and a key lesson learned, particularly on JCP (i.e. it was a mistake). As it relates to a situation like Elliott at MTCH or Mantle Ridge at DLTR, I try and understand their proposed changes, how their incentives and time horizon may or may not align with my own, and so on. Beyond that, I put little to no weight on their involvement as a sign of what I should do next (as you can see with MTCH, it didn't stop me from selling). Long story short, if the involvement of an activist or a big name investor becomes a top reason to keep owning, that has been a bad sign in my experience.
Nice work.
is your portfolio from a standing start or did you add funds to the account between the 2011 first purchase of MSFT and then subsequent stock buys? Like do you need to sell something to buy something new or do you add funds, because that's obviously a different benchmark to SPY which would be static.
Brent - I've made additional deposits into the account over the past decade, but naturally Fidelity's return calculations account for that. Looking forward, I will make additional deposits from time to time (as cash accumulates in my checking account from personal savings). Naturally, I will disclose / discuss those cash infusions when they are used to fund new investments. Thanks for the comment!
KHC had 3G and Buffett's involvement 3 years prior to your investment. JCP had Ackman's involvement 2 years prior. Did their involvement influence your decision to buy at all? If so, are there any lessons for how much weight to put on activists' involvement today, for example Elliott in MTCH?
Hey Daniel - Yes, that was part of my decision-making on those investments and a key lesson learned, particularly on JCP (i.e. it was a mistake). As it relates to a situation like Elliott at MTCH or Mantle Ridge at DLTR, I try and understand their proposed changes, how their incentives and time horizon may or may not align with my own, and so on. Beyond that, I put little to no weight on their involvement as a sign of what I should do next (as you can see with MTCH, it didn't stop me from selling). Long story short, if the involvement of an activist or a big name investor becomes a top reason to keep owning, that has been a bad sign in my experience.
Thanks for the thoughtful question.
- Alex