Update on what I have been up to
Recently I have been catching up on some reading; investing books, websites, blogs, etc, which is why I have been posting a lot of sites that I think we could all learn something from. I hope to finish up the book I have been reading in the next few days, and then it is back to searching for some more companies.
I have been struggling in trying to find the proper balance between learning new things and researching companies. It seems like I always wish I had more time for both. If any of you have any tips on how you strike a balance between the two it would be very much appreciated if you could share them.
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My Portfolio
Another reason I have not been researching new companies lately is that I have been thinking about my portfolio and what I need to do to free up some cash. I missed out on Dole because I was fully invested and could not get any cash into my account in time which led me to thus far missed out on the almost 40% uptick in the stock price since I originally wrote about them. I am glad that there was cash in a couple of accounts that I manage and that I was able to buy it for them, but it made me realize that I need to become more concentrated in my own portfolio, get rid of some of the older companies I bought when I was doing very minimal research, and free up some cash.
In the next few days I will be talking about some of the decisions I have come to.
Some more links for you
Coaching a Surgeron is an article from The New Yorker that asks questions like “If professional athletes have coaches why don’t we all?” It is an incredibly valuable article that any person who wants to become better at any walk of life should read. It is quite a lengthy read but well worth the lessons that it contains.
How to Think When Selling Stocks is a write-up from Jae Jun over at oldschoolvalue.com. I wrote a post about a week or so ago about how I was struggling with some of my sell decisions and this is one of the things that actually helped me come to some decisions about my own portfolio.
Ten Reasons Winners Keep Winning, Aside From Skill is an article from the Harvard Business Review blog. Most of the reasoning is talked about in several other books and websites, but it never hurts to review them and think about them again.
Share Repurchases From All Angles is a write-up from Michael Mauboussin and Legg Mason Capital Management that discusses share repurchases from different perspectives, how management thinks about them, the pros and cons of share buybacks vs dividends, and how they affect the company and shareholders.
This is the Short Call on Facebook, Targeting a $4 Share Price is a mini valuation and analysis of Facebook from SumZero. The author explains why he thinks Facebook is still overvalued and why he is shorting the stock at this time.