Sunday, January 1, 2012

2011 Returns

Yikes.  Ouch.  Crap.  Well, that about sums it up for 2011.  Here's a quick summary:
  • I came into the year with $126,967.  During the year I deposited $35,000 into my account.  By year end my holdings had DEPRECIATED by $23,788, leaving me with $138,179.
  • My IRR for 2011 was -15.7% vs. +1.0% for the S&P (assumes dividends are reinvested AND the $35K I deposited was used to buy additional SPY shares at that day's closing price).
Although 2011 was a kick in the teeth, my cumulative returns for the past 6 years are still well ahead of the S&P.  Below are the details (click to enlarge):
I also included a waterfall graph that shows a little more detail.  The blue bars are the beginning and ending balances, the green bars show appreciation/depreciation, and the red bars represent deposits (click to enlarge):
And lastly here are my current holdings (click to enlarge):
So what went wrong in 2011?  Three things: SHLD, BAC, and JOE.  And I'm not sure whether to call it stubbornness or arrogance, but I've effectively doubled down on Sears and re-initiated a significant position in BAC.  My hope is 2012 will prove to be a better year for these struggling companies, and with Sears's assets and BAC's core business, they both have a ton of potential.  I'm also optimistic on the rest of my portfolio, but due to macro uncertainty, I'm also keeping a large % of cash.

Questions?  Comments?  Email mevsemt@gmail.com.