Originally published July 7, 2020
I am starting to unwind a strategy that was designed to take advantage of the crash. This part is difficult because no one has a lot of experience doing this so finding credible strategies on the internet to mimic this is far and few. Nevertheless, the downward part of the strategy has been mostly successful but the upward part is difficult because there is no right answer as to when to unwind it. I have decided to do a partial unwinding by selling those positions that truly worked well and then pay off part of the amount of borrowed money (margin). This basically, for now, captures gains and lowers risk overall.
Specifically…
Pairing down my apple position as it has had a huge run and broke through my 5% maximum position size. Each share at this point represents about a 500% gain since I bought them years ago. Professionals said apple was too big for any real appreciation….they were wrong.
Selling half my Shopify position after a 150% return within a year is stellar. It’s a speculative position so I don’t want to sit on too much of it. It also broke the 5% maximum position threshold on this one as well.
With the proceeds of the above, I bought more Disney and paid down about half my margin loan.
Next moves
As I keep unwinding the strategy, I would like to pick up an out-of-favor dividend player, likely a Canadian bank, maybe more Boeing, or a strong energy play like Enbridge.
Should the Market fall back hard, I will likely re-enter the market and buy any bargains to be had and just repeat the strategy.
The moral of the story here is to be like Buffett, be greedy when everyone is fearful (buying time), and be fearful when everyone is greedy (sell time). But don’t be like him in other ways, his Berkshire Hathaway fund has too much cash (lowers returns by average) and is concentrated in with a few big positions like apple 35%+ and is not weighted to any index. His success will be determined mostly by how apple and American Express do. I would never tell anyone to ever do this, very dangerous! So be like Buffett sort of… kind of?
Happy investing…
Marc’s Monthly Moves
| Buy | Sell |
| More Disney (DIS) | Some Apple (AAPL) Some Shopify (SHOP) |
Marc’s Portfolio YTD Returns
- Portfolio return +8.3%
- Portfolio return less currency gains +3.8%
- Sp500 return -1.6%
Money with Marc 