DanielGMask

Up 15%. I'm amazed of some of the results of the others!

Without knowing anymore its pretty hard to make a judgement. You have 8 securities plus cash. So in terms of the weighting if BRK is 50% that's much different than if its 20%. That aside BRK seems to be pretty expensive to me. Berkshire is a 40% position and my avg cost is about half of today's level. Cash is about 20%, Mattel about 17% and my avg cost is about the same as today. All of the rest range from 2-5% of total portfolio and my avg cost in all of those is about 5-25% below today's level.

So these are my holdings right now (in order of portfolio weighting): BRK, Cash, MAT, WFM, WMK, IBM, CBI, BBBY and IILG. Please (for my benefit) feel free to state your opinion about what's to like and what's not to like about my holdings and the way they are weighted. Thanks!

Great question to ponder! I have not one idea in which I have confidence that seems to have potential to become a 100 bagger. I'm always suspicious about the future and never feel comfortable with any investment. My current holdings are: BRK, Cash, MAT, WFM, WMK, IBM, CBI, BBBY and IILG; in order of portfolio weighting. I'm moderately comfortable with all of them and I'm confident I'll outperform the market as I usually do, but none of those has real potential to become a 100 bagger, most actually not even a 10 bagger. I will certainly appreciate some insight on how to improve the chances of finding those jewels!

I think talent is a trait that's necessary to perform at an above average performance. With that said, without lots of practice and lots of hard effort, you may not shine even with all your talent. Success in any venture is a combination of those two factors, the first luck/genes, and the second your will power and desire to achieve (which some people say is also part of the gene pool). I'm good at investing (above average) but I'm not Buffett and I won't ever be like Buffett, it doesn't matter how hard I try, I can't achieve 20+% returns for any consistent period of time. I'm a business man, I've been a hotel owner and operator, a real estate developer, investor and entrepreneur for more than 15 years and I certainly have more than 10,000 hours of practice at most of those, and last but not least, I enjoy what I do, I really enjoy it. My conclusion is that 1) you should invest your effort and will power in things you enjoy, in things you recognize you have a talent for, and 2) do it with lots of passion and with a harder effort than anyone else. I'm confident that then you'll achieve a satisfactory result (just pick something that can help you sustain a decent way of living!).

More undervalued posts from the financial blogosphere: second-order thinking. http://abnormalreturns.com/2014/12/17/undervalued-posts-financial-blogosphere-second-order-thinking/

Maybe next year, maybe never! This year Buffett turns 50 years at the helm of Berkshire and at his 25th anniversary he analyzed his past mistakes and promised to do the same at his 50th year of tenure, we'll see what happens!

I'm currently reading Letters from a self-made merchant to his son, written by John Graham. Recommended by Munger and, of course, it delivers. Short and to the point. During 2014 I've also read: 1. Transcend: Nine Steps to living well forever, Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman 2. The Personal MBA, Josh Kaufman 3. I Will Teach you to be Rich, Ramit Sethi 4. The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz 5. Los Cuatro Acuerdos, Miguel Ruiz 6. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, Mason Currey 7. Bull, Maggie Mahar 8. On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin 9. There's Always Something to Do, Peter Cundill 10. Antifragile, Nassim Nicholas Taleb 11. The art of learning, Josh Waitzkin 12. Supermoney, Adam Smith 13. Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger, Peter Bevelin 14. Happy Money, Elizabeth Dunn 15. The Hard Thing about Hard Things, Ben Horowitz 16. The little book that builds wealth, Pat Dorsey. 17. Conspiracy of Fools, Kurt Eichenwald 18. The Financier, Theodore Dreiser 19. The Essays of Warren Buffett, Lawrence A. Cunningham 20. Autobiography, Abraham Flexner.