I reported earlier on this board that I went almost entirely to cash after the election. I had reasons that seemed prudent to me. I don’t want to start a political argument . . .
That didn’t last too long. I got back into the market, mostly by selling puts. Well, actually, I sold puts and bought most of them back at about 50% above what I paid (the few losing positions I held, I rolled forward, to be resolved at a later date).
But, I discovered (or was reminded) that options require an awful lot of attention. More than I can sustain, especially while spending 3 months in China. So, I bought stock with the pile of cash I was holding.
So far, I’m up 3.5% since the first of the year. I have quite a bit of ground to recover just to get back to where I was on Jan 1, 2016, but 3.5% in less than a month is very encouraging and above my goal of 20% per annum. Despite my feelings for the new rule in DC, I must admit that so far I could not have been more wrong about how it would effect my investments.
There’s a lesson in there . . .