Diversification

[PuddinHead42]

There was a discussion about how many stocks to own, but I can’t find it to reply, so starting a new thread.

The poster indicated they had about 50 stocks and the responder basically asked how he could hope to beat the S&P with that many stocks. I have thought the same.

Coincidentally today I was listening to David’s Rule Break Podcast and he was saying that he “runs” his family investments trusts (or regular accounts?). Anyway, he said he had about 50 stocks in there. It was mostly because he rarely sold, so when he found a new stock he really liked, he just had to up the count. He also said one of his favorite fools had a portfolio of 90 stocks broken into 3 pots: high conviction, beaten down/spec and one other that he did not mention. He said this was fine. He said the right amount of stocks to hold is probably 10 more than whatever you think.

[zx6158]

Hi Peter,
I listened to the podcast as well. In addition to what you mentioned in your post, another tactic I think David uses is that he adds to the winners, so in the long run, the winners’ percentage in portfolio get bigger and bigger, and the losers get smaller and smaller, naturally. that way, it is like that you are holding 10 to 20 stocks in the entire portfolio, simply because the losers are such small percentage afterwards.

Zangwei