OT - Our Year End Conviviality Thread!

Investment Analysis Clubs Saul’s Investing Discussions
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This thread is for all of us to share greetings, best wishes, results, personal thoughts, and appreciations, between now and the end of the year. (The usual totally Off-Topic subjects like Politics, Technical Analysis, Market Timing, Options, Value Investing, Dividend Investing, Anger, etc, remain totally Off-Topic! …)

I want to start by thanking all of you participants who helped make our wonderful board what it is. It truly was the collaborative work of all of us, all of us who cooperated, discussed growth stocks that we were interested in or were learning about, inside and out, in a civil manner whether we agreed with each other or not, and introduced new ideas to the board, and especially discussed stocks we were specially interested in. You were great, and I learned an enormous amount from all of you, and I certainly got a lot of my stocks from discussions on the board. I especially want to thank you for your cooperation in keeping us on track discussing rapidly growing companies, and avoiding the Off-Topic subjects referred to above.

I am sincerely hoping to work with you all again next year, and for years to come.

Saul

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Thanks Saul for all you do. You truly have changed lives, mine included.
Mike

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Thank you to all who contribute to this board! I truly appreciate your comments, critiques and questions that stir us all to better investing. A special thanks to TMF for their continued support, ideas and education.

I wish everyone the best!

Daniel

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Happy Holidays to Saul et al.

And a super thank you for your selfless sharing.

John

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Just wanted to thank Saul and the rest of the contributors to this wonderful board.

Been a great 2017 and 2018 to those who followed the companies on this board. How powerful it is to know how to fish instead of being given a fish. Can’t wait to see what 2019 brings!!

Thanks again!!!

Gerald.

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Thank you Saul and others for helping me achieve success in my investments this year! I hope everyone enjoys the holidays and spends time with the loved ones. Here is to another year of market beating returns next year!

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I’ll add my thanks and holiday cheer to all. The advice given on this board has made an impact on my retirement investing, not only do I sleep well at night, I’m enjoying the ride this market is giving us. Also thanks for keeping this board focused and free of OT rants that mar many other forums.

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I can’t get over how well we are doing all together. This week was an example. It’s unreal! Of the five indexes I’m now following:

the S&P was down 1.3%
the Rus was down 2.6%
the IJS was down 3.1% (so much for value stocks protecting you in a decline)
the Dow was down 1.2%
the Nas was down 0.8%

the average of the five was down 1.8%.

So our risky, no-profit, overvalued stocks got killed, right!

Well guess what! My portfolio rose, not fell, this week by 4.6% from up 75.0% to up 83.1%. And not on a fluke, either. Every one of my stocks was up for the week with the exception of my two tiny biotech positions, Abiomed and Guardant, which followed the market. All the overvalued SaaS stocks were up.

And year-to-date every one of those indexes is down with the exception of the Nas which is still holding on by its teeth to a one tenth of one percent gain. And most of us who have been in this from the beginning are up well over 60%. And I just read on Zacks that the S&P is now officially in correction territory.

Guys (and gals), we are doing great! Thanks to all of you for your help and collaboration!

Best,

Saul

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Saul, et al…
Relatively new to the board (a month or so), but impressed with your results and with your conviction of going with a small number of companies.

I’ve slowly been adding your holdings to mine and will continue as cash becomes available in my investment accounts, and will continue monitoring your (and a few others here) moves and discussions.

Happy holidays to all.

JI.

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Saul,
I hope you and your family have a very merry Christmas and of course I know you will. I also wish all the primary posters have a great Christmas as well!
I’ve followed you and your board for about three years now. My early and only posts were to get your advice on when to take Social Security. After receiving an abundant of your board’s valuable input, I took your original advice and started taking it immediately at the age of 63; again, about three years ago.
I retired at age 60 with no debt and an investment account I thought would be enough to ‘get me by’.
I’ve had MF subscriptions forever and figured if they could help me earn 6% annually, I’d be ok. We buckled down for the years to come. 2013 was a great year. 2014 & 2015 not so much; for me anyway.
I found you in 2016 and have been with you since. Over time, I’ve learned from you and your parishioners and have evolved my thinking and investment style to almost match that of your boards. I’m no longer ‘buckling down’. Instead, I’ve found freedom I never dreamed I’d have. My entire family has significantly benefited from ‘my newly found wisdom and sage investing’ :blush:. They don’t yet know it’s really you behind my recent success.
My financial life has made significant positive changes and I credit and thank you (and your board) for it. Never in my dreams would I have expected to make 30% last year and it so happens after market close yesterday, I’m up another 30% so far this year. And, this is on what I thought was originally a hefty capital base.
As you’ve mentioned many times, we have MF to thank for providing us with this free board service. I do have three or four MF subscriptions, but I really subscribe to your board. I would not be surprised if MF decided to introduce premium board services some day and charge for access to boards like yours. Given what I pay for one premium MF service I subscribe to, I’d be willing to pay $10,000 annually (and it’s worth far more than that but again relative to the cost for other MF premium services) for access to your wisdom and those very key people that contribute to your board.
Saul, as I see you starting to turn over the reins to others, I hope you remain in good health and keep posting your contributions for many years to come. As I retreat to my corner, back in hovering position, I bid you and your family a very merry Christmas and thank you so much for all you’ve done for us.

Tim

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My “Saul” portfolio is up 75% this year.

Thank you Saul for all the suggestions and education you give us.

Thank you to all the Contributors to this Board. I read every one of them.

Best of health to all.

Regards.

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Oh what a journey this has been! I’ll echo the same sentiments as most of you on the board. I too was in WPRT (Westport) when this all started and followed Saul and bunch of folks over to this newly created board – yes, I was here since Post#1 and really wanted to learn what this outspoken guy knows since it really made sense what he was saying.

Thank you Saul and the whole army of experts you have attracted for willingly sharing what you know. Thank you Motley Fools for the space where we can collectively share and succeed.

This board is nothing but a game changer for me and my family. I use to do fairly well with my investments, around 12% CAGR, but had no process. You guys collectively showed me how to build a teachable process! My college kids and I now share Google sheets for the stocks we follow and you don’t want to hear the excitement on group FaceTime. They are all excited about the future.

One of the most important lessons is for us to find what works for us and what we can sleep with. For me a 10-15% trading position, where I utilized options and opportunistic trading to boost my returns. I am also slower to sell, and my decide to give a company a little more time (e.g. SHOP, NTNX)

According to Fidelity, my YTD is 94.05% and 1-year is just over 100%, and this is lower than 2017! This is an indescribable gift and I will forever be gratefully for being part of this board! Thank you all. Thank you Saul and GauchoChris, and Thank you Motley Fool.

LegoAbs

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I’ve been following the board for a year.

The sell off in Oct finally gave me a place I felt comfortable investing in the names in this board.

I was over 50% cash most of the year. I’m in a period of my life where I’m in my peak earning years, so even as I invest more money into the market when I see opportunities, I still have monthly cash coming in that brings my cash position right back up. So even with all the buying I’ve been doing over the past 6 weeks, I’m still back over 38% cash and with our year end dividend checks due in a week, I’ll probably be around 45% cash once again. So I’ll just keep adding as I see the opportunities this volatility brings.

So thanks Saul, and Paul, and everyone else that’s doing the hard work. I’m an entrepenuer, I create businesses, fill a need in a community, I know how to make money, give people a place to come and lose themselves for a few hours.

What I don’t care to do is analyze a balance sheet, so again much appreciated to find this board. It’s that part of the brain that shuts down on me. :wink:

Most importantly I’m also in a period of my life that I need to help my family out. After a battle with Parkinson’s I lost my father a month ago. It was a very long 8 year journey. I was able to give him 24/7 care in his studio in NYC, the place he wanted to stay in, surrounded by his artwork.

Ironically alothough my parents have been divorced for over 40 years, my mothers bad choices during her career as a realtor forced me with my brothers help to have to support her since 2003. Mom being a princess all her life, I’m not talking a trailor park, I’m talking a condo on the inter coastal waterway in North Palm Beach, Fla. :wink: oh what our mothers can put us through.

I learned from fathers lack of investmenting knowledge, his unpreparedness for his later years, to make sure that I knew how to save and then invest. I’ve done ok, but finding this board has given me another leg up. That I should be ok, that my wife and I should be well prepared for our later years.

So thanks all. We all have our story, how our lives are playing out. I think it’s important to know and share because I know we really have the exact same goals in life when we break it all down. To be happy, to love and be loved and to have comfort in our lives and bring comfort and love to others throughout the remainder of our lives.

Happy holidays.
Chris

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I have learned much here and, with gratitude, offer a ‘trick’ in chocolate that may be useful during the holidays.

Hervé This’ Chocolate Mousse

Serves: 4

3/4 cup (6 ounces) water, which can be flavored with liqueurs, fruit juice, spices, etc.
8 ounces good quality chocolate
Ice cubes

Pour water into a saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk in the chocolate until melted. Put the saucepan in a bowl partly filled with ice cubes, and whisk the chocolate sauce until it thickens like mousse. Pour or spoon immediately into ramekins or small bowls and let set.

Enjoy! And happy holidays!

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I first encountered you, Saul, on the RB boards a few years ago. I’m thinking ELLI or BOFI (now AX). I tend to hold onto certain names that I think have a good future as stated by LEGOABS above. I sold ELLI long ago but still hold AX (& some others - read on). I know y’all have been jettisoning soon after companies come out of the stratosphere growth stages and that’s great for you and the record shows it’s a winning style.

My investing style is way different than most of your regular posters here but I lurk here a lot to get ideas. For those I thank you. I have an IRA that I rolled my company 401k bucks into last year in which I keep more stocks and more diversity. My Roth is more concentrated: 12-15 stocks, anchored by ANET, AMZN & SHOP but with a fair amount of SQ and OKTA. I’m also building in more AYX.

I’m beating the market with both ports and more than meeting my investment goals.

Thanks for this open forum. I’m grateful for the learning.

Joe
Who also owns NTNX, NKTR, PSTG, NEWR, & PVTL. Started a covered call exit strategy on NTNX & PVTL and having 2nd thoughts

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I want to thank Saul, and all the contributors to this Board, for your generosity in sharing information and research so freely. You have helped me to learn, and to boost my portfolio and my family’s financial security.

I’m still fairly new to this board, and I hope to have many years of learning from it into the future. I haven’t participated much by posting yet, but in the future I hope to be able to give back and help you all by providing good info and research as well.

I wish you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2019.

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone here!

Thanks to Saul and all that contribute to this board.

Wishing you and your families a joyous, safe holiday season.

Here’s to a great and prosperous 2019!

-mekong

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Hello All. As previously mentioned, I’m currently down for the year, but am very grateful for the learnings on this message board. Wish I had started those learnings here a couple plus years back ---- I’d be far better off!

Happy Holidays to Saul and the rest of the great contributions on this board. Between David Gardner + this board, I really have changed how I think re: investments.

I look forward to a market beating year for all my fellow Saulinians this coming year!

Happy Holidays to you and your families…and warmest wishes.

Jay

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I’m wishing everyone here a happy 2019!

I’m very grateful that this community exists. It has been a pleasure learning from everyone here. As a young investor, it is so nice to read everyone’s thoughts and get insight on how others think about investing, and how to analyze great companies. I have no accounting background, nor do I have a background in any tech industry. Yet, what I have learned here has given me enough understanding to have confidence in my investing decisions. Moreover, I have direction in how to study and learn more. I have only posted a few times, and I keep reminding myself to speak less, listen more. The few times that I have posted I have only been met with respect and encouraging feedback and I’m truly grateful for that. Thanks everyone.

I only found this board in June. As I’ve learned more about investing in high growth companies, I’ve slowly shifted my portfolio in this direction. Although I missed out on a lot of price appreciation many of you have enjoyed, I am still ending the year with approximately 13% return in 2018. Feels good in a year when the S&P 500 declined. Nobody knows what 2019 holds, but you all have given me the gift of confidence. I think I read here at some point that confidence is not “knowing everything will turn out well, but rather knowing that even if things do not turn out well, everything is going to be okay.” Learning about these businesses with all of you, I am happy too own a piece of them even if prices do turn south in 2019. It’s easy to say that if prices fall one would rather buy more than sell what one has. In practice, it takes conviction in the underlying business, which is something that all of the discussion on this board helps to build, in a constructive and delightfully critical way (and as a corollary, the same discussion help me to understand how to decide when to sell ie how to see if the outlook for a business truly has changed).

I am getting married this year and looking forward to starting a life of saving with my partner. Again, who knows what the future may hold, but I imagine its quite possible that later I will look back at this board with tremendous gratitude for helping me to establish my financial foundations.

Cheers!

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I’m very grateful that this community exists. It has been a pleasure learning from everyone here. As a young investor, it is so nice to read everyone’s thoughts and get insight on how others think about investing, and how to analyze great companies. I have no accounting background, nor do I have a background in any tech industry. Yet, what I have learned here has given me enough understanding to have confidence in my investing decisions. Moreover, I have direction in how to study and learn more…

…I am getting married this year and looking forward to starting a life of saving with my partner. Again, who knows what the future may hold, but I imagine its quite possible that later I will look back at this board with tremendous gratitude for helping me to establish my financial foundations.

Hi bodhibob,
Thanks for your appreciations and congratulations on your forthcoming marriage. Keep studying and learning and don’t hesitate to post on the board.
Best,
Saul

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