Housekeeping

It has been a while since I made any changes to the Model Portfolio. That may be an understatement since the last trade in the portfolio was completed in October of 2009. Cadbury Schweppes did get gobbled up by Kraft (NYSE: KFT) which itself is spinning in to two companies. Two companies we have discussed in the past and held for some time in the portfolio.

I have decided to stop maintaining this portfolio going forward as I simply do not have the time to manage it. Having said that, I will continue to track the performance of the portfolio as is (including the cash position). It will be an interesting 'buy-and-hold' experiment to look back on years from now.

Since inception on September 1, 2006 the Model Portfolio's NAV increased by 16% versus the S&P 500's total return of 8.09% through the end of 2011. This does not include any dividends received since September 2010. Below is a snapshot of the portfolio as at the end of December 2011.

September 2009 Update

For the Fiscal Year ending September 30^th, 2009 the Model Portfolio’s return was -3.9% vs. S&P 500’s total return of -9.4%. Since inception, the Model Portfolio's 4-year return through September 30th, 2009 is 16.5% vs. S&P 500's total return of -13.9%. To perhaps put Mr. Market's recovery from the spectacular slump in late 2008 and early 2009 in better perspective, consider that the Model Portfolio's return from January 1, 2009 through September 30, 2009 was 31% vs. S&P 500’s total return of 17%.

After a flurry of activity in November 2008, we remained on the sidelines for the remainder of the Fiscal Year notwithstanding a few small trades in August and September 2009. Many of the stocks we purchased in November could have been had at significantly lower prices in March 2010 but hindsight is of course 20/20. Still we managed to purchase high quality companies at a fraction of their intrinsic values. The analogy of feeling like a kid in a candy store could not have been more appropriate in November 2008. We added new positions by buying shares of Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and increased our holdings in Ebay (Nasdaq: EBAY), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) and Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD) among others at incredible prices.

October Trades

October 13 2009
Sell 100 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) $186.00

September Trades

September 9 2009
Buy 200 Cadbury PLC (NYSE: CBY) $51.80

August Trades

August 25 2009
Buy 500 Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) $17.55

November Trades

November 12 2008
Buy 2 Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKB) $3,175.00

Buy 289 Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) $15.50

Buy 200 Home Depot (NYSE: HD) $19.50

Buy 300 Intel (NYSE: INTC) $13.20

Buy 300 Cisco (NYSE: CSCO) $16.00

Buy 300 General Electric (NYSE: GE) $15.25

Buy 140 Cadbury (NYSE: CBY) $31.50

Buy 180 Dr. Pepper (NYSE: DPS) $18.00

Buy 600 Ebay (NYSE: EBAY) $12.00

Buy 125 Sears Holdings (NYSE: SHLD) $41.00

Buy 350 Centex (NYSE: CTX) $8.20

Buy 500 Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX) $8.50

Buy 100 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) $63.5

Buy 200 Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO) $19.50

Buy 300 USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) $8.80

Buy 200 Leucadia National (NYSE: LUK) $17.5

Buy 500 Mueller Water (NYSE: MWA-B) $5.00

November 10 2008
Buy 1000 Starbucks Corporation (Nasdaq: SBUX) $10.00

Buy 150 Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) $70.00

Buy 400 Ebay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) $13.5

Buy 200 Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO) $25.00

Buy 300 USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) $12.75

Buy 200 Leucadia National (NYSE: LUK) $22.60

Buy 1000 Mueller Water (NYSE: MWA-B) $6.00

September Update

For the Fiscal Year ending September 30^th, 2008 the Model Portfolio’s return was -11.0% vs. S&P 500’s total return of -20.6%. Since inception, the Model Portfolio's 3-year return through September 30th, 2008 is 21.2% vs. S&P 500's total return of 4.2%.

It was a tough year. Many of our holdings are deep in negative territory especially those with exposure to the housing market. For now we are happy to hold on to these holdings and in some cases will increase our positions. Many should emerge stronger from the current downturn. Coutrywide Financial which we bought aggressively throughout the year is now Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). We also added new positions such as Ebay (Nasdaq: EBAY) and General Electric (NYSE: GE). Finally, Cadbury (NYSE: CBY) completed the spin-off of Dr. Pepper (NYSE: DPS).

September Trades

September 17 2008
Sell 100 Morningstar Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN) $57.00

Sell 100 Western Union (NYSE: WU) $25.00

Buy 300 General Electric (NYSE: GE) $23.00

Buy 200 Ebay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) $22.00

Buy 100 USG Corp. (NYSE: USG) $27.20

July - August Trades

NO TRADES

June Trades

June 13 2008
Buy 2500 Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) $4.75