COBF 2020 Returns (pre-tax, after fees, etc)

[rb]

I haven't run the exact numbers but I'm somewhere just shy of 50%. Overall a really good year. But there wasn't anything too bright on my end to achieve that. In fact I consider 2020 the year without too many ideas. Luck played more of a role. Here are the highlights that helped:

1. I had a very heavy AAPL position. This was from back in 2018 when they were giving it away.
2. I have a longstanding large position in MSFT that continued to perform well
3. I built a heavy position in EQR basically at bottom tick shortly before it shot up. Hat tip to the pupil for all the help around that name.
4. I bottom ticked hard REI.UN. That one was easier to do.
5. I took a MASSIVE short position against the USD when it was the obvious thing to do. I also did other trading around FX that added a few points of performance. FX trading is really not what i do. But in recent opportunistic trades helped with performance quite a bit.
6. I bought a fair amount of BRK around 160-170 range. Gotta think what to do now with the position size.
7. Bought some financials pretty cheap

Those lucky evens did they best to offset the negatives:

1. I was quite heavy financials WFC was a large position that got hit hard.
2. The Rolls-Royce position got obliterated.
3. I guess I didn't buy TSLA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[LC]

Rb, I agree with your overall conclusion. I had no real good ideas, rather all I did this year was triple-down back in March April and use that early sell off to upgrade positions into better companies, buying a GreatCo at 70c versus a GoodCo at 50c. Then got lucky end of year with big moves upward in live nation and cloud flare among others. Frankly I hope every year I can be lucky rather than good.

[Edward]

55.8% in 2020, net of fees.

Some of it because I loaded up on some non growing but solid companies on the cheap, such as ABR, AER.

Most of the return was mainly good positioning in some great small growing businesses that benefited from the disruption. These were long term holdings before 2020.

[JRM]

Looks like ~19% on the year and 23% per year since 2012.

Glad I'm not a fund manager, I'd probably be getting fired.

[John Hjorth]

Not totally precise calculations yet, but around minus 3 percent for 2020 pre-tax & after fees etc. [, & took the poll accordingly].

I'm tempted to quote Greg and SharperDingaan from the "Happy New Year"-topic here :

Happy New Year to everyone. 2020 wasnt a bad year, it was just a life experience. What doesnt kill you, makes you stronger and wiser. Hopefully 2021 is the start of the Roaring 20s. Cheers

Happy New Year  ..... and fortune and glory to all!
And the end to a rubbish 2020!!

SD

I "managed to produce" minus 32.9 percent in about a month [the period February 19^th - March 23^rd] while being actually mentally incapacitated, not fit & proper and ill, & doing nothing, mostly staying away from the keyboard and my monitors.

On that backdrop, there's no need to complain about minus 3 percent.

- - - o 0 o - - -

Off topic :

Ended the year with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. R.I.P., Little Brother [Passed away December 31^st early in the morning, & way too early].

So here, also a huge thank you to Broeb for picking up the baton on this yearly recurring topic.

[scorpioncapital]

Is that realized and/or unrealized gains? It's a huge difference. I wouldn't exactly say paper gains are real until taken.

[kab60]

2020: 45 pct.
2019: 23 pct.
2018: -7 pct.
2017: 19 pct.
2016: 45 pct.
2015: 13 pct.

I feel like I'm getting better, but I also reckon most might just be luck and a small sample size. Was approx. 115 pct net long going into March, dialed up and down during the year to a max around 120 pct before the presidential election.

Got absolutely clobbered in March with positions in (among other things) Spirit Airlines, Alliance Data Systems and AMA Group and no tech apart from a microcap in France. Down 50 pct at one point from February high. Averaged down in all three before realizing how bad it would be for Airlines with fixed and operating leverage. Took my losses in Spirit and deployed into better risk/reward situations. Did a ton of buying and selling, never seen so many good spots to pick from, but ended up with a portfolio looking a lot like it did going into the year with a lot of Berkshire, Linamar, Altria, Ulta Beauty, Clipper Logistics and Cambria Automobiles among the biggest. Made some costly mistakes like averaging down in Spirit, and not swinging at some stuff right in my wheelhouse, but overall satisfied. Returns are in euro, and the dollar was obviously a large headwind.

Sorry for your loss, John. Best wishes for the new year my fellow Dane.

[Broeb22]

Whoa setting up that poll like John Hjorth did was tedious on the iPad.

Anyways, what were everyone’s 2020 returns? No judgment given to those who would rather turn the page on 2020 without looking back.

If you also want to share some big winners and losers in the comments that might be interesting...

Any chance you can post your returns? Just curious.

Would post mine but since I'm young, I was able to take the concentration risk. Also, my investment track record is only 6 years - so I don't think it matters. However, it is above 50% - still have a long way to go. Hopefully it will provide cushion for the losses to come.

I had nearly 29% returns, so very happy with that but also looking at my portfolio and not seeing a lot of value.

Large detractor was CVET which I sold close to the bottom due to leverage concerns which CD&R made irrelevant weeks later.

Large contributors:
TRRSF
PINS
STNE
FB
JD
GDYN
FSV
EPAM
CARR

[arcube]

Sorry to hear that John. I wish you peace.

Not totally precise calculations yet, but around minus 3 percent for 2020 pre-tax & after fees etc. [, & took the poll accordingly].

I'm tempted to quote Greg and SharperDingaan from the "Happy New Year"-topic here :

Happy New Year to everyone. 2020 wasnt a bad year, it was just a life experience. What doesnt kill you, makes you stronger and wiser. Hopefully 2021 is the start of the Roaring 20s. Cheers

Happy New Year  ..... and fortune and glory to all!
And the end to a rubbish 2020!!

SD

I "managed to produce" minus 32.9 percent in about a month [the period February 19^th - March 23^rd] while being actually mentally incapacitated, not fit & proper and ill, & doing nothing, mostly staying away from the keyboard and my monitors.

On that backdrop, there's no need to complain about minus 3 percent.

- - - o 0 o - - -

Off topic :

Ended the year with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. R.I.P., Little Brother [Passed away December 31^st early in the morning, & way too early].

So here, also a huge thank you to Broeb for picking up the baton on this yearly recurring topic.

[Gregmal]

I did more trading in 2021 than ever before. My gains were made in mostly two time periods each time with a basket of stocks: late March/April (tech, dis, nike, sbuck etc - which I sold way too early) and then Nov (more cyclical stuff). Shifting most of my portfolio back to CAN$ during the year also helped (CAN$ strengthened by a couple of % vs the US$).

I think this is a very strong takeaway that cant be stated enough. Over the years Ive become more and more grateful for flipping my "value investor" position on the concept of "trading". For a long time I subscribed to the notion sold by people like Buffett that "short term trading is a fools game". There is a huge contingency of "value investor" who are almost willfully proud about being stupid and dismissive of the idea of trading. They're kind of like anti vaxxers or Earth is flat folks. But the truth is that managing investments with a trading angle is a massively beneficial tool in terms of managing risk and being opportunistic. Ive read in a few places that like 85% of the markets returns occur during something like 10% of its trading days. Even with respect to this year, I had many reminders of this. Selling DDS puts and buying calls a few days before the short squeeze thesis played out after Teds 13G netted over 800% and buying $100 MSGE calls while the stock languished between $65-75 just seemed too good to be true...and paid off between 170-1600%. Being flexible in philopshy and dynamic in application was a lesson that 2020 cemented in me. Trading in a sense, is really just monetizing volatility.

@John Hjorth. Sorry for your loss. It is easy to look at things in the simple good/bad context. Ive had a number of events in my life that most been would describe as "not good" or probably even much worse. At the time they are unpleasant. Painful even. But as you get through them I find them just as valuable and even more so than "good" events or memories. I dont think Id describe any of them, in hindsite, as "bad" experiences though. Same with 2020. Everything one experiences in life molds that person and their pool of wisdom/understanding. Like a video game, as you advance, having conquered past levels, you inevitably carry with you those lessons. Hopefully you and your family are well in the new year and may your brother rest in peace.