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Jon Chu's avatar

I appreciate this reasoning and your conclusion that there is room for both concentration and diversification in a portfolio. I agree with that conclusion and I think a portfolio with some large, fairly concentrated positions backed up by what I think of as a "long tail" of small positions makes a lot of sense and has many advantages, especially for those of us who invest in small companies and microcaps. I also think there is something to be said for allowing a portfolio to naturally concentrate itself.

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Maj Soueidan's avatar

Hi Jon, I couldn’t have said it better than you just put it, especially what you said:

“ I also think there is something to be said for allowing a portfolio to naturally concentrate itself.”

It’s also a thought in the journal entry that I’m working on. Just let the great companies make their way to become the biggest positions. If you’re a good stock picker, that’s going to happen naturally for over 40% to 50% of your positions, maybe even 70%. The math just works in your favor at that point.

The bigger challenge as I see it is how do you manage your portfolio, as the best companies rise and become a bigger weighting in the portfolio and how do you adjust those position sizes? In the past, I have let some of my positions get to get to about 30 40, 50%. Needless to say, I had some sleepless nights.🤣

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Jon Chu's avatar

That's a very fair point, and I hope it's a situation I encounter soon ;) I think managing positions like that would largely be determined by an investor's individual life circumstances and investing goals (or maybe mandates). Perhaps for anyone, those large positions could at least serve as a really good hurdle rate for new positions, since new positions would likely be funded by selling portions of the largest positions.

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Brian McCann's avatar

I’d rather have sleepless nights and make a lot of money than sleep well.

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Maj Soueidan's avatar

A little Ambien and good to go !

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Mark Bassett's avatar

Love your service and yes I am subscribing to MS Microcaps!

Thanks for all you do to help subscribers like me.

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Maj Soueidan's avatar

Thank you so much for your support, Mark. This is the #1 factor that motivates us to keep on going :)🙏

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