random investment thinking aloud, page-10

ResourcesG,

Let me paraphrase what you are asking me.

You are basically saying:

"Hey, Cam. Why don't you practice what you preach? You say one should be fully invested, and yet you are sitting on 20% cash."

It's a fair cop.

My lame excuse is twofold:

First, I have been doing some ad hoc advisory work for an investment institution and part of that brief embargoes buying stocks in which my client is active.

Secondly, I am a bit lazy about these sorts of things sometimes. I love reading about companies and businesses and modelling them, but I try to be disciplined in not wanting my life to be ruled by stock administration or by being glued to computer screens following stocks on an hourly or even a daily basis. Managing share orders I find to be a soulless activity, so I tend to only once or twice a year (normally after I receive dividends) sit down and scan the universe of stocks I think are investment-worthy, and deploy excess capital. Now I haven’t done that exercise properly in 2013, so I am due for it but to be frank, right now I couldn’t be arsed. The weather is too nice...I’ll do it when it rains. I’m thinking AZJ, CTX, RMD and some WES. Maybe I’ll re-visit CCL at the same time.
(But I’m sure you won’t be offended if I steer clear of some of your more eclectic holdings, such as BRU, BND, NSE, AVI and CCU...)

Cam