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December, 2013: 2 11 14 22 30
Disclaimer - IMPORTANT - Read this first!
Investor's Journal is a diary focused strictly on investments and personal finance issues, primarily from a contrarian and retiree point of view. Follow along with an average guy's failures and successes as he learns, by trial and error, the fine art of value investing.


12/2/13-Since the last entry, there have been no sales or sell signals among stocks and portfolios followed here.

My current top five Low Price to Book Value portfolio stocks are: AUQ; NTWK; PZE; REGI; and SNE.

If the values of these stocks persist, I shall before the year runs out likely be adding shares (or more shares) of each of them to either our Low Price to Book Value or Low Book Dividend Plus portfolio.

Currently, my featured equity from among them is Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REGI) (recent price $11.27). It meets Benjamin Graham bargain criteria based on its low price to book value and low debt to equity.

Renewable Energy Group, Inc. will be added to our nest egg at its market price in early morning trading on Tuesday, 12/3/13.

Another interesting low price to book value asset is PKX. Though it does not meet the strict buy standards for our monitored portfolios, I think it has good potential as a bargain equity.


12/11/13-Since the last entry, there have been no sales or sell signals among stocks and portfolios followed here.

My current top five Low Price to Book Value portfolio stocks are: EZPW; LACO; PBR; PFIN; and UMC.

If the values of these stocks persist, I shall before the year runs out likely be adding shares (or more shares) of each of them to either our Low Price to Book Value or Low Book Dividend Plus portfolio.

Currently, my featured equity from among them is EZCORP, Inc. (EZPW) (recent price $10.12). It meets Benjamin Graham bargain criteria based on its low price to book value and low debt to equity.

EZCORP, Inc. will be added to our nest egg at its market price in early morning trading on Thursday, 12/12/13.


12/14/13-Since the last entry, there have been no sales or sell signals among stocks and portfolios followed here.

My current top five Low Price to Book Value portfolio stocks are: BVN; FVE; LUKOY; NTWK; and TATT.

If the values of these stocks persist, I shall before the year runs out likely be adding shares (or more shares) of each of them to either our Low Price to Book Value or Low Book Dividend Plus portfolio.

Currently, my featured equity from among them is TAT Technologies, Ltd. (TATT) (recent price $7.60). It meets Benjamin Graham bargain criteria based on its low price to book value and low debt to equity.

TAT Technologies, Ltd. will be added to our nest egg at its market price in early morning trading on Monday, 12/16/13.


12/22/13-DTEGY, a Dividend Value equity purchased on 4/29/13, was sold last Wednesday, 12/18/13, for a net gain (counting commissions but not dividends) of 38.96%. It has been removed from the record of open position Dividend Value assets and the 4/29/13-12/18/13 performance for this security has been added to our closed position spreadsheet. Although DTEGY had not risen 50% or above since purchase or been held two years or more, my feeling is that the market as a whole is somewhat overbought, so I am looking for assets that might be weeded out for increased cash reserves, and DTEGY was more vulnerable than most, with a debt to equity of 1.54, well above the maximum 0.5 D/E criterion I use when selecting assets for this portfolio.

In early trading tomorrow I intend to sell another Dividend Value equity, AZN. As of 12/20/13, it was up 93% since its purchase on 2/19/12, and AZN now has a dividend payout ratio above the maximum for Dividend Value portfolio purchases.

Also in trading near the open tomorrow I expect to sell a Low Price to Book Value holding, MLNK. Although it is not up at least 50% since purchase, it is profitable (plus 28% as of 12/20), has been in the portfolio more than two years, and now has a P/Bk of 1.65.

I have no new assets to suggest for purchase at this time.

Within the next week to 10 days I hope to be completing our 4th quarter and 2013 annual reviews of portfolios followed here and then shall include the results in the first entry of the new year.

Meanwhile, I wish everyone well in this holiday season and for 2014.


12/30/13-As I certainly hope has been the case for most who follow these entries, the current year has been good to our nest egg. Of course, we have benefited from a strong tailwind in the form of substantially increased major market averages in 2013. Given both a dysfunctional government and a somewhat overvalued equities environment, I took the precaution of keeping significant levels of reserves (still over 20% of the value of our stock holdings) this latest 12 months. Despite that, our combined assets (cash, equities, bonds, real estate, collectibles, etc.) are up over 18% through the close of trading today. Though our stocks and stock mutual funds account for just 68.1% of the total nest egg, almost all of that increase was due to our stocks having on average appreciated nicely. With the caveat that the final end of the year hours of trading could yet undermine the gains to date, it appears likely 2013 will turn out to have been a winner for most investors, ourselves included.

Since they are not subject to market fluctuations, I can now indicate the final results of our total dividends target (intended to be 2% or more of total book value) and total equity book value goal (intended to show annual increases of 13.5%): both objectives were easily met. The equity dividends now provide yearly income of $21,696 (2.3% of total equity book value), and the total book value figure has risen to $938,741. This was a gain of 14.1% from the actual total book value level at the end of 2012 and is 20.4% higher than our (somewhat more conservative) total book value target for last year.

As of the close of trading today, our nest egg's equity price to book (total stock market value of our holdings divided by their total equity book value) stands at 95.6%, not as low as I would prefer it, but closer to a bargain level than it had been for awhile in previous such reports. I believe this factor plus the cash reserves cushion should help us if the financial barometer trends lower and stormy weather lies ahead for investors.

Though I shall be out of town for a few days, the regular annual (and quarterly) report of how the individual portfolios, which we created and monitor, have done through the close of trading tomorrow, i.e. the end of the year, should be completed and posted by the weekend.


Disclaimer and Disclosure Statement
Much as I'd love it to be otherwise, I receive no payment of any kind for disseminating investment information unless, by some fluke, millions of folks, on the strength of these entries, start buying shares of stock I own, a possibility only slightly less likely than our being destroyed by a large meteorite. Do not follow any suggestions made in Investor's Journal as if I were a professional.

Neither I nor Investor's Journal will be responsible for losses by anyone who obtained ideas from this site.

This diary is intended for personal interest and general information only. You are advised to do your own research (as well as to consult highly compensated professionals) before spending money on anything.

I know of no reason anyone should take my financial musings seriously. At best I am a dedicated amateur providing a bit of investment-related insight and entertainment, at worst an amusing diversion.

My wife, Fran, and I may at times own shares of some of the assets mentioned here. But neither of us receive any benefit from reference to them, unless you count the mutual misery when we get it wrong, or the opportunity to gloat when we get it right.

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