This month has been a bit hectic. For one, school is in full swing. While my schedule is not as hectic as other times, I still have my fair share of homework and projects to take care of. I also have to start to prepare for what I am going to do post-graduation. Secondly, I have become a regular contributor at Gurufocus.com.  I have been a regular forum participant for almost 3 years now and I thought their new writers program would allow me to gain some exposure. I’m also using Gurufocus as a place to write about individual stocks. Whether it be here or Value Investing Pro, I have tried to do my best from talking about individual stocks. For one, I like to keep my best ideas for myself.  Secondly, I find value investing to be more about the process of waiting for fat pitches than looking at every stock.

Value Investing Pro

One thing that I have gained from Gurufocus is a tick up in traffic over at Value Investing Pro. With the extra traffic, I also re-gained my motivation for blogging on a regular basis again. I was becoming a  bit unmotivated with my blogs and traffic was seriously starting to tail off.  Anyway, the extra traffic has re-motivated me to get these puppies updated on a regular basis and with that has come a surge in subscribers through RSS and my Youtube Channel. I have big plans for Value Investing Pro, which will probably happen around July of next year. I want traffic to stabilize a bit and I have some smaller projects to launch before I start launching the major fireworks.

Joel Greenblatt Week

Last week was unofficially Joel Greenblatt week. There were two great appearances which are must sees if you follow the magic formula system like I do. Check out both appearances below.

Joel Greenblatt On CNBC

Joel Greenblatt On Bloomberg

Value Investing Stocks: Where are they?

One thing I like about a rising stock market is the % gains. But, I also hate the fact bargains are a bit tougher to find. I have found a couple in the mega caps, but the true fish are in the microcap arena where most mutual funds are simply too big too fish there. While the  market’s run up is nice, I’m becoming very cautious. For one, I’m looking around my neighborhood and I honestly don’t see signs of a recovery. Secondly,  I believe the market has risen too much, too soon. If the market does fall, I’m sitting on some cash, about 25%. Not so much because I’m fearful of a falling market, but I simply haven’t found too many ideas. As a matter of fact, in the past 3 months, i have found 1 bargain that I would seriously put money into.

Warren Buffett U

A while back, and I seriously mean a while back, I started a Warren Buffett site. I simply lost motivation, but now “im feelin it”. I’m restarting things this week. So if you’re interested in Warren Buffett head on over at Warren Buffett U. I  was even going to restart the site’s Youtube Channel but uploading the same thing to two different channels becomes a hassle.  I follow Warren Buffett on a daily basis so I don;t have anything to lose. I have the domain so why not give a try for at least 3 months. If the site gains traction, I will continue updating, if it doesn’t o’well, I can’t say I didn’ t try. That’s pretty much how I got started in this online business, I throw stuff at the wall and I see what sticks.  I still have work to do their, but you get an idea of how the site will look.

Yes, the membership site I created has shut down after one month in business. Did the business fail?  Far from it. I had a death in the family and I feel as a whole guerrilla has fallen on my back. Rather than offering a mediocre service and charge people for money, I have decided to shutdown the site. Below are some stats

• The site has 19 paying members and 3 free members
• Traffic averaged about 200 people a day coming through various sources
• VIP had 32 RSS subscribers
• The site ranked as high as 14 for the word” magic formula investing”. Which was not the word I was targeting
• The 19 paying members were acquired through FREE advertising. The advertising budget never reached $1
• Our Youtube Channel has 25 subscribers (http://www.youtube.com/user/valueinvestingpro)

Value Investing PRO Portfolio

I decided to build a Value Investing Portfolio from scratch as I felt it would be fun and would provide a true performance for the site. I purchased four stocks which I thought and still believe are bargains. Below are the four companies and their purchase price.

1. Vaalco Energy (EGY)@ $4.25
2. Pfizer (PFE)@ $14.65
3. Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC) @ $38.39
4. IMS Health Inc. (RX) @ $12.10

The one month performance doesn’t matter but basically it was flat.  I believe all stocks are trading at or around there original purchase price and still have a valid thesis to support the original purchase thesis

My Thoughts on Value Investing Pro

I was honestly giving it my all to make sure I was giving my subscribers all the information I have compiled over the years. The results through one month far exceeded my expectations. I expected to have 20 subscribers by the end of one year, I achieved that in a little over one month. But unfortunately, I just could not continue. I have so many thoughts on my mind that its wearing me down emotionally, physically and why not, financially. I honestly loved updating the site and couldn’t wait to write my weekly commentary. I had so many things on my mind that i built up throughout the week that once Saturday morning came around, I grabbed a cup of coffee and pounded away at the keyboard. I already have a couple of subscribers e-mailing me back asking whether I will re-open in the future, I don’t know. I honestly haven’t thought about it.

Warren Buffett On Goldman Sachs

Seems like the whole world has forgotten about Warren Buffett’s investment in Goldman.  Fox Business recently calculated a 40% return on its investment, or about a $2 billion profit, nice!!!

Warren Buffett Cartoon

I’m actually looking forward to this cartoon which teaches finances to kids.  Maybe it would serve useful to adults as well. I know I certainly could of used some help. As an example, I didn’t know how to write a check til my senior year in high school and that’s because I was part of the high school’s JRTC program.

Mohnish’s 650K Lunch With Warren Buffett

Apparently, Mohnish has been on a tear since going on lunch with Warren Buffett.  I thought this video was interesting.
Quick Story On Mohnish

I bought his book Mosaic for about $12. For some reason I didn’t like it and decided to resell it on Amazon for the same price.  It currently sells on Amazon for $100. Ouch…