Whatever type of portfolio you want to challenge me with, put it here. As long as it has a simple theme that can easily be carried out, I'll make a portfolio. I usually start with a pool of around 2800 stocks that I narrow down to 1500 or so based on sector and then whatever makes it through every single requirement I have. However, this challenge opens up the sectors that I don't normally use to you. My goal here is to have such consistently market-beating returns in these themed portfolios that you simply can't ignore that value investing works.

However, all comparison data used needs to be actually comparable. If you want me to make a "utility-themed" list of stocks, then the comparisons that it goes up against need to be utility-themed. Or, you could just tell me to grab the top 5 picks from each sector I use. Or you could tell me to create a 50-stock portfolio. Whatever it is, I'll try to create it. Just don't put something ridiculous like 50 utility stocks (only around 90 usually make my initial list, so that's way too many in such a portfolio).

Example of competition against a utility-themed portfolio:

Utilities SPDR (ETF) NYSEARCA:XLU
iShares Dow Jones US Utilities (ETF) NYSEARCA:IDU
Vanguard Utilities ETF NYSEARCA:VPU
iShares S&P Global Utilities Sector(ETF) NYSEARCA:JXI
ProShares UltraShort Utilities (ETF) NYSEARCA:SDP
Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Index INDEXDJX:DJUSUT
Vanguard Utilities Index Adm MUTF:VUIAX
ProShares Ultra Utilities (ETF) NYSEARCA:UPW
PowerShares Dynamic Utilities (ETF) NYSEARCA:PUI
Rydex S&P Equal Weight Utilities (ETF) NYSEARCA:RYU
BMO Covered Call Utilities ETF TSE:ZWU

Let the games begin.

This is interesting. I'm surprised no one his taken you up on this

Mr. Clinger

I would love to challenege you on this, although I don't disagree that value investing works.

As a money manager I track my performance anyways but have 3 different stock programs I manage. One is very conservative only owning the SPY, the other is a stock picking portfolio, and the other performance program is aggressive and uses leverage.

My conservative program was up 6% in January and Performance Program up 10.25%

I don't buy mutual funds, they are garbage, how would we do this?

www.GoldbergFinancialLLC.com

Greetings GoldbergFinancial,

The first thing is, we need to agree on the rules.

We need a solid way to show that the start of each side's performance started at the same time. I propose using the starting prices for the day after we make the decision on what we want.

Secondly, we need uniform money and fees being applied to both sides. $7 to $10 seems to be pretty standard on the buying and selling fees.

You can create a portfolio of stocks or use indexes (either is fine with me).

We need to set a date for the start, so neither of us starts late. We also need to set an ending date (I prefer 1 year).

I would prefer to keep the trading to a minimum. I don't mind a position being liquidated if things go really badly (and even replaced), but I'd rather not have to keep track of an actively-traded portfolio.

Results should be updated roughly monthly.

Maybe make it six months... I can imagine people getting bored of following this.

Also, for keeping trading to a minimum, why not institute a fee for trades so that you can do as many as you want, but there's a price to it?

Mario, everyone is already bored of following these two authors.

The problem with actively trading is that people will always disagree on the price that you should have gotten the stocks at. That and news can happen. For instance, say that you decide to buy a stock in changing your portfolio. Are you going to get the previous closing price or the next opening price for what you use? Or are you going to use something different, like an average of the next day's high and low? Well, buying at the previous close is fairly problematic because of news. Big news can mean instant gains if you use the previous closing price. But some people even have problems with you having the opening price.

Personally, I don't mind someone selling off a stock. Things happen, like massive frauds being discovered. But I prefer to keep things simple so you can easily track the performance.

Well, I wouldn't mind doing a 6-month test either as my picks seem to do decently over 6 months.. but my portfolios really are meant to be held for one full year.