Halfway Point

Well, it is almost the middle of the year. I can't complain, my overall portfolio is up 6.0% YTD. I was up as much as 19%, but I can't complain. I feel like complaining, but I won't complain. I did get some good news in my non MFI portfolio last night. CNX is being added to the S&P 500. Should be a nice 5% pop today (actually went up about 12%). CNX has been a solid performer, up 22% (now 37%) since I bought it just before I read about MFI on Febraury 12th.

Seems like there has been a lot of noise from the talking heads of finance lately.

• Will the Fed raise rates?
• Will the dollar weaken?
• Will there be inflation?
• Will there be a recession as predicted by inverted yield curve?
• What about the federal deficit?
• Will the democrats take congress?
• Does Bernanke know what he is doing?
• Did Marilyn Monroe really commit suicide or did JFK have her killed?
• Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?

What do you think? Does it matter? Should we worry? Listen to what the Oracle of Omaha has to say:

When asked about the recent stock market declines, Buffett said: "I find nothing frightening about it at all. If I own a good business, I don't really care whether the markets open tomorrow."

"I have no idea what business is going to do next month or next year," Buffett continued. "I don't think it's important whether you're confident about tomorrow or next week." Warren added that his confidence comes from taking a long-term view of the investment market and the economy.

"If the economy does well over a long period, markets will do well over a long period," he said. "In the short run, the market's a voting machine and sometimes people vote very unintelligently. In the long run, it's a weighing machine and the weight of business and how it does is what affects values over time."

Now don't you feel better? As Alfred E Newman says, "What Me Worry?" It might interest you to know that Buffett said that in 2002, but it really doesn't matter. The MFI approach is supposed to take us in the sweet spot Warren is talking about" "owning good businesses".

The week ended on an upbeat fashion for me. Overall I had a 4 day winning streak. I still trail the benchmark and cash, but the gap has narrowed. I saw where KMG was bought at a 40% premium today (Anadarko to buy Kerr-McGee). That is such a strong signal that some of these stocks have fallen too far and too fast. KMG was a MFI stock. I have noticed that MFI stocks seem to be bought more often than the average stock so far.

My best stocks of the week included:
FTO + 6.7%
NSS + 6.1%
TGIS +8.5%

The losers included:
PTSC -7.8%
ORCT -5.3%
OVTI -4.7%

The MFI approach is now a hold 'em approach. I have 28 stocks. At most for the rest of the year I'll buy 2, unless I sell one. I may add a little bit to a few as I did with seven earlier this month. But my investing will switch for a while to insurance companies and international banks and financial institutions as those are areas that MFI excludes.

Let us hope that I have picked a "good" 28. So far, to be honest, the jury is out on my stock selecting skills. A trusty dartboard would have beaten me.