August 2026 Portfolio Update
Up 20.83% YTD, always learning from Munger, and trimming my largest position
This is not financial advice. Do your own research. Investing in stocks is risky. These are my holdings as of 8/1/2026
August 2026 Update
Another great year underway. The market just keeps humming along. The 2026 portfolio we posted on Substack to start the year is up 23.77%, over double the S&P 500 (which is up 10.14% year-to-date).
January Portfolio
However, thanks to my knowledge of higher mathematics (B.S. Mathematics) and finance (MSF), I have devised sophisticated trading and exit timing strategies that have enabled me to successfully underperform my Substack returns. Our actual portfolio has returned 20.83%.
How did I manage to underperform? One reason is simply by trading, each time you trade, there’s friction and taxes, so that’s part of it. But the main reason was selling SEZL way too early. It wasn’t a stock I understood well I thought it was near the perimeter of my circle of competence. But fellow substacker Manu Invests wrote a great article on it, and I thought it was trading cheap. I made some money, but sold way too early.
It wasn’t all bad though. I made some good decisions: I kept adding to CROX in the low 80’s, eventually getting it to 30% of portfolio, and then sold over half near $120. I also sold MGM at $50 after the buyout offer.
Even so I would’ve been better just sitting on my ass doing nothing. As Munger would say “Buy great companies and sit on your ass”. It’s a lesson I keep learning the hard way.
I wish I could say this only happened once this year, but I actually underperformed my April Portfolio update as well (Up 25.65% in 4 months). I’m not sure what to say about this other than I’m glad my Substack portfolio’s are outperforming my real portfolio, it’d be suspicious if it was the other way around. You can see April’s breakdown below.
April Portfolio
Historical Performance
I don’t gauge my performance over a 7-month time period. I prefer at least three years, preferably 5 or longer. With that said doubling the market in 7 months feels good.
Here is my performance over the last 6 years:
August Portfolio Updates
We have made some significant changes over the course of 2026. We have even started to trim our largest holding, not because we like it any less, but I’ve just wanted to get more money into our new and now second largest position.