How long have you held a cash portfolio for?

[Kaspar]

Hey guys, what's the longest you've ever been on the sidelines and held a large cash position for? Is anyone in that position now or thinking about it?

[POSSUM THE CAT]

Kaspar I hold various cash deposits, Term, online savings accounts.ect & a few bonds over the last 15 years along side conservative NZ & Aust share portfolios.

[Dej]

Im sitting on more cash than ever as I am a growth investor and most shares out there are currently fully priced (IMHO). That does not mean all of my equity is in cash, around 50:50 split.

[ENP]

Hey guys, what's the longest you've ever been on the sidelines and held a large cash position for? Is anyone in that position now or thinking about it?

I haven't bought anything since April 2012.

I'm about 40% in stocks and 60% in cash (savings account) and this percentage increases each month from my salary.

I prefer to be patient and when a stock is mis-priced in my favour I load up considerably.

[Halebop]

I was about 99% cash pre GFC, moved towards <5% cash by 2011. Am now about 45% cash with a rising bias (Augmented by savings, investment income and gradual equity sales).

Equities I own are generally fair to fully valued but mostly trending up strongly. Exited one of my favourite Aussie companies, AMM @ around an average of $1.80 which generated a very nice return but compares a bit poorly with the $2.20 high - however the choice to exit reflects my view on Australia and some valuations.

[h2so4]

I haven't bought anything since April 2012.

I'm about 40% in stocks and 60% in cash (savings account) and this percentage increases each month from my salary.

I prefer to be patient and when a stock is mis-priced in my favour I load up considerably.

Brilliant!

[CJ]

I haven't bought anything since April 2012.

The NZX50G is up 29% since then. Not saying the decision is wrong, just pointing out the opportunity cost of a conservative strategy.

Each time I make a move to cash, I find a new company to buy. Not doing to well this year unfortunately. Maybe I should be holding a bit more cash.

[Joshuatree]

Had a buffer of cash for ages but this year been loading up on good div stocks like TIX on ASX giving me 10% (more in $nz) on my mainly 45c buy, TEL, CNU etc so not alot of cash atm but planning on freeing up more soon to sit and watch for poss selloff bargains.

[ENP]

The NZX50G is up 29% since then. Not saying the decision is wrong, just pointing out the opportunity cost of a conservative strategy.

Each time I make a move to cash, I find a new company to buy. Not doing to well this year unfortunately. Maybe I should be holding a bit more cash.

The NASDAQ went up the same 29% in 3.5 months in early 2000.

The NZX 50 went up 27% in 9 months in late 2006-mid 2007.

I'm not particularly concerned about "other people" making money on the rise of the sharemarket in the last year faster than I am doing. I've found a strategy that I understand and makes sense for me and allows me to sleep at night. The last purchase I made in April 2012 is up around 61% or 66% if you include dividends so I haven't completely missed out on the rise in sharemarkets in the last year.

[Joshuatree]

Good thread kaspar thanks. A very personal decision and although i like the strat of having all of ones money working hard .(like a few very successful friends of mine do). It comes down to philosophy , knowledge, confidence, how much time you want to spend micro/managing, what your risk/ hunger/ reward situ is. I do tend to always want plenty of cash for ops but am aware its been a pretty lazy risk/reward/return lost op waiting/situ/up until now. And Riskon/off/on/off gets a bit schizoid at times if one listens to the noise.