October Stock Portfolio

Investing has always just been a hobby of mine but lately it has consumed my life because of the massive market swings in reaction to any negative/positive news. My own portfolio is no exception to these swings as I have done a good job of outperforming the S&P 500, but my portfolio is still down roughly 15% for the year. The recession will likely continue thru the better part of 2009 before we start to see market confidence return. Normally I would just hold, but I need to spend this money on more important things such as my own wedding plans and my parent's home remodeling. Family always comes first =)

So as you can see below, my portfolio has radically changed. I have taken a more aggressive approach to financials since they have been hit so hard with bad mortgage backed security investments. I'm betting financials will only want to do business in the most conservative ways that pretty much guarantee profit. Morgan Stanley recently received $9 billion from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and another $10 billion from the US Government's Bank Rescue Plan. It's pretty clear to me that Morgan Stanley will receive enough help to never go bankrupt. My other position is American Express. I have always felt very strongly about American Express which has a very strong international presence and is very selective with whom they distribute their credit cards to. They are also receiving settlement payments from both Visa and Mastercard totaling $5 billion for imposing rules that had prohibited financial institutions from issuing credit cards through American Express. My last stock is one I continue to hold, but have reduced my shares in half and that is Pengrowth Energy Trust (NYSE: PGH). Though the price has been cut down roughly 40%, it still offers a very attractive 20% dividend that will essentially double my investment after 5 years (if the price holds *wink*).

The rest of my cash has been pulled out to my Savings Account which currently yields a 3% interest that beats the current Money Market rate of 1.04%.

Symbol	% of Assets	Description	Dividend Yield	Industry
AXP	18.44	American Express	2.71	Finance
MS	14.98	Morgan Stanley	5.33	Securities
PGH	23.12	Pengrowth Energy Trust	19.51	Oil & Gas
BRK.B	31.28	Berkshire Hathaway Inc.	0.00	Insurance
CASH	12.01	Cash	1.04%	Cash