2018 Investment Series Quarter 4 Performance Update

As you are likely aware, every other week I have been picking a company to invest $1000 in as a part of the Let’s Be Millionaires, hail Mary investment series. What follows is an update covering the performance of these picks in 2018 (this post was written January 1st, 2019).

A Brutal 4th Quarter

The Hail Mary portfolio fell deeper into the red over the past 3 months. Currently sitting at a loss of just under 30% of total contribution value ($26,000), the picks on the whole are underperforming.

The Russel 2000 index is an index that tracks the performance of U.S. small-cap stocks. These stocks are the main type of stock that I purchased during the investment series. That index is currently in bear market territory, nearly 23% off of its highs.

In October we saw global stock markets turn down fairly significantly, and the selling continued through the end of the year. It has been a pretty rough quarter to be invested in stocks.

Winners and Losers

Individual pick performance looks like a sea of red. Just 4 of my picks are positive while 22 are negative.

CRON (Cronos Group) has moved into the top spot for best performing stocks in the portfolio, currently up around 50%. Just 3 months ago MCF held the top spot and was up nearly 100%. Now as you can see MCF has fallen all the way back down to the original price I purchased the shares for.

Limited Brands (LB) and Callaway Golf (ELY) flipped from positive to negative during the past quarter as well.

The Takeaway

The 2018 Investment Series is now over. I have enjoyed familiarizing myself with some smaller and more niche companies, and forcing myself to put a lot of money aside for investments has made me pay close attention to how I spend my money.

Obviously, the performance of the stocks in my portfolio this year has been a tough pill to swallow. The last thing you want when you work hard to save and invest money is to see your investments fail. While I haven’t realized any of my losses yet, if I were to sell all of these shares tomorrow I would have around $18,500. That’s roughly $7,500 less than I have contributed to the account this year.

There are important lessons to be taken from what has happened with the investment series this year. Investments aren’t always going to go up. While that may seem elementary it is important to realize that when you are putting your dollars in a company they are at risk, and you may not ever get them back. This is why it is so crucial that you invest only what you can afford to lose.

If I were close to retirement or was saving up for a down payment, losing 30% on my investments could have serious consequences. So remember to take a moment and really consider what level of risk is appropriate for your current investments, because as we have learned this year, sometimes they go poorly.

As of now I am planning to hold all of the picks. I will aim to update everyone on their performance another 6 months from now. Hopefully by then the stock market, and my portfolio, will be in a better place.

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Investment Series Quarter 1 Performance 

Investment Series Quarter 2 Performance 

Investment Series Quarter 3 Performance

1 thought on “2018 Investment Series Quarter 4 Performance Update”

  1. I admire the transparency and a real view into some lessons learned! Glad you stayed consistent throughout the year with this — it is a cool insight to have and hopefully will help some other folks understand that it’s tough to be a winner in the stock market, even with lots of time and effort invested.

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