Investment Guru Of The Year

Investment guru of the year, Whitney Tilson:

http://www.tilsonfunds.com/bio_w.html

"Mr. Tilson co-authored the book, More Mortgage Meltdown: 6 Ways to Profit in These Bad Times (published in May 2009), has written for Forbes, the Financial Times, Kiplinger's, the Motley Fool and TheStreet.com, was one of the authors of Poor Charlie's Almanack, the definitive book on Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger. He is a CNBC Contributor, was featured in a 60 Minutes segment in December 2008 about the housing crisis that won an Emmy, was one of five investors included in SmartMoney's 2006 Power 30, was named by Institutional Investor in 2007 as one of 20 Rising Stars, has appeared dozens times on CNBC, Bloomberg TV and Fox Business Network, was on the cover of the July 2007 Kiplinger's, has been profiled by the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, and has spoken widely on value investing and behavioral finance. He served for two years on the Board of Directors of Cutter & Buck, which designs and markets upscale sportswear, until the company was sold in early 2007."

Too bad Mr. Tilson is getting his ass kicked, down 24.5% YTD even after a good October....http://www.equityhelpdesk.com/finance-news/another-tough-month-tilson-cnbcs-favorite-buffett-worshipper-down-over-24-ytd

Our fund rose 7.0% in October vs. 10.9% for the S&P 500, 9.7% for the Dow and 11.2% for the Nasdaq.  Year to date, it’s down 24.5% vs. +1.3% for the S&P 500, 5.5% for the Dow and 1.9% for the Nasdaq.

That's even worse than Warren Buffet, who's flagship Berkshire-Hathaway fund is down 6% YTD:


http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/advchart/frames/frames.asp?show=&insttype=Stock&symb=BRK.A&x=44&y=17&time=19&startdate=1%2F4%2F1999&enddate=11%2F18%2F2011&freq=1&compidx=aaaaa%3A0&comptemptext=&comp=none&ma=1&maval=9&uf=0&lf=268435456&lf2=4&lf3=2&type=4&style=320&size=2&timeFrameToggle=false&compareToToggle=false&indicatorsToggle=false&chartStyleToggle=false&state=11

So if you follow or invest with genius book, magazine, and CNBC commentators like Mr. Tilson, you too could be getting your ass kicked.  Or, you could have just followed the trend and bought gold, which even with a $45 sell off yesterday is still up 22% YTD.  But of course, everybody knows gold is in a bubble.  Pay no attention to who is making money and who isn't.  What the hell do I know, I've never been on CNBC as an expert.

YTD Scoreboard:

Whitney Tilson   -24.5%
Warren Buffet       -6%
S&P 500              1.3%
DOW                    5.5%
Nasdaq                1.9%
Gold                     22%    

To be fair, Mr. Tilson's hedge fund is up 215% over the last 11 years.  Too bad the shiny metal is up 600%, not even close.  (My first gold purchase 5 years ago at $565/ounce has more than tripled).  Isn't it funny how the people who were right and continue to be right in their investing, like Ron Paul, and Peter Schiff, are continually derided in the media?  My friend Kevin was loading the wagon when gold was at the bottom, as was Ron Paul and Peter Schiff.  I still challenge anybody to find any investor on the planet who has outperformed Ron Paul's portfolio over the last decade.  There are others like Adam Hamilton who called the gold bear bottom within about a month of it happening, yet remain virtually anonymous.  When was the last time you saw any of these people on CNBC?  Hmmm....I wonder why?  Why wouldn't they put on the winners?  I will leave that for you to decide.

BTW, none of the people I have mentioned who have bought gold and silver are selling.  We continue to buy from the few nattering nabobs of negativity who are going through their dressers and scrapping what little they can find.  The run up in price over the last decade has happened with virtually no interest from the public, who remain on the sidelines.  And what are the banksters doing about it?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577043652396383484.html

LONDON—Total central-bank gold purchases in the third quarter more than doubled from the second quarter and were almost seven times higher than a year earlier as countries continued to diversify reserves, according to a World Gold Council report.

"At 148.4 metric tons, gold buying among central banks was at the highest since the sector became a net buyer of the precious metal in the second quarter of 2009, according to the quarterly report. "Central banks and other official institutions, by comparison, had bought 66.5 tons of gold in the second quarter and 22.6 tons in the third quarter of 2010."

These institutions buy gold by the metric tonne.  They aren't pikers like me who only buy tiny ounces.  Why don't they want to hold their paper?  I thought "cash was king."


Or, you could follow Tilson, Buffet, buy the S&P, or just hold on to your paper and get next to nothing in interest.  Move along, there is nothing to see here.  Gold is in a bubble, sell it all.