Retirees - what are your top 5 long term stocks?

[nulla nulla]

Interesting thread, and a lot of posters seem to have similar ideas to mine.

I have been seriously investing since retiring in 1995, and like others above, basically rely on dividends for income, although after the market collapse of late 2008, I did find I was entitled to a small (repeat small), age pension.

A lot of stocks I purchased back in 1995 I still hold (CSL at an adjusted for split price of $1.17 worked out okay - now $28.98).

My top 10 holdings are

BHP (13% of portfolio - held since 1995, but early purchases since sold, and current holdings start at 2003, average ingoing price $12.48, current $38.18.

CSL, since 1995, average ingoing $2.80, now $28.98. Pity no Swine Flu vaccine as yet, I'm currently in house quarantine pending test results - that'll teach me to visit Melbourne!

STO. Held since 1995. Av. cost $6.42. Now $15. Have just taken up rights entitlement, so it will be around 9% of total portfolio. I also hold ORG (at profit), and AWE (small loss). I rather like oil producers for the long term.

WES. Since 1995. Av cost $9.15, now $22.16. Participated in recent issue, and added some on top @12.50.

LEI. A bit nervous about this one. First purchased 2000, now averaging $6.73 cost, current price $24.57. Have they bitten off more than is chewable?

WPL. Another oiler owned since 2000. Av cost $4.00, now $42.62

WBC. Got these via Advance Bank, then St George takeovers. Cost $6.43, now $19.23. I also have smaller holdings in NAB and ANZ - unlikely to add in the current bad debt climate.

WOW. Bought 2006 @ $23.02. Now $26.30. Defensive food/booze/pokies (pity about the pokies).

ASB. Our WA ferry builder. Almost worth holding for the great pictures in the annual report. Cost $1.30 (2004), now $2.54..

There are a few other smaller holdings (even some OZL - how could I?).

Reading the above, it does make a bit of a nonsense of Marcus Padley's "buy-and-hold is dead", and "trade, trade, trade" sermons

Incidentally, all holdings direct, outside Super. I came to the conclusion in March 2008 that being charged $2.5K a year to manage a small ($140K) super portfolio, which was falling rapidly in value, was a dog of an idea.

I loved the idea that I could take out every cent, tax free (thanks P. Costello), would no longer be subject to the legislative risk of future changes to the rules, and NO MORE FEES. At a rough guess, the $140K (which simply went into the bank, is now $150K. Doubt if it would be $100K if I'd left it untouched. Just love the feeling of not having my money controlled at the whim of the Government. And I no longer have to read all the learned articles about superannuation that litter the financial press!

Cheers, badger

For a moment I thought you meant your whole portfolio was $140k, then i realised you meant this was the component tied up in your super account with the balance outside your super fund.
Way to go. With the statutory costs, Accountants fees etc even self managed super funds are hard to justify against the merits of building up an investment portfolio outside of super.

 

[Muschu]

Good morning Rick,
"don't want the market or my PC to rule my day....'

It, the Market, doesn't rule my day, its just a great part of my day that I look forward to, each and every day.

Kind regards,
UB

Sorry UB -- I didn't have your day in any corner of my mind. Sincere apologies if you thought there may have been some oblique reference to you.
The market has taken too much of my own day -- so it was strictly a personal reference.

Best wishes

Rick

 

[Uncle Barry]

Good evening Rick,
Not a problem.
I did not take your comment personally, just thought it was a general kind of statement.

Kind regards,
UB

 

[vincent191]

nulla nulla

Have you consider transferring your shares to your DIY superfund? There is a big tax advantage. Don't forget holding shares in your own name can attract capital gains tax. The tax rate for Superfunds much less.

Do think about selling any shares that are currently making a loss or breaking even to your Superfund. This will work if you intend to hold those shares with a longer term in mind and you are confident that they will come good one day. A lot of REIT units/shares will come under this category.

As always if your headache persist consult your accountant.

 

[Muschu]

Thanks for explanation, Rick. You've certainly changed how you do things!
Can you say what the attraction is with SUN?....

Hi Julia

Yes I have made changes thanks to you and others. That doesn't mean I have entered a perfect investing world by any means..... I remain a definite novice.

SUN appealed to me largely on fundamental grounds, although I have great respect also for TA and the early March chart was pretty good [that's technical talk....] in my opinion.


It is also an ASX50 stock, almost in the ASX20. The dividend is 100% franked and the SP, in my layman's view, had dropped well below fair value - even given the market plunge.

As I said somewhere above [or I think I did] I entered SUN with no guarantee but perhaps with enough indicators for me to consider it a reasonable venture. Then I noted each time the SP went down it seemed to recover. So far I have done OK in just following the swings. There's been some luck in there I acknowledge. But I figure there's no way of ever reducing the risk factor to zero.

Hope that helps.

Regards

R

 

[Julia]

Good evening Julia.
Some mistake ?
"UB, that's a really good and novel way of looking at withdrawing from the workforce"

I have no plans at withdrawing from the workforce, now or in the future as far as I know.

I enjoy what I do, this is fun, like a sport or hobby that never ends, with a new adventure every day, well for 5 out of 7, so why stop?

Thats why I kind of feel sorry for some people, as they are still looking, exploring or thinking for something, they haven't found yet, the something being what they will do in the future.

Guess a lot of people will never understand my thinking

Kindest regards,
UB

Uncle Barry, sorry for making an assumption on the basis of the thread title that you were out of the work force.

I still like the idea, though, for those of us who have chosen to stop working.

 

[Julia]

Hi Julia, that is why I have held WOW very long term, and never sold.

Also why I have now added MTS, as I believe they have a strong prospect of growth, apart from the div

OK, goodonya, awg. When I sold all my stocks, in retrospect I probably should have held on to WOW because it didn't fall too badly. Reinforces the theory of basic defensive stocks.

 

[Calliope]

This from the Intelligent Investor. You will notice they have avoided banks and resources. Being retired, I confine myself to stocks that pass the "sleep test", with an occasional punt on a roughie to take the boredom out of it.

Blue chips for your consideration
Stock (ASX code) Weight Sector Reco. Trailing div.
yield (12-mth)
Westfield (WDC) 8% Property LT Buy 9.4%*
QBE Insurance (QBE) 7% Insurance LT Buy 6.8%
Cochlear (COH) 6% Technology LT Buy 2.8%
Platinum AM (PTM) 6% Funds Management LT Buy 4.8%
Soul Patts (SOL) 6% Prop., Energy & Investment LT Buy 3.1%
Brickworks (BKW) 6% Property & Investment LT Buy 3.0%
Mac. Airports (MAP) 5% Infrastructure LT Buy 11.5%*
Harvey Norman (HVN) 5% Retail & Property LT Buy 3.9%
Aristocrat (ALL) 5% Leisure & Gaming LT Buy 9.7%
Perpetual (PPT) 5% Funds Management LT Buy 6.0%
Woolworths (WOW) 4% Retail Hold 3.7%
Telstra (TLS) 4% Telecommunications Hold 8.8%
Macquarie Group (MQG) 4% Financial Hold 5.0%
Wesfarmers (WES) 4% Retail & Energy Hold 8.3%
Billabong (BBG) 4% Fashion & Retail Hold 6.5%
News Corp A (NWSLV) 4% Media No View 1.1%
Computershare (CPU) 4% Financial Hold 2.4%
Woodside (WPL) 4% Energy No View 3.2%
ASX (ASX) 3% Financial Hold 4.9%
Insurance Aust. Grp (IAG) 3% Insurance Hold 3.6%
Mirvac (MGR) 3% Property Hold 12.0%*
Weighted yield 5.8%
*Dividend/distribution certain to be cut.

 

[Julia]

CPB, Campbell Bros Ltd., SP has almost doubled in last three months.
Dividend of 4.7%.

Ditto OKN, Oakton Ltd., more than doubled. Dividend of 7%.

 

[Muschu]

CPB, Campbell Bros Ltd., SP has almost doubled in last three months.
Dividend of 4.7%.

Ditto OKN, Oakton Ltd., more than doubled. Dividend of 7%.

Interesting finds Julia - both worth a good look. Thanks.

 

[rhen]

CPB, Campbell Bros Ltd., SP has almost doubled in last three months.
Dividend of 4.7%.

Ditto OKN, Oakton Ltd., more than doubled. Dividend of 7%.

I'm a long (long) term holder of CPB...actually worked a year for them...plus a grandfather who was their chief soapmaker most of his working life. They have moved on from those days...

 

[Muschu]

I'm a long (long) term holder of CPB...actually worked a year for them...plus a grandfather who was their chief soapmaker most of his working life. They have moved on from those days...

Got time to interpet that chart for us please rhen?
Thanks
R

 

[Trevor_S]

Reading the above, it does make a bit of a nonsense of Marcus Padley's "buy-and-hold is dead", and "trade, trade, trade" sermons

Marcus is a stock broker, his money is made selling stocks, I guess make of that what you will. As a "trader" (exchanging bits of paper with other people in the hope they will pay more for it) I can see why averaging down doesn't work for him, it would and could be financial doom. For me, if I have identified a business, paid $12 for it, the market corrects and it's selling for $8, I will snap it up if the fundamentals haven't changed and I have spare cash not curse that it's gone down but think great, more opportunity. That aside, I think like many commentators, that's what they do, commentate.

A buy & hold strategy is seen as staid, slow and boring and not very exciting. I like to keep my money so these concepts appeal, I have seen dozens of traders "acquaintances" fall by they way over the decades, all espousing their strategys as the best way forward, I see the same arguments they made put forward by many in here and assume those same mistakes will be repeated, if history shows us anything it's that most peopel don't learn from it .

My time is spent identifying companies that are decent to invest in, accumulating cash in times of exuberance and then waiting for weakness in the market before buying but of course I get it wrong very occasionally. My portfolio is small by comparison to most others (seven figures) but my lifestyle is relatively frugal, so my expenditure is not that great. That said, I just ordered a new kevlar sea kayak and have been sucked into upgrading my Ute due to the Governments 50% rebate for small business, (that I qualify for this year but would not have last year, serendipity ?) but then my kayak costs about the same as 3 tyres on a BMW X5

It is very interesting to read and to see people investing in stocks I would never touch (eg CSL) , I like having my reasoning questioned, interest piqued and maybe go off and reassess.

I have poured more money into this period of weakness (Dec - Mar) then any other "buying spree" I have gone on (I basically stopped buying in March aside from rights) so either I will look back upon this as a "wise" time to buy or I will be regarded as a bigger fool by my partner I do still have reasonable cash reserves though in case further opportunity presents.

Thanks to everyone posting, great reading

 

[Uncle Barry]

Good morning,
Julia,
"sorry for making an assumption on the basis of the thread title that you were out of the work force"

I am out of the so called 'work force' and have been for years,
what most people think as the 'work force',

However if your idea of 'work force' is making a dollar or three, Monday to Friday, then I am still in that 'work force'.

However no one forces me to work, I just enjoy the excitment, adverture and the never ending learning curve of the Market and it's ways.

AND cannot see any reason to stop.
As its not about money, its ALL about enjoyment to me
(I bet this statement will confuse a few )

Kindest regards,
UB

 

[Trevor_S]

Don't forget holding shares in your own name can attract capital gains tax.

Can I ask how ? I have only ever been taxed CG upon sale, not holding ?

 

[Julia]

Got time to interpet that chart for us please rhen?
Thanks
R

Hello Rick, I held CPB and OKN until the downturn, sold them to protect profits, and have now bought back in.

I'm sure it's possible to make all sorts of fancy interpretation of the CPB chart but all I take much notice of is how it demonstrates the sharp fall from the peak in November 08, and a strong return of uptrend now.

 

[rhen]

Got time to interpet that chart for us please rhen?
Thanks
R

Thanks Rick for your interest.
I have just returned home from work.
Firstly, rereading what I wrote early this morning, I had a chuckle...the grandfather I refer to was/is mine not me (though ...)
My charts are relatively simple and so are their interpretation.
I copy this from the CFU site:
I'll put my charts up with the understanding:
1. On the charts the 1 is a first stage (for me) buy and the 3 is a warning of a buy on the horizon. The 2 and 4 turn off the buy call...they are not a sell.
2. These are my programmed indicators so I treat them as such, as reason to watch for other signs that the share is ready to rise.
3. My second stage analysis is necessary before I decide to buy. My indicators have been reasonably accurate...just wish I could follow more, or have fewer to follow. They are not infallible (goes w/o saying).

regards
rhen

 

[Muschu]

.........My charts are relatively simple and so are their interpretation....................

rhen

Simple but interesting. Thanks rhen.

 

[Muschu]

Hello Rick, I held CPB and OKN until the downturn, sold them to protect profits, and have now bought back in.

I'm sure it's possible to make all sorts of fancy interpretation of the CPB chart but all I take much notice of is how it demonstrates the sharp fall from the peak in November 08, and a strong return of uptrend now.

Always good to see a nice uptrend Julia.

 

[Julia]

Thanks Rick for your interest.
I have just returned home from work.
Firstly, rereading what I wrote early this morning, I had a chuckle...the grandfather I refer to was/is mine not me (though ...)
My charts are relatively simple and so are their interpretation.
I copy this from the CFU site:
I'll put my charts up with the understanding:
1. On the charts the 1 is a first stage (for me) buy and the 3 is a warning of a buy on the horizon. The 2 and 4 turn off the buy call...they are not a sell.
2. These are my programmed indicators so I treat them as such, as reason to watch for other signs that the share is ready to rise.
3. My second stage analysis is necessary before I decide to buy. My indicators have been reasonably accurate...just wish I could follow more, or have fewer to follow. They are not infallible (goes w/o saying).

regards
rhen

Rhen, thanks for your comments. So in that whole chart you don't see any reason to sell?