Well, that didn't work

In December, I shifted my portfolio around. If I had not, I would have performed a la the red line above so far this year. My actual portfolio performed as the green. (The black is my custom index).

If however, everything continues as it has these three months, the actual portfolio is a safer one and I expect it will earn about the same going forward. The old portfolio scores as a 7.4% expected excess annual return on 15.9% risk. The new portfolio scores as a 7.3% return on 14% risk. So the new is actually substantially better as far as expectations. It just didn't work out that way this quarter.

In particular, what happened is that several stocks I sold did very well since I sold them on December 7th. ORCL is up 15%, JEC is up 35%, and TPX is up 25%. So it's worth revisiting that decision. Why did I shift the portfolio?

• Truth be told, I was tired of looking at these guys every day.
• They hadn't performed as hoped long-term, but had a short-term burst I guessed would be a blip before going back down
• I wanted to tidy up for taxes
  
• I wanted a different risk profile

Of the four reasons, only the last one is legitimate. The first three are textbook examples of how not to invest. Well, here's hoping I remember this in the future and have some discipline. Of course I'll probably have bad luck with that as well.