White Trash in hard times

Time to check in again on the White Trash Portfolio.

To refresh your memory, the components of the White Trash Portfolio were as follows:

• BFB - Brown-Forman Corp. Cl B
  
• BUD - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.
  
• CHB - Champion Enterprises Inc.
• F - Ford Motor Co.
• GM - General Motors Corp.
  
• IGT - International Game Technology
  
• KO - Coca-Cola Co.
  
• MCD - McDonald's Corp.
• MO - Altria Group Inc.
• WMT - Wal-Mart Stores Inc

Since inception in March 2007, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the major indexes performed as follows:

• DIA, which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is down 28.7%.
• SPY, which tracks the S&P 500, is down 36.9%.
• VTI, which tracks the performance of the broad US stock market as a whole, is down 38.2%.
• IYC, which tracks the Dow Jones Consumer Cyclical index, is down 41.7%.

And White Trash? Down 29.9%.



In less than two years, there have been a lot of changes to the WTP.

Kraft Foods, which we didn't originally hold, was spun off from Altria Group (aka Philip Morris.)

Anheuser-Busch sold themselves to InBev.

Ford and GM look like they will need an emergency infusion of billions and billions of dollars just to make it through the next few months.

The three stocks that are consistently doing well through the downturn and keeping things from being worse than they might be: Anheuser-Busch, McDonalds, and Wal-Mart.

White Trash on the skids

There's been bloodletting in the markets, and the White Trash Portfolio has not been immune. It's still faring better than the major indexes we track.

To refresh your memory, the components of the White Trash Portfolio were as follows:

• BFB - Brown-Forman Corp. Cl B
  
• BUD - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.
  
• CHB - Champion Enterprises Inc.
• F - Ford Motor Co.
• GM - General Motors Corp.
  
• IGT - International Game Technology
  
• KO - Coca-Cola Co.
  
• MCD - McDonald's Corp.
• MO - Altria Group Inc.
• WMT - Wal-Mart Stores Inc

Since inception, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the major indexes performed as follows:

• DIA, which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is down 29.3%.
• SPY, which tracks the S&P 500, is down 34.7%.
• VTI, which tracks the performance of the broad US stock market as a whole, is down 35%.
• IYC, which tracks the Dow Jones Consumer Cyclical index, is down 38.6%.

And White Trash? Down 27.13%.

Amazingly, Anheuser-Busch, McDonald's and Wal-Mart are all still in the positive column since portfolio inception; BUD is the winner at 23.2% in gains.

Big Loser: GM, losing 80% of its value since purchase, followed closely by Altria, with a 77.3% loss.

White Trash in a Bear Market

It's a rough market out there.

The White Trash Portfolio is hanging in, but showing a little less resiliency than the basket of indices we're tracking.

GM is selling for less in absolute dollars than it has since the 1950s.  Accounting for inflation... you really don't want to think about GM at $10 and change a share.

And it looks like BUD might just get bought by some Belgians.

To refresh your memory, the components of the White Trash Portfolio were as follows:

• BFB - Brown-Forman Corp. Cl B
  
• BUD - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.
  
• CHB - Champion Enterprises Inc.
• F - Ford Motor Co. 
• GM - General Motors Corp.
  
• IGT - International Game Technology
  
• KO - Coca-Cola Co.
  
• MCD - McDonald's Corp. 
• MO - Altria Group Inc.
• WMT - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

And here's the tale of the tape: the WTP is down 14.54% since inception...



...while our basket of indices is down about 13.77%.

White Trash update

The market has its ups and downs, but White Trash just keeps on gittin'-r-done.

Since its inception in March 2007, the White Trash Portfolio is up 11.1%.

To refresh your memory, last spring we set up a model portfolio of the following stocks, and have been tracking its performance against major indexes on a periodic basis:

• BFB - Brown-Forman Corp. Cl B
  
• BUD - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.
  
• CHB - Champion Enterprises Inc.
  
• F - Ford Motor Co.
• GM - General Motors Corp.
  
• IGT - International Game Technology
  
• KO - Coca-Cola Co.
• KFT - Kraft Foods (not part of original portfolio; spun off by Altria, but it clearly still belongs)
  
• MCD - McDonald's Corp.
  
• MO - Altria Group Inc.
  
• WMT - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Over the same time period, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the major indexes performed as follows:

• DIA, which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is up 6.9%.
• SPY, which tracks the S&P 500, is up 3.2%.
• VTI, which tracks the performance of the broad US stock market as a whole, is also up 3.2%.
• IYC, which tracks the Dow Jones Consumer Cyclical index, is down 6.5%.

White Trash on Wall Street

It's time for our monthly review of the White Trash and Minor Vices portfolio.

To refresh your memory, in late March we set up a model portfolio of the following stocks, and have been tracking its performance against major indexes on a periodic basis:

• BFB - Brown-Forman Corp. Cl B
  
• BUD - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.
  
• CHB - Champion Enterprises Inc.
  
• F - Ford Motor Co.
• GM - General Motors Corp.
  
• IGT - International Game Technology
  
• KO - Coca-Cola Co.
• KFT - Kraft Foods (not part of original portfolio; spun off by Altria, but it clearly still belongs)
  
• MCD - McDonald's Corp.
  
• MO - Altria Group Inc.
  
• WMT - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

With some effort, we pried ourselves away from the news about Britney Spears' latest struggle with mean radio station advertisers to note, with pleasure, that since inception, the White Trash Portfolio has returned a healthy 8.7% on initial investment.

Over the same time period, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the major indexes performed as follows:

• DIA, which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is up 9.7%
• SPY, which tracks the S&P 500, is up 7.2%.
• VTI, which tracks the performance of the broad US stock market as a whole, is up 7.4%
• IYC, which tracks the Dow Jones Consumer Cyclical index, is up 3.4%.

A rising tide lifts all bass boats

It's been a while since we checked in on the White Trash and Minor Vices Portfolio.

As of Friday's close, it's humming along nicely, up 5.4% since inception.

But in this rising market, instead of beating the Dow, the Dow is (right now at least) beating our overalls off.

Over the same time period, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the major indexes performed as follows:

• DIA, an ETF which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is up 8.9%
• SPY, an ETF which tracks the S&P 500, is up 6.32%
• VTI, an ETF which tracks the performance of the broad US stock market as a whole, is up 5.96%
• IYC, an ETF which tracks the Dow Jones Consumer Cyclical index, is up 3.14%.

White Trash Portfolio Update

As the Dow soars to record levels, remember that a rising tide floats all crackers: the White Trash and Minor Vices Portfolio is now up 2.5% since inception.

Over the same time period, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the major indexes performed as follows:

• DIA, an ETF which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is up 3.5%
• SPY, an ETF which tracks the S&P 500, is up 3.2%.
• VTI, an ETF which tracks the performance of the broad US stock market as a whole, is up 3%
• IYC, an ETF which tracks the Dow Jones Consumer Cyclical index, is up 2.3%.

White Trash Update

Last week was a better one for White Trash on Wall Street; the White Trash and Minor Vices Portfolio is now up 1.1% since inception, helped along by solid performances in the "beverages that are bad for you and made by companies with hyphenated names" (aka Brown Liquids) category (Brown-Forman, Anheuser-Busch, and Coca-Cola) and a surprisingly good showing from Ford.

The spinoff of Kraft Foods from parent company Altria has been a net win as well.

Over the same time period, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the major indexes performed as follows:

• DIA, an ETF which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is up 1.3%
• SPY, an ETF which tracks the S&P 500, is up 1.1%.
• VTI, an ETF which tracks the performance of the broad US stock market as a whole, is up 1.15%
• IYC, an ETF which tracks the Dow Jones Consumer Cyclical index, is up 1.67%.

Never let it be said that white trash can't keep up with the Dow Joneses.

And once again, the complete White Trash portfolio is comprised of:

• BFB - Brown-Forman Corp. Cl B
  
• BUD - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.
  
• CHB - Champion Enterprises Inc.
  
• F - Ford Motor Co.
• GM - General Motors Corp.
  
• IGT - International Game Technology
  
• KO - Coca-Cola Co.
• KFT - Kraft Foods (not part of original portfolio; spun off by Altria)
  
• MCD - McDonald's Corp.
  
• MO - Altria Group Inc.
  
• WMT - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
  

Happy investing!

A bad week for White Trash

It's been a bad week for the White Trash portfolio, but then it hasn't been a terrific week for the market in general.

White Trash investors saw the value of their portfolio dip 1.42% in the last three days, meaning that $10,000 invested at inception would now be worth $9,857.90.

By way of comparison, over the exact same time period:

• DIA, an ETF which tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average, is down 0.69%
• VTI, an ETF which tracks the performance of the broad US stock market as a whole, is down 0.61%
• IYC, an ETF which tracks the Dow Jones Consumer Cyclical index, is down 0.71%.
  

Whew. It's at times like this that you want to relax with comfort food (such as a Big Mac), drink a shot of Jack, chase it with a Coke, and finish everything off by smoking a Marlboro.

I hope.

Announcement: The White Trash and Minor Vices Portfolio

Everyone says "invest in what you know."

I'm about to put my money where my big mouth is. Carrie and I invest, mostly in index funds and ETFs, every month through Sharebuilder, which allows fractional purchases of shares in stocks and funds for a flat monthly fee.

The vast majority of our modest monthly stake goes into a total-market index fund and an aggregated bond fund.

But I'm going to make a modest investment in a stock portfolio -- a mini-fund of my own making, if you will -- called "White Trash and Minor Vices" (motto: don't beat your wife, beat the Dow) the constituent stocks of which are:

• BFB - Brown-Forman Corp. Cl B
  
  Holding company for distilleries that produce Jack Daniel's, Early Times, Canadian Mist, Southern Comfort, Finlandia, and others. Recently acquired a major stake in a Mexican tequila manufacturer.
  
  
• BUD - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.
  
  Brewer of cheap domestic beer; owner of theme parks.
  
  
• CHB - Champion Enterprises Inc.
  
  Major manufacturer of mobile homes and modular buildings.
  
  
• F - Ford Motor Co. and GM - General Motors Corp.
  
  Contrarian picks to be sure, but here's the key: GM's share of U.S. pickup truck sales is 38.2%. Chrysler has 16.4% of the market. FordMotor Co. has 36.5%.
  
  GM is in talks to acquire Chrysler. Enough said.
  
  
• IGT - International Game Technology
  
  Designers and manufacturers of the most sophisticated video gaming machines (slot machines, video poker) on the market; they own the supply lines for low-end gambling.
  
  
• KO - Coca-Cola Co.
  
  Fizzy, flavored, caffeinated water.
  
  
• MCD - McDonald's Corp.
  
  Supersize me. I'm lovin' it.
  
  
• MO - Altria Group Inc.
  
  Holding company for Philip Morris USA and Kraft Foods, among others. Marlboros and Velveeta, baby. Spinning off Kraft on 30 March 2007.
  
  
• WMT - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
  
  One-stop shopping for lower-middle America.

I've built a portfolio to track these stocks, and will report back periodically on their performance.

(Possibly coming soon: a "Freaks and Geeks" portfolio, including Apple, Google and Starbucks.)