Well, here it is, the first post of a regular monthly feature on my (US) investment portfolio. I have investments in the other countries I have lived in, but my main focus is on building up my US portfolio and so that's what this series of posts is focused on. I'll talk about my international portfolio in the near future. So without further ado here is my current portfolio and a quick discussion on some of the stocks I have it in it.
I have used the Yahoo stock widget so prices will be up-to date.

Here's a quick review of stocks currently in my portfolio and why I hold them:

Melco PBL (MPEL) - In a previous post, I talked in detail about this stock. Suffice to say I am still well down on my initial investment (bought when the stock was $20), but believe in the long term growth prospects for Macau and its gambling industry. This is my "speculative" stock of the portfolio.

Brocade (BRCD) - Brocade provides the software, hardware, services and support for enterprise storage needs.The amount of data being transferred online and in corporate environments is driving the growth and demand in storage needs. I bought this as a play on this trend, but am yet to see the return thanks to the market downturn and hit on technology stocks in particular.

Accenture (ACN) - I actually got the stock in this company when I used to work for them. Has ended being a great investment, having tripled over the 6 years I have held it. I like the growth prospects for this company so will hold on for a while longer.

Powershares (PPA) - This is an ETF covering the Aerospace and Defense industries. I bought this a year ago as a defensive play (no pun intended) and thought the ongoing war spending and aviation boom will be good for this ETF. Unfortunately the stock performance has been flat to date and I will review next month if I want to keep this stock any longer.

Google (GOOG) - I wrote in a previous post about the reasons behind my purchasing this stock. Since then the stock, like the rest of the market, has really tanked. I am down almost 50% on Google, but I still like this stock for the long term. Especially now that the Microsoft/Yahoo merger may be in jeopardy, which would have been the only really competitive threat in the search and context online marketing space.

Visa (V) - I bought a small allocation of this stock just after the IPO for about $64. So far it is holding steady. This is one stock I will hold for the next 5-10 yrs, and look to add to my position if the right buying opportunity presents itself.

VGTSX (not in the widget above) - This is the Vanguard International Total stock index fund. This index fund has a low expense ratio and provides good exposure to a number of foreign markets. I invest about $200 in it every month

Goals/Future Choices:

The overall value of my US stock portfolio is about $20,000. Not a huge sum, but enough that I need to have a general plan with where I want to go. My target is to diversify and get the portfolio to $50,000 by the end of the year, through additional investments and capital growth. Unlike a lot of the doomsayers out there I think the next few months will provide a great opportunity to buy stocks in some world class companies at bargain basement prices.

I'll provide another update next month. Let me know your thoughts on my portfolio and stocks you think I should be looking at.


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