12/14   "ILF up 66%, BZF up 74%, EWY up 44%, CEE up 64%. But I only hold
        about 10% in each. You are holding too much risk with an
        undiversified portfolio like that for my taste."
        \_ That's impressive, nice returns betting on different regions.
           How do you plan on investing in 2006?
           \_ Thanks, I only posted the best ones though. There is an EWG up 9%,
              and a bad bet on CPN bonds (lost 50% so far) that bring the
              overall return down to about 30%. I am still working on my
              end of year adjustments, but I will certainly hold the above,
              to start with. I try not to sell winners, but in CEE's
              case it went up so much I had to sell half of it to avoid
              overbalancing my portfolio. I moved the proceeds into EEM.
              Recent purchases include TKF and PCU, a copper miner. I am
              probably going to reduce my overseas allocation from 70%
           \_ Thanks, I only posted the best ones though. There is an EWG
              up 9%, and a bad bet on CPN bonds (lost 50% so far) that
              bring the overall return down to about 30%. I am still work-
              ing on my end of year adjustments, but I will certainly hold
              the above, to start with. I try not to sell winners, but in
              CEE's case it went up so much I had to sell half of it to
              avoid overbalancing my portfolio. I moved the proceeds into
              EEM. Recent purchases include TKF and PCU, a copper miner.
              I am probably going to reduce my overseas allocation from 70%
              back down to 50%, but other than that, I haven't figured it
              out yet. Any suggestions?
              \_ Funny how the motd financial gurus only post their winners
                 and the biggest ones at that and everyone has large double
                 digit gains in everything.  It feels like 1998 all over
                 again everyday on the motd.
                 \_ 30% yearly gain is nothing to sneeze at.
                    \_ This is true.  My gain is 20%/year over the last 5-6
                       years but there were down times in there as well.  I'm
                       not picking on this person in particular, more the
                       general batch of "I'm a guru!  I got lucky on these
                       3 stocks!  Don't look at the losses under the rug..."
                       people posting here.
                       \_ 20% per year is impressive, especially given that
                          your 5-6 years included 2000 to late 2002.  I
                          have a 35% annual gain since late 2002, which
                          was when I got out of the post internet bubble
                          stock investment funk.  I definitely lost money
                          from 2000 till 2002.  Luckily I didn't have
                          too much money then.
                          your 5-6 years included 2000 to late 2002.
                          \_ Like I said, there were some down times.  I bought
                             in while the market was still dropping so I was at
                             a loss for a while but now I'm well above.  My
                             only regret was not trusting myself and getting
                             scared and not buying more at one key point where
                             I had my finger on the "buy" button but chickened
                             out.  That was the low point.  Oh well.  I did ok.
              \_ I missed Korea entirely.  What prompted you to pick Korea
                 (EWY)?  I have EUROX, but it was trounced by your CEE in
                 the past year, even though it had good long term
                 performance and has been slightly less volatile.
                 I know little about Turkey.  What's your reasons for
                 buying it?  When is it joining the EU?
                 \_ About three years ago, I decided that China was the
                    real growth engine of the world, but I don't want to
                    buy Red Chinese stocks for obvious reasons. So I decided
                    to buy stocks in the nations that I thought would benefit
                    from China's rise, including most of its neighbors: EWH,
                    EWS, EWY and TTF (later sold when the Thai economy went
                    into a recession). CEE is very heavy on Russian oil and
                    into a funk). CEE is very heavy on Russian oil and
                    gas producers, so be careful with it. I bought Turkey
                    mostly because The Economist keeps saying good things
                    about the Turkish economy and chances for EU admission.
                    They still have a bunch of hurdles to jump, but it looks
                    like 2012 or so for Turkey.
                    \_ I bought some EWJ (japan) and also had MJFOX
                    \_ I have bought some EWJ (japan) and also had MJFOX
                       (japan) since late 2003.  Everyone is saying buy
                       Japan.  What do you think?  The other thing I've
                       been looking at is blue chip US companies.  So
                       far, I've bought just GE though.  You don't like
                       India?  Totally missed the 20% semiconductor
                       run up recently.  Thanks for the Turkey tip.  I
                       will definitely look at that.
                       \_ I have a bit of Japan, will probably sell some
                          emerging market and move into it and SPX when
                          I rebalance. The US economy has all the same
                          problems it had three years ago, but at least
                          the valuations are looking more reasonable. I
                          guess I should buy some IFN, but I missed the
                          big runup and hate buying high. Any other
                          good ways to get into India?