Bill Matson's Portfolio (Total Returns)

(Note: Statements from July-2000 through March-2004 are located for viewing and download on Google Books. Statements from April-2004 through current are available from this website at the link provided in the table below.)

Supplementary Materials for viewing and download:

• Track Record (Detail Worksheet)

Notes:
 
This performance history includes all brokerage accounts that:

a) maintained balances exceeding $100,000 for at least one complete calendar month, and

b) were 100%-owned and fully controlled by Bill.

During months when Bill had two such accounts, as was the case between 2004 and 2007, we have consolidated their statement data. Beginning in January 2018, Bill's IRA account at TD Ameritrade, whose value hovered in the neighborhood of $100,000 in late 2017, will also be consolidated going forward, along with a new account focusing on long-only strategies. Through 6/30/18, we continued to report monthly performance on a quarterly basis.

Our performance calculations assume that all deposits are made at the beginning of the month and all withdrawals are made at the end of the month. As a result, positive monthly returns tend to be slightly understated and negative monthly returns tend to be slightly worse than presented. Overall returns, however, are significantly understated due to the preponderance of positive monthly returns.

Brokerage statement excerpts for July 2001 through March 2004 were included in Data Driven Investing (Appendix C - pages 396-463) and may be viewed free of charge through Google Books.

The Data Driven Investing book indicated 2003 returns of 157.0%. Due to rounding, this figure differs from the 157.1% figure shown above.

Sources of brokerage statements are Fidelity, TD Ameritrade (TDA), and "Macbeth".

The period documented in Data Driven Investing was an unusually profitable time for small cap value investing. Returns since that time have been significantly lower, for small cap value stocks, as well as for this portfolio.

Due to its option purchases and sales, margin borrowing, and significant positions in small cap, often illiquid stocks, this portfolio's strategies entail a high degree of risk and may not be appropriate or suitable for some investors. 

Neither Bill nor any organization with which he is affiliated are currently offering products that are likely to duplicate this portfolio's returns. Consequently, its past performance should not be relied upon in any way as being indicative of future returns that these parties are likely to achieve. Rather, it should be viewed solely  as a data point relevant to the ongoing academic debate regarding the validity of the Efficient Market Hypothesis. Though the authors of Data Driven Investing have taken the position that the market is inefficient, they felt it would be intellectually dishonest to withhold data generated after 2004 from the public, notwithstanding that this data supports their case far less dramatically than the returns documented in their book.                                            
                                            
Past performance does not guarantee future performance.                                          
Due to its option purchases and sales, margin borrowing, and significant positions in small cap, often illiquid stocks, this portfolio's strategies entail a high degree of risk and may not be appropriate or suitable for some investors.                                             
Sources of brokerage statements are Fidelity, TD Ameritrade (TDA), and "Macbeth".                                            
                                            
Due to trademark considerations, the large St. Louis-based firm where Bill had an account from January 2012 through mid-2013 has requested that  we not refer to it by name - thus the reference to Macbeth (known in the theatre community as "the play whose name should not be mentioned" - lest a powerful curse be conjured).                                      

Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, and "Macbeth" are not responsible for the subject matter of this site and have not reviewed its content for accuracy. They have not examined, nor do they endorse, any trading strategy discussed on this site. The Fidelity Investments and Pyramid Logo is a registered trademark of FMR Corp.