My Dad's Investment Legacy

Although my dad and I often differed in our assessment of stocks, as the trustee with investment responsibilities, I honored his equity strategies after he passed away in January, 2006. Until late last year, I kept his portfolio holdings 100% intact. The portfolio results show that my dad made some excellent investments in energy stocks before he passed away.

One of his holdings, Contango Oil & Gas (MCF) has risen 10 times since it was purchased. The investment has grown from about 10% of the portfolio to about 50%. I did not sell any of MCF through the end of 2007. His other great pick was Chesapeake Energy (CHK), which is up about 8 times since he bought it. It is now represents over 90% of my mom's IRA.

I wish he had lived to see the price of these stocks today. He would have been very happy to see his energy investment strategy be successful and how he has continued to support my mother financially.

However, at this point, I think it may be appropriate to make some adjustments to the portfolio. Potentially, the oil/energy stock bull market may be nearing an end. However, I also don't want to completely miss out on continued gains, which are still likely. Therefore, I have begun trimming the positions in MCF and CHK up to 50%. By doing so, we will be able to protect some profit should the energy bull market end soon and also participate in any continued energy bull market..

Disclosure: At the time of publication, I don't own any shares of Contango Oil & Gas or Chesapeake Energy.

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