Where a Frugal Miser is Investing Right Now

My investment strategy involves buying stocks when I think they are cheap and holding onto them. I have too much going on in my life to constantly monitor my investments, plus I minimize my trading costs by not being too active in the markets.

In 2010 I beat the S&P 500 by a very healthy margin. While the S&P was up about 13% in 2010, my Roth IRA increased by 23% and my Rollover IRA was up 38%.

In my Rollover IRA (this used to be my 401(K) until I lost my job), I sold shares in O'Charley's back in February for $8.29 per share. They trade lower today. I bought shares of YRC Worldwide in February which are way down. My other stocks did well. In March I purchased two energy companies (WES and AHGP) and in June I bought a movie theatre chain (CKEC).

In my Roth IRA, I sold shares in Otelco (OTT) for $16.84 which I subsequently repurchased for $15.25. I also bought a few shares of SPY (the S&P index fund) at various times. After the oil spill, I picked up shares in Diamond Offshore for $55.23.

In 2011 I probably will be even less active in the markets. I am focused on paying off debt and expect that I will only fund my IRA and not add any money to my regular brokerage account (which has less than $100 in it right now). I already own shares in Dollar General (DG) but am leaning towards purchasing more. There's not much else that excites me right now, but that can easily change if any of the stocks I watch suffers some temporary bad news and falls in price.