Markets...No Longer 'Starting From the Bottom'

I have not written a post in a while and I guess I fall into the age old Wall Street saying: "Sell in May and Go Away".  This phrase is well known in the investment community and is used to describe the the summer season where investors like myself find better uses of their time than keeping up with the stocks or the Kardashians.  I have kept fairly busy and have been distracted by a nice summer of sun, sports, and home projects.  Being busy has reduced my investment activities and I guess that I was 'busy in May...and went away'.  So the question is are you missing out on in the markets, this summer??  As you know, I always start with my view of how I believe the economy is performing. Here are some of the things I've observed: 

Work and Mobility Increasing
- People continue to work more
- More Job Openings / Recruiters Calling
- People Accepting New Jobs
- More people moving to new homes/ in-state/ across state lines

Frugal Country
- Pay is increasing slowly upwards
- People are looking to continue to reduce their expenses,
- Find affordable housing and living
- Everyone is looking for deals

Controlled Splurges
- More Staycations (Stay at home vacations - theme parks, bed and breakfasts, etc) Also 1 tank gas trips
- People waiting for great deals on vacations
- Tech Purchases: Phones/tablets, touch devices - People want exciting devices that make their lives easier and considered cool

What this means to your portfolio:

The stock market is often a leading indicator and has been doing VERY well for the last few years. To put it into perspective...I heard a stat that I found amazing: At one point stocks, specifically the SP 500 had 75 days without a correction recently. This means things have rebounded very well and astonishingly there hasn't been much of a pause.  So using my best Drake impersonation...this market is definitely NOT "Starting from the Bottom". Do I have some grand plan...Yes and NO.

My Investment Plan
- Don't do anything grand :)
- Take notes from Drake: This market started at the bottom (hit bottom) in 2009 and 2010 and now we are here at market highs. I have kept it simple...Starting last quarter whenever the Dow Jones enters into the 17000 territory I take the time to SELL some of my big winners at the top. At this point, I don't mind holding a bit of cash, buy something paying a dividend, and or wait until stocks I like drop.
- Activate the Activist Investors: When I sell some winners, I'm buying stocks that may rise quickly because they are being bought by other companies or are being pushed to do something by big time investors like: Carl Icahn, John Paulson, or myself, The Oracle of Hyde Park. Here is my quick list:

TIME WARNER CABLE 
ALLERGAN 
LULULEMON
HERTZ

Who to Watch / Company Watch - UPDATE

Who to Watch
My how times have changed!  In the past, young investors like myself would have wanted to follow in the footsteps of corporate raiders, mutual fund managers, and high profile investors.  One well known corporate raider is Carl Icahn, he and other corporate raiders were legendary for taking over companies or agitating boards for significant change. There was also those legendary mutual fund managers that made people in my parent's generation a lot of money by investing through their fund. Some well know names here are Peter Lynch (Fidelity), Bill Miller (Legg Mason), Bruce Berkowitz (Fairholme), and many others.  The last group of high profile investors are guys like Warren Buffet and George Soros.  Today some of the most well known money makers are in the hedge fund industry.    A small difference from the previous investors in the past, are hedge funds try to make money when markets are up or down by betting on and against the performance of stocks.  Here is a run-down of some of my favorite hedge fund managers:

• Steve Cohen, David Einhorn, John Paulson, Seth Klarman, 
• Bill Ackman, David Nierenberg, Monish Pabrai, Ray Dalio