Blessed by the Potato

Blam! That sound is my dry powder going off — 15 minutes before the close YLO.UN dipped back down to $8.80 and I bought some more with the very last of my cash.

I have mixed feelings on this event. I am pleased with the value I’m getting — I believe in Yellow Pages as a company (I’m one of the most internet-addicted people there is, and I still use the hard copy Yellow Pages at least once a month), and that they can maintain this level of distributions (12.7% return). Even without any further growth I think that’s pretty decent. I bought some around $12 and $11 on the downward slide, and this brings my average cost to $10.26/share (and my average yield-on-cash to 11%). On the other hand, that’s it, I’m tapped out in terms of buying values in a rough market, and I’m not sure yet that this is the bottom or that this was the best value I’ll be faced with in the near future.

This was a stressful thing for me. My heart was racing and my skin was cold. I was pretty scared that the market knew something I didn’t, that Yellow Pages was secretly in the throes of an accounting scandal or was going out of business even faster than the internet-based alternatives could dream of. I was afraid that there was more trouble in the market to come (or more trouble with my car!) and that I should keep that cash at the ready. But the side of me that saw this as a good place to put my money, and that saw my own fear as perhaps something that was gripping the other investors out there (even if I don’t see any evidence of it out in the media/blogosphere) and that this was a good time to be greedy ended up winning out. Of course, this now means some more tranquil times for me ahead: no more wrenching decisions about which great value is awaiting my investing cash, since now I have no more. All new cash (from dividends, etc) is going to be plowed back into TD’s e-series index funds, per my plan. For the next little while, it looks like my stock picking days might be over and I can relax into the hold phase of my buy-and-hold strategy.