It’s not very often that we get to say we’re #1 at anything, whether it be on a personal level or as an organization. 

In this regard, we’re having an unusual year.  In June, Steadyhand was at the top of the list on Morningstar’s Stewardship Grades.  In recent months our Income Fund has been running #1 in its category on the Morningstar data base.  And then last night, the real biggie.  

After finishing second last year, the Steadyhand team came out on top at the annual Up the Down Market fundraising dinner (for the Down Syndrome Research Foundation).  In attaining this great achievement, we’d like to say that we beat the other 37 teams by picking one stock at a time and patiently waiting for the value to be recognized … but we can’t.  We played the index futures as aggressively as we could and dabbled in the oil contract on the side.  We owned very few individual stocks throughout the game, although an opportunistic purchase of Euro Import-Export Industrial Organization (E.I.E.I.O) in the final round did push us over the top.   

Having quietly reflected on the win, we are now considering offering a new fund in the New Year that actively trades index futures.  The fund will use leverage and charge a 30% performance fee on any profits.  Given our wine-induced track record, it should garner plenty of assets.