Hello Friends!  Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting my blog, Stock Picks Bob's Advice!  As always, pleased remember to consult with your professional investment advisers before making any investment decisions based on information on this website.

Before I get any further, I would like to wish all of my friends and readers a very Happy and Healthy 2009.  

With the New Year upon us already, I didn't want to let a moment pass before getting my year-end status online.

I last reviewed my holdings November 30, 2008  As I often explain here, I write about many different stocks as well as the stocks I actually own in my 'trading account'.  As part of my effort to be as transparent as possible I try also on a regular basis to offer all of you a summary of how my own portfolio is doing.

The following list shows my holdings as of December 31, 2008, with the names of the stocks, their symbols, the number of shares held, date of purchase, the cost basis, latest price (12/31/08), and the % gain (or loss).

Haemonetics (HAE), 50 shares,  10/27/08, $51.70, $56.50, 9.28%

Johnson Controls (JCI), 82 shares,11/20/08, $14.83, $18.16, 22.42%

PetSmart (PETM), 104 shares, 11/20/08, $15.58, $18.45, 18.44%

Rollins (ROL), 350 shares,  10/16/08, $14.69, $18.08, 23.09%

Sysco (SYY), 154 shares,  12/10/08, $22.72, $22.94, .97%

WMS Industries (WMS), 72 shares, 10/28/08, $20.12, $26.90, 33.68%

Currently I have $18,487.43 in a Fidelity Municipal Money Market account.  This is in addition to my $18,030.48 in equities described above. The account as of 12/31/08 had a total value of $36,517.91.

As of 12/31/08, my portfolio had $2,520.32 in unrealized gains.  For 2008, my account had a net of $42.76 of realized gains after accounting for the $(9,246.00) in net realized short-term losses and $9,288.76 in net long-term gains.

I continue to regularly add $200/month to the account which goes into the money market fund.  In 2008 I received $160.75 in ordingary dividends, $.44 in capital gain distributions as well as $118.33 in tax-exempt income for a total of $279.52 in income.  

Balancing this was the total of $(244.79) in margin interest paid during 2008.

Overall 2008 was essentially a wash for me in terms of realized activity.  However, what suffered the most was the loss of so much of my unrealized gains on my holdings.  Thus, my account value dipped during the year as it did with so many investors.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my blog and I look forward to many more entries going into 2009 and the future.

Yours in investing,

Bob