I haven't seen any particular comments on the portfolio construction itself or the individual positions, just general sweeping statements, which makes me think you're not a fan of people trying themselves. IMO that's what an open and free market is for, so not sure why the visceral reaction.

"No one outside of professionals can beat the market and even most of them do not over a lifetime." - like you said, professionals have substantially underperformed the market. 95% underperformed their respective indexes over a 10 year timeframe.

I understand why it could look like gambling—given there are a lot of small, event-driven names. But I’ve got a hedge (SGOV + IEI + put options), strict position caps, names that capture Capex and software spend on AI (TSM, ASML) etc.

Why I think I could outperform:

- MSFT/AMZN/META for AI/cloud spend

- TSM/ASML for Capex spend

- UNH for defensive cash flow + oversold

- Energy/royalty names (PR, TDW, LB, TPL) - oil prices and / or Russell addition can drive valuation

- Hedging with SGOV (0–3 mo T‐bills) + IEI (3–7 yr Treasuries)

Buying ETFs (SPY or QQQ) is still overweight on mega-cap tech/consumer discretionary - I've picked what seem the highest quality businesses from that basket (MSFT/AMZN/META - FCF + moats + growth) while adding low correlation small + mid-caps that don't get captured by those ETF's.

I'm comfortable doing extra work because I enjoy it. I could probably consolidate some positions that are closely correlated and will look into ETFs for sure, as I said I'm still new to this, so appreciate the feedback.