<FOOLISH FOUR PORTFOLIO>

Introducing...
our new writer speaks for himself

by Ethan Haskel ([email protected])

Baltimore, MD (May 26, 1999) --

Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man's soul and faith

-- The Rolling Stones, "Sympathy for the Devil"

Mick Jagger and company notwithstanding, it sure feels great joining Ann and Chris in these new digs, fresh from my previous home in the Foolish Workshop area.

Before getting down to some of the nitty-gritty investment stuff, this week I'd like to introduce myself to the readers not familiar with my previous Workshop writings. Probably the easiest way to tell you about myself is to describe to you who I'm not.

I'm not a professional money manager. I don't command millions of dollars of other people's assets, controlling their financial destiny with the click of a mouse. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I haven't any formal business education. The letters "M.B.A." might as well stand for "Money Becomes Addictive" rather than my college degree.

I don't spend hours upon hours researching my investments, poring over financial reports, or even reading Investor's Business Daily. Life's just too short.

Finally, I haven't spent a lifetime, or even a major portion of one, becoming familiar with the arcane mysteries of the financial world.

So what the heck am I doing here? First of all, I'd wager that the large majority of the readers in this corner of Fooldom don't have the time, wherewithal, or inclination to devote most of their free time to search for that undiscovered jewel of a stock. In that sense, I'm in your corner.

Actually, I've been trained as a scientist -- with an undergraduate degree in biochemistry, a medical degree, and a cardiology fellowship. Currently I'm in private practice with a large cardiology group and director of a busy cardiac intensive care unit for a suburban teaching hospital. I've done a fair amount of basic scientific research as part of my training and even have dabbled recently in clinical research.

With my busy schedule (and I'm sure many of yours are just as busy, if not more so), I've come to rely on the Foolish Four investment style as the foundation for my portfolio. It's simple, straightforward, and best of all, it works. I liked it so much that about four years ago, I started fiddling with my own alternative version, called Beating the S&P(BSP). I guess it's the scientist in me that saw a problem to solve, developed a hypothesis, and designed an experiment to test that hypothesis.

Over the coming months, you'll hear more about BSP. But perhaps more importantly, I hope to show you how you don't need an M.B.A., decades of experience, or oodles of time to beat the markets or live Foolishly. An open and skeptical mind usually will do just fine. With any luck, by the time we're through, we'll learn a little, laugh a little... and I may just let you keep your soul and faith in the bargain!

[Editor's Note: Following are the returns of a "paper" Beating the S&P portfolio that Ethan has been reporting on in the Foolish Workshop for many months. We will be reporting BSP year-to-date returns in this space until we can build a better home for it. The stocks were selected December 31, 1998 and "purchased" in equal dollar amounts to be "held" for one year. To see the Beating the S&P stocks for a portfolio starting now, go to Strategy Stocks Live.]

******
Beating the S&Pyear-to-date returns (as of 05-25-99):

Schlumberger <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: SLB)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: SLB)") end if %>     +24.8%
Kimberly-Clark <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: KMB)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: KMB)") end if %>   +14.9%
Campbell Soup <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CPB)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CPB)") end if %>    -18.4%
Ford Motor Co.  <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: F)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: F)") end if %>     -1.8%
Bank of America  <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: BAC)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: BAC)") end if %>  +5.1%
Beating the S&P               +4.9%
Standard & Poor's 500 Index   +4.8%

Compound Annual Growth Rate from 1-2-87:
Beating the S&P              +20.5%
S&P 500                      +17.7%

$10,000 invested on 1-2-87 now equals:
Beating the S&P            $100,100
S&P 500                     $74,600



Today's Stock Lists | 1999 Dow Returns

05/26/99 Close
Stock  Change   Last
--------------------
CAT  -   7/8   57.81
JPM  +5 13/16  138.88
MMM  -  13/16  88.81
IP   -   3/4   54.19


                Day   Month    Year   History
       FOOL-4   +0.07%  -1.98%  26.39%  28.26%
        DJIA     +1.62%  -0.81%  16.95%  16.49%
        S&P 500  +1.59%  -2.28%   6.46%   6.72%
        NASDAQ   +1.94%  -4.55%  10.69%  12.21%

    Rec'd   #  Security     In At       Now    Change

 12/24/98   24 Caterpillar   43.08     57.81    34.20%
 12/24/98    9 JP Morgan    105.51    138.88    31.62%
 12/24/98   22 Int'l Paper   43.55     54.19    24.43%
 12/24/98   14 3M            73.57     88.81    20.72%


    Rec'd   #  Security     In At     Value    Change

 12/24/98   24 Caterpillar 1034.00   1387.50   $353.50
 12/24/98    9 JP Morgan    949.62   1249.88   $300.26
 12/24/98   22 Int'l Paper  958.12   1192.13   $234.01
 12/24/98   14 3M          1030.00   1243.38   $213.38

              Dividends Received      $29.45
                             Cash     $28.26
                            TOTAL   $5130.59