Not as difficult as I first thought. Many have disappeared and...

Not as difficult as I first thought. Many have disappeared and only a few are large - The difficulty was Copperchem - now it seems to lose around $3,4 million each half. You have to take a view on it but its not material. At times it had a really bad set of results. Recently its been a bit better and more stable. AMP controls I took a conservative view of it - only really get details at year end - in fact I am not sure whether I have adjusted it for about 18 months. Really they give you a directors valuation as well which if you get uncomfortable seems conservative - It the scheme of things the unlisted are not material to the valuation...

Its a worthwhile process as you get a feel for owning the underlying investments versus the heads.

It changed my view and I started buying SOL and BKW as often at times the share I was interested in was and formed a large part of the share price. This has saved me from firstly the NHC plunge and recently the TPG drop. Personally I think it does exactly as I want the cycles seem to roll and at times each of the 3 main arms grow in importance and then wane.

I now only own small numbers of the underlying equites - more to make sure I see their news when it happens.

Its a strategy that I will continue to use.