Today will be the final installment of the Boring Portfolio. Lacking a fully fleshed-out investment strategy and a full-time portfolio manager, the Bore Port wasn't fulfilling its educational mission. As for the real-money portfolio, it's not being closed; it will be re-allocated to a Total Stock Market Index fund. And finally, Whitney Tilson will continue writing on a weekly basis in the Fool on the Hill area

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By: Matt Richey (TMF Verve)
November 6, 2000

Fans of the Boring Portfolio,

I'm here with an announcement for you, bearing bad news and good. Today will be the final installment of the Boring Portfolio weekly feature. We've made the difficult decision to discontinue the Boring strategy, and to invest the real-money portfolio in a Total Stock Market Index fund.

Allow me to explain. As you probably know, ever since former Bore manager Dale Wettlaufer left the Fool in October of last year, the Boring Portfolio has been officially "on vacation." Since then, long-time Fool Whitney Tilson has graciously stepped up to write guest articles about value investing concepts and issues. Behind the scenes, we've long been discussing what do with the portfolio. Recently, it was finally decided that without a suitable full-time Fool to manage the portfolio and oversee the Boring's educational service that the strategy should be discontinued.

For those of you who followed the Bore Port during the days of Dale's tenure (10/98 - 10/99), you know that Dale was in the process of crystallizing his investment strategy. But when he left, the work was incomplete, like a partially-painted picture. Finding the right artist to pick up the brush is no easy task, as I'm sure you can imagine -- especially when you're trying to replace a guy like Dale.

The full rationale behind this decision is explained in our new Discontinued Strategies area. There, you'll find full disclosure on all of the Fool's once-active investing strategies -- including a brief history, what went wrong, and lessons learned.

For fans of the Boring Port, that's the bad news. On to the good:

Whitney Tilson will continue as a weekly writer, appearing every Tuesday in our Fool on the Hill feature (beginning tomorrow, Tuesday 11/7). Through Whitney's continued writings, the value investing perspective that distinguished the Bore Port will continue to enjoy a high profile in Fooldom. In fact, Whitney will be joining a line-up of Fool on the Hill writers who frequently discuss the business world from a value investing angle. I hope you'll join us there.

Finally, the Boring Stocks message board will remain open for discussion of value investing and all things related. We also invite you to post your comments about this decision on that message board. We realize that our decision won't make many people happy, but we honestly think that it's the right decision at this point. For what it's worth, the decision was extremely difficult, and it doesn't mean that in the future you won't see new editorial features that discuss the how-to of stock valuation.

 In the remainder of today's space, Whitney's not missing a beat; he has a story on why he's selling Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) and American Power Conversion (Nasdaq: APCC). Tomorrow, in his first Fool on the Hill appearance, Whitney will lay out his investing philosophy.

  -Matt Richey, TMF Verve on the Discussion Boards