Congratulations, Jim, on your stellar return this year despite hoarding so much cash and having such challenging battles in some of your stocks ... DG (DLTR? KMX? vs S&P 500, I mean).

Indeed, I have been pleasantly surprised, especially given the cash drag.
The main reason this portfolio did well is pretty boring...I was very heavily long Berkshire which has done well. Especially early in the year before I went more "neutral" on it by writing some high strike calls. Berkshire hasn't done any better than the S&P, but I did include some leverage from in-the-money-calls so it jumped quickly.

As you note, some of the picks I have posted about have not been big winners this year. My non-Berkshire positions (other than interest on cash) have been relatively flat overall in this account--some things did well, others didn't. My separate quant portfolio is doing fine, but it's smaller. Simple reason there: no short or kinda-short positions.

Jim