Clive, on some of your other points:
When adding/reducing holdings over time it might be better to unitise the measure - as though you were running a unit trust or fund.
This one I do not understand. Could you clarify this?
For AIM, with both 'stock' and 'cash', a better measure is the combined total of the two. Measuring just the return on stock value alone (ROCAR etc.) yields somewhat distorted figures. ROCAR can sometimes look fabulous in isolation, but what matters in practice is the combined stock and cash total value. Combining both stock and cash is also easier to handle when dividends are periodically paid and added to the 'cash' holdings.
I agree that sometimes cash + equity are to be considered in the basis AIM-like fashion. . as I do in the ROTAC method. I see this being so when a cash deposit is made to a broker like in a Forex Investment. . .. In other cases it is the investors choice to consider a cash buffer as an investment. When he keeps all his cash in a savings account he can also treat his savings account as a separate investment
I tend to prefer an investment that does not need cash on its own merit. If I buy a kg of gold it does not need any cash to maintain the gold. If I buy an operating factory I need a cash buffer for paying bills and people. . .that money can not be taken out. . .in that case the Reserve is part of the factory’s operating capital.
In the Vortex Program both the ROTAC and the ROTAI Yield are calculated so one can see what the equity on its own is doing without any reference to buffer capital.
