Super Portfolio Near Misses: More Risk, More Return

Editor's Note: Jim Seymour's column runs exclusively on RealMoney.com; this is a special free look at his column. For a free trial subscription to RealMoney.com, click here. This article was published Jan. 15 on RealMoney.

Well, the last half of our RealMoney.com Super Portfolio is up now, and you can see all eight columnists' picks for 2002. (This is available only to RealMoney.com subscribers.)

Choosing stocks -- especially when you can choose just a couple -- for a joint portfolio like this is a very different experience than building your own list of 10, 20 or more stocks (which, as longtime readers will recall, I've done before). With only two names, you can't do much to balance safety vs. risk, at least with any subtlety. You sense you have to pull for the team, and you tend to stay with relatively safe choices.

In other words, you go for singles and doubles, more than three- and four-baggers, to avoid the risk of strikeouts. ...