The Conservative Portfolio climbed 1.35% in December.
At least the market ended the year on a positive note. The S&P 500 was up a measly 1.06% in December, but this not-so-sharp turnaround means the S&P 500 fell a ‘mere’ 37% in 2008. The Dow fared better for the year, with a 31.93% drop, but managed to retreat 0.39% in December. The Nasdaq was down just over 40% for the year and up 2.7% for the month, while the Russell 2000 small cap index did manage to get hot with a 5.80% return for the month, keeping the total loss for the year down to 33.79%. Foreign indexes were down over 40% in ’08.All of our model portfolios beat the S&P 500 in December and for the year.
Other than money markets (the ones that didn’t collapse owning Lehman debt….) the only place to earn any real easy money in 2008 was treasury bonds, the longer term versions of which scored a 22% return as interest rates plummeted in the face of a collapsing global economy (and downright deflation). Of course many pundits and experts warned against government bonds for much of the year. Not that we were smart enough to focus on government debt– we mostly owned the total bond index in 2008, with too-early moves into junk bonds as the market collapsed.
In such an environment we are happy to report all of our model portfolios beat the S&P 500 in 2008 by a country mile – a statistical term that means our worst performing portfolio fell just 66% as much as the S&P 500, or 24.59%. Our most impressive portfolio from a risk return perspective turned out to be Aggressive Growth, down just 16.23% for the year thanks to some well timed bets against commodities, a biotech ETF (which was among the best performers anywhere) and a long / short fund. We have now beaten the S&P 500 in six of the last seven calendar years (damn you 2006!) in our stock heavy portfolios (growth, aggressive growth, and daredevil).
Bill Gross had a good month in December as junk bonds and other higher risk debt recovered somewhat and interest rates fell. Harbor Bond’s (HABDX) 3.86% return (just over the total bond index) gave him a positive return for the year – back in November it was looking like a negative 2008 was in the cards – or slightly worse than the bond index.
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) posted a 1.74% return in December, which left the fund with a -4.34% return for the year – spectacular compared to the market but disappointing non-the-less.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) had a very good December with a 7.37% return, but terrible performance during the market crash left this fund with a -45.49% return for the year. At the top of the list of our mistakes in 2008 was not getting out of this fund when it got red hot.
The Aggressive Portfolio jumped 4.37% in December.
At least the market ended the year on a positive note. The S&P 500 was up a measly 1.06% in December, but this not-so-sharp turnaround means the S&P 500 fell a ‘mere’ 37% in 2008. The Dow fared better for the year, with a 31.93% drop, but managed to retreat 0.39% in December. The Nasdaq was down just over 40% for the year and up 2.7% for the month, while the Russell 2000 small cap index did manage to get hot with a 5.80% return for the month, keeping the total loss for the year down to 33.79%. Foreign indexes were down over 40% in ’08.All of our model portfolios beat the S&P 500 in December and for the year.
Other than money markets (the ones that didn’t collapse owning Lehman debt….) the only place to earn any real easy money in 2008 was treasury bonds, the longer term versions of which scored a 22% return as interest rates plummeted in the face of a collapsing global economy (and downright deflation). Of course many pundits and experts warned against government bonds for much of the year. Not that we were smart enough to focus on government debt– we mostly owned the total bond index in 2008, with too-early moves into junk bonds as the market collapsed.
In such an environment we are happy to report all of our model portfolios beat the S&P 500 in 2008 by a country mile – a statistical term that means our worst performing portfolio fell just 66% as much as the S&P 500, or 24.59%. Our most impressive portfolio from a risk return perspective turned out to be Aggressive Growth, down just 16.23% for the year thanks to some well timed bets against commodities, a biotech ETF (which was among the best performers anywhere) and a long / short fund. We have now beaten the S&P 500 in six of the last seven calendar years (damn you 2006!) in our stock heavy portfolios (growth, aggressive growth, and daredevil).
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) posted a 1.74% return in December, which left the fund with a -4.34% return for the year – spectacular compared to the market but disappointing non-the-less.
Japan is starting to look like a relative area of strength, but it is mostly because the currency has been strong. There may be a notion that they already put their real estate bubble behind them. Vanguard Pacific Stock ETF (VPL) rose 11.17% in December.
Bill Gross had a good month in December as junk bonds and other higher risk debt recovered somewhat and interest rates fell. Harbor Bond’s (HABDX) 3.86% return (just over the total bond index) gave him a positive return for the year – back in November it was looking like a negative 2008 was in the cards – or slightly worse than the bond index.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) had a very good December with a 7.37% return, but terrible performance during the market crash left this fund with a -45.49% return for the year. At the top of the list of our mistakes in 2008 was not getting out of this fund when it got red hot.
December 2009 performance review
The Conservative Portfolio climbed 1.35% in December.
At least the market ended the year on a positive note. The S&P 500 was up a measly 1.06% in December, but this not-so-sharp turnaround means the S&P 500 fell a ‘mere’ 37% in 2008. The Dow fared better for the year, with a 31.93% drop, but managed to retreat 0.39% in December. The Nasdaq was down just over 40% for the year and up 2.7% for the month, while the Russell 2000 small cap index did manage to get hot with a 5.80% return for the month, keeping the total loss for the year down to 33.79%. Foreign indexes were down over 40% in ’08.All of our model portfolios beat the S&P 500 in December and for the year.
Other than money markets (the ones that didn’t collapse owning Lehman debt….) the only place to earn any real easy money in 2008 was treasury bonds, the longer term versions of which scored a 22% return as interest rates plummeted in the face of a collapsing global economy (and downright deflation). Of course many pundits and experts warned against government bonds for much of the year. Not that we were smart enough to focus on government debt– we mostly owned the total bond index in 2008, with too-early moves into junk bonds as the market collapsed.
In such an environment we are happy to report all of our model portfolios beat the S&P 500 in 2008 by a country mile – a statistical term that means our worst performing portfolio fell just 66% as much as the S&P 500, or 24.59%. Our most impressive portfolio from a risk return perspective turned out to be Aggressive Growth, down just 16.23% for the year thanks to some well timed bets against commodities, a biotech ETF (which was among the best performers anywhere) and a long / short fund. We have now beaten the S&P 500 in six of the last seven calendar years (damn you 2006!) in our stock heavy portfolios (growth, aggressive growth, and daredevil).
Bill Gross had a good month in December as junk bonds and other higher risk debt recovered somewhat and interest rates fell. Harbor Bond’s (HABDX) 3.86% return (just over the total bond index) gave him a positive return for the year – back in November it was looking like a negative 2008 was in the cards – or slightly worse than the bond index.
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) posted a 1.74% return in December, which left the fund with a -4.34% return for the year – spectacular compared to the market but disappointing non-the-less.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) had a very good December with a 7.37% return, but terrible performance during the market crash left this fund with a -45.49% return for the year. At the top of the list of our mistakes in 2008 was not getting out of this fund when it got red hot.
The Aggressive Portfolio jumped 4.37% in December.
At least the market ended the year on a positive note. The S&P 500 was up a measly 1.06% in December, but this not-so-sharp turnaround means the S&P 500 fell a ‘mere’ 37% in 2008. The Dow fared better for the year, with a 31.93% drop, but managed to retreat 0.39% in December. The Nasdaq was down just over 40% for the year and up 2.7% for the month, while the Russell 2000 small cap index did manage to get hot with a 5.80% return for the month, keeping the total loss for the year down to 33.79%. Foreign indexes were down over 40% in ’08.All of our model portfolios beat the S&P 500 in December and for the year.
Other than money markets (the ones that didn’t collapse owning Lehman debt….) the only place to earn any real easy money in 2008 was treasury bonds, the longer term versions of which scored a 22% return as interest rates plummeted in the face of a collapsing global economy (and downright deflation). Of course many pundits and experts warned against government bonds for much of the year. Not that we were smart enough to focus on government debt– we mostly owned the total bond index in 2008, with too-early moves into junk bonds as the market collapsed.
In such an environment we are happy to report all of our model portfolios beat the S&P 500 in 2008 by a country mile – a statistical term that means our worst performing portfolio fell just 66% as much as the S&P 500, or 24.59%. Our most impressive portfolio from a risk return perspective turned out to be Aggressive Growth, down just 16.23% for the year thanks to some well timed bets against commodities, a biotech ETF (which was among the best performers anywhere) and a long / short fund. We have now beaten the S&P 500 in six of the last seven calendar years (damn you 2006!) in our stock heavy portfolios (growth, aggressive growth, and daredevil).
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) posted a 1.74% return in December, which left the fund with a -4.34% return for the year – spectacular compared to the market but disappointing non-the-less.
Japan is starting to look like a relative area of strength, but it is mostly because the currency has been strong. There may be a notion that they already put their real estate bubble behind them. Vanguard Pacific Stock ETF (VPL) rose 11.17% in December.
Bill Gross had a good month in December as junk bonds and other higher risk debt recovered somewhat and interest rates fell. Harbor Bond’s (HABDX) 3.86% return (just over the total bond index) gave him a positive return for the year – back in November it was looking like a negative 2008 was in the cards – or slightly worse than the bond index.
Janus Global Research (JARFX) had a very good December with a 7.37% return, but terrible performance during the market crash left this fund with a -45.49% return for the year. At the top of the list of our mistakes in 2008 was not getting out of this fund when it got red hot.