The Conservative Portfolio climbed 0.79% in February.
In February the S&P 500 rebounded 3.09%, erasing most of January’s decline and leaving the index down 0.61% for the year (though still up some 53% for the last twelve months – a period starting at about the bottom of the market during the financial panic). Our average model portfolio is essentially flat, down 0.05% for these first two months of 2010.
Bonds were weak as long term treasuries lost about 0.5% in February. TIPS (inflation protected government bonds) slid as well, though higher yield (junk) bonds were up slightly with corporate bonds in general, further closing the gap between what safe and higher risk money earns. The total bond index returned about 0.33% for the month
Weak fund categories included utilities, European stocks, and foreign value-oriented stock funds in general. Strong categories included real estate, precious metals, and Latin America. Smaller cap stocks generally beat larger cap stocks.
Utilities have been lagging this entire market rebound, which is why we are considering adding them back to our holdings. Our model portfolios averaged a 1.6% return for the month with a range of 0.79% to 2.29%.
Bill Gross eked out a slight gain over the total bond index with a 0.49% return in February. He’s been running a little more conservatively than most of the other larger total return style investment grade bond funds which are a bit heavier into junk bonds right now.
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) dipped with a -1.11% return in February. The long / short fund is actually net long (by around 10%) but the fund’s shorts continue to go up more than the longs. It doesn’t bother us that the managers here are short more economically sensitive names which have been outperforming more conservative fare of late - we expect this strategy will do well in a crash as it did in 2008 when the fund fell less than 5% (though with truly great picks even this wouldn’t have happened). What is bugging us is the makeup of some of the longs. This fund has recently added a gold mining shares ETF to a position in the gold bullion ETF, a double whammy of stupid in our opinion and one that counters our belief that gold is in a bubble and should be avoided. Of course, maybe we’re wrong and there is far more to go in the great gold bubble. The Nasdaq was overpriced at 2,500 in the late 1990s, but that didn’t stop it from breaking through 5,000 before crashing 80%. Regardless, this fund is slated for sale.
The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) rose a bit more than the market, as did most growth stocks, in February with a 3.87% gain.
The Aggressive Portfolio rose 1.84% in February.
In February the S&P 500 rebounded 3.09%, erasing most of January’s decline and leaving the index down 0.61% for the year (though still up some 53% for the last twelve months – a period starting at about the bottom of the market during the financial panic). Our average model portfolio is essentially flat, down 0.05% for these first two months of 2010.
Bonds were weak as long term treasuries lost about 0.5% in February. TIPS (inflation protected government bonds) slid as well, though higher yield (junk) bonds were up slightly with corporate bonds in general, further closing the gap between what safe and higher risk money earns. The total bond index returned about 0.33% for the month
Weak fund categories included utilities, European stocks, and foreign value-oriented stock funds in general. Strong categories included real estate, precious metals, and Latin America. Smaller cap stocks generally beat larger cap stocks.
Utilities have been lagging this entire market rebound, which is why we are considering adding them back to our holdings. Our model portfolios averaged a 1.6% return for the month with a range of 0.79% to 2.29%.
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) dipped with a -1.11% return in February. The long / short fund is actually net long (by around 10%) but the fund’s shorts continue to go up more than the longs. It doesn’t bother us that the managers here are short more economically sensitive names which have been outperforming more conservative fare of late - we expect this strategy will do well in a crash as it did in 2008 when the fund fell less than 5% (though with truly great picks even this wouldn’t have happened). What is bugging us is the makeup of some of the longs. This fund has recently added a gold mining shares ETF to a position in the gold bullion ETF, a double whammy of stupid in our opinion and one that counters our belief that gold is in a bubble and should be avoided. Of course, maybe we’re wrong and there is far more to go in the great gold bubble. The Nasdaq was overpriced at 2,500 in the late 1990s, but that didn’t stop it from breaking through 5,000 before crashing 80%. Regardless, this fund is slated for sale.
Bill Gross eked out a slight gain over the total bond index with a 0.49% return in February. He’s been running a little more conservatively than most of the other larger total return style investment grade bond funds which are a bit heavier into junk bonds right now.
The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) rose a bit more than the market, as did most growth stocks, in February with a 3.87% gain.
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The Conservative Portfolio climbed 0.79% in February.
In February the S&P 500 rebounded 3.09%, erasing most of January’s decline and leaving the index down 0.61% for the year (though still up some 53% for the last twelve months – a period starting at about the bottom of the market during the financial panic). Our average model portfolio is essentially flat, down 0.05% for these first two months of 2010.
Bonds were weak as long term treasuries lost about 0.5% in February. TIPS (inflation protected government bonds) slid as well, though higher yield (junk) bonds were up slightly with corporate bonds in general, further closing the gap between what safe and higher risk money earns. The total bond index returned about 0.33% for the month
Weak fund categories included utilities, European stocks, and foreign value-oriented stock funds in general. Strong categories included real estate, precious metals, and Latin America. Smaller cap stocks generally beat larger cap stocks.
Utilities have been lagging this entire market rebound, which is why we are considering adding them back to our holdings. Our model portfolios averaged a 1.6% return for the month with a range of 0.79% to 2.29%.
Bill Gross eked out a slight gain over the total bond index with a 0.49% return in February. He’s been running a little more conservatively than most of the other larger total return style investment grade bond funds which are a bit heavier into junk bonds right now.
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) dipped with a -1.11% return in February. The long / short fund is actually net long (by around 10%) but the fund’s shorts continue to go up more than the longs. It doesn’t bother us that the managers here are short more economically sensitive names which have been outperforming more conservative fare of late - we expect this strategy will do well in a crash as it did in 2008 when the fund fell less than 5% (though with truly great picks even this wouldn’t have happened). What is bugging us is the makeup of some of the longs. This fund has recently added a gold mining shares ETF to a position in the gold bullion ETF, a double whammy of stupid in our opinion and one that counters our belief that gold is in a bubble and should be avoided. Of course, maybe we’re wrong and there is far more to go in the great gold bubble. The Nasdaq was overpriced at 2,500 in the late 1990s, but that didn’t stop it from breaking through 5,000 before crashing 80%. Regardless, this fund is slated for sale.
The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) rose a bit more than the market, as did most growth stocks, in February with a 3.87% gain.
The Aggressive Portfolio rose 1.84% in February.
In February the S&P 500 rebounded 3.09%, erasing most of January’s decline and leaving the index down 0.61% for the year (though still up some 53% for the last twelve months – a period starting at about the bottom of the market during the financial panic). Our average model portfolio is essentially flat, down 0.05% for these first two months of 2010.
Bonds were weak as long term treasuries lost about 0.5% in February. TIPS (inflation protected government bonds) slid as well, though higher yield (junk) bonds were up slightly with corporate bonds in general, further closing the gap between what safe and higher risk money earns. The total bond index returned about 0.33% for the month
Weak fund categories included utilities, European stocks, and foreign value-oriented stock funds in general. Strong categories included real estate, precious metals, and Latin America. Smaller cap stocks generally beat larger cap stocks.
Utilities have been lagging this entire market rebound, which is why we are considering adding them back to our holdings. Our model portfolios averaged a 1.6% return for the month with a range of 0.79% to 2.29%.
Nakoma Absolute Return (NARFX) dipped with a -1.11% return in February. The long / short fund is actually net long (by around 10%) but the fund’s shorts continue to go up more than the longs. It doesn’t bother us that the managers here are short more economically sensitive names which have been outperforming more conservative fare of late - we expect this strategy will do well in a crash as it did in 2008 when the fund fell less than 5% (though with truly great picks even this wouldn’t have happened). What is bugging us is the makeup of some of the longs. This fund has recently added a gold mining shares ETF to a position in the gold bullion ETF, a double whammy of stupid in our opinion and one that counters our belief that gold is in a bubble and should be avoided. Of course, maybe we’re wrong and there is far more to go in the great gold bubble. The Nasdaq was overpriced at 2,500 in the late 1990s, but that didn’t stop it from breaking through 5,000 before crashing 80%. Regardless, this fund is slated for sale.
Bill Gross eked out a slight gain over the total bond index with a 0.49% return in February. He’s been running a little more conservatively than most of the other larger total return style investment grade bond funds which are a bit heavier into junk bonds right now.
The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) rose a bit more than the market, as did most growth stocks, in February with a 3.87% gain.