Stocks rocketed, but bonds were merely ho-hum in November. The Conservative portfolio rose 0.82% for the month. The S&P500 rose 3.78% while the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index rose just 0.44%. Smaller-cap stocks were hot, and tech hotter still – areas safe portfolios are light on.
This portfolio slightly underperformed the Safety portfolio – rare in a good month for stocks. The culprit was below market returns for health care and utility stocks. We intend to sell the latter soon.
Once again, the weak link was American Century International Bond, the sole loser here and down 1.71% as the U.S. dollar rose and bonds in general slipped. We’re considering increasing our stake, not quite to the levels we used to run in this fund, but more than 5%.
Healthcare stocks underperformed the broader market, at least larger-cap ones. HealthCare Select SPDR was up just 1.17% for the month, though drug stocks have been strong in recent months.
International stocks were strong; SSgA International Growth Opportunities was up 2.59%. The fund is light on Japan and emerging markets, which were hotter than most foreign markets.
Vanguard Dividend Growth, was the only main area with a large move, notching a 3.3% gain. More conservative Gateway, added 1.31%. Junk bonds were the best part of the bond market, and Vanguard High Yield Corporate rose just under 1%.
There are no major tax distributions slated for December in this portfolio. New investors to our portfolios or those adding new money in taxable accounts should generally wait until after the record dates listed in our 2005 Capital Gains Report for any of the funds.
Stocks rocketed, but bonds were merely ho-hum in November. The Aggressive Growth portfolio rose 3.22% for the month. The S&P500 rose 3.78% while the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index rose just 0.44%. Smaller-cap stocks were hot, and tech hotter still.
Healthcare stocks underperformed the broader market – at least larger-cap ones. HealthCare Select SPDR was up just 1.17% for the month, though drug stocks have been strong in recent months.
International stocks were strong all around, but Japan was at the top of the heap for non-emerging markets. T. Rowe Price Japan was up 4% for the month, and is up near 15% for the last three months.
Bridgeway Blue Chip 35 Index (BRLIX) scored a 3.87% gain – just beating the S&P500. Mega-cap stocks have recently started outperforming the already large-cap weighted S&P500.
Tech was strong; the Technology SPDR was up 6.17% for the month. However, our best performer was SSgA Emerging Markets, up near 8% for the month and 156% since we bought it.
FMI Common Stock has a nice 4.24% gain as well. This portfolio would have been up significantly if not for the drag of 20% bonds.
There are no major tax distributions slated for December in this portfolio. The biggie was Artisan International Small Cap (ARTJX), paying out an 11.27% dividend of mostly long-term gains back in November. We’re up over 125% in this fund so this is to be expected. We sold much of our position a few months before the big dividend anyway (leaving somebody else with it, sadly for them). This fund is paying out fairly large dividends because it has done very well, and is closed to new investors. This last part is key because with less new money piling in, the dividends have to go to a relatively fixed group of investors – not a bunch of new investors who piled in recently.
As this Artisan fund is closed, new investors following our portfolio are probably in Forward International Small Companies (PISRX) anyway. This alternate fund is also way up (actually up more in 2005 than Artisan, and about the same in 2004. 61.6% in ‘03, 25.6% in ‘04, and 18% so far in ‘05 to be exact). While this small fund is not closed, it has not seen big asset gains, so the shareholder base is not growing enough to water down the dividend. The fund paid out $0.6519 per share in short-term capital gains, and $0.3633 in long-term gains back in November (record date 11/25/05). In total, this was a 6.8% distribution, less than Artisan but high nonetheless. In addition, the fund will pay any income out at the end of December (12/30/05 record date, but this can be ignored).
The only other large dividend was FMI Common Stock, but that was paid out in October.
New investors to our portfolios, or those adding new money in taxable accounts, should generally wait until after the record dates listed in our 2005 Capital Gains Report for any of the funds.
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Stocks rocketed, but bonds were merely ho-hum in November. The Conservative portfolio rose 0.82% for the month. The S&P500 rose 3.78% while the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index rose just 0.44%. Smaller-cap stocks were hot, and tech hotter still – areas safe portfolios are light on.
This portfolio slightly underperformed the Safety portfolio – rare in a good month for stocks. The culprit was below market returns for health care and utility stocks. We intend to sell the latter soon.
Once again, the weak link was American Century International Bond, the sole loser here and down 1.71% as the U.S. dollar rose and bonds in general slipped. We’re considering increasing our stake, not quite to the levels we used to run in this fund, but more than 5%.
Healthcare stocks underperformed the broader market, at least larger-cap ones. HealthCare Select SPDR was up just 1.17% for the month, though drug stocks have been strong in recent months.
International stocks were strong; SSgA International Growth Opportunities was up 2.59%. The fund is light on Japan and emerging markets, which were hotter than most foreign markets.
Vanguard Dividend Growth, was the only main area with a large move, notching a 3.3% gain. More conservative Gateway, added 1.31%. Junk bonds were the best part of the bond market, and Vanguard High Yield Corporate rose just under 1%.
There are no major tax distributions slated for December in this portfolio. New investors to our portfolios or those adding new money in taxable accounts should generally wait until after the record dates listed in our 2005 Capital Gains Report for any of the funds.
Stocks rocketed, but bonds were merely ho-hum in November. The Aggressive Growth portfolio rose 3.22% for the month. The S&P500 rose 3.78% while the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index rose just 0.44%. Smaller-cap stocks were hot, and tech hotter still.
Healthcare stocks underperformed the broader market – at least larger-cap ones. HealthCare Select SPDR was up just 1.17% for the month, though drug stocks have been strong in recent months.
International stocks were strong all around, but Japan was at the top of the heap for non-emerging markets. T. Rowe Price Japan was up 4% for the month, and is up near 15% for the last three months.
Bridgeway Blue Chip 35 Index (BRLIX) scored a 3.87% gain – just beating the S&P500. Mega-cap stocks have recently started outperforming the already large-cap weighted S&P500.
Tech was strong; the Technology SPDR was up 6.17% for the month. However, our best performer was SSgA Emerging Markets, up near 8% for the month and 156% since we bought it.
FMI Common Stock has a nice 4.24% gain as well. This portfolio would have been up significantly if not for the drag of 20% bonds.
There are no major tax distributions slated for December in this portfolio. The biggie was Artisan International Small Cap (ARTJX), paying out an 11.27% dividend of mostly long-term gains back in November. We’re up over 125% in this fund so this is to be expected. We sold much of our position a few months before the big dividend anyway (leaving somebody else with it, sadly for them). This fund is paying out fairly large dividends because it has done very well, and is closed to new investors. This last part is key because with less new money piling in, the dividends have to go to a relatively fixed group of investors – not a bunch of new investors who piled in recently.
As this Artisan fund is closed, new investors following our portfolio are probably in Forward International Small Companies (PISRX) anyway. This alternate fund is also way up (actually up more in 2005 than Artisan, and about the same in 2004. 61.6% in ‘03, 25.6% in ‘04, and 18% so far in ‘05 to be exact). While this small fund is not closed, it has not seen big asset gains, so the shareholder base is not growing enough to water down the dividend. The fund paid out $0.6519 per share in short-term capital gains, and $0.3633 in long-term gains back in November (record date 11/25/05). In total, this was a 6.8% distribution, less than Artisan but high nonetheless. In addition, the fund will pay any income out at the end of December (12/30/05 record date, but this can be ignored).
The only other large dividend was FMI Common Stock, but that was paid out in October.
New investors to our portfolios, or those adding new money in taxable accounts, should generally wait until after the record dates listed in our 2005 Capital Gains Report for any of the funds.