Bonds took a dive in March. The roughly 3.5% hit to long-term treasury bonds was the worst hit to bonds since April 2004. The Federal Reserve’s rate-increasing campaign to fight inflation (inflation they may have created) finally caught up with longer-term bonds. ...read the rest of this article»

Interest rates were down in February, helping bond fund returns. Longer term bonds gained 0.77% for the month, while Vanguard Total Bond Index (which owns all types of investment grade U.S. bonds) rose 0.37%. ...read the rest of this article»

The Conservative portfolio put in a decent 4.14% showing in '05 – about half of 2004’s 9.35% return, but then the stock market returned more than twice as much in 2004 as well.  ...read the rest of this article»

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. ...read the rest of this article»

The Conservative portfolio fell 1.25% in October as both bonds and stocks were weak. The S&P500 dropped 1.67% while the Lehman Brothers Long Term Treasury Index fell 1.88%. Smaller-cap stocks fared worse, with the Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks down 3.1%. ...read the rest of this article»

The Conservative portfolio was essentially flat in September, up just 0.08%. Bonds and stocks flipped once again – bonds fell while stocks went up. ...read the rest of this article»

Junk bonds were the weakest part of the bond market, possibly because investors are starting to fear the solvency of corporate America once again, in light of the financial troubles hitting the airline industry. Some more leveraged companies – beyond just airlines – could have trouble eating the higher costs of energy for long periods of time. ...read the rest of this article»

Junk bonds were strong, even though higher-grade bonds dragged. This can sometimes happen when investors are optimistic about corporate health. Since ordinary bonds slipped, the extra yield from owning higher risk bonds over safer bonds is slimmer than it was a month ago. Vanguard High Yield Corporate was up 0.92% ...read the rest of this article»

The real action here on the upside was our stake in utilities. American Century Utility Income gained 5% last month. Unfortunately we have recently cut this category out of some of our other portfolios, and have sliced the stake down to just 5% here. Since we bought this fund in the depths of the Enron era, this position has climbed 80% - a full 33% in the last twelve months alone. This party has gone on a little too long. ...read the rest of this article»

The Conservative portfolio moved up 0.88% in May because of general strength in bonds and stocks. Our shorter-term bond focus and relatively small equity stake left us behind the market indexes. ...read the rest of this article»