The Conservative portfolio rose .29% in April, reflecting a strong bond market. Our equity funds were down for the month, but strength in larger allocations to bond funds overshadowed the losses. ...read the rest of this article»

Because of the relative complexity of these trades we have created an easy-to-use trade worksheet that subscribers who invest in the Conservative Portfolio can download, print out, and fill in to help them determine how much of their holdings need to be bought and sold to match our post-trade portfolios and to rebalance. ...read the rest of this article»

We’re happy this portfolio’s performance. Only two of the funds were actually down for the month, Vanguard Short Term Corporate was down .21% - a decent indication of how this fund does when interest rates climb a bit. It would be difficult – if not impossible - to lose more than 10% in a year in this fund no matter what happens to the bond market. ...read the rest of this article»

The Conservative portfolio lost .46% for the month of January. We were too light on longer term bonds to have a positive return in a month when most categories of funds slipped. ...read the rest of this article»

The main drivers were utility and foreign stocks. American Century Utility Income was up a whopping 23.8% in 2004, as this formerly out of favor category finally caught investor’s attention. Forward International Small Company – a high risk fund we have at just 5% now – was up 25.5%. ...read the rest of this article»

No funds in this portfolio are issuing a capital gains distribution that warrants the selling of the fund to avoid a tax hit. We do advise new investors who are just adding a stake to wait until after the record date to purchase this portfolio’s funds in a taxable account. ...read the rest of this article»

Utilities are proving to be one of the strongest areas in the market this year. We’ve owned a utilities fund in most of our model portfolios these past few years so we are pleased to see this formerly out of favor area take off. ...read the rest of this article»

Foreign bonds led the way, with the American Century International Bond (BEGBX) up a sharp 2.4%. That funds strong performance was based largely on strength in bonds, but partially on a weakening dollar as our ongoing trade imbalances weighed on investor’s minds. ...read the rest of this article»

The Conservative portfolio was down .45% in July. We’d like to have seen this fund up last month given the positive returns for bonds, but the small stock stake wiped our bond gains. ...read the rest of this article»

The Conservative portfolio climbed just over 1% in June. Two of the funds in the portfolio were flat; American Century International Bond didn’t budge, while low risk Vanguard Short Term Corporate moved up less than one tenth of one percent. ...read the rest of this article»