Investment Performance August 2011 (-5.42%)

This is an ongoing monthly update on how our equity investments are performing. Please see this background on the investment tool I developed and how I am using it to track our performance against a benchmark to measure our progress or lack thereof.

August Highlights:

Our portfolio nicely beat our VTI benchmark for the month (-5.42% vs -6.09%).
Things looks more attractive in the market to me and we made a new contribution into our investment portfolio with several small investments.
We sold our position in Community Bankers Trust (BTC) early in the month, and then made investments in Markel Debt (MKV), Dryships (DRYS), Genworth (GNW), and General Electric (GE).
We also finally bit hte bullet and made an initial investment in Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B). I've wanted to invest in this company for so long, I decide to use the recent market declines to make at least a small initial investment.
We also made our regular monthly investments in our IRAs and Conocco Philips DRIP, and had some dividends and dividend reinvestments.
Our recent monthly returns were: Jan 09 -4.98%, Feb -9.94%, Mar +8.45%, Apr +10.88%, May +4.65%, Jun +0.89%, Jul +9.94%, Aug +4.36%, Sept 3.15%, Oct -2.34%, Nov +5.83%, Dec +1.85%, Jan '10 -2.34%, Feb +2.25%, Mar +5.88%, Apr +2.54%, May -8.13%, June -5.64%, July 6.17%. Aug -4.87%, Sept +8.48%, Oct 2.47%, Nov -0.96%, Dec +8.01%, Jan 2011 +2.06%, Feb 2.57%, Mar +0.15%, Apr +3.04%, May -1.56%, June -1.63%, July -2.71%, Aug -5.42%.....

August 2011 Investment Report:

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