Investment Performance October 2011 (+9.88%)

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.

October Highlights:

October turned into one of the biggest single month gains that I can remember with a near double digit increase. We posted a 9.88% gain which drove us to our largest monthly net worth gain ever.
However our portfolio did poorly compared to our VTI benchmark for the month (9.88% vs 11.39%).
Not much activity to report other than we picked up 10 more shares of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTI) early in the month before the rally.
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%, Sept -7.06%, Oct +9.88%.....

October 2011 Investment Report:

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Comments (4)

Happy Thanksgiving 2million!!

Posted by Steve | November 24, 2011 9:59 AM

I just set up an account at TreasuryDirect to purchase US I-bonds. These are inflation-adjusted bonds offered by the US gov't and currently paying out 3.06% interest per year. Plus they are exempt from state and local taxes and if used for education purposes tax free. You can buy a maximum amount of $10,000 per year per SS number ($5000 for an electronic I bond and $5000 for the paper I bond). For anyone looking for a virtually risk free investment that protects against inflation and pays out 3%, or 3-times more than the 1% savings rate at online banks, the I-bonds sound great.

Posted by Steve | November 27, 2011 7:40 PM

Steve,
I've thought about getting some i-bonds, but never could convince myself its a good investment. Its certainly better currently than typical online savings accounts, but historically I feel they have dragged compared to other low/no risk investment.

Posted by 2million | November 27, 2011 8:34 PM

You might be right 2million. However, in the short term, the I-bonds look good since the Fed has guaranteed they will keep interest rates low until at least mid-2013. So even if you redeem the bonds before the 5 year term and pay a 3 month interest penalty, you still come out way ahead of a savings account. What other low/no risk investment would you consider in this climate that pays 3%? I think you're right though, that in the future when rates pick back up, the I-bond may not be so good. At that time, I'll just redeem.

Posted by Steve | November 28, 2011 5:16 PM