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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Investment Performance December 2013 (+2.20%) (Jan 10, 2014) December 2013 Investment Report: December Highlights: December was another subpar for us as our portfolio performed poorly compared to our benchmark (+2.20% vs +2.58%). We made our regular monthly investments in our Roth IRAs, and some dividends & dividend reinvestments....

Comments (4)


Happy Thanksgiving 2million!!

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.

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.

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.

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A personal finance weblog of my journey to reach my goal of $2 million + the value of my primary residence.
Current Net Worth: $1,938,393

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