Investment Performance January 2013 (+6.72%)

This is our monthly investment portfolio report. At this point I view our ability to invest with above average rates of return as the most important factor in reaching our financial freedom as soon as possible. This investment report covers our taxable portfolio and IRA retirement accounts. My 401k (which is roughly 1/2 our portfolio) is not included as the index funds it includes are not publicly traded and difficult to incorporate in this report.

January Highlights:

Our portfolio had an awesome month all around! We saw what could be equivalent to a full year's return with a 6.72% increase in our portfolio compared to our VTI benchmark gain of 5.61%.
In January we made an additional small investment in Fairfax Financial. We also lightened some of our IBM investment.
The market's continued rally has given me a bit of pause over valuations. While I am not complaining with the recent rise, I believe equity returns could be less attractive. I'll be easing into a more conservative investment posture if the market continues to rally.
Our portfolio saw significant valuation increases in Hewlett-Packard, Genworth, and Medtronic in January.
We made our regular monthly investments in our Roth IRAs, 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%, Nov -0.39%, Dec +2.10%, Jan '12 +4.03%, Feb +4.68%, Mar +2.35%, Apr -1.74%, Sept +3.47%, Oct 0.10%, Nov -0.20%, Dec +3.09%, Jan '13 +6.72% .....

January 2013 Investment Report:

Related in Stocks:

Chairmen Letters to Shareholders (Mar 09, 2014) Its that time of year again --the close of fiscal years means an overload of annual reports including Letters to Shareholders. Two annual letters that I read each year are those from Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet) and Fairfax Financial (Prem...

Investment Performance January 2014 (-2.94%) (Feb 23, 2014) January 2014 Investment Report: January Highlights: January was a bad way to start out the year, but our portfolio performed slightly better thank our benchmark (-2.94% vs -3.17%). We made our regular monthly investments in our Roth IRAs, and some...

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....