Investment Performance October 2013 (+5.09%)

October 2013 Investment Report:

October Highlights:

October was another great month of paper gains in our portfolio (+5.09%). We continued to beat our VTI benchmark slightly (+4.77%).
We made our regular monthly investments in our Roth IRAs, and had some dividend & dividend reinvestments.
I still am looking for opportunities to get our portfolio in a more defensive position. We have had a fantastic run over the past 12 months and looking to lock in gains where I feel our investment is overvalued. As part of getting our portfolio more conservative we made a small additional investment in Fairfax Financial, and moved $30k (~8% of the account value) of our 401k into a cash fund (not shown on this report).
We also sold 200 shares of our Genworth holdings this month.
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%, Feb +0.49%, Mar +4.52%, Apr +1.30%, May +2.87%, June -0.97%, Jul +6.45%, Aug -3.67%, Sept +3.28%, Oct 5.09%.....

Note this is our monthly personal investment portfolio report. I view our ability to invest with above average rates of return as the most important factor in reaching our financial freedom goals. 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.

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