Investment Performance January 2014 (-2.94%)

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 dividends & dividend reinvestments.
It was an active month as we took a more substantial amount out of our investments by selling portions of our Genworth (GNW) and Bank of America (BAC) holding as they hit new highs.
I don't see a whole lot that I'm excited about in the short term so I expect I will be holding a bit higher amounts of cash this year until there is something compelling.
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%, Nov +2.31%, Dec +2.20%, Jan 2014 -2.94%.....

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.

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 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....

Investment Performance November 2013 (+2.31%) (Dec 17, 2013) November 2013 Investment Report: November Highlights: November was subpar for us as our portfolio performed poorly compared to our benchmark (+2.31% vs +2.85%). We made our regular monthly investments in our Roth IRAs, and some dividends & dividend reinvestments. We...

Comments (4)

A bit of a blow for the month, but beating the benchmark is never a bad thing!

Posted by moneystepper | February 24, 2014 1:27 AM

I was trying to recreate your spreadsheet and had a couple of questions:
- What is the formula you use to calculate the percentage return?
- For received dividends are those negative values in Net Amount (i.e. Merck)?
- For reinvested dividends, are those treated as increases in number of shares but no money in Net Amount (i.e. PG)?
- What circumstances caused Medtronic to show positive shares gained but negative money (i.e. a payout to you?).

Thanks! Love the blog and hearing about your adventures (financial, travel, etc.)

Posted by Brad | March 2, 2014 9:29 PM

Brad,
Excellent questions:
1) I calculate monthly percentage return as Gain(loss) / ( Starting Balance + net contributions).
2) For Dividends I elect to take as cash I record as a negative number meaning I withdraw those funds from the investment pool (same as a stock sale).
3) For reinvested share you are correct, I just record the net shares added.
4) For Medtronic in January I have split the dividend so some gets records as net shares added and the rest as a withdraw.

Any additional questions feel free to ask!

Posted by 2million | March 3, 2014 8:41 AM

January was a tougher month, but February was not bad. Great job on getting to the 2M mark, it will come. I past that mark a bit ago, sort of surprised me...

Posted by No Nonsense Landlord | March 3, 2014 10:49 PM