2015 YTD investment performance thread

[KMyer]

Down1% across all accounts. This negative return wasn't as bad as 2008 when my taxable accounts were down 65%. Hopefully 2016 is like 2009 from an investment return perspective.


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[ScaredtoQuit]

My dividend stock laden portfolio finished the year in the black - to the tune of 34 basis points!

[Islandtraveler]

Up 6.11% if you don’t include August. If you want to be a stickler, total portfolio up .94%. Got crushed in my bond portfolio. Down .93%. I follow two separate equity portfolio strategies. Vanguard 70/30 (-.64%) and Fundx Upgrader portfolio. (+3.34%) (This is the second year that Fundx beat Vanguard by close to 400 basis points not including additional tax events.

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScaredtoQuit My dividend stock laden portfolio finished the year in the black - to the tune of 34 basis points!

That is exactly the amount of interest I earned on my 1 year CD this year. Its finding a new home next month in my IRA brokerage account and being put to work. Maybe this time next year, I wish I was getting those 34 bp's.


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[Lucantes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FI by 2024 Awesome job!

Thanks! I am an ex-USAF (not retired).
We are DINK's working overseas so we can bank most of what we earn without any hardship and we both came with the same planned goal (reached separately however as we met at work overseas ) of being FIRE'd at 50 (April 2017 can't come fast enough!).
The only thing we spend serious money on annually are vacations, other than that we are fairly low maintenance.
Just hanging on until turning 50 in Feb. 2017 for the medical benefit and then we are homeward bound to our house in Cocoa Beach FL.

[alaska55]

Did I read that right? I looked up the Fundx upgrader fund and on their web page gross expense fee 1.99% Yahoo says the same.

[redduck]

^
As per Fundx's website (just checking your work) and Morningstar's website, you read it right.

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScaredtoQuit My dividend stock laden portfolio finished the year in the black - to the tune of 34 basis points!

Very good. Not many can claim an overall positive return.

[pops]

4.42%


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[Fermion]

Everyone better not look this morning. Dow down 455.

Great start to the new year!

[tmm99]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion Everyone better not look this morning. Dow down 455. Great start to the new year!

I know! I was just wondering if we should start the 2016 YTD thread (Most of us would be underwater)!

[simple girl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fermion Everyone better not look this morning. Dow down 455. Great start to the new year!

Ughh! Not looking!

[steelyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 I know! I was just wondering if we should start the 2016 YTD thread (Most of us would be underwater)!

Don't mess with what works: robnplunder did the honors for this great (and useful) thread in 2015, and has nothing to do with the broad markets' performance. It'll get done.

[2k6_TX_Dad]

Finished our numbers for last year (2015)
Return -1.87% Big hit in foreign equities.
Overall portfolio +5.6% (Because we're still putting in $$)

The numbers still fit within our plan.

Cheers!

[jazz4cash]

2015 Performance: 1.06 % Investment Return

71% Equity (59/12 Domestic/International)
0% Bond
29% Cash (mostly CD's with weighted APR=4%))


Crap! What did I do wrong?
I am scared of bonds and bond funds for all the reasons discussed. I have CDs instead but I am thinking of drawing an arbitrary line at 2yrs and calling anything with more than 2 yrs remaining a "bond". If do that, my cash allocation would be about 15%

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash 2015 Performance: 1.06 % Investment Return 71% Equity (59/12 Domestic/International) 0% Bond 29% Cash (mostly CD's with weighted APR=4%)) Crap! What did I do wrong? I am scared of bonds and bond funds for all the reasons discussed. I have CDs instead but I am thinking of drawing an arbitrary line at 2yrs and calling anything with more than 2 yrs remaining a "bond". If do that, my cash allocation would be about 15% 5

Dont feel bad, Jazz, I am scared of both bonds and common stocks, so I own neither. I have almost all my money in preferred stocks of mostly investment grade issues yielding between 6-7%.
Everyone needs to do their own due diligence and what feels comfortable to them, but when I am getting 400 BP's above 10 year and 500 above inflation, in a sluggish little growth, little inflation, do nothing economy this is when they shine. I returned almost 9% last year with little risk and no volatility.
Today is a perfect example.... 7 issues up, 2 down, and 7 unchanged. With stocks and bonds both valued richly, snagging yield trapped past call preferreds with high quality companies disinterested in calling them is a nice play. Many will call their 4-5 % senior debt to reissue, but leave the low hanging high yield fruit to pick. Its been easy money for me anyways. Of course you need to have to be willing to research and prefer income to "TR". It isn't everyones cup of tea, but it works for me.


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[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Dont feel bad, Jazz, I am scared of both bonds and common stocks, so I own neither. I have almost all my money in preferred stocks of mostly investment grade issues yielding between 6-7%. Everyone needs to do their own due diligence and what feels comfortable to them, but when I am getting 400 BP's above 10 year and 500 above inflation, in a sluggish little growth, little inflation, do nothing economy this is when they shine. I returned almost 9% last year with little risk and no volatility. Today is a perfect example.... 7 issues up, 2 down, and 7 unchanged. With stocks and bonds both valued richly, snagging yield trapped past call preferreds with high quality companies disinterested in calling them is a nice play. Many will call their 4-5 % senior debt to reissue, but leave the low hanging high yield fruit to pick. Its been easy money for me anyways. Of course you need to have to be willing to research and prefer income to "TR". It isn't everyones cup of tea, but it works for me. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes, I've been following the Preferred Stock thread and appreciate the contributions from you and others. Provided I have sufficient patience, I am very interested in making room in my portfolio for a few of these after I gain some more confidence.

[FIREd_2015]

According to an article on marketwatch.com, the average investor lost 3.1% in 2015. Looks like my 100% cash portfolio did better than most in 2015 and also 2016 YTD.


This is how much the average American investor made last year - MarketWatch

[Fedup]

I finally looked and it's actually close to 6%, my husband account was more than 5%. If I can believe what I read.


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[Islandtraveler]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alaska55 Did I read that right? I looked up the Fundx upgrader fund and on their web page gross expense fee 1.99% Yahoo says the same.

I did not make myself clear. I construct my own equity portfolio by following the recommendations of Fundex through their newsletter. (Monthly Upgrader Portfolio) I wouldn’t touch their mutual funds because of the high fees. This has served me well to the tune of about 400 basis points over my index portfolio for the past two years.