2nd Quarter 2006 investment results - Surprising!

[justin]

I did my quarterly financial statement Sunday (like I do at the end of every quarter of the year). My investments were down 1.4% over the 2nd quarter, 2006. I figured they would be down more than that - like maybe 5% - based on the recent market downturn. I'm in almost 100% stocks. The 1.4% loss has been calculated with my new contributions during the quarter in mind, so it isn't misleading.

Anyone else figured out their Q2 2006 investment results, and if so, are you surprised?

Q2 was one heck of a ride - up and down - but in the end, it was pretty close to flat. I guess it is important to ignore the day to day volatility and focus on the long(er) term changes - quarterly or yearly.

I have no idea which way the market is headed short term, but I'm continuing the DCA'ing like always.

 

[Nords]

I hadn't looked at it, but:
1 Apr-- up 6.3% from 1 Jan.
1 Jul-- up 4.3% from 1 Jan.

And we've still been withdrawing our spending money from the portfolio...

 

[justin]

1 Apr-- up 6.3% from 1 Jan.
1 Jul-- up 4.3% from 1 Jan.

So you're down ~2% from Apr 1 2006 to July 1 2006. Similar results to me when considering withdrawals being taken out (not surprising).

 

[Spanky]

YTD as of 7/3/06 is about 7% despite the 2.2%decline from its peak (in May 11).

 

[larry]

As of close June 30th, 2.8% YTD

 

[Andre1969]

Just for kicks, I checked back on some of my records, to see how much this little aberration in May/June cost me.

As of 5/5/06, I had "made" about $27,600 for 2006 YTD. I think I actually peaked out a few days later, but it wasn't that much more.
As of 6/14/06, I had "lost" about $7,400 for 2006 YTD. Or, a loss of $35,000 from that peak. OUCH!!

However, as of a few minutes ago, I've "made" about $6,900 for 2006 YTD. Or, a bounce-back of about $14,300 off my 6/14 low.

So, I'm not complaining. Yet.

 

[Mwsinron]

I need to compare the numbers from two financial institutions before I get the final numbers. We were extremely lucky it took over 2 weeks to transfer our money from Lincoln to Fidelity. We missed a huge section of down turn.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I havent figured out the percentages yet, but my capital appreciation is about 75k and my dividend/interest payout is about 51k year to date.

Good enough.

 

[al_bundy]

last year really ticked me off since my 401k was in one fund and my performance lagged the fund's performance for the year. It was all in a SP500 index fund.

This year and next I'm going to experiment. Someone pointed out on another forum that the market usually goes up a little at the end of the month even in down years and even if it falls later. Reason is that a lot of retirement money hits the system and needs to be invested.

Starting this month my new 401k money is going into a money market fund and I'm only going to invest it either when my index funds hit the 50 day average line or in the middle of the month when it falls a little. Goal is to buy just a bit more shares each time to improve my returns by 1% or so.

 

[LOL!]

Starting this month my new 401k money is going into a money market fund and I'm only going to invest it either when my index funds hit the 50 day average line or in the middle of the month when it falls a little. Goal is to buy just a bit more shares each time to improve my returns by 1% or so.

Might be better to just diversify some more and not try to be 100% S&P500 index.

Why not put it in when the stock market falls 1% or more in a day? But certainly buying only on down days should be helpful.

Maybe. Yep, definitely maybe.

 

[al_bundy]

did it

i cashed out my 401k back when it was 1301 for the SP500 and put it all back in last week divided up into small, mid and large cap indexes. the managed funds don't have enough performance to get me to pay the much higher management fees.

What ticks me off is that i fell for the DCA mantra without looking at whether i can do better with a slightly different strategy. We'll see how it turns out next year.