How Did Dan Wiener Do Last Year?

[Marcretire]

I came across Dan Wiener's Vanguard newsletter from Aug/'08 in which he declared the previous 10 years the lost decade, making the point that those Bogleheads who invested their money in an S&P 500 index fund essentially lost all their gains from the past 10 years. He derided Vanguard's Bogle for preaching buying and holding an S&P 500 index fund for this reason and, of course, boasting about his own portfolios. In Aug/'08, the returns of Wiener's various portfolios were: Growth -11.5%; Conservative Growth: -9.8%; Income: -5.9% All are YTD. My question is for any Wiener subscribers is how did his portfolios perform for the entire year of '08. Does Wiener's fund picking beat the S&P making his newsletter a worthwhile purchase? Thanks.

 

[free4now]

I happen to have just searched this information out. There's a table on the right hand side of this page:

About Dan Wiener - Adviser Online

That lists his results "Year to date" next to November returns. So I'm assuming that's his 2008 up to November results.

His growth plan is down -41%, right about the same as the indexes.

 

[REWahoo]

His growth plan is down -41%, right about the same as the indexes.

That would indicate Weiner was also a loser...

 

[Marcretire]

Thanks. Well, Wiener didn't do so well, after all, at least in '08. I guess what would be even better would be stats on the various portfolios' performances over the last 10-yr period in comparison to the S&P 500, since he was ripping Bogle a new one over buying and holding S&P index funds. If anyone has this information, could you post it?

 

[TromboneAl]

Weiner is experiencing shrinkage.

 

[samclem]

His growth plan is down -41%, right about the same as the indexes.

Maybe his fan club on the Diehards forum will pipe down for awhile. See, every dark cloud has a silver lining.

 

[jazz4cash]

What? Active management doesn't beat index funds in a down market?