How did your portfolio do in 2010 ?

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obgyn65 Hello FinanceDude - Yes I am but 1) my professional and volunteering activities do not leave me much time to study stocks 2) I am very risk averse.

Understood, but I would look at putting 15-20% in a conservative balanced fund or something...maybe VWINX or something?

[Lusitan]

Just checked ... 18.5%

[DeborahB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyounge1956 I don't know how to figure out my portfolio returns for last year, because I had a big single contribution to my Roth IRA when I cashed in an Ameriprise VA, rolled it into my other IRA and closed the Ameriprise account. I'm not sure I could figure out the performance on my 457 either, because the amount of my contributions changed during the year. That may happen again this year and I don't know how to take it into account. I have a program in my trusty ol' HP41s that does financial calculations, but it will only take equal payments, and I don't know how to set up a spreadsheet to track this. What do I need to do this year so next January I'll be able to answer the question?

One simple thing is to use a planning program like Quicken and if you're okay with it, download the transactions. I enter them manually (paranoid).

You can also add up all your investments right now to get a starting point. Then add them up Jan 1 of next year. See how much more you have. Take into account additions you made to your 401k or whatever. The rollover would have been included in the total anyhow.

This is the low tech, seat of the pants approach - no formula...

Personally I use Quicken (used to use MS Money but it went away so I converted the data into Quicken...). It gives good and easy stats.

I also have a massive spreadsheet giving the original price, dividends, yield on original price... I don't know what good it is, but at least I can see what the dividend was when I bought a stock.

[Nords]

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Originally Posted by FUEGO I think I bought some of your IJS last time you sold, so maybe I'll log in to fidelity and pick up some more quality Nords IJS. Worked pretty well for me last time..

Are you the guy who bought the call from me, too? Good move!

Back in July, when it was trading at $57/share, I got greedy and sold a Feb '11 covered call with a $64 strike. I got a whole $2.72/share in premiums and was pretty happy at the time, but now of course I've given up another ~$6 in upside.

The good news is that I would've sold the shares to rebalance back then anyway at $57 so I got a total of over $9/share upside (and two dividends) by selling the call.

I sell covered calls when it seems to make sense, and I sell when shares get fully valued, but I think my shorting days are behind me.

[FUEGO]

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Originally Posted by Nords Are you the guy who bought the call from me, too? Good move!

Nope, just the IJS. April 8, 2010 is what fidelity says. I thought it had done better than what I actually did, which is a little over 10% return. Not quite the 20%+ that SCV as a category did in 2010.

Still very happy with 10%.

[NW-Bound]

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Originally Posted by kumquat Health care is not free. I pay a lot of tax to pay for it. If the potion of my income tax since I was 21 that went to health care was returned to me and I had to pay for all of my families health care, my NW would be about 50% higher. Sorry, just a DB DC pension (that is 60% my money) worth about 17% of NW. You could check this post. If you PM me, I'll tell you what X is. Edit to correct DB to DC.

I should have put the word "free" in quotes. Yes, there is never a free lunch. But having a "prepaid" health plan should greatly ease one's concern about its future cost, which was my point.

I appreciate your offer to share your number, but I dunno. Is it going to help me towards my goal of a monkish life? Probably not.

PS. In case any of you wonder, it is not likely I can become an ascetic. Joking about becoming a monk is simply a way for me to remind myself to avoid a further slide into the philistine camp.

[obgyn65]

I apologize FinanceDude. I am financially illiterate. What is VWINKS and why do you recommend this product ? Is it FDIC insured like CDs ? Can I buy this product at Edward Jones or Vanguard where I have savings in money markets ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by FinanceDude Understood, but I would look at putting 15-20% in a conservative balanced fund or something...maybe VWINX or something?

[DblDoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obgyn65 I apologize FinanceDude. I am financially illiterate. What is VWINKS and why do you recommend this product ? Is it FDIC insured like CDs ? Can I buy this product at Edward Jones or Vanguard where I have savings in money markets ?

VWINX is Vanguard's Wellesley fund https://personal.vanguard.com/us/fun...FundIntExt=INT. It is an "income oriented balanced fund" and is one of a few actively managed funds at Vanguard and contains ~ 40% stocks, ~60% bonds and has done modestly well for a long period of time. Some here have varying amounts in their portfolio. It is frequently brought up when people don't want to spend time building a portfolio or rebalancing etc as the managers at Vanguard will take care of it for you.

You will also see it posted as "Psst... Wellesley" This was a frequent response by long time poster Uncle Mick when providing investment guidance.

DD

[Free To Canoe]

17.4%!

Free to canoe

[queeneev]

Yikes! I just did my math, go me!

Jan - Jul 12%
Aug - Dec 18%
Annualizes out to 31%.

I am quite heavy in commodities.
75/25; 25% of my 75% equities is in gold/silver/uranium

I split my returns into two pieces, pre and post retirement. Not that my allocations changed much, but I wanted to see the difference.

I had planned to buy my way into more bonds, but the last 2 months of the bond market have made my butt clench...

[Retire2013]

17%.

[DblDoc]

Just checked, the Vanguard portion: 15.3%

As I also hold some at Fidelity and about a third of the portfolio at Scottrade in equity ETF's it will be somewhere north of that. I don't focus as much on the returns as on the FIRE # so don't try to calculate a total XIRR or some variation thereof. Currently ahead of schedule by about a year!

DD

[FreqFlyer]

Finally got off by b*tt and rolled my three accounts together.

14.2% with a 74/26 stock/bond portfolio. I'm pretty happy with that. Kind heavy on stocks now that I look at it.

[Ronnieboy]

Newbie question: When looking at the DW 401k options, there is two stock growth funds, one has a return of 12%, the other 14%. It looks like over history (>10 years) the latter fund has out performed the first by 2% continually (even losing 2% less during the down years) anyhow, is the expense ratio/mgmt fees deducted/included in the posted return?

And for that matter is the management fee included in the expense ratio or do you add the two to get total fees?

The fund that is continually 2% ahead costs almost 1% more.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronnieboy Newbie question: When looking at the DW 401k options, there is two stock growth funds, one has a return of 12%, the other 14%. It looks like over history (>10 years) the latter fund has out performed the first by 2% continually (even losing 2% less during the down years) anyhow, is the expense ratio/mgmt fees deducted/included in the posted return? And for that matter is the management fee included in the expense ratio or do you add the two to get total fees? The fund that is continually 2% ahead costs almost 1% more.

Reported fund returns are typically after asset management fees and expenses, so the information you are looking at should be comparable. Interesting that the latter fund is consistently 2% better, but perhaps they are truly better stock pickers (or the first fund are worse stock pickers). How do the long term returns of each fund compare to the benchmark returns for similar growth stocks?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronnieboy Newbie question: When looking at the DW 401k options, there is two stock growth funds, one has a return of 12%, the other 14%. It looks like over history (>10 years) the latter fund has out performed the first by 2% continually (even losing 2% less during the down years)...

What are the names of these two funds - or are they proprietary to her 401k?

[Ronnieboy]

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Originally Posted by REWahoo What are the names of these two funds - or are they proprietary to her 401k?

Getting some more info...Her 401k is through Fidelity and they have grouped them together as *large cap stock fund*, but they are different as one is 80% in the S&P 500 (FUSEX) expense ratio 0.10%

Benchmark-similar to S&P (and that is expected with being 80% the same).

2nd one, better return, is a growth fund (FDGRX) expense ratio 0.93%

Comparing to benchmarks at 1yr, 3yr, 5yr, 10yr it is always higher than the Russell 3000 growth by as little as 0.5% (3yr mark) to 3% (1yr mark)

[REWahoo]

FUSEX is Fidelity's S&P 500 index fund while FDGRX is a managed growth fund. That would explain the difference in expense ratios. Whether the managed fund will continue to outperform the index by sufficient margin to overcome the added cost is anyone's guess.

[Pete]

I made a fortune in companies that dismantle bank signs and ones that made "For Rent", "For Lease", and "For Sale" signs. This year I plan on adding companies that clean up after arson fires, and tow truck operators who have contracts to repossess cars. ;-)

[Mike517]

13.8% overall
I have money all over the place and need to balance and consolidate. I also need to self direct and get away from the brokerage.
I have 16% in direct equities
5% cash
14% in direct money markets and CDs
23% in Russell Family of funds
42% in other various funds, bonds,equities,Asian,emerging markets, income