what is your nestegg's YTD return?

[Mulligan]

5.0% YTD. No addition, no withdrawal.

50% domestic equities, 20% international.
International holding down performance again.

What bothers me is that I am still 7.6% below my all-time high reached in May last year. And that's 2+ years of living expenses (I am using annual expenses as monetary units now). I've got nothing to Wh** about.

I can only get happy when I set a new high. Am I too greedy?

I could have sworn that I have heard from somewhere that "Greed is Good".

 

[Spanky]

I could have sworn that I have heard from somewhere that "Greed is Good".

From Wall Street or a movie in which Michal Douglas was the star??

 

[rodi]

Quicken says 14.87% - but I assume that's because I'm still accumulating... so it includes my savings ytd.

I like the idea of units that represent a years expenses. Friday's gains were 0.5 years expenses.

 

[jkern]

4.48% ytd

34/32/34 AA

 

[frayne]

Approx. 4% 60/40 stocks and fixed income.

 

[eytonxav]

Not doing too well compared to everyone else, only 3.14%, but thats because my mix is 25/35/40. Holding a big pile of cash can hold one back, but it does help me sleep better in these uncertain times while waiting for some buying opportunities. Nice uptick on Friday over European news, but I suspect nothing has really changed there and we will return to the quicksand very soon. Might be a good time to rebalance for some of you.

 

[pb4uski]

So your YTD return is 6.48%. I'm wondering why you ask for YTD, then report a fictitious return.

I''m at about 5.8% which is ahead of my benchmark. (39/30/31)

You caught me. I was intentionally trying to mislead you.

Not really. I had just looked at my own Quicken investment performance report on a YTD basis and the report expresses the return on an annualized basis so that is what I put in.

But I think my half year return is 6.28% rather than 6.48% due to compounding.

6.28% = [(1 + 12.96%)^.5] -1

 

[NW-Bound]

"Greed is good." Yes, I did watch that movie, where the character Gordon Gekko made that proclamation.

I do not know how many here share that sentiment, but let's assume for the moment that the above statement is true. Then, the next question is "Are we sufficiently greedy?". Ah, you will see that in order to answer that question, we must first define "greed". Else, how would we know if we have enough of it?

For the definition, I turned to the Web, where I found this.

Greed is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort.
​

Oh boy! Now, we have to define "basic survival and comfort". It's never that simple, I told you. MasterBlaster, are you there? Could you help me out here? Nevermind, I found one of his posts here. There, I do have more than what MasterBlaster has for survival. Actually, too much more! And I am sure there are people who have less than MasterBlaster.

Yet, I want still more. I work "for just one more year". I study different investment and withdrawal strategies in order to maximize my consumption for the remainder of my life, material consumption way above that of MasterBlaster, I remind you. By the way, we do not really know if those pictures are really MasterBlaster's abode, but I always try to take people's words at face value.

That makes me greedy all right. But if greed is good, do I possess enough greed to be really, really good? How would I know? Shouldn't I allow for some margin, by being extra greedy to be safe?

Oh, but what is this? I found the following too.

It (greed) is typically used to criticize those who seek excessive material wealth, although it may apply to the need to feel more excessively moral, social, or otherwise better than someone else.​

Umm... I don't know what to make of the above! Strange definition one gets on the Web sometime.

Anyway, the exact lines made by Gordon Gekko in the movie are the following.

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind."​

Wikipedia says that the inspiration for the movie came from a speech by Ivan Boesky, who said the following in a commencement address at UC Berkeley in 1986.

"Greed is all right, by the way. I want you to know that. I think greed is healthy. You can be greedy and still feel good about yourself".​

Of course many of us remember that Boesky was sent to jail later for insider trading.

It seems to me that it is not really relevant whether greed is good or bad. It's what one does to satisfy it that matters. Or more practically, it's the action that may land one in jail, whether you call the specific action good or bad. And jail is bad, yes? At the minimum, I know I don't want jail. That's for sure!

 

[pb4uski]

Quicken says 14.87% - but I assume that's because I'm still accumulating... so it includes my savings ytd.

I like the idea of units that represent a years expenses. Friday's gains were 0.5 years expenses.

If the 14.87% is off of the Quicken investment performance report, I think it is the internal rate of return resulting from your beginning of year fair value and cash flow (deposits, withdrawals, reinvested dividends, etc) and the the internal rate of return is converted to an annualized rate.

 

[tmm99]

As for my current 401K, they changed the firm on us in April, so the 1st quarter is about 10% and from April to now is about -2.5%.

As for another firm I am using (Vanguard - I think it was around 130K-150K in equity), it says
YTD Investment return $10K
1 YR Investment return -$3K
3 YR Investment return $45K
5 YR Investment return $6K (Market appreciation was -$20K)

At least I come out in the black for the 5 year run although by not much. I guess it doesn't matter until I need to take the money out.

 

[LOL!]

You caught me. I was intentionally trying to mislead you.

Not really. I had just looked at my own Quicken investment performance report on a YTD basis and the report expresses the return on an annualized basis so that is what I put in.

But I think my half year return is 6.28% rather than 6.48% due to compounding.

6.28% = [(1 + 12.96%)^.5] -1

One should use an XIRR() calculation. I use MSMoney which does that. My mom has Quicken and I know it gives funny results if one doesn't choose dates properly. Even with MSMoney, I gotta use the proper dates. If I set the date for the calculation to be 1/1/2012 to 6/30/2012, then I get an annualized return of 12.1%. If I set the date to be 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2012, then I get 5.8%. A reason that 12.1% is more than twice 5.8% is because of timing of money flows and gains.

 

[dmdunca44]

thanks to the nice bump yesterday, our nest egg is up 5.2%. Our AA is 45 equities/50 bonds/5 cash

 

[audreyh1]

up 6.2% YTD 53/42/5

 

[aaronc879]

Not doing too well compared to everyone else, only 3.14%, but thats because my mix is 25/35/40. Holding a big pile of cash can hold one back, but it does help me sleep better in these uncertain times while waiting for some buying opportunities.

+1

3.304% for me YTD. I heard this phrase on this site a while back and I use it frequently--"I'm more concerned about the return OF my money than the return ON my money". Anything above zero and i'm happy. Anything above inflation and i'm extremely happy.

 

[RockyMtn]

7.74 ytd. 60/40 Stock/Bond. Good thing Friday's gains are figured in!

 

[tulak]

9.24% ytd, 80/20.

 

[arky]

A measly 2.2%, but I have been retired for the last 5 years and have a "scaredy cat" 20/40/40 AA !!

 

[devans0]

12% @ 100/0. and of that amount, 60% is foreign 40 domestic equity.

Defined benefits are bond substitutes in my case.

 

[pb4uski]

One should use an XIRR() calculation. I use MSMoney which does that. My mom has Quicken and I know it gives funny results if one doesn't choose dates properly. Even with MSMoney, I gotta use the proper dates. If I set the date for the calculation to be 1/1/2012 to 6/30/2012, then I get an annualized return of 12.1%. If I set the date to be 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2012, then I get 5.8%. A reason that 12.1% is more than twice 5.8% is because of timing of money flows and gains.

You mean like in 5.8% = [(1 + 12.1%)^.5] -1 ?

The Quicken return is the internal rate of return based on the dates of the cash flows, similar to the XIRR calculation in Excel.

 

[obgyn65]

Congratulations.

Less than 2% in my case I guess.

A good half year. 12.96% (annualized rate) per Quicken investment performance report. Target AA is 45% domestic equities, 15% international equities and 40% fixed income.

 

[almost there]

About 11%. Got 100% out in March. Back in & out twice. Both Roth IRA's are now 90% in.
As of last Fri. 401K 100% cash for now.
Including monthly aditions am up about 80k ytd.
Not in the mood to just let it ride.
Funds this year VTTVX, VTWNX, SCHX & SCHA.

I know, I am doing it all wrong.

 

[martyb]

How can I calculate my YTD? I don't track on a monthly basis, but I max my TSP and so far this year have contributed $12124. My earnings not including my contributions are up $19526. Balance on 1/1/12 was $135,600, on 6/30/12 was $167,250. I have attempted to do some of the dreaded market timing this year, going from very risky to very safe. Sometimes it worked out pretty good, like yesterday, other times, not so good, but overall I think not too bad.

 

[teejayevans]

How can I calculate my YTD? I don't track on a monthly basis, but I max my TSP and so far this year have contributed $12124. My earnings not including my contributions are up $19526. Balance on 1/1/12 was $135,600, on 6/30/12 was $167,250. I have attempted to do some of the dreaded market timing this year, going from very risky to very safe. Sometimes it worked out pretty good, like yesterday, other times, not so good, but overall I think not too bad.

19526/135600*100=14%
Technically its not correct because you had earnings on you contributions which should not be included either, but usually it's close.
But if you say put 12124 and the day the market hit bottom and it grew to 15124, then it should be 16526/135600*100 = 12%
Obviously the smaller the amount of your nestegg, the more impact the contributions and their earnings have.
TJ

 

[tricky88]

YTD = 6.78%.
But when I include additional money socked away I'm at 10.4%. I'm pleasantly surprised by those numbers.

 

[obgyn65]

The 2% figure I gave above doesn't include any money saved this year. It's just about half of what I expect the return of my investments to be by 1/1/13. If we include savings since 1/1/12, I guess the number would be much higher.

YTD = 6.78%.
But when I include additional money socked away I'm at 10.4%. I'm pleasantly surprised by those numbers.