Find of the Week: VBR Vanguard Small Cap Value

Of the close to 100 funds I track in my mutual fund portfolio competition, none of the funds posted as strong a rise as Small Cap Value - VBR Vanguard Small Cap Value, up 2.67%.

The other 9 funds rounding out the top ten are all small or mid cap funds.

The worst one week performance was -3.90% posted by HIINX Harbor International My Post. The other 9 funds that struggled are all Foreign equity funds.

Perhaps investors watched Russia invade Georgia and decided international markets are not worth the risk (unless you are siding with Russia) and watched Phelps win 8 gold medals and said, American will power is were it's at!

Or more likely, international markets have been on fire and small caps have struggled and investors are taking profits and looking for the next big (little) thing.

Portfolio Update 8/15/08: Roll On

A little bit of chop in the markets this week, but markets closed the week more or less flat as investors Roll On looking for direction.

Actually, tomorrow when I post the top ten and bottom ten funds for the week, you'll see that there are very clear shifts in investor strategy...


The ETF portfolio continues to post the best year to date total but remains near the bottom of the competition.

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed WylieMoney Slowly Lazy 20 Mostly IndexThree Fund Portfolio ETF 20 S&P 500

I'm adding SSEMX SSgA Emerging Mkt to Today

This month, I'm adding and SSEMX SSgA Emerging Mkt fund to the WylieMoney Slowly portfolio, and today is the day I'm doing it.

Fund of the Week: BPTRX Baron Partners

BPTRX Baron Partners My Post, a Mid cap Growth fund, rose over 5% last week, more than any other fun in the competition.

Real Estate had another strong week as did Large cap Value funds.


Interestingly, TWCVX American Century Vista Inv, another Mid cap Growth fund in the competition (in my IRA), was among the 10 worst performing funds for the week, posting a -2.54% loss.

That was nothing compared to the big loser, Jennison Natural Resources Z PNRZX, (in my brokerage account) showing a loss of -8.97%.

Emerging Markets also lost ground, but oil related funds lost the most.

Portfolio Update 8/8/8: Shaft

Shaft.

Nothing to do with financial markets. R.I.P Isaac Hayes.

Another bumpy week ends with gains.

No big changes to the standings.

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

WylieMoney Slowly

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

ETF 20

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: DVY iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index

The best performing fund from the funds I track last week was DVY iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index, an ETF I hold in my IRA. It was up 3.06%.

Small caps, Mid caps, Bonds and Finance companies held up last week as well.


International Funds took a beating. DLS WisdomTree International Small Cap fell the most down -2.5%.

Next WylieMoney Slowly fund Category is Emerging Markets

When I first researched no load no fee mutual funds available through Etrade and was looking for an Emerging Markets fund, I choose SSEMX SSgA Emerging Mkt My Post.

SSEMX closed to new investors but even though Etrade does not know it yet (see above), it has reopened:


So I added it in with the other funds available through Etrade and there are 4 options:


SSEMX has the lowest expenses, but DREGX Driehaus Emerging Markets Growth has 5 stars. Unfortunately it looks like DREGX also has a new manager so past performance was acheived by someone else.

DREGX has outperformed SSEMX over the 3 year and 5 year periods, but is lagging a bit recently.


DREGX has much higher turnover meaning the tax hit is likley to be higher:


Also, DREGX has a $10,000 minimum initial investment which is above my cutoff for this experiment.

So even if it did not have high turnover and a new manager, I would not pick it.

SSEMX is the pick and I'll add it to the WylieMoney Slowly portfolio the first day that markets tank in August.

Portfolio Update 8/1/08: Changes

Morningstar has made Changes (thought you were going to get Bowie?) to its portfolio tool. Recent market activity has chased all color out of the portfolio interface as you'll see in the portfolios below.

Also, Morningstar's attempt to look more web 2.0 has made it very very tedious to copy and past the weekly updates into excel.

I'm a sad blogger dude.

The market has also undergone some changes. Instead of plummeting sharply, it is now rising gently.

I suppose I should adjust this graph in excel to account for the S&P 500 going under $43,000.

My portfolio list has also seen changes. My IRAs pulled ahead of the ETF 20 portfolio.

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed


WylieMoney Slowly


Lazy 20 Mostly Index


Three Fund Index


ETF 20


S&P 500