Wylie Money

Top Fund Last Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources Z

2009-11-10T20:45:00.001-05:00

PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources Z gained 5.67% last week, more than any other fund I track. Emerging markets, natural resources, growth funds all gained ground.

BTTRX American Century Target Mat 2025 Inv lost 2.58% last week, more than any other fund I track. Real Estate and a broad based commodity fund I bought, DJP iPath Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Idx TR ETN also lost money.

Portfolio Update 11/6/09: Sorry I Am

2009-11-08T20:42:00.008-05:00

I haven't posted in a long time. I'll never be able to tell you how Sorry I Am.

Lots of ups and downs over the last few weeks leave us pretty close to where we were when I last checked in.Up until August of this year, Morningstar had my original cost at 50,000, the original amount I hypothetically invested in each portfolio. I just noticed that the "Original Cost" has been rising. I wonder if Morningstar is now adding reinvested dividends to the original cost column. That is how one should calculate the basis for non-retirement investmens, but it kinda sucks that Morningstar changed how their portfolio tracker behaves without communicating with its customers...

WylieMoney Slowly
Lazy 20 Mostly Index

WylieMoney Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the week: MRVEX Marshall Mid-Cap Value

2009-10-13T05:51:00.000-05:00

The top fund last week, from the funds I track, was MRVEX Marshall Mid-Cap Value up 6.05%. Small Cap blend funds did very well as well as Mid Cap Growth and emerging markets.

Bonds fell with BTTRX American Century Target 2025 losing 3.36%, more than any other fund in my experiment.

Portfolio Update 10/09/09:

2009-10-01T09:03:00.001-05:00

Last week the buyers got together and said, "let's get Busy Child."

Crystal Method - Busy Child
Uploaded by 6souls. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Last week was notable in relation to the experiment I've been conducting on this blog for a couple of reasons. Some of the equity funds I bought back on 5/01/07 are back in the green. Some of the funds in the WylieMoney Slowly portfolio were bought more recently, when the markets were down so they've been showing a profit for a bit. But the emerging market ETF and index fund I invested in (hypothetically) back in 5/07 are now in positive territory (see below).

The other notable event from last week was that small cap funds performed better then larger companies. That has not happened for a while in the week over week results and could be seen as a sign that investors believe a recovery is likely. Much of the recent rebound has been driven by money pouring back into in the hardest hit sectors. Investment in small cap companies typically involves more risk and historically is what happens at the beginning of a recovery.

The Lazy 20 portfolio of index funds continues to pull ahead of the WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed portfolio.

WylieMoney Slowly

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Portfolio Update 9/25/09: Burning Down the House

2009-09-28T15:41:00.002-05:00

Real Estate took a tumble last week as investors spent some time Burning Down the House.

Talking Heads - Burning down the house
Uploaded by Dan_of_the_Land. -

The portfolios I track shifted position this week as index funds fell further than managed funds. The last few weeks saw the index portfolios pull ahead, but this week, not only did the WylieMoney Portfolio pull back ahead of the Lazy and ETF Portfolios, my brokerage pulled ahead of the Three Fund index portfolio for the first time in a long while.

WylieMoney Slowly WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed Lazy 20 Mostly Index ETF 20 Three Fund Index S&P 500

Fund of the Week: TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond

2009-09-27T15:13:00.003-05:00

The top performing fund last week was TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond, up 2.32%. The top ten funds, of the funds I track, were all bond funds.

Natural Resources, small caps, and financial services all fell last week but Real Estate fell the most with REACX American Century Real Estate Inv down 6.57%.

Portfolio Update 9/18/09: Who Knew

2009-09-20T12:48:00.004-05:00

Who Knew last April, that stocks would rebound this fast?

Pink - Who Knew
Uploaded by MeGustaTuMusica. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

One more week like last week and one of the portfolios I track will show less than 10% loss. Will we see a portfolio turn a profit in 2009?
Index funds continue to outpace managed funds, but my IRA had the best week, since Real Estate had a strong week and my IRA has a higher percentage invested in Real Estate than the other portfolios.

WylieMoney Slowly

Lazy 20 Mostly Index
ETF 20

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Portfolio Update 9/11/09: Peach

2009-09-15T20:12:00.004-05:00

This last month has been tasty as a Peach.

Prince - Peach (music video)

Maybe I should fail to post more often.
The ETF and Lazy 20 Mostly Index Portfolio have overtaken the WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed portfolio. All three are close, but the managed funds I chose have not rebounded as solidly as their index categories over the last month.

I keep waiting for a pullback myself, but almost every day the markets post a small but solid gain. Will it last?

WylieMoney Slowly

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

WylieMoney Mostly Managed

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week BTTRX American Century Target 2020

2009-08-17T17:57:00.000-05:00

Bonds gained, Real Estate lost.

Of the funds I track, BTTRX American Century Target 2020 had the best week last week.

Real Estate suffered with VGSIX Vanguard REIT Index down the most.

Portfolio Update 8/14/09: Never Going Back Again

2009-08-16T20:29:00.003-05:00

A slight retreat last week, but to the bottom we hit in March... we're Never Going Back Again.

At least I hope not.
Real Estate retreated so My IRAs took the biggest hit.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

ETF 20

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: VNQ Vanguard REIT Index ETF

2009-08-10T11:01:00.000-05:00

VNQ Vanguard REIT Index ETF took a break from summer vacation last week to rack up a gain of 16.80%. That's a nice week's work. Of course it had been slacking and is still sitting on a big loss since I hypothetically invested in it.

Real Estate rocked across the board. Mid Cap funds and Financial companies also did well last week.

Bonds suffered with BTTRX American Century Target 2020 losing 5.07%.

Health care companies also struggled. Protesters across the country rallied hard to keep the government from being invloved in health care, arguing that it is far better to have private companies with profit as the primary motivator managing health care and deciding what will and will not be covered by insurance companies.

Nice job fellas.

I wonder if the loss in health care company stocks indicates that investors think the protests will be ignored...

Portfolio Update 8/7/09: The Boys of Summer

2009-08-09T10:20:00.005-05:00

The boys (and girls) of summer are buying.

Don Henley - Boys Of Summer
Uploaded by jpdc11. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

After another week of solid gains and none of the portfolios I started tracking on 5/1/07 are down over 30%. The WylieMoney Slowly Portfolio which I built over 20 months starting on 5/1/07 is down 14.81%. My IRA which is a bit Real Estate heavy and the S&P 500 both lag behind the other portfolios, but Real Estate had a tremendous week so my IRA made up some ground.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index
ETF 20

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Replacing the Real Estate Fund in My Taxable Account

2009-08-06T17:56:00.001-05:00

There is some debate about whether it is a good idea to own Real Estate fund in a taxable account. The dividends are taxed at your income rate rather than the sometimes lower 15% capital gains tax rate. Of course if you have huge tax losses from selling funds at big losses, is this a factor?

I like holding a small percentage of my investments in real estate to add diversity. A lot of employer sponsored retirement plans don't offer real estate options so in addition to an IRA, adding a REIT to a taxable account may be the only other option for some seeking to diversify.

I currently own REACX and due to the implosion of the US economy and the hit to real estate in particular am sitting on a loss of over 50% in this fund. I dont want to get out of the category now. This fund is up over 30% in the last three months. Bt I do want to write off the tax loss and secure any potential gains in a better fund, if I can find one.

Going by Morningstar ratings, selling REACX is a no brainer. With a brand new manager, there is no history to go on either. And it looks like I have some solid no load no fee options available via Etrade.

1 year and 5 year performance backs up the decision.

STMDX Stratton Monthly Dividend REIT is the only other fund with expenses close to 1%. It also has the lowest turnover which is a big plus for a taxable account. The negative is that is is designed to generate income so the dividends will be higher.

With the lowest expenses, lowest turnover, best one and 3 year returns, STMDX Stratton Monthly Dividend REIT looks like a decent replacement for REACX American Century Real Estate.

Year to Date Comparison- Funds I Sold and Bought in December

2009-08-05T17:14:00.000-05:00

As I gear up to look at replacing a few funds to write of the losses against my taxes, I should look at the returns of the funds I sold and bought last time I did this.

Seven months is a very short period of time to compare mutual funds, but I still think it is worth it is worth sharing the actual performance impact of my decisions.

Here are the changes I made:

And here are the performances of each fund in the first 7 months of 2009. The Red fund is the fund I bought with the blue fund indicating the one I sold.

MGFIX had been slammed, waaaayyy underperforming its peers. Well it is significantly outperforming them on the rebound. The fund I bought has turned a nice profit for an intermediate term bond fund, up 7.41%, but the one I sold has gained 16.33% so far.

Emerging Markets have roared to life in 2009. Both funds are up about 45% year to date. The new fund I bought has a very slight lead, but the difference is insignificant.

Large CAp Value has had a nice rebound and the fund I sold is up almost 1% more than the fund I bought, but you can see that it sunk much farther back in March. If this category continues to do well, my old fund could outperform, but I bet if tings turn south AMANX will hold up a little better.

The small cap value fund I bought has done much better than the one I sold. RSEFX is up over 15% while JASCX is only up 7.62%.

So performance wise, one change was a loss, one a gain and two were negligible. All in all, I am up about what I would have been had I stayed put, but I saved thousands of dollars in taxes by selling the fuds at a loss, so all told, I came out way ahead.

Selling funds at a loss in a taxable account

2009-08-04T14:19:00.000-05:00

At the end of last year, I wrote a post about selling funds at a loss and replacing them with other funds in the same fund categories to write off the loss against my taxes.

In that post I noted that there was plenty time to wait to do this if you were going to get socked with a fee for holding the fund for less than 3 months.

Specifically I asked:

"You think the markets will rally 40% in the next 3 months?"

In the last 5 months, one fund I own is up over 70%.

It is still down over 12% since I purchased it, but at this rate, it might not be for long. While solid gains are good, it is possible most of the losses I see in my brokerage right now won't be around much longer.

So if I want to ensure that I have loses to offset my tax burden this year, I need to sell some funds. Of course, the markets could tank again, but I will not be any more or less invested after doing this so my risk will remain the same. If markets tank, I'll be able to sell the new funds at a loss down the road and off set more taxes.

I like the categories I am invested in, so I will only sell a fund when it is at a loss and I can find a fund in the same category, that I like as much or more.

It must have equal or lower fees and fund turnover, must have solid long term performance relative to its peers, and must be a no load, no fee fund available through Etrade.

I'll go through one fund at a time and see what I can find in the next few days.

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2020

2009-08-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

Real Estate, Financial Services, Small Value all had a decent week last week, but BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2020 had the best week, up 4.70%.

Growth funds did not fare as well, but Natural Resource funds had the least productive week with PRNEX T. Rowe Price New Era trailing the funds in my experiment, losing 0.93%.

Portfolio Update 7/31/09: All is Full of Love

2009-08-02T13:00:00.000-05:00

Another week of gains in all the portfolios. Apparently, All is Full of Love.

The WylieMoney Slowly Portfolio is up year to date more than it is down since I started tracking it. If the second half of the year looks like the first half, I'll have a broadly diversified buy and hold portfolio of mutual funds, invested starting in 2007, that will actually show a slight profit.

Diversity is proving to be the key, however. Adding international funds, bonds and even real estate, has turned out to be a much better strategy than simply investing in the S&P 500.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

ETF 20

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: VGSIX Vanguard REIT Index

2009-07-27T17:23:00.001-05:00

Real Estate had a good week with VGSIX Vanguard REIT Index outperforming all the other funds I track. JAOSX Janus Overseas deserves a shout out though as it is outperforming every other fund I track year to date showing a gain over 50%.

Only one fund failed to gain ground last week. Bonds were mostly flat, but BSV Vanguard Short Term Bond ETF lost 0.03%.

Portfolio Update 7/24/09: Seven Days

2009-07-26T21:37:00.004-05:00

Amazing where a couple of runs of Seven Days can leave you.

Another strong week.

The WylieMoney Slowly portfolio us up 14.54% yer to date. It is down 17.76% since May 1, 2007. Only the portfolio of ETFs is up less than 10% for the year.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index
ETF 20

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources

2009-07-20T17:44:00.000-05:00

PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources was up 11.01% last week. Not bad for a week's "work."

Natural Resource Funds led the way with growth, value, and blend and small and large cap funds all taking a place in the top 10, along with one Emerging Market fund. Year to date all these funds are up now, but since May 1, 2007, they are all still down sharply.

In contrast, the bottom 10 funds, from the funds I track, have all posted gains since May 1, 2007 but all lost value last week and half have lost value year to date. Bond funds are slipping and BTTRX American Century Target 2025, one of the strongest performers since May 07, lost the most, down 6.01% in one week.

Portfolio Update 7/17/09: Days Go By

2009-07-19T20:22:00.007-05:00

Days Go By and still I think of the late 90s.

Will we ever see a market that hot again?

Month after month of weeks like last week.

It'll take something special to get us out of this hole, eh?

Year to date, The WylieMoney Slowly portfolio is up almost 10%. That leaves it down only 20% since May 1, 2007. Only...

ETFs, representing the same 20 fund categories, can't keep up.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

ETF 20
Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Portfolio Update 7/10/09: Remember the Time?

2009-07-12T21:58:00.004-05:00

Remember the Time I used to post updates on this blog?

Michael Jackson - New Music - More Music Videos

Well, what can I say. I got distracted.

Things are only slightly worse than when I last posted...

ETFs are not holding up as well as index mutual funds this year...

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index
ETF 20
Three Fund Index
S&P 500

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target 2025

2009-05-18T17:18:00.000-05:00

Bonds rule. BTTRX American Century Target 2025 was up 3.44% last week. This fund has posted solid results since this experiment began on May 1, 2007, but has struggled year to date.

Financial companies, in particular smaller ones, got hammered, but Real Estate took the worst blow last week with REACX American Century Real Estate losing -12.72% in 5 days.

Portfolio Update: It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

2009-05-17T22:37:00.004-05:00

The pain continues. It Ain't Over 'Til it's Over.

Most of the portfolios are still positive year to date, but my IRAs which have a bit more real estate than the other portfolios, took the biggest hit last week.

Wylie Money Slowly

WylieMoney Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources

2009-05-11T17:04:00.000-05:00

PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources was up 11.68% last week. Natural Resources and Real Estate lead the pack with Emerging Markets and Value, especially International Value funds, also posting solid gains.

Bonds lost a little ground with TLT iShares Barclays 20+ losing -3.14% during the week.

Portfolio Update 5/8/09: Airbag

2009-05-10T16:37:00.004-05:00

Not quite as sharp as the decline, still the rebound is impressive. When it ends, I'll wish I had an airbag...

Every portfolio in my experiment is up solidly, year to date. My Brokerage account is up 7.78%. The WylieMoney Slowly portfolio is only down 22% since May 1, 2007. Last time it was at that level was last October.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney Mostly Managed
ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index
S&P 500

Fund of the Week: Bridgeway Small-Cap Value BRSVX

2009-05-04T22:07:00.001-05:00

Bridgeway Small-Cap Value BRSVX gained 5.88% last week. Small Caps, Emerging Markets, Natural Resources all posted solid gains.

Real Estate had a rough week. SSREX SSgA Tuckerman Active REIT l0st 6.16%. Bonds and Financial funds also suffered.

Portfolio Update 5/1/09: Two Years In

2009-05-03T22:03:00.004-05:00

We've certainly seen a strong rally over the last few weeks. Of course my hypothetical investments have lost a lot of money since I invested them exactly 2 years ago last Friday.

The portfolio I invested one fund at a time for 20 months (WylieMoney Slowly) has held up a little better, but the remarkable thing is that the portfolio of mostly managed funds (WylieMoney), the portfolio of ETFs and the portfolio of mostly index funds (Lazy 20), all invested in the same fund categories, have all performed within just over 1% of each other falling basically -30% over 24 months. They have not tracked each other this closely throughout the 2 years. You can see that year to date, they have over a 2% spread, and that is just the last 5 months.

The other remarkable thing is that several of the portfolios are up this year. Personally, I think April will prove to be the cruelest month by giving us hope and the recent rebound will not last. But I've been wrong before...

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: REACX American Century Real Estate

2009-04-28T23:00:00.001-05:00

Real Estate was up last week with REACX American Century Real Estate earning more than any other fund in my experiment, up 3.96% for the week. My Brokerage has more real estate funds in it than the other portfolios in my experiment which is why it had a better week.

Value Funds lost ground and SWFFX Schwab Financial Services lost the most -2.30% as investors remembered that financial companies suck.

Portfolio Update 4/24/09: Don't Stop Believing

2009-04-27T22:43:00.000-05:00

Is this rally for real? Don't stop believing.

Journey - Don't Stop Believing (Live) - Click here for the most popular videos

I think this summer is gonna be rough, but what do I know?

My brokerage was up a good clip last week. Find out why tomorrow.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: REACX American Century Real Estate Inv

2009-04-20T18:27:00.001-05:00

Real Estate had a good week. American Century Real Estate Inv REACX was up 5.88% last week. The rest of the top 10 funds were kind of a mix.

Bonds had a rough week with BTTRX American Century Target 2025 losing -1.61.

Portfolio Update 4/17/09: Invisible Sun

2009-04-19T18:19:00.005-05:00

Another up week. There must be an Invisible Sun heating up the markets these days.

The Police and Bono - Invisible Sun - The funniest videos are a click away

Because everything visible says things are not good.
The recent rally has bosted my IRA back above the S&P 500.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: SWFFX Schwab Financial Services

2009-03-30T20:10:00.001-05:00

Once again, SWFFX Schwab Financial Services out performed the other 100 funds in my experiment gaining 9.66% in one week. Small caps and a few mid cap funds round out the top 10.

Bonds had a flat week but the Vanguard Reit Index ETF VNQ lost 2.99%, more than any other fund. However, I'm guessing the fall in share value is due to a dividend payout that has not posted yet. VGSIX Vanguard's Reit Index mutal fund posted a 6.49% gain for the week, so either the ETF made a payment or Morningstar has the details wrong.

Portfolio Update 3/27/09: Loser

2009-03-29T20:06:00.004-05:00

Sorry I have missed a couple of weekly updates. I'm a loser.

The portfolios in my experiment have been winners, baby. I can feel it. They've had a couple of good weeks, but still have a looooooooong way to go to come back.
Small caps and financial stocks continued to beat the other categories which explains why my brokerage and IRA had the the best week. They don't have the same asset allocation as the WylieMoney, ETF, Lazy and Index portfolios.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: SWFFX Schwab Financial Services

2009-03-16T17:01:00.002-05:00

SWFFX Schwab Financial Services was up 25.27% last week. Real Estate funds were up over 20%. The remaining top ten were a mix, but dozens of funds were up over 10%.

Bonds lost a little ground, but only a little. The biggest loser was down a mere -1.47%, TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond.

Portfolio Update 3/13/09: Hallelujah

2009-03-15T20:18:00.006-05:00

I'm bummed I missed the update last week, because that would better show how dramatic this weeks rally was.

I'll try and convey the drama with song.

Hallelujah. (RIP, Jeff. Be careful in Memphis.)

My accounts and the S&P 500 have work to do to get back in the running, but if last week was any indication, they should do just fine... eventually.

Whether we've hit a bottom or were simply due for a sucker rally, only time will tell. I made my 2008 Roth IRA contribution and intend to invest it sooner than later.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Sorry

2009-03-13T07:58:00.003-05:00

I failed to update last week which is too bad given how different this week has been. I've been sick- very busy at work, but mostly I'm just lame and did not get it done in time to get the weekly numbers from Morningstar.

To try and win back your love I offer this- Jon Stewart, unedited, talking to Jim Cramer about what it is like to be a tool.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Fund of the Week: iPath® Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Total Return ETN

2009-03-03T22:30:00.000-05:00

iPath^® Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Total Return ETN gained 2.77% last week, out performing the other 100 funds I track. I should sell it though. It is my understanding that if AIG folds, this will be worthless.

Curious to see some Emerging Market funds holding up last week. That won't last. Mostly Bonds in the top 10.

Real Estate was hammered again but the big loser was health care with JAGLX Janus Global Life Sciences down 9.61% in one week.

Portfolio Update 2/27/09: Here Comes The Flood

2009-03-02T22:11:00.000-05:00

Here comes the flood.

Peter Gabriel - Here Comes The Flood - Click here for more amazing videos

The only consolation is that the 20 funds I hand picked in May 2005 have held up slightly better than the 20 Vanguard funds and 20 ETF in the same categories.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index
Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Portfolio Update 2/20/09: &$@#!&#

2009-02-22T23:39:00.002-05:00

This week saw the portfolios in my experiment hit new lows since this portfolio experiment began.

&$@#*!&#*

(The 'musical' video linked below is offensive, not safe for work, and you should not click it if you don't want to hear bad words)

the sopranos, uncensored. from victor solomon on Vimeo.

That's pretty much all there is to say about last week.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: BIV Vanguard Intermediate Term Bond ETF

2009-02-17T10:03:00.000-05:00

BIV Vanguard Intermediate Term Bond ETF was the only fund from my portfolios up more than 1% last week. The other 9 funds in the top 10 were bond funds.

Finance companies continued their journey toward nationalization. But the real losers were real estate funds with REACX American Century Real Estate down -13.79% in one week.

Portfolio Update 2/13/09: Main Theme

2009-02-16T09:47:00.005-05:00

On Friday the 13th the markets stuck with the main theme of the last few years.

Horror.

None of the portfolios shifted positions last week, they all fell in order.

WylieMoney Slowly
WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund IndexS&P 500

Fund of the Week: VWO Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF

2009-02-08T14:30:00.001-05:00

The top fund last week, from the 100 I track, from my mutual fund experiment, was VWO, Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF. Emerging markets, Natural Resources and mid cap growth funds did very well, rounding out the top 10.

Bonds all lost a little ground, but the worst performing fund was JSVAX Janus Contrarian. It only holds 58 companies so one or two must have had serious issues since it has a lot of Energy, Financial and Mid Cap Growth holds...

Portfolio Update 2/6/09: That's Good

2009-02-07T13:34:00.007-05:00

The weakest portfolio of my competition was up over 3% last week and that's good!

Does this upturn mean we won't revisit the lows we hit at the end of last year?

Beats me.

The portfolios basically cut their losses for the year in half last week. And even though the WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed portfolio had the worst week and worst Friday, it has help up best this year. I would guess it has more funds with larger stakes sitting in cash than the other portfolios- certainly more than the Index portfolios.

My brokerage and IRA continue to lag the pack, but as expected, on an up week, they beat all the other diversified portfolios, both returning over 4%.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed
ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: JAOSX Janus Overseas

2009-02-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

Janus Overseas JAOSX was up 3.25% last week, more than the other 100 funds I track. International funds did well.

Long term government bonds and domestic real estate were down the most. BTTRX American Century 2025 was down the most, -3.72%.

Portfolio Update 1/30/09: Lard

2009-02-01T21:32:00.004-05:00

Well, you're happy if you're shorting equities or you're eating lard.

Down again, although last week was not too bad.

One portfolio actually pulled off a small gain.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P500

Fund of the Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources

2009-01-26T17:50:00.000-05:00

PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources was up 2.68% which sadly, was the best performance last week of the funds I track. The best performing funds were from a variety of categories, but none of them did well.

Foreign Funds and Long Term Government bond funds took a pounding with EFV iShares MSCI EAFE Value Index losing the most, down -7.59%.

Portfolio Update 1/23/09: Southbound Pachyderm

2009-01-25T21:09:00.003-05:00

This market is heading down faster than a southbound pachyderm.

My IRA showed more life on Friday than he other mutual fund (and ETF) portfolios, but it was not enough to keep it from falling into last place.

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025

2009-01-19T13:34:00.002-05:00

BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025 My Post was up 3.34% last week, more than any other fund in my experiment. The rest of the top 10, all bonds.

Foreign funds were hammered last week, but nothing could keep up with the losses suffered by US financial companies. SWFFX Schwab Financial Services l0st -9.48%.

Portfolio Update 1/16/09: I Won't Back Down

2009-01-18T13:08:00.004-05:00

Well that was another ugly week. Nevertheless, I won't back down.

Will we plummet back to the lows we hit in Dec? Will we go lower? Will watching the video above fill us all with overwhelming despair?

The ETF 20 fell back into third place in my experiment, but it is hard to get excited when all the markets are backing down...

WylieMoney Slowly

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: MGFIX Managers Bond (Which I sold two weeks ago...)

2009-01-12T19:25:00.001-05:00

MGFIX Managers Bond fund gained 3.03% and had the best one week performance of all 100 funds (give or take a few) in my experiment. I actually owned this one, but sold it at the end of 2008 as it has seriously lagged its peers since I purchased it and I wanted to sell some losers to write the taxes off against capital gains and income.

The fund I bought, TGMNX TCW Total Return Bond N did ok, gaining 1.49% in the week.

That would have put it in the top 10 funds this week, but still is only half as good as the performance Manager's Bond put up. The other 9 funds in the top 10 were all bond funds.

Real Estate took another hit and the other losers were all over the map. SSREX SSGA Tuckerman Active REIT dropped the most losing -7.65%. Not even 10 days into 2009, it is already down over 10% since Jan. 1st.

Portfolio Update 1/11/09: When You're Falling

2009-01-11T19:22:00.000-05:00

Week two of 2009 and the portfolios lost everything they gained in week one and then some.

Hard to keep focused when you're falling.

Only the Three Fund Index clings to a loss of less than one percent on the year.

WylieMoney Slowly

ETF 20

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index
Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources

2009-01-05T17:14:00.001-05:00

PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources was up 12.52% over the last week, the most of any fund in my experiment. Mid cap funds across the board posted strong results in addition to other natural resource heavy holdings.

Bonds lost value with BTTRX losing 7.32% for the week.

Portfolio Update 1/2/09: Alright

2009-01-04T22:00:00.001-05:00

So far in 2009 the markets are doing alright.

But the WylieMoney portfolio could not keep up with the ETF 20 and has fallen back to third place.

WylieMoney Slowly

ETF 20

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Three Fund Index

Lazy 20 Mostly Index
S&P 500

Replacing Funds Gone Bad

2008-12-29T18:00:00.000-05:00

I'm selling funds at a loss if I can find equal or better funds in the same fund categories to replace them with. I'm doing this to claim the losses against my 2008 taxes. This should increase the size of my tax return. I plan to take the extra cash and invest it, assuming the markt is still beaten down when I get my refund.

Back in March of 2007, Managers Bond MGFIX looked great. Other bond funds have held up well, but the managers of this fund have taken failure to a new level. It has lost over 21% this year and its expenses have actually gone up. I'll take TGMNX TCW Total Return Bond which has posted a slight gain year to date.

Another fund that looked good in March of 2007 was SSMEX, SSGA Emerging Markets. Most Emerging Market funds looked good then, but this one rose above the field. LZOEX has lost over 50% this year, but that is not as much as SSMEX. LZOEX has a better long term record, but slightly higher expenses, which bums me out a little. I'm sitting on too big a loss to not take the tax write off here so I'm selling SSMEX and buying LZOEX.

In January of 2007, AAGPX American Beacon Large Cap Value Planahead looked like a safe bet. Value funds have taken a serious beating, but many funds have held up far better than this one. I'm buying AMANX Amana Trust Income.

I bought JASCX James Small Cap well before I put together the WylieMoney portfolios. Despite that I'm sitting on a loss and there are better options. I'm buying RSEFX Royce Special Equity SVC.

Bond- Intermediate Term
Selling: MGFIX Managers Bond
Buying: TGMNX TCW Total Return Bond

Foreign- Emerging Markets
Selling: SSMEX SSGA Emerging Markets
Buying: LZOEX Lazard Emerging Markets Equity Open

Domestic- Large Cap Value
Selling: AAGPX American Beacon Large Cap Value Planahead
Buying: AMANX Amana Trust Income

Domestic- Small Cap Value
Selling: JASCX James Small Cap
Buying: RSEFX Royce Special Equity SVC

Fund of the Week: DLS WisdomTree International SmallCap

2008-12-29T16:05:00.000-05:00

The week ending 12/26/08 saw some foreign funds and intermediate bond funds posting modest gains with DLS WisdomTree International SmallCap doing best, gaining 1.82%.

Emerging Markets and Mid caps, and a variety of other funds posted losses with VWO Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock ETF losing the most, down 8.27% for the week.

Portfolio Update 12/26/08: We are the Champions

2008-12-28T20:46:00.001-05:00

We are the champions...

The ETF 20 portfolio fell behind the WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed portfolio. My portfolios are in 1st and 2nd place.

I rule.

Of course my actual portfolios are 3rd from last and 2nd from last...

Here's hoping 2009 is better than 2008...

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

WylieMoney Slowly

ETF 20
Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index
S&P 500

Making Lemonade Out of Lemons: Profiting from Mutual Fund Losses

2008-12-28T17:28:00.001-05:00

If you a bought mutual fund in the last few years, chances are good, you're looking at a loss in that fund. If you've sold some equities for a profit, earned income this year or your fund paid a capital gains distribution or dividend, chances are good you owe taxes.

Did you know you can lower your taxes by selling your fund at a loss, if you hold it in a taxable account (not a 401k or 403b or IRA account)?

You might say "But wait a minute, Wylie! Buying high and selling low is a terrible investing strategy. If I sell my fund and the markets rally tomorrow, my calm will be seriously damaged."

"Whooooaaaaaa nelly..." is how I would respond. I don't think you should get out of the market while the markets are down.

What I am going to do (and what you may want to consider doing, if it makes sense given your situation) is look at the funds I own and sell a fund at a loss when I can find an equal or better fund in the same category that I can buy on the same day I sell. That way I remain 100% invested. I'll actually buy more in some categories and less in others to re-balance a bit, but you get the idea.

You might ask, 'what's the catch?'

There are several things to be aware of! The biggest catch is the Wash Sale rule. You can read a good detailed explanation of this here. Basically if you sell one security (for our purposes, this includes mutual funds, ETFs, or ETNs) and buy a "substantially identical" security within a certain number of days, you can't take the tax loss.

My understanding of this rule is that if you sell an index fund and replace it with a different fund that tracks the same index, you are likely to run into this. But if you sell a managed fund and replace it with an index fund, or vice versa, the investment strategies are fundamentally different. Even selling one managed fund and replacing it with another should be fine (but I'm not an accountant so do your own homework), assuming the managers dont use the same analysts/strategy, etc.

One risk is that the new fund you buy may not do as well as the old fund, but since we can't predict fund performance, I find this risk negligible. It is just as likely the new fund will do better, but that is not the reason to make the change. Expenses, turnover, and proven success from the manager and fund company are the best criteria for finding a solid fund to add to a taxable account, so if there are other good options out there, and you are sitting on a fund with a solid loss, why not take the loss and buy the new fund so that you remain invested in the category you want represented in your portfolio?

Other issues to consider...

Issue:
When you sell a mutual fund, the money from that transaction won't be available for several days so you need additional cash to buy a different fund on the same day. If I sell $2000 from Fund X and want to put $2000 into Fund Y, I'll need $2000 in cash in addition to the $2000 in fund X ($4000 total) in my brokerage account to buy and sell on the same day.

Solution:
If you have an emergency fund, you can use it to pull this off. Once all the cash from your sell orders are posted, you can put that back in your emergency fund. The downside is that you won't have that cash for a few days and if the market tanks after you place your sell order, you may end up with less $ than you planned.

Issue:
Your basis on the new purchase will be calculated on the day you buy. So if the markets rally back to where they were when you bought in and you sell, you'll owe taxes. You would not owe taxes if you simply hold on and the market rebounds and you sell at the same level you originally bought in at.

Solution:
There is none. If you make a profit in a taxable account, you owe taxes. Quit complaining and pay your patriotic share!

Keep in mind that it could take a while for markets to recover and that the tax rate on capital gains can't go much lower but it can go higher. So saving money now, means more money in your hands now to invest. If you save money on taxes and invest it, you'll have a bigger stake in the market which is a good thing if it does rally. Sure you'll owe taxes later (unless you come up with some other plan like this one) but you'll owe it on bigger profits than you would otherwise make and making bigger profits is kinda the point of investing.

Issue:
If I just bought a fund or invested in one, many funds charge a fee for selling right away and some brokerages, like Etrade which I use, charge their own fee, for selling no load, no fee funds (they charge a fee on no fee funds- hahahaha) if you sell in 3 months.

Solution:
Do your research. If you are going to be socked with fees, even thought you already lost a lot of value on a fund you just purchased, this plan may not make sense. You may want to wait until the required amount of time passes, to avoid any fees. So you don't get the tax write-off this year, you planning to not earn any income next year? You think the markets will rally 40% in the next 3 months?

Issue:
You have many many thousands of dollars in losses and no gains. How much will this really help?

Solution:
Talk to you accountant. You can write off up to $3000.00 against your income each year and losses carry forward so if you have gains or income next year, it is my understanding the loss you did not apply against your gains this year will apply nxt year and so on until you run out. But the longer it takes to reap the benefit, the more other issues come into play. If the market rallies next year, the unused tax savings may not be worth the new tax obligation you're now holding. Of course this depends on how long you plan to hold the funds...

Issue:
The fund you bought had a $2500 minimum initial purchase amount. You've lost $1000 in that fund. The better fund you found also has a $2500 initial minimum purchase amount, but you only have $1500 invested in this fund category. You'd have to add another $1000 to this category to buy the new fund.

Solution(s):
Add another $1000, pick a fund with a lower initial minimum or don't sell.

Summary:
If you have capital gains from this year- many funds that are down for the year still paid out capital gains distributions in the last few weeks and you WILL owe taxes on those distributions regardless of whether you sell or not- or earned some income, then this is worth considering. You'll need extra cash and you'll need to find equal or better funds to buy.

I can't help you with the extra cash, but I will share which funds I'm selling and which funds I'm replacing them with... I hope it helps!

Fund of the Week: TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond

2008-12-22T14:49:00.000-05:00

TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond gained 8.8% last week. Real Estate had a strong week. The rest of the top ten funds from my mutual fund experiment were from a variety of categories.

The worst performing fund was BRSIX Bridgeway Ultra-Small Company Market, which lost 6.54%. The other funds in the botom 10 were also from a variety of categories.

Portfolio Update 12/19/08: Wanderlust

2008-12-21T13:44:00.004-05:00

Diverse portfolios up over 3%, the S&P 500 down almost 1%, all in a week... The markets are all over the place. Must be suffering from a bit o wanderlust.

The ETF 20 portfolio clings to its lead over the WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed portfolio with a 0.02% advantage.

Several of these portfolios have rallied over 10% in the last month. Still a long way to go, but I'll take what I can get.

WylieMoney Slowly

ETF 20

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index
S&P 500

Fund of the Week: Jennison Natural Resources

2008-12-15T14:52:00.000-05:00

Jennison Natural Resources PNRZX gained 17.33% last week. The top ten funds all were energy or international funds and were all funds that have lost over 45% on the year.

The biggest loser was Schwab Financial Services SWFFX. The bottom 10 funds were a mix of stocks and bonds.

Portfolio Update 12/12/08

2008-12-14T14:41:00.005-05:00

Another good week. Could this be the bottom?

Is this It?

We'll see. Despite some big daily drops here and there, the last few weeks have trended up.

The WylieMoney Slowly portfolio had a rough Friday, but extended its lead with the best one week performance of the bunch.

WylieMoney Slowly

ETF 20

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Three Fund Index

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

S&P 500

Some Perspective- Bridgeway Funds Shareholder Letter

2008-12-08T15:09:00.002-05:00

John Montgomery started Bridgeway Capital and manages 10 Bridgeway Funds. His letters to shareholders are always worth a read as he actually offers some perspective instead of just spinning his fund's performance relative to their benchmarks (you can find that for Bridgeway funds too, of course).

You can find his letter here. A number of items in his letter struck me and I'd like to share them with you.

John says:

"Three out of any ten years in the stock market have been negative. Sometimes it looks ugly. That’s the “nature of the beast.” OK, but human nature is to look, so let’s put the current bear market in perspective:"

Equities can and do fall and fall hard and we've been here before. After a big fall, when will we be making gains?

John says:

"One interesting and powerful measure of risk is what I call “time to recover.” This is the time from a previous market “high” (or “previous peak”) until it reaches that level again. These numbers are much more comforting than the magnitude of decline and worthy of studying:"

Assuming the markets do recover, will it look like fall of 1982? Two months to make up 21 months of losses? Hard to imagine, but I bet it was hard to imagine then and that is the real risk of trying to time the market. If you moved out of stocks, how will you know when to get back in? The recovery after to 2000 peak took 4 years. 2 months or 4 years, which would you prefer?

If your time horizon is long, you might prefer 4 years. Am I crazy? Sure. But the investments I made during the 2000- 2004 have all done better than anything I invested from 2005 to today.

John continues:

"The most powerful weapon at your disposal while awaiting a recovery is your expense level. Say you could save an additional 10% by cutting back in certain areas of your budget. If you were to invest those savings, I call this “super dollar cost averaging.” Because you do it when the market is down, these dollars buy more shares (than previously), and can more significantly boost your long-term wealth whenever the market does eventually recover."

If the market recovers fast,there will be less time to 'super dollar cost average.'

If you enjoyed the quotes, read the entire letter. I own several Bridgeway funds and hope they recover as fast as they've fallen. Truth is, the only funds I own that I have consistently added to every month this year (outside of my retirement plan through work) are two Bridgeway funds.

Fund of the Week (again): BTTRX American Century Target 2025

2008-12-07T15:36:00.000-05:00

BTTRX American Cenutry Target Maturity 2025 My Post outperformed all other funds this week, up 5.3%. A government bond fund, up over 21% this year.

Real Estate funds also held their ground last week along with bonds. I included the top 11 to show that last week's winner SWFFX Schwab Financial Services also finished the week with a gain.
Energy funds got hammered and international funds suffered, rounding out the bottom 10. The worst preformer this week, PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources, fell 17.78% and is down over 60% this year as it continues to collapse along with the price of oil.

Portfolio Update 12/05/08: Alfie

2008-12-06T13:35:00.006-05:00

This market is as worthless as Alfie.

Another down week, but at least Friday we saw a strong rebound.

The WylieMoney Slowly Portfolio is the best performing portfolio of my experiment. It comes as no surprise that adding funds after the market has fallen 30% will result in smaller losses comparatively, even if the market continues to fall. The WylieMoney Slowly Portfolio gained a fund each month with the December addition rounding out the 20 funds that will be added.

Of the portfolios that saw $50,000 invested on 5/01/07, the ETF portfolio has done the best but not by much. Basically, if you wanted to reinvest dividends, or add small amounts, the WylieMoney 20 would have been your best bet and if you wanted to invest $50,000 and forget about it ETFs would have been the way to go.

Of course, if you wanted to make money, none of the options were sound. Ah, hindsight.

All told, I'm most surprised by how little difference there has ben. The diverse portfolio of mostly managed funds (WylieMoney) has performed within 2% of mostly Index funds (Lazy), despite all the crazy day to day swings.

WylieMoney Slowly Mostly Managed

ETF 20

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: SWFFX Schwab Financial Services

2008-12-01T15:40:00.001-05:00

SWFFX Schwab Financial Services was the best performing fund of the week. It's about time this fund showed some life. I bought this earlier in the year when one of my brothers talked me into it. I should have known better- he has a habit of picking losers.

The rest of the top ten were real estate funds and small and mid cap funds.

The bottom 10 funds were all bonds, but even the biggest loser, ACITX American Century Inflation Protected only lost -0.2%.

Next WylieMoney Slowly Fund: ACITX American Century Inflation Adj Bond

2008-11-30T20:45:00.003-05:00

The next and last fund I'm adding to the WylieMoney Slowly portfolio is the inflation protected bond fund: ACITX American Century Inf My Post.

There is only one no-load, no fee option available through Etrade. I picked it before, I'm picking it again.

I'm adding it tomorrow.

Portfolio Update 11/28/08: Curtains

2008-11-30T15:10:00.004-05:00

Last week, I asked for some Help! and we got it. This week saw a nice rebound, but alas it is Curtains for the reign of the WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed Portfolio as the best performing portfolio in my experiment.

The ETF 20 portfolio pulled ahead, but was unable to beat the WylieMoney Slowly portfolio which had a great week.

This is the second time we've seen a sharp rebound after a steep dive in these weekly updates. Only time will tell if we've hit the bottom.

WylieMoney Slowly

ETF 20

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

Three Fund Index

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

S&P 500

Fund of the week again: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025

2008-11-24T14:49:00.000-05:00

This past week looked a lot like the 2 weeks before. BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025 My Post was the best performer of the funds I track gaining 9.75%.

The stinkers? Real Estate and mid-small cap funds. REACX American Century Real Estate lost the most, losing 19.02%.

Portfolio Update 11/21/08: Help!

2008-11-23T11:05:00.010-05:00

Help!

Not even a rocking Friday could save last week. The collapse continues and the portfolios in my experiment continue to shrink:

Adding $2500 to the WylieMoney Slowly portfolio boosted it in the standings of "% change since purchase." And the over weighting in Real Estate and a few other specialty sectors knocked my IRA into last place.

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

WylieMoney Slowly

Three Fund Index

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

S&P 500

Adding MDIIX to WylieMoney Slowly Today

2008-11-19T14:38:00.001-05:00

Today I'll be adding MDIIX to the WylieMoney Slowly Portfolio.

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025

2008-11-16T15:12:00.000-05:00

This past week looked a lot like the week before. BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025 My Post was the best performer of the funds I track gaining 2.7%. The other 9 funds in the top 10 were bond funds.

The stinkers? Real Estate, and Growth funds. SSREX SSgA Tuckerman Active REIT My Post lost the most for the second week in a row, losing 18.87%. Yep, -18.87% in one week.

Next WylieMoney Slowly fund: MDIIX BlackRock Intl Index

2008-11-16T08:57:00.000-05:00

I have really been slacking with adding funds to the WylieMoney Slowly portfolio.

I'm supposed to pick a new fund before the first of each month and add it to the WylieMoney Slowly Portfolio on the first down day of the month. Well unless Monday is a gargantuan rally, my laziness will pay off as this month has already seen massive declines in my next fun category: Foreign Large Blend.

The fund I choose for the WylieMoney 20 Mostly managed portfolio was MDIIX BlackRock Intl Index My Post.

Of the no-load, no fee mutual funds available in this category through Etrade with a record of more than 5 years, MDIIX has the worst 3 year return, but not not by much. The funds in this category are performing very close to each other.

Since MDIIX has the lowest expenses and non of the other options are significantly outperforming it over 5 years, I'm sticking with it.

So on the next day the markets decline, I'll add a $2500 investment in MDIIX BlackRock Intl Index to the WylieMoney Slowly Portfolio.

Portfolio Update 11/17/08: Nasty

2008-11-15T14:38:00.004-05:00

This market collapse is just plan nasty.

34 seconds in when Janet (accompanied by Paula Abdul) screams "STOP!" I wish the markets would join her date and chill out for a second. Actually, if they then started dancing, like her date, that would be fine too.

I remember back in early 2008, when the losses were scary. At this point, it is just kinda numbing. It will take a pretty special rally to avoid needing a long time to make it back to even. And with the economy starting to show profound weakness, finally feeling the impact of week housing and credit markets, a special rally seems a long way off.

Of course the darkest hour is just before dawn.

The ETF portfolio is just barely below the WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed portfolio. If the ETFs did not have fee required for their purchase (If I used Zecco instead of Etrade?) the ETF Portfolio would be ahead. Of course I also reinvest dividends for this experiment which in reality would have a cost for the ETF portfolio that the No Load No Fee Mutul fund portfolios avoid...

Bottom Line is these two portfolios are basically even and the ETF portfolio's lower tax burden is worth exploring.

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

WylieMoney Slowly

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025

2008-11-09T11:41:00.003-05:00

BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025 My Post was up 4.48% last week, outperforming the 100 or so funds I track. The top ten funds were all bond funds.

Real Estate funds got walloped last week. SSREX SSgA Tuckerman Active REIT My Post lost 8.11% last week stinking more than any other fund I track. The other real estate funds in my experiment (or IRA. my IRA has more real estate in it than the other portfolios. note how it fared last week) sat at the bottom of the pile along with some small and mid cap domestic funds.

Portfolio Update 11/07/08: Bob the Drummer

2008-11-08T16:10:00.005-05:00

At the end of this week, there is hope.

Hope for Bob the Drummer.

You see Bob the Drummer does not want his taxes to go up so he can buy a business. His story was so powerful that it launched a tour.

The tour was confusing, because it tried to make the point that Bob, who was worried about paying higher taxes, should support a candidate that would have him paying three times more taxes than if he supported the other candidate.

The average drummer in Bob's home state earns $47,930 a year.

Well those earning $47,930 would see their tax bill decline by $319 under the plan of the candidate who launched a tour touting Bob's struggles. But the other candidate's plan would see the average drummer's taxes decline $1042.

Bob did not quite understand this or did not care. Bob actually has no plans to buy a business, so the foundation of his story is a bit of a lie. Also turns out Bob is not a licensed drummer and does not bother to pay the taxes he owes under the current tax plan.

The reason there is hope today for Bob is that the candidate that plans to lower the taxes that Bob can continue to not pay by three times as much as the candidate that used Bob to try and scare a lot of people, is now the president elect.

So there is hope for Bob and anyone else who wants to be a drummer.

For those of us seeking to make pretend money with hypothetical investments, this week was a bit rough.

The WylieMoney portfolio of Mostly Managed mutual funds continues to be the best performing portfolio invested on May 1 2007, but by less than 1%.

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed
ETF 20
Three Fund Index
WylieMoney Slowly
Lazy 20 Mostly Index
S&P 500

Fund of the Week: VWO Vanguard Emerging Markets

2008-11-03T13:54:00.000-05:00

VWO Vanguard Emerging Markets was up 23.28% last week. Real Estate, Natural Resources and growth funds make up the top 10.

TLT iShares Lehman 20+ Years Bond fund had the worst week of the funds I track, losing -4.03%. The other 9 funds in the bottom 10 were all bond funds.

Portfolio Update 10/31/08: Big Time

2008-11-02T21:33:00.005-05:00

This chart helps keep things in context but last week, the markets were up Big Time.

The WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed portfolio was only up 4.1% compared to a 9.05% gain for the ETF 20 portfolio. Another week like that and the ETF portfolio will take a comfortable lead.

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed
ETF 20

Three Fund Index

WylieMoney Slowly

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

S&P 500

Fund of the Week: BTTRX

2008-10-27T11:36:00.000-05:00

American Century, the best and worst...

BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025 outperformed all other funds I track, gaining 5.79% on the week. The other top 10 funds were all bond funds.

The biggest loser for the week was REACX American Century Real Estate Inv, down -19.34%. It was the collapse of Real Estate and Emerging Markets last week that knocked my portfolios down in my experiment. The bottom 10 funds fall in these two categories plus two Mid Cap Growth and two Foreign Funds.

Portfolio Update 10/24/08: History Repeats Itself

2008-10-26T10:51:00.006-05:00

In the markets and in my fund portfolios, his week looks like last week and this year looks like other really bad years. History repeats itself.

Yea, that's a bizarre video. Love that song though...

Many will claim that the details are different this time, but there was enough repeating for the experts to see this coming.

This Week, the WylieMoney Slowly Portfolio was surpassed by the Three Fund Index and is now tied with the Lazy 20 Portfolio.

My brokerage and IRA accounts sit soundly at the bottom of the mix. They are not made of the same categories as the other portfolios, so it is not unexpected that they would not track the performance of the others, but it is still disappointing to see them lag. All the diversified portfolios are still beating the S&P 500 Index since May 1st, 2007, but not by much (not for long???).

WylieMoney Slowly

ETF 20

Three Fund Portfolio

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

WylieMoney Slowly

S&P 500

This "Crisis" was no Surprise

2008-10-24T09:24:00.003-05:00

Just in case you thought no one saw this coming...

This video is from Tuesday, 8/28/06.

Note the Dow at 11352 and the S&P 500 at 1301. Dow is now at 8353 and S&P 500 is at 869.

Peter Schiff had it right, at least until the end of the video when he rambles a bit making claims based on gender stereotypes... His opponent, Art Laffer provides great cominc relief if you are able to laugh about all this.

Thanks Dave for forwarding the clip!

What I'm Doing as an Investor During the Financial Crisis

2008-10-21T16:37:00.001-05:00

As the economy has turned south, I've been asked if I think it is a good time to cut back on retirement plan contributions. A friend recently moved all his retirement account investments into bonds. Investors pulled out of mutual funds in September in greater numbers than in any time in the history of the mutual fund industry. What is an investor to do?

I have a long time horizon until retirement, and I can leave my taxable investments in the market for a while. So I am following Warren Buffet's lead and am buying.

I'm doing four things.

1) I'm re-balancing my retirement account to be 100% Equities and increasing my small cap growth and large cap value investments.

I was already 90% invested in equities so this is not a huge change. I moved out of bond funds, which have certainly cushioned the decline in my retirement account. And I'm moving funds from an S&P 500 index fund into Dodge and Cox, a Large Cap Value managed fund. I have many years to go before I retire so even if markets decline further, I think being 100% in equities after 30-40% declines year to date, is a good plan for the long term.

2) I'm increasing my contribution to my employer based retirement plan (see above) from 13% of my salary to 16%. This is also not a huge change, but the more money I can invest while the markets are down significantly, the better.

3) I'm going through my taxable account, and looking for funds that I can sell at a significant loss. I will immediately reinvest in another fund in the same category, as I feel good about the asset allocation in my taxable account. But by selling at a loss and reinvesting, I maintain the same exposure to equities, I have a chance to replace funds that are not performing in line with peers in their categories, and I get to offset the loss against my income come tax day! I'll write a post with details about this soon.

4) I'm looking for cash to invest. Since I'm increasing my retirement contributions, my pay check will decline slightly. I have an emergency fund and though I already live comfortably below my means, there are ways I can cut back and save even more. So I'm looking to see if I can find cash to invest without depleting my emergency fund. More about this soon as well!

Fund of the Week: JAGLX Janus Global Life Sciences

2008-10-20T12:49:00.000-05:00

Perhaps because of all the financial crisis induced stress related illness spreading across the globe, the Health Care sector, anticipating big sales in drugs and medical devices, had a strong week (yes, I just make this stuff up). JAGLX Janus Global Life Sciences had the best week of the funds I track up 6.13% for the week.

Real Estate got crushed with all 4 real estate funds I track posting -9 to -12% losses. REACX American Century Real Estate was the biggest loser.

Portfolio Update 10/17/08: Should I Stay or Should I Go

2008-10-19T12:24:00.007-05:00

Should I stay or should I go? (I'm Staying...)

After massive losses, the portfolios in my experiment took a breather this week.

The S&P 500 pulled off a nice gain, but the more diversified portfolios were flat or posting losses. Real estate funds in particular took a big hit this week.

The ETF 20 continues to inch towards the head of the pack.

WylieMoney 20 Mostly Managed

ETF 20

WylieMoney Slowly

Lazy 20 Mostly Index

Three Fund Index

S&P 500

Wylie Money

Top Fund Last Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources Z

Portfolio Update 11/6/09: Sorry I Am

Fund of the week: MRVEX Marshall Mid-Cap Value

Portfolio Update 10/09/09:

Portfolio Update 9/25/09: Burning Down the House

Fund of the Week: TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond

Portfolio Update 9/18/09: Who Knew

Portfolio Update 9/11/09: Peach

Fund of the Week BTTRX American Century Target 2020

Portfolio Update 8/14/09: Never Going Back Again

Fund of the Week: VNQ Vanguard REIT Index ETF

Portfolio Update 8/7/09: The Boys of Summer

Replacing the Real Estate Fund in My Taxable Account

Year to Date Comparison- Funds I Sold and Bought in December

Selling funds at a loss in a taxable account

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2020

Portfolio Update 7/31/09: All is Full of Love

Fund of the Week: VGSIX Vanguard REIT Index

Portfolio Update 7/24/09: Seven Days

Fund of the Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources

Portfolio Update 7/17/09: Days Go By

Portfolio Update 7/10/09: Remember the Time?

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target 2025

Portfolio Update: It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

Fund of the Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources

Portfolio Update 5/8/09: Airbag

Fund of the Week: Bridgeway Small-Cap Value BRSVX

Portfolio Update 5/1/09: Two Years In

Fund of the Week: REACX American Century Real Estate

Portfolio Update 4/24/09: Don't Stop Believing

Fund of the Week: REACX American Century Real Estate Inv

Portfolio Update 4/17/09: Invisible Sun

Fund of the Week: SWFFX Schwab Financial Services

Portfolio Update 3/27/09: Loser

Fund of the Week: SWFFX Schwab Financial Services

Portfolio Update 3/13/09: Hallelujah

Sorry

Fund of the Week: iPath® Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Total Return ETN

Portfolio Update 2/27/09: Here Comes The Flood

Portfolio Update 2/20/09: &$@#*!&#*

Fund of the Week: BIV Vanguard Intermediate Term Bond ETF

Portfolio Update 2/13/09: Main Theme

Fund of the Week: VWO Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF

Portfolio Update 2/6/09: That's Good

Fund of the Week: JAOSX Janus Overseas

Portfolio Update 1/30/09: Lard

Fund of the Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources

Portfolio Update 1/23/09: Southbound Pachyderm

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025

Portfolio Update 1/16/09: I Won't Back Down

Fund of the Week: MGFIX Managers Bond (Which I sold two weeks ago...)

Portfolio Update 1/11/09: When You're Falling

Fund of the Week: PNRZX Jennison Natural Resources

Portfolio Update 1/2/09: Alright

Replacing Funds Gone Bad

Fund of the Week: DLS WisdomTree International SmallCap

Portfolio Update 12/26/08: We are the Champions

Making Lemonade Out of Lemons: Profiting from Mutual Fund Losses

Fund of the Week: TLT iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond

Portfolio Update 12/19/08: Wanderlust

Fund of the Week: Jennison Natural Resources

Portfolio Update 12/12/08

Some Perspective- Bridgeway Funds Shareholder Letter

Fund of the Week (again): BTTRX American Century Target 2025

Portfolio Update 12/05/08: Alfie

Fund of the Week: SWFFX Schwab Financial Services

Next WylieMoney Slowly Fund: ACITX American Century Inflation Adj Bond

Portfolio Update 11/28/08: Curtains

Fund of the week again: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025

Portfolio Update 11/21/08: Help!

Adding MDIIX to WylieMoney Slowly Today

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025

Next WylieMoney Slowly fund: MDIIX BlackRock Intl Index

Portfolio Update 11/17/08: Nasty

Fund of the Week: BTTRX American Century Target Maturity 2025

Portfolio Update 11/07/08: Bob the Drummer

Fund of the Week: VWO Vanguard Emerging Markets

Portfolio Update 10/31/08: Big Time

Fund of the Week: BTTRX

Portfolio Update 2/20/09: &$@#!&#