Category Archives: Performance

Every year I select six stocks and each portfolio selects two of those stocks to invest in. This post looks back on how my 2009 stock selections performed. The short answer is, not too well. The average of the six … Continue reading →

In the past I, like many general investors, shied away from the concept of market timing. It was viewed as too difficult, and many investors left the markets when stocks went down and then missed the rally on the way … Continue reading →

Gail Marks Jarvis is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune on financial matters. The Tribune recently combined their personal finance and real estate sections into one section, which seems to make sense. Ms Marks Jarvis provides financial advice. In a … Continue reading →

In this article titled “Why Many Investors Keep Fooling Themselves” by Jason Zweig from the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Zweig does an excellent job of explaining why individuals assume that they will receive a rate of return that is too … Continue reading →

In a recent post analyzing the performance of Portfolio One (the longest-lived portfolio) I included an excel spreadsheet with performance information. This excel spreadsheet was built over a number of years and I refined it to include more and more … Continue reading →

Background on Portfolio One The first portfolio of my trust funds was set up right after the attack in September, 2001.  It seemed to be an inauspicious time to invest in stocks.  However, since these trust funds have a long … Continue reading →

A recent Wall Street Journal titled “Rebound of the Losers” from July 6, 2009 described how some specific actively managed mutual funds with large losses recently booked better performance. From the article Ninety-four diversified U.S.- stock funds that finished 2008 … Continue reading →

The Chicago Tribune business section has a series where readers write in with their financial issues and the columnists seek professional help and recommendations and publish the results. This column is titled “Law Degree on Her Side” and shows the … Continue reading →

One of the features of the stock market lately is that stocks tend to move in unison.  On a given day when the stock market goes up, it seems like almost every stock is buoyed in price.  On the other … Continue reading →

I was reading a Wall Street Journal column by James Stewart recently. He has a column called “Common Sense” which outlines his approach to selecting stocks and investing. His strategy involves buying when the stock market drops 10% and then … Continue reading →

In the “efficient markets” hypothesis, all available information is factored into the stock price, making attempts to “beat the market” by selecting your own stocks a fool’s errand. Index funds, which were originally stock mutual funds, such as those at … Continue reading →

There are three portfolios that we are currently running. Portfolio One (since 2001) performance can be downloaded below Portfolio One PDF October 2008 . Portfolio Two (since 2004) performance can be downloaded below Portfolio Two PDF October 2008 Portfolio Three … Continue reading →