My Personal Finance Journey

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Portfolio Update - January 2008 (Down 3.02%)

Contributed by mm | February 7, 2008 3:49 PM PST

portfolioicon.jpgSUMMARY

With the S&P 500 dropped more than 6% and the international market performed no better, January sees perhaps the most brutal start of the year in recent memory.

For three months in a row now, my portfolio lost money. This time, for a total of 60 grand in one month, including more than $26,000 in one month in self managed portfolio, and about $34,000 in my employee stock option account.

There is little to celebrate, except that my self-managed portfolio is actually performing better than the general market. My finance-stock-stuffed individual stock portfolio was helped by the aggressive rate slashing of the Fed, and one of my stock pick returned over 50% in this past month. All in all, my portfolio lost 3.02% in the month when my benchmark lost 5.77%.

TRANSACTIONS

I only made one purchase during January on USAGX (USAA Precious Metals and Minerals), in a babystep bid to diversify my portfolio toward commodities.

NEXT STEPS

My day job duty is growing more challenging, with a much larger business to cover and frequent cross-Pacific travels. Still, much needs to be done to reengineer my portfolio to be more diversified than the current two trick pony of domestic equity and international equity.

portfolio-0801.jpg

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This Post Has Received 4 Comments. Share Your Opinions Too.


J.C. Commented on February 7, 2008

Not too shabby...and just 4 years ago $60,000 would have been nearly half your net worth, now its only 3% of your portfolio.

Congratulations on beating your benchmark.


SingleGuyMoney Commented on February 8, 2008

Given the size of your portfolio, 3% is not all that bad. You've made some great choices for your investments so you should get it back in no time once the market rebounds.


Creative Investor Commented on February 8, 2008

I don't think it's such a good time to add USAGX. I've been looking at this fund for some time as well, given that it's one of the top 5-year performers. The basic premise is that anything that has been rising at significant rates for 5+ years cannot keep growing at those rates much longer and not only it may not grow as fast, but there is also a good chance that it may go down over the next few years. Dollar is expected to stabilize over the next 1-2 years and as it does, gold is likely to stop gaining and rather lose ground if anything.

On the other hand, if I were to pick any gold/precious metals fund, this would be the one I'd choose. Good luck!


J Commented on February 9, 2008

I was wondering how much time you devote each month to ongoing research on the stocks you've selected?



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