My Personal Finance Journey

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Portfolio Update - May 2008 (Up 0.12%)

Contributed by mm | June 1, 2008 12:52 AM PST

portfolioicon.jpgSUMMARY

May is a pretty stable month for my portfolio in terms of absolute gains -- my stable of mutual funds, stocks and cash inched higher 0.12%. But on a relatively basis, my portfolio lagged the benchmark by 1.3% in this month. Certainly not a good month for relative performance!

TRANSACTIONS

I made a further $7,000 commitment to Dodge & Cox's domestic stock offering (DODGX). Also, I started a new (yet admittedly tiny $500) position at T. Rowe Price New Era (PRNEX), as an effort to beef up my energy exposure. I have enrolled in

NEXT STEPS

My individual stock positions have been lagged the market for a few months in a row now -- the huge concentration on financial stocks has been proven untimely, but at this price level, it can be argued that opportunities and risks are relatively balanced. Anyway, I'm intentionally controlling the relative share of my individual stock exposure now -- individual stock positions now represents only 28% of my portfolio, vs. 34% at the end of 2007.

With another series of reports on worsening housing market, it doesn't look like I need to eagerly commit more money to the market now. I do plan to sit in the side line of the equity market, and move more money to China for some currency bets.

portfolio-08-05.jpg

More PFBlog Articles You Might Find Interesting ...


05/08/08 | Portfolio Update - April 2008 (Up 3.98%) | (2)
04/06/08 | Portfolio Update - March 2008 (Down 1.37%) | (13)
04/06/08 | Portfolio Update - February (Down 2.78%)
02/07/08 | Portfolio Update - January 2008 (Down 3.02%) | (4)
01/14/08 | Portfolio Review 2008, Part 1: Where Is The Alpha? | (11)




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This Post Has Received 10 Comments. Share Your Opinions Too.


Sankar Commented on June 3, 2008

Hi,
I am a keen follower of your blog. I have a quick question. When you say that your portfolio has registered a growth of 0.12% for the month, how do you arrive at that especially when you perform transactions during the month.
If there are no transactions during the month, we can easily arrive by comparing the last month's total with current month's total. But if there are transactions during the month, it would definitely affect the total of your portfolio between the months. In such a case, how do you arrive at the growth %.
Thanks.


Jason Commented on June 3, 2008

Do not be fooled by this mystery blogger who seems to disappear quite often.

HE IS A CHINESE OPERATIVE. THIS SITE IS SETUP TO COMMUNICATE MESSAGES TO THE CHINESE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY...the MSS.


2million Commented on June 3, 2008

MM,
What China account do you have setup to hold your RMB? Is it through a large bank like Bank of China? How competitive have you found the exchange rates/fees to be? My Capital One credit card by far gives me the best exchange rate - I can't find a China bank that can offer me anything within .1% of the actual exchange rate.


MM Commented on June 4, 2008

2 million - My account is in China Merchant Bank (http://www.cmbchina.com/) and I ill be happy to recommend ICBC or Bank of China too. The spread between buy and sell rate is about 0.4%, which is quite reasonable.

But of course this won't beat CapitalOne which doesn't charge the FX fee. I used it to pay things in China too, but just cannot use it to move hot money in the '000s.


MM Commented on June 4, 2008

Jason, i have no idea how you draw the conclusion. If what you said were true, this blog will be the most laborious yet inefficient way to collect intelligence.


MM Commented on June 4, 2008

Sankar, I did the quick and dirty way. i just divide last month's portfolio value by the monthly dollar value appreciation.


Jason Commented on June 18, 2008

MM...come clean...you have been discovered. You are a chinese spy and you know it. Set your lies free.


drchunger Commented on July 4, 2008

this month's (june)'s update ought to be quite ugly.


stocktrading Commented on July 8, 2008

Hi,I am a new investor in share market,want to share market condition with interesting people.Presently following market with the help of Guiness Securities ,for any stock trading related matters please visit http://www.16anna.com


Dividend Growth Investor Commented on July 9, 2008

You might have mentioned this before, but why don't you invest in index funds instead of holding others that seem more active? Wouldn't you save from management fees over time?
In addition, since you want to achieve financial freedom, have you considered investing in dividend stocks, which could provide you with a growing stream of income over time?


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Read More ... 64 Posts In The Same Category


05/08/08 | Portfolio Update - April 2008 (Up 3.98%) | (2)
04/06/08 | Portfolio Update - March 2008 (Down 1.37%) | (13)
04/06/08 | Portfolio Update - February (Down 2.78%)
02/07/08 | Portfolio Update - January 2008 (Down 3.02%) | (4)
01/14/08 | Portfolio Review 2008, Part 1: Where Is The Alpha? | (11)
01/13/08 | Portfolio Review 2008: The Introduction | (1)
01/09/08 | What's My Total Investment Cost in 2007? | (5)
01/01/08 | Portfolio Update - December 2007 (Down 0.52%) | (9)
12/02/07 | Portfolio Update - November 2007 (Down 3.75%) | (5)
11/02/07 | Portfolio Update - October 2007 (Up 3.08%) | (11)
10/01/07 | Portfolio Update - September 2007 (Up 3.75%) | (1741)
09/08/07 | Portfolio Update - August 2007 (Up 0.40%) | (5)
08/17/07 | Buying On The Dip (And Mid-Month Report) | (4)
08/01/07 | Portfolio Update - July 2007 (Down 1.83%) | (1)
07/04/07 | Portfolio Update - May/June 2007
05/06/07 | Portfolio Update - April 2007 | (5)
04/16/07 | Setting Up Portfolio Benchmark | (11)
04/02/07 | Portfolio Update - March 2007 | (9)
03/03/07 | Portfolio Update - February 2007 | (3)
02/27/07 | Shanghai Sneezes and The World Catches Cold | (3)
02/26/07 | RMPM, Part IX: Building Out My Mutual Fund Positions | (7)
02/24/07 | RMPM, Part VIII: Revisiting My 401(k) Account | (8)
02/24/07 | RMPM, Part VII: My Individual Stock Portfolio -- The Sell Side Considerations
02/21/07 | Reengineering My Portfolio Management, Part VI: My Individual Stock Portfolio -- The Buy Side Considerations
02/20/07 | Reengineering My Portfolio Management, Part V: Portfolio Construction | (4)
02/18/07 | Reengineering My Portfolio Management, Part IV: The Asset Allocation In Percentages | (5)
02/17/07 | Reengineering My Portfolio Management, Part III: Asset Allocation - The Investable Asset Classes
02/16/07 | Reengineering My Portfolio Management, Part II: Portfolio Objectives & Constraints | (7)
02/15/07 | Reengineering My Portfolio Management, Part I: Introduction | (2)
02/05/07 | Portfolio Update - January 2007 | (8)
02/03/07 | My First Realized Double-Bagger | (6)
01/01/07 | Portfolio Update - December 2006 | (21)
07/25/06 | Enrolling in Automatic Dividend Investment for Stock Holdings | (5)
01/09/06 | Portfolio Breakdown - December 31, 2005 | (12)
01/13/05 | 2004: Not A Good Year For My Portfolio | (3)
08/27/04 | Why Will I Sell Microsoft Stock Award Shares?
06/01/04 | May 2004 Month-End Holdings
05/02/04 | Closing Out My AmeriTrade Account
05/01/04 | April 2004 Month-End Holdings
04/14/04 | OCA: Another Double Bagger
04/02/04 | March 2004 Month-End Holdings
03/30/04 | Another $5,000 Roth IRA Contributions
03/22/04 | My First Double-Bagger, Finally
02/27/04 | February 2004 Month-End Holdings
02/03/04 | January 2004 Short Interest for My Holdings | (1)
02/01/04 | January 2004 Month-End Holdings
01/08/04 | Making 2004 Roth IRA Contributions
12/31/03 | My Portfolio in 2003: Losing to the Benchmark But Still Winning Handsomely
12/31/03 | December 2003 Month-End Holdings
12/30/03 | December 2003 Short Interest for My Holdings
12/16/03 | Margin! Margin!
12/01/03 | November 2003 Short Interest for My Holdings
11/29/03 | 2004 401(k) Strategy
11/28/03 | November 2003 Month-End Holdings
11/17/03 | A Draft of Portfolio Management Guideline
11/12/03 | Start to Try TreasuryDirect.com ... | (3)
11/07/03 | Where Should I Put Roth IRA Contribution?
10/31/03 | October 2003 Month-End Holdings
10/24/03 | October 2003 Short Interest for My Holdings
10/20/03 | 2003 Q3 Earning Release Schedule
09/30/03 | September 2003 Month-End Holdings
03/30/03 | My Key Portfolio Performance Metrics
01/02/03 | Year 2003 Start Positions

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