Feb 4th, 2009
January was Still Cold and Dark: My Model Portfolio Performance
Yes, I realize I live in a place that doesn’t snow, but January was cold and dark as far as portfolio performance went. After December’s turnaround, the stock market took yet another tumble in January of 2009.
The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) was down 10.95% in January! This was after a more than 11% increase in December which I was hoping had started to reverse our negative 2008 trend. The T. Rowe Price International Discovery Fund (PRIDX) was also down, 9.48% for the month, versus the positive 10% showing in December. As for the fixed income part of my portfolio, the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX) was down a hair (0.59%) and continuing to pay its 4.68% yield. The newcomer to this portfolio, the Vanguard GNMA Fund (VFIIX) was down a minuscule 0.38%, but paying its typical 4.87% yield, very slightly outperforming VBMFX–although both are doing fine.
Unfortunately, just about all the recovery we experienced in December went away in January. Still, I am quite optimistic about 2009–let’s see how the model portfolio performs in about a month!
