Jan 5th, 2010
Racing Toward the Finish: How Our Model Portfolio Did in December
I’ve been very happy with the way our model portfolio has performed this year, and I believe that December was just as much of a winner as the year had been to date. Let’s take a look at the numbers and see how things went.
The Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) was again up, less than a percent, but up, 0.92%; in addition remember this fund pays a dividend yield of 1.88%. The Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VGTSX) was actually down, 3.61%, but remember, the fund yields a decent 2.24%. On the fixed income side of the equation, the Vanguard GNMA Fund (VFIIX) was also down, 2.21%, while yielding 3.99%, and the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX) was down as well, 1.71%, with a yield of 4.04%.
Despite the fact that three of the four funds in the portfolio were down for the month, overall the portfolio was up, a combination of the fact that VTSMX was the largest holding in it and all of the dividend yields that the various funds paid.
While it wasn’t a spectacular month for our portfolio, it was a positive one, and I’ll take those any days over the alternative!
