May 14th, 2008
April Flowers: How’d My Portfolio Do?
April was a fantastic stock market month. It was such a great month that it almost made up for the awful start to the year in the markets.
Recalling my previous articles in this series, my three portfolio fund consists of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX), the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX), and the T. Rowe Price International Discovery Fund (PRIDX), with VTSMX making up the majority (approximately 50%) of the portfolio and the remaining being split about equally between VBMFX and PRIDX.
VTSMX started the month at $31.86 a share (as of the close of business March 31, 2008); it ended April at $33.46. That’s a gain of over 5% for the month. VBMFX started the month at $10.22 a share and ended at $10.18, a loss in net asset value of just .3% (yes, three tenths of a percent) but continues to put out monthly dividends, including one of almost four cents that month. Finally, PRIDX began the month at $43.96 and ended it at $45.28, a gain of a hair over 3%.
Hopefully, we’re over the funk that the markets have been in the last few months and we’ll continue to see gains in the months to come–and as much as I’d like to say, “big gains,” I try not to, because booms tend to be followed by busts–which is really what I don’t want. So instead of a boom, in keeping with our April theme, let’s hope for a bloom–like a rose.
