I don’t always check my portfolio performance, but when I do, I do it at the end of the year. Here are the trailing 1-year returns for select asset classes as benchmarked by passive mutual funds and ETFs. Return data was taken from Morningstar after market close 12/29/14.
Stocks. The Total US Stock Market (VTI) went up nearly 15%, while the rest of the world’s markets (VXUS) dropped around 3%. Europe specifically struggled, and Emerging Markets (VWO) only eeked up 1.5% total return. US REITs (VNQ) went on a tear, up 32%.
Bonds. The Total US Bond Market (BND) went up ~6%, even though most market pundits thought rates would go up in 2013. Short-Term Treasuries (SHY) were mostly unchanged, while Long-Term Treasuries (TLT) shot up 27%. Inflation-linked TIPS (TIP) inched up 3%.
Gold (GLD) had its gyrations but ended the year with very little change, down ~3% over the past year.
In the end, nothing really went down that much and a few things did really well. It was another year where half of the predictions were wrong, and new predictions will no doubt sprout up soon. Business Insider has a hilarious post on completely meaningless market phrases that sound smart. On that note, my official position will be “cautiously optimistic” for 2015.
The overall asset allocation of my personal portfolio hasn’t changed much since my October 2014 update, but I’ll probably do a final update once the year is officially over. Some quick calculator work indicates the overall 2014 return to be roughly 7%.
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Nice summary, thanks. The FTSE 100 here in the UK is 2.7% down (not including 31/12) for the year. Oh well, with dividends its still a positive return, and its on the back of a few years of good returns. Hopefully, this means that the market is less heated than the US markets now.
I overallocated in REIT to qualify for Vanguard admiral shares to get the expense ratio cut in half. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. lol
Love to see new posts
Jonathan, I think its time to consider ditching gold as an investment/hedge. I have taken it out of my portfolio this year. I know the idea is an inflation hedge, but maybe a general commodity ETF would be better, as commodities in general have value with consumers. I think gold is over-owned and over-hyped as an investment vehicle, and I suspect its value is still very much inflated.
I’ve actually never owned gold as an investment (just some heirloom jewelry stuff). I like to keep track of its price movements because it is an interesting asset class, even though I don’t like it as it doesn’t produce any income.