If you’ve been following my “experiment” with my Rollover IRA ETF funds, then you know it’s been doing pretty well. In fact, a friend of mine told me that he has a friend who actually followed suit and invested in the same ETF’s as me! While this scares me a little bit, I am sure he is pleased with the 46% gain on his money since March. Here is the breakdown:
(March 1st 2009 – Present)
BND: VANGUARD TOTAL BOND MARKET – (1.34 %) loss
I am thinking about getting rid of this. I only have about 7% of my portfolio in this fund, but I just got it as a small hedge against the market going down more back in the spring.
IGE: ISHARES S&P NORTH AMERICAN – 43.28 % gain
This is an ETF that tracks companies involved in North American natural resources. Honestly, I can’t really explain why this fund has done so well, other than the fact that these stocks were hit so hard in 2008, that the only natural thing to do was rebound.
IVV: ISHARES S&P 500 INDEX – 31.75 % gain
The S&P has risen nearly 400 points in the past six months. I knew the market would recover, and the S&P is my favorite index to track. I think it does the best job at capturing a snapshot of the market without investing in the entire stock market. This one hasn’t surprised me.
IYR: ISHARES DJ U.S. REAL ESTATE – 58.19 % gain
The real estate market plummeted in 2007 and 2008. Even though it hasn’t rebounded much in 2009, things have stabilized, which has allowed many REIT’s to recover. I am still skeptical about this ETF, because REITs are very volatile. It’ll be interesting to see what the gain is on this fund at the end of the year.
VIG: VANGUARD DIVIDEND APPRECIATION – 26.15 % gain
Even though this fund hasn’t been killing it, I know that I will be keeping it for a very long time. It pays a decent dividend, doesn’t fluctuate in price too much, and seeks trusted companies that pay a large dividend.
VWO: VANGUARD EMERGING MARKETS – 27.59 % gain
This is another one that I will keep long-term. Emerging market funds are volatile, but Vanguard seems to know what they are doing on this one. The expense ratio is extremely low, and it has a great track record over a period longer than 6 months.
XLF: FINANCIAL SELECT SECTOR SPDR – 95.24 % gain
Save the best for last. I never thought in a million years this fund would gain 95% in six months! That’s absurd. My only thought process behind selecting this fund was that the financial sector had been beaten down so brutally, that I believed it was extremely under valued back in the early spring. It turns out that I was right. I expect this ETF to decline at the end of the year, but it will still be the main reason why I recovered all of the money that I lost in my 401(k) from 2008. I wish I would have pumped more money into it at the beginning of the year! But when you invest, you can’t think of it that way.
