Portfolio Price Update

Wow! It's so easy to become infected by general market euphoria! I want to buy and sell stocks every day! Can't. Musn't. Play the system and you stand a good chance of winning; ditch the system and you will certainly lose. Now that record highs are again regular occurrences for US equity market indices, we can be sure that we're getting closer to a big drop. How much close is not for me to guess -- I just stick to the system. However, I heard on Bloomberg Radio the other day a commentator mentioning that "individual investors are finally joining the rally" and "money is flowing into mutual funds" &c. &c. One could, painting with a very broad stroke, equate this to the uncourteous statement, "the suckers are here!" Being neither experienced nor wise in these matters, I'm still inclined to read that as a portent of doom, however far off!

Current price of all investments in the portfolio is $89,892.27 purchased at a cost of $77,420.86 for an appreciation (of current investments) of $12,472.01 or 16.1%.

Including gains already realized and totally excluding taxation, gains are 16.9% since the beginning. Microsoft Money claims we are at an annualized rate of return of 33.2%, but this, of course, relies on continuation of trends--never a good thing to bet on.

Since the start, here's how the three major US market indices have been faring.

• Dow: 11,278.7695 -> 13,476.72: up 19.5%.
• S&P 500: 1,309.93 -> 1,512.75: up 15.5%.
• NASDAQ composite: 2,370.8799 -> 2,539.38: up 7.1%.

Eleven months from now, I will begin including some other world market indices in the picture as well... Meantime, compare this with the last portfolio price update.