Year in Review - Exceptional Results!

2009 in Review. Is your New Year's resolution to take better care of your finances? If so, then you came to the right place!

"Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter Explore Portfolio" gained 33.5% in 2009. This portfolio has 75% in equities and 25% fixed income with a beta of 1.0.

My 80:20 Aggressive Core portfolio gained 26.2%

• 80% in my core aggressive portfolio and 20% in my explore portfolio returned 26.7%

My 50:50 Conservative Core Portfolio gained 18.4%

• 50% in VTSMX and 50% in VBMFX only gained 17.3% while 95% in my core conservative portfolio and 5% in the explore portfolio returned 19.1%!

Here is a table showing how the various indexes did last year. Beta is measure of a portfolio's volatility in relation to the Standard & Poor's 500, which by definition has a beta of 1.0. A beta higher than 1.0 implies greater volatility than the S&P500. For example, with all else being equal, an index with a beta of 1.5 will move up 15% when the market rises 10%.

Index	12/31/09 Value	2009 Return	Index Beta
DJIA	10,428.05	18.8 %	0.91
NASDAQ	2,269.15	43.9 %	1.53
S&P 500	1,115.1	23.5 %	1.00
Russell 2000	625.39	25.2 %	1.21

Table Data from Briefing.com
With dividends, the S&P500 gained 26.5%
Beta for DJIA, NASDAQ and Russell2000 from DIA, QQQQ & IWM

Since 12/31/98 "Kirk's Newsletter Explore Portfolio" is UP 159% (a double plus another 59%!!) vs. the S&P500 UP a tiny 8.6% vs. NASDAQ UP a tiny 3.5% (All through 12/31/09) ( FREE Sample Issue - More Info - Return Data )

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More Data:

1/1/1999 through 12/31/09
Total & Compound annual return

My "50:50 Conservative Core Portfolio" was up 70.1% or 4.9% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $170,054

My "80:20 Aggressive Core Portfolio" was up 54.6% or 4.0% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $154,596

My "70:30 Explore Portfolio" was up 159.2% or 9.0% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $259,177

80% in “Core Aggressive” plus 20% in “Explore” was up 79.5% or 5.5% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $179,503

95% “Core Conservative” plus 5% “Explore” was up 77.3% or 5.3% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $177,279

100% in VTSMX was up 21.6% or 1.8% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $121,587

VFINX (S&P500) was up 10.2% or 0.9% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $110,195

Vanguard's Money Market Fund was up 41.3% or 3.2% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $141,337

Vanguard's VFIIX GNMA Fund was up 83.7% or 5.7% compound annual return.
==> $100,000 invested 1/1/99 became $183,679

Subscribe NOW and get the January 2010 Issue for FREE!
(Your 1 year, 12 issue subscription will start with next month's issue.)