A client called the other day and asked about our performance. The question was were we doing well or were there other, better, places to invest? That prompted me to do some research and justify our existence both to the client and in my own mind.
This is what I found:
So far this year, our accounts are down on average about -7.50%. (Some are down a little more, some are down even less)
I hate losing money and negative 7.5% is not my idea of a good return in normal times.
BUT, how does that compare with other options?
Here are the year to date returns on some popular mutual funds:
Fisher Purisma -12.50%
Vanguard Index 500 - 12.70%
American Balanced - 8.75%
T Rowe Price Growth Equity -12.36%
American Growth Fund - 9.94%
Fidelity Contra -11.96%
American Funds Cap World G&I -11.72
Fidelity Magellan - 15.34%
Fidelity Diversified Int'l - 13.51%
Investment Company of America -11.97%
Kemper Dreman High Return Equity -20.05
Gabelli Asset -11.97
Janus Balanced -3.96
Templeton Growth -16.3
Janus 20 -3.5
Obviously, there are lots of mutual funds and there are others that beat us. Many of those funds were commodity funds and bear funds (funds designed to go up when the market goes down).
The best performing commodities fund was up 22.48% this year. But, beware, that same fund is down -12.50% in the past month.
I was surprised to see Janus doing so well. Most of us forgot about Janus after the debacle of the early 2000's. But, they beat us!
Here is the performance of some popular money managers:
Black Rock Core -13.31% (thru 6/30/08)
Alliance Bernstein Value -16.73 (thru 6/30/08)
Lord Abbett Value -15.04 (thru 6/30/08)
Great Companies -12.25% (thru 8/22/09)
Fisher Investments -14.50% (thru 5/31/08) Estimated. (Their fund is -12.5% through 8/22/08)
Indices:
S&P 500 -13.82 (8/22/08)
Russell 1000 - 11.2 (6/30/08)
Russell 2000 - 8.11 (6/30/08)
Russell Mid-Cap -6.81 (6/30/08)
MSCI EAFE -10.96 (6/30/08)
The MSCI EAFE is the Morgan Stanley European Australian Far-Eastern Index. It is the most popular index for Foreign Stocks.
One last investment to consider, Berkshire Hathaway.
Berkshire Hathaway stock is down -18.57% year-to-date.
Compared to many other investment options, WE HAVE DONE EXTREMELY WELL.
We have succeeded in doing what we set out to do. By remaining defensive in these tough times, WE HAVE PROTECTED YOUR CAPITAL IN A DECLINING MARKET!
I wanted you to know that I'm very proud of what we have accomplished for you this year.
This is what I found:
So far this year, our accounts are down on average about -7.50%. (Some are down a little more, some are down even less)
I hate losing money and negative 7.5% is not my idea of a good return in normal times.
BUT, how does that compare with other options?
Here are the year to date returns on some popular mutual funds:
Fisher Purisma -12.50%
Vanguard Index 500 - 12.70%
American Balanced - 8.75%
T Rowe Price Growth Equity -12.36%
American Growth Fund - 9.94%
Fidelity Contra -11.96%
American Funds Cap World G&I -11.72
Fidelity Magellan - 15.34%
Fidelity Diversified Int'l - 13.51%
Investment Company of America -11.97%
Kemper Dreman High Return Equity -20.05
Gabelli Asset -11.97
Janus Balanced -3.96
Templeton Growth -16.3
Janus 20 -3.5
Obviously, there are lots of mutual funds and there are others that beat us. Many of those funds were commodity funds and bear funds (funds designed to go up when the market goes down).
The best performing commodities fund was up 22.48% this year. But, beware, that same fund is down -12.50% in the past month.
I was surprised to see Janus doing so well. Most of us forgot about Janus after the debacle of the early 2000's. But, they beat us!
Here is the performance of some popular money managers:
Black Rock Core -13.31% (thru 6/30/08)
Alliance Bernstein Value -16.73 (thru 6/30/08)
Lord Abbett Value -15.04 (thru 6/30/08)
Great Companies -12.25% (thru 8/22/09)
Fisher Investments -14.50% (thru 5/31/08) Estimated. (Their fund is -12.5% through 8/22/08)
Indices:
S&P 500 -13.82 (8/22/08)
Russell 1000 - 11.2 (6/30/08)
Russell 2000 - 8.11 (6/30/08)
Russell Mid-Cap -6.81 (6/30/08)
MSCI EAFE -10.96 (6/30/08)
The MSCI EAFE is the Morgan Stanley European Australian Far-Eastern Index. It is the most popular index for Foreign Stocks.
One last investment to consider, Berkshire Hathaway.
Berkshire Hathaway stock is down -18.57% year-to-date.
Compared to many other investment options, WE HAVE DONE EXTREMELY WELL.
We have succeeded in doing what we set out to do. By remaining defensive in these tough times, WE HAVE PROTECTED YOUR CAPITAL IN A DECLINING MARKET!
I wanted you to know that I'm very proud of what we have accomplished for you this year.
I believe that when we look back on this period of time, we will say "This was our finest hour."
Posts
2 comments:
I commend you on your performance year to date, being slightly better than the average. Also the fact the you charge less than a mutual fund. These are positives.
Here comes the but:
You are still losing other people's money (principle) and collecting fees for doing it. These people could just as easily have invested their money in Govies and come out 2% to the positive (9.5% better than your current YTD performace). Granted this is still less than inflation (net loss YTD on Govies is about 2% factoring in inflation). For example a person whose savings was in Government securities for the past year would have 98% relative buying power. Your clients have only 88.8% buying relative power before fees. Even though you are performing better than average your clients are worth 11% less this year(inflation adjusted and before fees).
Congratulations to your clients for losing more than 10% of their worth and paying for the priviliedge.
Ram, I am a big fan, but you are entirely missing the point. Your argument is well reasoned and should be employed for a different question. The overal professional money manager segment of the financial markets is down. Standfast, while down, has taken a better defensive role than their marketing powerhouse competitors. In a market where the S and P is down 13.8% and mid cap stocks are down almost 7%, Standfast is holding strong and protecting people's core wealth. That is the point.
Barring financial disasters, the US Government bond market will never give the potential returns that equity markets can. For these returns the investor assumes risk. Right now the markets are working against equity investing. However, this also provides opportunity to find value. Being defensive or liquid in the short-term and value investing will create greater returns for investors in the long run. This coupled with protecting the principle under management and charging lower fees makes this a better investment than the Wall St. marketing juggernauts, like Kemper -20% or Fisher -12.5%.
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