What was your 2012 return?

Discuss all general (i.e. non-personal) investing questions and issues, investing news, and theory.

What was your overall 2012 return?

Negative Return
1
0%
0-4.9%
10
2%
5-7.4%
21
4%
7.5-9.9%
85
15%
10-12.4%
143
26%
12.5-14.9%
149
27%
15-17.4%
82
15%
17.5-19.9%
22
4%
20-24.9%
8
1%
25-29.9%
0
No votes
>30%
1
0%
I don't know and I don't care
33
6%
That's rude to ask
3
1%
 
Total votes: 558

User avatar
Topic Author
White Coat Investor
Posts: 17413
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:11 pm
Location: Greatest Snow On Earth

What was your 2012 return?

Post by White Coat Investor »

I was pleased to see a 13.87% return with a sliced and diced 75/25 portfolio. My microcaps were finally my best asset class after years of complaining about BRSIX. How'd you do?

If you don't know how to calculate your return, use XIRR as explained here:
http://whitecoatinvestor.com/how-to-cal ... -function/
1) Invest you must 2) Time is your friend 3) Impulse is your enemy | 4) Basic arithmetic works 5) Stick to simplicity 6) Stay the course
gkaplan
Posts: 7034
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: Portland, Oregon

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by gkaplan »

See my comments in Brad's report.
Gordon
User avatar
pennstater2005
Posts: 2509
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:50 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by pennstater2005 »

13.44% from the index funds.
“If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.” – Earl Wilson
The Wizard
Posts: 13356
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:45 pm
Location: Reading, MA

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by The Wizard »

I just browsed the final 2012 return for all the TIAA-CREF funds I'm in, just to be informed.
Their International Equity fund was this year's winner with 31% gain. But it doesn't matter. I'm not going back and changing my allocation for 2012 and I'm not changing it (much) for 2013 either.
Attempted new signature...
User avatar
market timer
Posts: 6535
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:42 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by market timer »

Roth (25% of financial assets): +27%
401K (50% of financial assets): +16%
Taxable account (25% of financial assets): +112%
The Wizard
Posts: 13356
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:45 pm
Location: Reading, MA

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by The Wizard »

market timer wrote:Roth (25% of financial assets): +27%
401K (50% of financial assets): +16%
Taxable account (25% of financial assets): +112%
Sounds like new contribs were included in that taxable account, eh?
Attempted new signature...
User avatar
Topic Author
White Coat Investor
Posts: 17413
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:11 pm
Location: Greatest Snow On Earth

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by White Coat Investor »

Who knows with market timer. Knowing him there was a lot of leverage involved!
1) Invest you must 2) Time is your friend 3) Impulse is your enemy | 4) Basic arithmetic works 5) Stick to simplicity 6) Stay the course
madbrain
Posts: 6809
Joined: Thu Jun 09, 2011 5:06 pm
Location: San Jose, California

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by madbrain »

About 8%. And would have been closer to 12% if not for being out of the market for 30 days to a 401k rollover...
User avatar
market timer
Posts: 6535
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:42 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by market timer »

The Wizard wrote:
market timer wrote:Roth (25% of financial assets): +27%
401K (50% of financial assets): +16%
Taxable account (25% of financial assets): +112%
Sounds like new contribs were included in that taxable account, eh?
That's exclusive of contributions. I had a good year trading with a new strategy. Net worth around $300K, up $510K in 4 years.
livesoft
Posts: 86079
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:00 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by livesoft »

How can anyone with bond funds know their actual 2012 return? Vanguard won't update your distributions until tomorrow morning. Folks with bond ETFs won't get those dividends until a few days later. And don't leave out those "cash" accounts paying just 0.01% interest. They are part of your portfolio, too.
Wiki This signature message sponsored by sscritic: Learn to fish.
ResNullius
Posts: 2091
Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:22 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by ResNullius »

I'm 40% equities (index funds) and 60% short/intermediate investment grade, all with Vanguard. It was a good year. I can't complain at all. It would be great to have a similar year in 2013, but who knows.
Nathan Drake
Posts: 6234
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:28 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by Nathan Drake »

market timer wrote:
The Wizard wrote:
market timer wrote:Roth (25% of financial assets): +27%
401K (50% of financial assets): +16%
Taxable account (25% of financial assets): +112%
Sounds like new contribs were included in that taxable account, eh?
That's exclusive of contributions. I had a good year trading with a new strategy. Net worth around $300K, up $510K in 4 years.
What was your "good strategy", and why do you believe it will persist?
20% VOO | 20% VXUS | 20% AVUV | 20% AVDV | 20% AVES
rokidtoo
Posts: 391
Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2010 7:53 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by rokidtoo »

12.54% on a 60/40 (stocks/bonds) portfolio. On the stock side: Total U.S. with a tilt towards small/value, Total Foreign-ex U.S., and a dash of REITs. On the bond side: Total Bond Market, Short Term Bond Market (three years of distributions), with a dash of TIPS.
Last edited by rokidtoo on Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:30 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
CaliJim
Posts: 3050
Joined: Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:47 pm
Location: California, near the beach

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by CaliJim »

12.150521874%, NIC bond fund year end distributions (see livesoft's post)
50/50, sliced and lightly tilted.
-calijim- | | For more info, click this Wiki
User avatar
runner9
Posts: 2260
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:49 pm
Location: Ohio

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by runner9 »

Had 46K in Roths at the start of the year, plus 10K in contributions, 1.6K in dividends and then market gains for a total tonight of 71K. Not caring what the percentage without contributions is. Overall total is 52% higher than at the start of the year. :D
User avatar
market timer
Posts: 6535
Joined: Tue Aug 21, 2007 1:42 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by market timer »

Nathan Drake wrote:What was your "good strategy", and why do you believe it will persist?
I'll write about this strategy if/when I hit seven figures, though I will say it is unrelated to blindly leveraging into equities. No clue if the edge will persist. I don't expect another double next year, but it would be nice.
User avatar
FrugalInvestor
Posts: 6214
Joined: Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:20 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by FrugalInvestor »

In retirement with a 50/50 allocation employing a 3-fund approach plus 2-3 years of CDs for better sleep. Achieved just under 10% for the year.
Last edited by FrugalInvestor on Tue Jan 01, 2013 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Have a plan, stay the course and simplify. Then ignore the noise!
hpowders
Posts: 181
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2012 7:08 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by hpowders »

Since I lost half my IRA in 2008, I have been in and out too much. So this year I lost 1.8% when all the indices made nice gains!

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! :oops:
z3r0c00l
Posts: 3809
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:43 am
Location: NYC

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by z3r0c00l »

13% on a 67 stock / 33 bonds. Pretty happy, would love to keep this going for a few more years!
70% Global Stocks / 30% Bonds
User avatar
pennstater2005
Posts: 2509
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2012 8:50 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by pennstater2005 »

livesoft wrote:How can anyone with bond funds know their actual 2012 return? Vanguard won't update your distributions until tomorrow morning. Folks with bond ETFs won't get those dividends until a few days later. And don't leave out those "cash" accounts paying just 0.01% interest. They are part of your portfolio, too.
Oh sorry. Approximately 13.44%….
“If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments.” – Earl Wilson
Ed 2
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 9:34 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by Ed 2 »

market timer wrote:
Nathan Drake wrote:What was your "good strategy", and why do you believe it will persist?
I'll write about this strategy if/when I hit seven figures, though I will say it is unrelated to blindly leveraging into equities. No clue if the edge will persist. I don't expect another double next year, but it would be nice.
I am sorry, but if I recall couple of years ago you told us that you almost broke. Something doesn't make any sense. :shock:
p.s. my 2012 year return ~11-12% overall.
"The fund industry doesn't have a lot of heroes, but he (Bogle) is one of them," Russ Kinnel
FedGuy
Posts: 1677
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2010 3:36 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by FedGuy »

I'm still waiting for two of my old 401(k)s and my bank accounts to update for today's returns. I have no idea why it's not done six hours after the market close.

There's probably something wrong with me, since I've been hitting "refresh" over and over again for several hours.
User avatar
BigFoot48
Posts: 3115
Joined: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:47 am
Location: Arizona

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by BigFoot48 »

10.4% - 43%/57% - bond-heavy Coffeehouse portfolio using Vanguard Total Bond, TIPS and Short-term Bond funds.

Revision: After d/l the statements from Schwab today I note a lot of 12/31 distributions that boosted my ending balances. New XIRR calculated return in my IRA (95% of my portfolio): 11.2%
Last edited by BigFoot48 on Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
Retired | Two-time in top-10 in Bogleheads S&P500 contest; 18-time loser
User avatar
DR
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:46 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by DR »

I ended up at 6.37% overall annual return on a 15/85 (stocks/bonds) portfolio tracked with XIRR to track monthly contributions. The bonds were mostly positioned in FBIDX but also some ABNDX. My stocks were a mix of some American growth funds--my best performing equities fund was SMCWX where I got a personal rate of return of 20.38%. But, alas, only 6.25% of my portfolio was positioned in that fund. --Dan
Last edited by DR on Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Nathan Drake
Posts: 6234
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:28 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by Nathan Drake »

Ed 2 wrote:
market timer wrote:
Nathan Drake wrote:What was your "good strategy", and why do you believe it will persist?
I'll write about this strategy if/when I hit seven figures, though I will say it is unrelated to blindly leveraging into equities. No clue if the edge will persist. I don't expect another double next year, but it would be nice.
I am sorry, but if I recall couple of years ago you told us that you almost broke. Something doesn't make any sense. :shock:
p.s. my 2012 year return ~11-12% overall.
his strategy, whatever it is, is likely to be extremely risky, I wouldn't be surprised if next year he loses 50%. You don't gain 100% in a year without taking on extreme risk
20% VOO | 20% VXUS | 20% AVUV | 20% AVDV | 20% AVES
cheesepep
Posts: 1295
Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:58 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by cheesepep »

I actually don't know since I bought and sold some stocks, held long-term on some others, revinvested dividends on some, cashed out on some, etc. But if I had to guesstimate, I would say about 20%.
jbk
Posts: 309
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:56 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by jbk »

13.02% return on a 72 Equity, 15 Bond, 13 TIAA Real Estate portfolio. Including contributions and withdrawals portfolio was up 11.87%.
User avatar
k66
Posts: 504
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2012 1:36 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by k66 »

My yardstick account posted 10.03% (Cdn and US indexed ETFs). I compare against MF's I would have otherwise likely invested in had I not undertaken this type of low fee indexed fund approach. Two funds that I could have likelt invested in posted 4.01% and 3.28% (with 2.33% and 2.49% MERs respectively). I am more than happy with that.

Comparing my portfolio to these same funds over the past 2 years, I find I posted 3.02% (AAR) and 0.88% and 2.84% for these other two Mutual Funds. In this light, I am a little disappointed that the 3.02 doesn't exceed its closest competitor (2.84) by the MER - but at east it does beat it.

Happy New Year!
LOSER of the Boglehead Contest 2015 | lang may yer lum reek
User avatar
BHCadet
Posts: 391
Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:47 pm
Location: SoCal

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by BHCadet »

Wow… Many of us are in the 13% range.
Ed 2
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 9:34 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by Ed 2 »

Nathan Drake wrote:
Ed 2 wrote:
market timer wrote:
Nathan Drake wrote:What was your "good strategy", and why do you believe it will persist?
I'll write about this strategy if/when I hit seven figures, though I will say it is unrelated to blindly leveraging into equities. No clue if the edge will persist. I don't expect another double next year, but it would be nice.
I am sorry, but if I recall couple of years ago you told us that you almost broke. Something doesn't make any sense. :shock:
p.s. my 2012 year return ~11-12% overall.
his strategy, whatever it is, is likely to be extremely risky, I wouldn't be surprised if next year he loses 50%. You don't gain 100% in a year without taking on extreme risk
...or it is just another internet bluff or wishful thinking. That is why I would never take any ones word over internet or on TV as the actual truth and never will. There is no such successful strategy can be made by a regular investor ,unless" market-timer" is a real quant or stockbroker.
"The fund industry doesn't have a lot of heroes, but he (Bogle) is one of them," Russ Kinnel
WHL
Posts: 789
Joined: Mon Dec 10, 2012 1:22 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by WHL »

I think I'm in the 12% area, but I'm not sure, and I honestly don't care. As long as I keep my allocations right and pump in as much money as I can afford, I'm happy :)
rr2
Posts: 1071
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:04 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by rr2 »

approx 13.2% with 60/30/10 CREF Stock/TIAA Traditional/TIAA Real Estate.
Average Investor
Posts: 378
Joined: Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:27 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by Average Investor »

Hi everyone,

My return after I started to move my assets to Vanguard last July is around 7%. This is almost twice the rate of return I was getting at Merrill Lynch the first half of the year!!!

A heartfelt thank you to all Bogleheads for your kind and generous help at each step along the way, it's been a life-changing year.

Happy New Year to All!
Tomorrow never knows.
User avatar
Sheepdog
Posts: 5783
Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Indiana, retired 1998 at age 65

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by Sheepdog »

21% stock and 79% bonds gave an 8.52% total return. Very pleased again this year. In my 14 years in retirement and my 100 minus my age as my stock allocation, I have had only 3 years with a net loss in that time and only one of those was over 1.5%. Returns in retirement have been what I hoped. Truthfully, it is better than I imagined. I just wanted my money to last, not expecting it to grow. Staying the course worked.
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered you will never grow. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
Leesbro63
Posts: 10640
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 3:36 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by Leesbro63 »

55/45 ---> +10.62%
User avatar
nedsaid
Posts: 19275
Joined: Fri Nov 23, 2012 11:33 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by nedsaid »

2/3 Stocks and 1/3 bonds returned 11.3% for 2012. Not bad.
A fool and his money are good for business.
timmydink
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2008 4:57 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by timmydink »

+ 14.43%. 70/30 stock/bond using Vanguard indexed funds.
jon-nyc
Posts: 927
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:02 am
Location: New York

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by jon-nyc »

13.65% (roughly 65/35 stock/bond)
Last edited by jon-nyc on Fri Jan 04, 2013 5:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
carolc
Posts: 302
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:45 am
Location: New Hampshire seacoast

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by carolc »

I am up about 10% (roughly) with an 'age in bonds' ratio of 42:58. I'm happy with that.

carolc
sscritic
Posts: 21853
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:36 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by sscritic »

livesoft wrote:How can anyone with bond funds know their actual 2012 return? Vanguard won't update your distributions until tomorrow morning.
Which is why I waited until early West Coast time to get my final numbers.

But first, here is a question for XIRR fans: what dates do you use?

I assumed a year was a year, so I went from my balance on 12/31/2011 as reported by Vanguard in my year end statement until 12/31/2012, what currently shows after my bond dividends. I have an old IRA at Vanguard that has not had a contribution in years since I rolled it over from a local savings and loan and has never had a withdrawal. There is only one fund in it, Intermediate-Term Investment Grade Investors, so I figured I would get the return from XIRR and compare to what Vanguard had and what simple arithmetic told me. I will now reveal how poor I am.

12/31/2011 $13,659.72
12/31/2012 $14,907.47

Simple Arithmetic: 14907.47/13659/72 = 1.091345 Return = 9.13%
XIRR: Return = 9.108%
Vanguard: Year to Date Return = 9.14% (referred to as average monthly returns as well)
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... torder=asc

There is clearly a problem when there are three different answers to the same question.

Ah, but what does year to date mean? Maybe it means from 1/1/12 to 12/31/12. So I changed the starting date for XIRR to 1/1/12. Now I don't consider that a year, but let's give it a shot.
XIRR: Return for 365 days of a 366 day leap year: Return = 9.1345%

XIRR now matches simple arithmetic, but neither of them match Vanguard.

So what's up with that? In my mind, both XIRR and Vanguard are wrong. A year is a year. My return for the last year should be based on my values on 12/31 of 2011 and 12/31 of 2012. And Vanguard has always lived on its own planet, divorced from mathematics, e.g., it wouldn't recognize a rounding error staring it in its face.

P.S. Taxable Vanguard: 14.90%; Not taxable Vanguard: 9.13%; Not taxable TIAA-CREF 8.83%; overall 12.08%
These results are based on 365 days out of the 366 days of 2012 using XIRR.

P.P.S. Gummy says to use 1/1, but why?
Last edited by sscritic on Tue Jan 01, 2013 6:07 am, edited 1 time in total.
mickcris
Posts: 37
Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:52 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by mickcris »

13.6% in 401K with 75%stock/25%bond. Don't feel like actually calculating the rest. This calculation was done for me by Fidelity.
jon-nyc
Posts: 927
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:02 am
Location: New York

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by jon-nyc »

So what's up with that?
XIRR uses a 365 day convention regardless of whether or not its a leap year. Mathlab's XIRR function is more discriminating.

Who knows what Vanguard is doing.
sscritic
Posts: 21853
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:36 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by sscritic »

jon-nyc wrote: XIRR uses a 365 day convention regardless of whether or not its a leap year. Mathlab's XIRR function is more discriminating.
Thanks Jon; that explains it. I changed all my dates back a year, from 12/31/2010 to 12/31/2011, and got 9.13% out of XIRR. To get the same for 2012, I had to start on 1/1/12.
User avatar
Tim_in_GA
Posts: 509
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:42 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by Tim_in_GA »

15.54% assuming I did the math right at this early hour.
sscritic
Posts: 21853
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:36 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by sscritic »

Tim_in_GA wrote:15.54% assuming I did the math right at this early hour.
Hey, you are in GA; what early hour? Switch your G to a C and talk to me about it. :)
User avatar
grap0013
Posts: 1892
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2010 1:24 pm

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by grap0013 »

~18%

Last year I was near the bottom of returns for this poll.
There are no guarantees, only probabilities.
carolinaman
Posts: 5463
Joined: Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:56 am
Location: North Carolina

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by carolinaman »

I had 7.06% return on 23/77 equity/FI AA. Total return exclusive of SV was 8.6% as I have 27% in SV which only returned 2.75%. However, in current FI market, I will be very happy to get 2.75% on SV in 2013.
User avatar
desertbandit442
Posts: 162
Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:41 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by desertbandit442 »

11.93% with 70/30 stocks to bonds.
goalie
Posts: 151
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:09 am

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by goalie »

17.374646510% With a base of 10% each in TSM, TISM and a Transamerica bond fund. I then overweight Transamerica Russell 2000 small cap and VGI REIT fund on the domestic side. Also overweight Emg Mkts, Intl Small Cap and Intl R E fund. I threw some Hi Yield bond and some I Bonds. I typically run 40% domestic, 35% intl and 25% bonds. I have a 10% market timing window that I use a few times a year, moving Dom Sm Caps to bonds, within my 401K, trying to catch dips and peaks. I had a good year, but I realize that it can all go against me next year. Chip
User avatar
DaleMaley
Posts: 1592
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:04 pm
Location: Fairbury, Illinois
Contact:

Re: What was your 2012 return?

Post by DaleMaley »

61:39 ==> 10.67%

The cash in my Vanguard Money Market fund lowered my return. Will be switching more money from money market to Intermediate Municipal Bond fund VWITX for 2013.
Most investors, both institutional and individual, will find that the best way to own common stocks is through an index fund that charges minimal fees. – Warren Buffett
Post Reply