Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year 2007

morningstarlogo.jpgEarlier this month, Morningstar announced the winners of Fund Manager of the Year award for the past year. Here are the winners:

Domestic-Stock Manager of the Year: Will Danoff, Fidelity Contrafund and Fidelity Advisor New Insights

International-Stock Managers of the Year: Hakan Castegren and Northern Cross Team, Harbor International

Fixed-Income Manager of the Year: Bill Gross, PIMCO Total Return and Harbor Bond

Coincidentally or not, I actually own the two stock funds, Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX) and Harbor International (HIINX), that helped their respective managers make to the list. I used to own PIMCO Total Return (PTRRX) in my 401(k) account too, but now I have better place to park my fixed income position -- that is, China-based money market funds that will benefit from the continued appreciating Yuan while earning handsome interest.

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February 12, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Monthly Update - January 2008 ($852,608, -$42,790)

Suffering the biggest-ever loss in our portfolio -- a total of $60,000 -- our net worth took a nosedive again in January. That is, the second month in red in the last three months. For the month, our net worth declined by 4.8%, or over $42,000. I would be lying if I say I don't miss the good old days when we can count on consistent net worth improvement month after month.

On the other hand, it is probably not a bad thing if one takes a long-term perspective. After all, it could be much worse if this happens after I finally bid good-bye to my corporate life -- that extreme early retirement scenario has been in our plan for many years and all we wait for is we hit a certain net worth number. If anything, the recent market turbulence serves as a timely wake-up call in our last stretch toward millionaire club that early retirement is only the means to an end, and risk management is more important than ever in our ride toward financial independence.

Fortunately, our core income streams are still well-oiled machines. My daily job is still generating five-figure monthly cash flow even after paying all taxes and living expenses. Our sideline business also delivered a big surprise in January with monthly net proceeds topping $10,000 again.

All together, our family is little affected by the paper losses (or gains) in our portfolio. Bottomline is, even with the market slide in recent months, we still added more than $190,000 to our net worth in the last 12 months.

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February 9, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off 

Portfolio Update - January 2008 (Down 3.02%)

portfolioicon.jpgSUMMARY

With the S&P 500 dropped more than 6% and the international market performed no better, January sees perhaps the most brutal start of the year in recent memory.

For three months in a row now, my portfolio lost money. This time, for a total of 60 grand in one month, including more than $26,000 in one month in self managed portfolio, and about $34,000 in my employee stock option account.

There is little to celebrate, except that my self-managed portfolio is actually performing better than the general market. My finance-stock-stuffed individual stock portfolio was helped by the aggressive rate slashing of the Fed, and one of my stock pick returned over 50% in this past month. All in all, my portfolio lost 3.02% in the month when my benchmark lost 5.77%.

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February 7, 2008 | Filed Under Uncategorized | Comments Off