Equity markets have recovered somewhat from the deep losses experienced in January and the middle of March and the performance of the Sleepy Portfolio during the first quarter of 2008 reflects that. The portfolio ended the quarter with a small loss of 0.7%. Bonds (XSB and XRB) were the only winners but equities fell slightly and were offset somewhat by weakness in the Canadian dollar.
![[Sleepy Portfolio 1Q-2008 Performance Table]](http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/images/2008/1q2008.JPG)
I sold the last of our direct holdings in US equities and the only direct holdings are a handful of Canadian stocks and RioCan as a proxy for REITs. Since the vast majority of our portfolios are in ETFs or index mutual funds, our returns would (more or less) track the returns of the Sleepy Portfolio.
During the quarter, I added to our holdings in VTI, VEA, Bank of Montreal (BMO), TD Bank (TD), Yellow Pages Income Fund (YLO.UN) and RioCan REIT (REI.UN) and sold some bonds (XSB). Only time will tell if the timing was fortuitous or bigger bargains can be had in the future.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 moneygardener // Apr 2, 2008 at 11:14 pm
so you did end up adding some YLO…looking like that might have been a wise choice..
2 Canadian Capitalist // Apr 3, 2008 at 6:31 am
MG: I added just a little bit of YLO. The significant additions were VTI and VEA. Yeah, so far the YLO buy is looking good but so many stocks are up sharply over the past few days.
3 moneygardener // Apr 3, 2008 at 9:56 am
XDV is 8% off its recent low while YLO is 22% off its recent low. I don’t think it is jiving the the general market.
4 Canadian Capitalist // Apr 3, 2008 at 10:01 am
True, but YLO also fell much more than other stocks. Still, I am not complaining
5 Yves // May 13, 2008 at 11:57 am
CC,
I see in your report card you have (VTI) which is a nice all in one package for the US. What are you thoughts on the (VEU) All World Ex-US. I think this ETF started up in 2007 so it’s fairly new, however do you think this would be a justifiable replacement for the XIC,VEA,VWO? I will be setting up an mix of ETF’s in the near future and would like your input on the (VEU). Maybe this can be a future topic for posting.
Thanks,
6 Canadian Capitalist // May 13, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Yves: The problem with VEU is that it includes a weighting of Canada at 5.4%, which is redundant for Canadian investors. IMO, VEA + VWO provides all the world ex-US exposure that a Canadian investor needs. Thanks for the post idea. I’ll add it to my list.
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