Archive for January, 2010

Junk fees in AT&T landline service

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Like many people, I find myself using less and less of the land line phone. A few years ago, I reduced my land line with AT&T from the “unlimited local” service to “measured” service. The current AT&T bill amount is $15.01 a month.
When I examine the bill closer recently, I find lots of fluff and [...]

Portfolio Return for December 2009

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Comments: The portfolio gains 1.95% in December.  The overall gain for 2009 is 29.49%. This is commendable considering the 28.2% loss in 2008.
However, when 2008 and 2009 were taken together, the portfolio’s performance is at a value of only (1-28.2%)x(1+29.49%) =0.930, i.e. there is a loss of around 7%.
2008 & 2009 proved to be a [...]

Portfolio Return for November 2009

Monday, January 18th, 2010

Comments: Portfolio made a huge gain of almost 4.5% in the month.