indexfundfan @ indextown

Comments: PrecMetal equity fell about 12% in January. This contributed to a fall of about 0.5% to the portfolio. International equities, EAFE & EM, both also fell more than domestic stocks. These explained the under performance of the portfolio with respect to the benchmark (-3.23% versus -2.26%).

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 taxes in the bill. Of the $15.01 bill, $7.28 is the cost of the “measured” service (I do not pay any additional toll charges) and $7.73 is the cost of taxes and all the other fluff, including

• federal subscriber line charge,
• rate surcharge,
• state regulatory fee,
• federal universal service fee,
• CA high cost fund surcharge-A,
• CA high cost fund-B,
• CA advanced service fund,
• California teleconnectFund surcharge,
• CA relay service and communications devices fund,
• local government fee,
• 9-1-1 emergency system,
• federal fees and tax, and
• local fees and tax.

That’s right, 51.5% of my payment went towards paying taxes and junk fees; only 48.5% is the actual payment for the service. Except for the 9-1-1 fee of $0.04, I consider the rest junk fees. Something is wrong here.

I have identified my land line replacement and I am now testing out the service. The replacement is essentially a VOIP (voice-over-IP/internet) service. Once I am happy with it, I would port my existing number over and rid myself of these junk fees!

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 very good reminder of the need to stay the course. If an investor were to sell out at the bottom during Feb 2009, (s)he would not be able to participate in the rally starting from Mar 2009.