Portfolio Report Card Shows Big Improvement in 2010

MarketRiders has released a 2010 Portfolio Report Card showing that stock and bond market portfolios returned between 4% to 16%.

The online report card allows everyday investors and their financial advisors to determine whether their portfolios actually achieved market returns. The MarketRiders 2010 Portfolio Report Card measures all elements of a portfolio against multiple indices to provide everyday investors with the means to actually assess their 2010 returns.

According to MarketRiders’ findings, in 2010 a portfolio made up of 90 percent bonds should have gained almost 4% with extremely low risk. In the worst month, this portfolio lost only about 1%. Alternatively, a diversified portfolio with 10% bonds should have experienced a robust 16% rise by the end of the year. However, to get to that point, investors endured a loss of over 6% in the worst month — a one-year swing of 22%.

Most investors who own a well-diversified retirement portfolio will own small, large and mid-cap US Stocks, international stocks, real estate, bonds and even commodities. The common wisdom of using the S&P as a gauge to measure market returns is insufficient; it is only one of several indices that comprise a well-diversified, standard retirement portfolio.

"Judging a diversified portfolio's returns just by the S&P or any one index is like grading a salad just by the lettuce," said MarketRiders CEO Mitch Tuchman in a statement. "A salad is made up of many ingredients — and so is a portfolio. You have to measure the interplay of all components to find out how your portfolio performed."

The MarketRiders 2010 Report Card presents returns for model portfolios built with standard asset allocations using low-fee ETFs from Vanguard, iShares and State Street to benchmark performance. These five all-ETF portfolios serve as benchmarks for 2010 and include different allocations to all industry-accepted asset classes.

For more information, visit www.MarketRiders.com/report-card.

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