Weekendshere.com

Time for another Investing 101 report, I got paid again?, not that I am complaining mind you. If you read Tuesday’s post then you know that I finally increased the amount I invest monthly in my 403-B to $100 dollars, read that post here. At the same time I went ahead and made some changes to my portfolio by adding two more mutual funds and hopefully bringing better returns to yours truly. Lets see how those numbers look. 

403-B

Started               $517.21

My Contribution    $  50.00

Up/Down           +$  17.65

Balance               $584.86 Rate of return 36.3% 

DCP

Started                 $546.74

My Contribution     $  0.00

Up/Down             -$  1.75            

Balance                $544.99 Rate of return 5.3%

Total                    $1,129.85

Up                       $ 15.90

Back in April I wrote about doubling the amount invested in my 403-B, you can read that post here. Well I finally did it and starting this week $50 dollars will be deducted from each paycheck for a total of $100 dollars a month. I also made some changes in my portfolio. Joining my 14.841 shares of DFA Emerging Markets (DFEMX) will be 20.862 shares of Fidelity Select Wireless (FWRLX) and 20.983 shares of Fidelity Small Cap Growth (FCPGX), all of them mutual funds.

I went ahead with the change because I wanted to push my DCP in the right direction and because I was disappointed with the 5.6% rate of return as of my last investing report on October 4, 2007. So far this year my 403-B has outperformed my DCP by 26 percentage points as of last investing report. Hopefully this change will help close that gap.

If you remember in the last investment 101 report I mentioned that I was excited about reaching the $1000 dollar mark. That finally happened on September 27, 2007 you can read that post here.  And now it’s time to check the first investing report of the month and hopefully things will keep on rolling. Time to find out if we were up or down, lets check those numbers.

403-B

Started               $461.57

My Contribution    $  25.00

Up/Down           +$  30.94

Balance               $517.21 Rate of return 31.8% 

DCP

Started                 $526.85

My Contribution     $ 16.10

Up/Down            +$  3.79            

Balance                $546.74 Rate of return 5.6%

Total                    $1,063.95

Up                       $ 34.73

If you remember in the last Investing 101 report I mentioned that I was very excited about reaching the $1000 mark, you can read about it here. It finally happened and I couldn’t be any happier. I know that I am on the right path and that is what this is all about. It is not that hard, and if you believe that it is just take me as an example. I invest $50 a month in my 403-B, it’s taken out of my paycheck automatically so I don’t miss it. If I did have those extra $50 in my hand I would no doubt spend it on one of my hobbies, don’t get me wrong I do enjoy my hobbies but I have to do it while sticking to my budget. There are some other investments I would like to make so I checking brokers to see which one will accept the $300 I have to start, I will  let you know how that turns out. In the meantime let me enjoy today’s milestone.

The first investment report of the month is here, in reality this should be the second one but somehow I forgot to write the first one so this post becomes the first one, makes sense right?. Slowly but surely all that money that was lost when the market went south is being recouped. One thing that I am absolutely waiting for is when the $1000 dollar mark is reached, very exciting for me. So lets take a look at them numbers. 

403-B

Started               $409.04

My Contribution    $  25.00

Up/Down           +$  27.53

Balance               $461.57 Rate of return 23.6% 

DCP

Started                 $507.40

My Contribution     $  8.78

Up/Down            +$  10.67            

Balance                $526.85 Rate of return 4.9%

Total                    $988.42

Up                       $ 38.20