Mad Money Machine

Surprising Results so far in the Portfolio Smackdown

I gotta tell ya, even I’m surprised at the way the Portfolio Smackdown is shaping up so far this year. Is IFA Indexfolio 100 really that good? Or are all you guys (including me!) really that bad?

As of today and for the first time this year so far, the IFA Indexfolio 100 has taken the lead in the Portfolio Smackdown competition. No, I’m not just talking about beating the AVERAGE of the portfolios. It’s beating EVERY portfolio! I find this somewhat shocking. I mean, surely one out of 24 of us could pick the Cramer-influenced stocks that would have some nice gains! But it is not the case. The Indexfolio 100 is up 2.85% and the person in second place is mojojojo103 who is up 2.63%. The average of all portfolios is actually DOWN: -0.54% Obviously this is a short-term look at the thing, but it is something even I did not expect — even while I expected the Indexfolio 200 to do well.

So… why? Why is it winning?

Let’s break it down… 5% of it is in REITS, which is up a whopping 9.44% so far YTD.
12% is in International Small and Value indexes which are up about 3.5% YTD.
And 20% of it is in a US small cap value fund which is also up almost 3 and a half percent YTD.
And none of the other indexes are negative. In fact they are all up over 1% in just a month and a half into the year.
And this is net of all fees.

Anyone out there still picking stocks?