Back in August, I created the Gold Star Portfolio — a selection of mutual funds that have low expense ratios and are rated highly by Morningstar.  It’s been almost three months — time for a quarterly check up.

The graph below shows the Gold Star Performance in pink.  The blue line is a weighted average of the indexes.  The good news is that the overall markets went up 5.1%.  The better news is that, in the same time period, the Gold Star Portfolio is up 6.9%.

It’s only been three months.  That’s not much to hang your hat on, but I am encouraged that the gains were made fairly steadily.  Each component of the portfolio contributed to its overall performance — there wasn’t a “superstar” or a “dog.”

The graph below shows the relative value of each fund.

It would be more meaningful, though, to see how each component performed relative to its index. So the next graph shows how each component performed relative to its related index.  The graph below shows the value of each component divided by its related index.  A value of one means that a component did as well as its index.  The small cap fund (JSCVX) and the bond fund (TGMNX) performed the best relative to their respective indexes, but all four components did at least as well as their index.

In the above analysis, I used index funds to represent the indexes.  I looked for, but could not find, time-series values for the MSCI EAFE and for the standard bond fund benchmark (Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond).   (Drop me a line, please, if you know of an online source.)

For those of you who like your numbers, here’s the data in tabular format.  By column, it lists the Gold Star Fund name, category, the amount invested on 8/25 for a hypothetical $10,000 portfolio, the amount that each fund position would currently be worth and the overall return (not annualized).  The next column lists the index for each category, and its change over the same period, and the relative weight of each category.

In summary, it looks like the Gold Star Portfolio is off to a good start.  I’ll check it again in another three months and see how it’s doing.

Related Posts: The Gold Star Portfolio

Full disclosure: Long in UMBWX, AMAGX, and JSCVX.

Disclaimers: This information is provided for educational purposes only.  It may not be an appropriate investment for you. See a financial professional if you have questions about your particular situation.  Investments in mutual funds are no t FDIC insured and can cause loss of principal (you can lose money).

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