Investment Returns By Asset Class – November 2012 Update

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Here is my monthly update of the trailing total returns for the major asset classes that I find useful. I am using passive ETFs to track asset classes, as they represent actual investments that anyone can buy and sell. Return data was taken after market close at the end of November 2012.

Asset Class
Representative ETF
Benchmark Index
1-Mo 1-Year 5-Year 10-Year
Broad US Stock Market
Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI)
MSCI US Broad Market Index
0.75% 15.94% 1.92% 7.19%
Broad International Stock Market
Vanguard Total International Stock (VXUS)
MSCI All Country World ex USA Investable Market Index
1.84% 10.51% -4.26% 8.59%
Emerging Markets
Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO)
MSCI Emerging Markets Index
1.32% 8.53% -2.07% 15.16%
REIT (Real Estate)
Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ)
MSCI US REIT Index
-0.37% 18.74% 4.20% 11.36%
Broad US Bond Market
Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND)
Barclays U.S. Aggregate Float Adj. Bond Index
0.16% 4.99% 6.35% 5.39%
US Treasury Bonds – Short-Term
iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY)
Barclays U.S. 1-3 Year Treasury Bond Index
0.07% 0.33% 2.25% 2.70%
US Treasury Bonds – Long-Term
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT)
Barclays U.S. 20+ Year Treasury Bond Index
1.34% 9.13% 9.96% 8.45%
TIPS / Inflation-Linked Bonds
iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP)
Barclays U.S. TIPS Index
0.47% 7.56% 6.99% n/a
Gold
SPDR Gold Shares (GLD)
Price of Gold Bullion
0.37% -1.54% 16.63% n/a

Here is a chart of the 1-year trailing returns for the major asset classes above, which I use to help decide where to invest new funds and for rebalancing. Note that I do not necessarily invest in all the listed asset classes, see my personal portfolio for details.

* Listed are total returns (includes dividends and interest) as calculated by Morningstar as of 11/30/12. All periods longer than one year are annualized. NAV returns are listed except in the case of GLD, as there is not a significant premium/discount to NAV for the other ETFs and the NAV returns match the equivalent Vanguard mutual fund returns. In certain cases, I am using the long-term returns of the equivalent Vanguard mutual funds as Vanguard ETFs are simply a different share class of the mutual funds, share the same underlying investments (VXUS/VTIAX, VWO/VEIEX, VNQ/VGLSX, BND/VBLTX).

My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

MyMoneyBlog.com is also a member of the Amazon Associate Program, and if you click through to Amazon and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.


User Generated Content Disclosure: Comments and/or responses are not provided or commissioned by any advertiser. Comments and/or responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser. It is not any advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

Comments

  1. I was behind on the Vanguard wagon. I mainly bought American Funds. Now i’m regretting that I didn’t do my main funds in Vanguard and dabbled in American Funds instead of the other way around.

    That and never buying the Gold Ishares when gold started going up!!

    Good job

  2. I enjoy this feature of the blog. Keep it up!

  3. I was considering investing in VWO, but I learned recently that it is no longer going to track the MSCI emerging market index but instead will be tracking the FTSE emerging market index. The main difference between MSCI and FTSE is that FTSE excludes South Korea as a developing country. LG and Samsung have been major success stories, so the fact that VWO will no longer have these companies as holdings may affect performance.

    So are you going to stick to VWO or now favor the ishares emerging market ETF that is still tracking the MSCE index?
    Here’s Vanguard’s press release: https://pressroom.vanguard.com/pressroom/mvc/home_page.html

Leave a Reply to NJ Watcher Cancel reply

*