The BIG BOUNCE!

Things have been going very well since July 8, the date of my last post. The TSX has bounced from 9,653 to 11,495 as of September 15. An amazing 19% jump in about 70 days.

At the same time, the value of my portfolio has risen by a bit over 17%. Haven't quite matched the TSX. During this period, my mutual funds are up 18% but my stocks are up only 15%.

Right now I'm holding more stocks than usual. A total of nine, and a very mixed bag. At the moment I'm holding one energy company, one pipeline, one alternative energy company (wind generation), two Canadian banks, one miner, two speculative small caps and the Claymore Canadian Agricultural ETF (COW).  The American Agricultural ETF is (MOO:NY).  Go figure.

With a mixture like this, it's pretty much guaranteed that they'll all never move in the same direction at the same time. Some go up, some go down. While I've enjoyed some gains since July 8 my stocks have not managed to keep up to the TSX or my mutual funds.

But, this is not the BIG BOUNCE referenced in the title of this post. No, it's not the 17% increase in my portfolio value since July 8 I'm excited about. Remember that I mentioned November 20, 2008 as the low for the year? This was also the day that my entire portfolio hit an all time low. The BIG BOUNCE I'm referring to is the fact that my portfolio value has risen a full 50% since that day! Yes, a very BIG BOUNCE of 50% in just under ten months!

I am very thankful that I did not give into the urge to sell off during last year's doldrums. On the other hand, I am even more thankful, that for the past few years, I managed to resist the urge to cash GICs in favor of adding to my stock or fund portfolios during good times. The balancing act between fear and greed is always a challenge.