Brinker Fixed Income Advisor Performance - 2008 Model Portfolio Returns

Below are the "Brinker Fixed Income Advisor" model portfolio returns for 2008 according to Mark Hulbert, editor of "Hulbert Financial Digest" a newsletter that rates other financial newsletters.

Brinker Fixed Income Advisor	2007 (note 1)	2008 (note 2)	Combined
Aggressive Portfolio	8.3%	(21.7%)	(15.2%)
Moderate Portfolio	6.8%	(11.5%)	(5.5%)
Conservative Portfolio	7.1%	(5.2%)	1.5%
The Retirement Advisor Conservative_Capital_Preservation_Portfolio (100% in Fixed Income - no Stocks) FREE=> SAMPLE Issue <==FREE	8.3%	+3.7%	+12.4%

Note 1: Brinker Fixed Income Advisor 2007 Returns from January 2008 issue of Hulbert Financial Digest "Long Term Performance Ranking"

Note 2: Brinker Fixed Income Advisor 2008 Returns from January 2009 issue of Hulbert Financial Digest "Long Term Performance Ranking"


I can not find portfolio returns listed on the "Brinker Fixed Income Advisor" web site. Given that every model portfolio lost money last year while the Total Bond Market was up over 5%, I can understand why the Brinker's might want to make their returns hard to find.

Please contact me if you have actual portfolio returns published by Brinker.

Bond BENCHMARK	2007	2008	Combined
VBMFX - Vanguard Total Bond Index Fund	6.92%	5.05%	12.32%

Note 3: Mark Hulbert says his returns may differ slightly from what Brinker reports. For example, he reports better 2008 model portfolio returns for "Bob Brinker's Marketimer" newsletter than Bob Brinker himself publishes.

Long Term Results that Speak for Themselves
Since 12/31/98 "Kirk's Newsletter Explore Portfolio" is UP 227% (OVER a triple!)
vs. the S&P500 UP only 32% vs. NASDAQ UP only 27% (All through 3/31/11) 

In 2010, "Kirk's Newsletter Explore Portfolio" gained 20.4% vs. the DJIA up 11.0%
In 2009, "Kirk's Newsletter Explore Portfolio" gained 33.5% vs. the DJIA up 18.8%

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Bob Brinker Marketimer 2008 Performance Numbers

Below are the 2008 performance numbers reported by Bob Brinker for his three recommended model portfolios:

Model Portfolio I = Down 39.7%
Model Portfolio II = Down 37.4%
Model III (balanced) = Down 23.9%

Source: Bob Brinker's January 2009 "Marketimer" newsletter.

2008 Benchmarks:

• The Wilshire5000 "total stock market index fund" at Vanguard, VTSMX (click for charts), was down 37.04%
  
  
• The total bond fund at Vanguard, VBMFX (click for charts,) was up 5.05%

Model Portfolio I, down 39.7% in 2008, was 100% invested in equities for all of 2008.

Model Portfolio II, down 37.4% in 2008, was 100% invested in equities for all of 2008.

Bob Brinker's "balanced" Model III, down 23.9% in 2008, started 2008 with 64% in equities. This allocation shows just how bullish Bob Brinker was at the start of 2008. This bullish allocation hurt his performance relative to the "balanced benchmark."

Marketimer P3 Allocation as of 12/31/07

A "balanced" benchmark portfolio half in VTSMX and half in VBMFX finished 2008 down 16%. This is 7.9% better than Bob Brinker's balanced model portfolio #3.

When my writing partner, David Korn, and I began publishing The Retirement Advisor, we considered the universe of what people approaching or in retirement could invest in for their golden years. Many advisers were chasing stock market gains. Other advisers were chasing yield on the fixed income side. We believed that neither was the right approach and decided that our Model Portfolios would be constructed to benefit in up markets, but also be able to weather down markets such that our subscribers could preserve their capital in a reasonable manner, but take the appropriate risk, depending upon an individual investor’s comfort level.

Our Model Portfolio III has the goal of capital preservation in both up and down markets. That portfolio is up over 12% since inception and it gained 3.7% in 2008. Our model portfolios I and II take more risk with equities so they were down in 2008, but they managed to hang on to most of their 2007 gains and perform very well relative to the benchmarks as well as Brinker's portfolios.

My other newsletter, "Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter," is for more aggressive investors who what to use my "core and explore" strategy where you add individual stocks for enhanced (at least so far so good) returns.

Long Term Results that Speak for Themselves
Since 9/30/98 inception, "Kirk's Newsletter Explore Portfolio" is UP 390%
vs. the S&P500 UP only 51% vs. NASDAQ UP only 57% (All through 12/31/11) 
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Latest 2012 Update:  Up 10.5% YTD  as of 2/8/12

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