Sound Mind Investing : Performance History

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Performance History

While past performance is no guarantee of future results, you can learn a lot about an investing strategy by studying its past returns. Does it zoom ahead of the market's returns one year, only to fall way behind the next? Has it demonstrated superior performance in both bull markets and bear markets, or is it primarily suited to one type of market environment?

Upgrading has managed to beat the market in 11 of the past 14 years, an impressive accomplishment. As the graph makes clear, SMI's investing strategies have proven their ability to protect and grow our readers' portfolios.

From 1999-2012, U.S. stocks gained a total of 65.2%, while SMI's Upgrading Strategy gained 207.7%.

How would that performance difference have affected a $25,000 investment made at the beginning of that 14-year period? If invested in the overall market, that $25,000 would have climbed to $41,310. But if the same money had been invested according to SMI's Upgrading strategy, it would have grown to $76,936 — an end result worth almost twice that from investing in the overall market!

Performance History
Year	U.S. Stocks	Just-the-Basics	Fund Upgrading
2012	16.1%	17.6	14.1%
2011	1.0%	-3.4%	-5.4%
2010	17.2%	20.0%	17.8%
2009	28.3%	33.9%	33.6%
2008	-37.2%	-39.3%	-38.8%
2007	5.6%	7.1%	14.3%
2006	15.8%	17.2%	17.4%
2005	6.4%	9.0%	12.0%
2004	12.5%	15.6%	17.3%
2003	31.6%	35.7%	46.6%
2002	-20.9%	-19.6%	-14.2%
2001	-11.0%	-12.2%	4.8%
2000	-10.9%	-11.5%	-2.7%
1999	23.6%	28.2%	30.7%
Total Gain 1999-2012	65.2%	89.9%	207.7%
Dollar Profits on $25,000	$16,310	$22,479	$51,936
Annual Rate of Return	3.7%	4.7%	8.4%

U.S. Stocks is the total return of the Wilshire 5000, the broadest measure of the U.S. market.

Dollar Profits show the amount of profits in an account with a $25,000 balance at the beginning of 1999.