2016 Final Results and 2017 So Far

So it's been a while since I've done an update on Investor Joar.  So I wanted to provide a quick update on where things finished up for 2016.

Overall, 2016 ended up with a big win for the Robo-Adviser portfolio, with a total return for that portfolio of 8.03% compared to 5.02% for my big fancy adviser managed portfolio.  That being said, the adviser managed portfolio finished up the fourth quarter with a strong performance with a return of 1.04% compared to 0.48% for the robo-adviser.

So far in 2017, the reverse is true, with the adviser managed portfolio turning in a return of 1.97% compared to a return of 1.84% for the robo-portfolio for the month of January.

While the robo-portfolio finished better off for last year overall, the two portfolios went back and forth a few times during the year with the adviser doing better in Q2 and Q4.

So the experiment continues into 2017.

Another Win for the Robo-Adviser

So results of my little portfolio contest are in for the month of July, and it was another solid win for my Robo-Adviser portfolio, which was up 3.66% for the month of July, compared to 2.5% for the high fee portfolio.

As I've mentioned in this space in the past, the high-fee portfolio includes a hedge fund component which is priced a month in arrears, so the results for July likely include the impact of the Brexit vote in late June on those hedge funds.  Since most markets recovered nicely over the month of July, we may see that give the high fee portfolio an advantage over the month of August, but we'll have to see on that.

On a full year basis, the high fee portfolio continues to gets its ass kicked, returning 3.07% for the year, compared to a nice 6.21% for the robo-adviser.  Note in both of these cases, these returns are after the fees for each are deducted.

June Update

So my fancy fee-based portfolio slightly outperformed for the month of June with a return of 0.67% compared to 0.22% for the robo-adviser.  This also put my fee-based adviser ahead for the second quarter with a total return for the quarter of 2.22% compared to 1.89% for the robo-adviser.

However, the full service adviser is still running behind for the year with a total return for the first six months of 0.55% compared to 2.46% for the robo-adviser.

Note that these figures are all after fees, loads, expenses, etc., so the fact that my full service adviser has my portfolio invested in some fairly expensive managed funds and very expensive hedge fund investments is reducing the returns here.  So they're already starting with a significant disadvantage on the expense side, requiring a fair amount of outperformance just to stay steady.

Update on May Results

So for the month of May, the fancy adviser run portfolio came roaring back, delivering a 1.06% return for the month, soundly thrashing my robo-adviser portfolio, which was actually down 0.37%.  Despite the outperformance for the month, the full fee portfolio is still running behind for the year, where it has delivered a return of 0.31% compared to 2.24% for the robo-adviser.  It is running slightly ahead quarter to date with a return for the quarter so far of 1.97% compared to 1.67% for the quarter so far for the robo-adviser.

Part of what is supposedly driving the recent improved results in my adviser managed portfolio is some changes that have been made to the hedge fund portion of the portfolio, which had experienced an unusual period of underperformance early in the year and so has made some adjustments to help correct that.  Hedge funds are typically priced a month in arrears, so what you see above reflected for May is results for the hedge funds through the end of April.  With the market as a whole being slightly worse in May compared to April, it'll be interesting to see how those adjustments fared when we see June results.

Cheers.

The Robo-Adviser Win Streak Continues

So April finished up with the robo-adviser portfolio continuing it's win streak over my fancy pants managed version.  The general theme for the year so far is that when the market is down, the paid adviser wins, but when the market is up, the robo-adviser surges ahead.  And at least so far, its overperformance in up markets seriously outweighs its underperformance in down markets.

For the month of April, the robo portfolio was up 2.05%.  In contrast, the adviser managed portfolio was up only 0.91%.  On a year-to-date basis, the robo portfolio is up 2.62% while the high cost adviser portfolio is actually still down 0.74%.

Cheers.

The Robo-Adviser Surges Ahead

Looking at the results for the month of March, my robo-adviser fund was clearly better positioned to take advantage of the turnaround in the market.  It crushed my fancy high-falutin' fee based investment adviser.  They're huddled up in a corner crying into their Brooks Brothers pocket squares.

So for the month of March, the robo-adviser increased 7.08%.  By comparison, my full service adviser managed to post a 3.89% gain.

Now I'm going to provide one minor caveat to this.  As I've mentioned before, my full service adviser has be in some hedge funds.  The valuation in those hedge funds posts one month in arrears, so the March numbers for my full service adviser represents the hedge fund values as of February 28, 2016, rather than as of March 31.  So to the extent those hedge funds recovered in value in March, it's not reflected in these numbers but will catch up in April.  So we'll see how that plays out.

For the quarter, it was still a relatively severe beating, but not quite as bad.  The robo-adviser finished up 0.56% on the quarter, and the full service adviser ended up down 1.63%.

I'll be watching April very carefully because of the aforementioned hedge fund recovery issue.  

February Results

So the month of February is now in the books for my little high paid adviser versus robo-adviser experiment.  Interestingly enough, February ended in a virtual tie, with my adviser managed portfolio edging very slightly ahead for the month.  So, for February, my adviser managed portfolio was down 0.92%, while the robo-adviser portfolio was down 0.96%.

By comparison, the Dow was up about 3% while the S&P was down 0.4%.

So the adviser managed portion of the portfolio is still running slightly ahead.