Buy and Hold vs. Moving Average ETF Investing 8-6-10

Buy and Hold vs. Moving Average ETF Investing
(past 12 weeks)

Not a bad week for the markets, the Dow was up about 190 pts and the S&P 500 was up about 14. This is 4 weeks in row that the market has moved higher.

The buy and hold ETF investor made about $235 in the balanced ETF portfolio. The moving average investor made about $94 for the week in a similar portfolio.

Here's the weekly update:

	ETF Portfolio Value	% Gain
Buy and Hold	$15,525	54.6
Moving Average	$11,118	10.7

(Started in March 2009 with $10,000 in each portfolio)

Moving Average Update
Each week, the moving average investor compares the 50 day MA against the 200 day MA to see if he should sell (or buy) any of the 10 ETFs in the balanced ETF portfolio.

The Spyders have turned positive (50 day above 200 day) so the moving average investor will stay long. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF is slightly positive so we'll stay long here as well.

Invested:

SPDRs (SPY)
Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI)
iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM)
Vanguard SF REIT (VNQ)
Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO)
iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond (AGG)
iShares Barclays TIP (TIP)
iShares Barclays 1-3 Yr Credit Bond (CSJ)

Not Invested:

Vanguard European Stock (VGK)
Vanguard Pacific ETF (VPL)