Buy and Hold vs. Moving Average ETF Investing 8-13-10

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

Bad week for the markets. The Dow was down about 350 pts and the S&P 500 was down about 44. This is our first loss following 3 up weeks. As I look at the chart above, there is a pattern of about 3 up weeks and then down for one or two.

The buy and hold ETF investor lost about $597 in the balanced ETF portfolio. The moving average investor lost about $294 for the week in a similar portfolio.

Here's the weekly update:

	ETF Portfolio Value	% Gain
Buy and Hold	$14,928	48.6
Moving Average	$10,988	7.8

(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.

No changes required this week.

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)