Buy and Hold vs. Moving Average ETF Investing 9-10-10

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

So last week I predicted the market would be higher this week. It turned out I was right, barely (two weeks in a row correct). The Dow gained only 16 points and the S&P 500 picked up only 7. I'm going to predict a down week for this coming week.

Our buy and hold ETF investor lost about $24 in the balanced ETF portfolio. The moving average investor lost about $27 for the week in a similar portfolio.

Here's the weekly update:

	ETF Portfolio Value	% Gain
Buy and Hold	$15,431	53.6
Moving Average	$11,076	10.3

(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)

The following ETFs are looking like sell signals but this is a moving average system (slow moving) so we're still going to wait a little longer:
SPDRs (SPY)
Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI)
iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM)