I can honestly say that getting a higher return in a portfolio is actually easier than most people think. My investment strategy is becoming a little more complex, but my theories are still pretty basic. Find good and profitable companies with long sustainable growth. Of course one of the biggest changes that I’ve done is purchasing more shares of a company instead of diversifying in many companies with a lump sum. I would rather a return of 20% with an investment of a $1000 in one company versus a 30% average return in ten companies with the same investment amount. I know I’ve been covering this issue a lot lately, but I truly think it’s an important topic. Trading fees can kill an investment when you buy in small increments. I know a lot of bloggers disagree with me on this, but in my personal experience its worked wonders.

Last year my individual stock portfolio returned a pretty healthy return, but I’ve already made almost double that even when I incorporate trading fees. I realize that putting more of my eggs in fewer baskets can be dangerous, but doing your homework can really save that “investment risk.”

This year I’ve made some big purchases (for me at least) in some good growth companies. As you know, I’ve decided to buy Nintendo and E*Trade.  I still have $2200 left to add to my Roth IRA. Here are the stocks that I am looking at purchasing later on this year. Masimo Corporation was brought to my attention earlier last month. Jim Cramer also reinsured my position after speaking highly about the company earlier this week. The company recently became public and they’ve done a great job in the medical technology field. They have patents on their most profitable products and apparently they have technologies that will change the whole industry.

Pengrowth and Penn West are still looking good and have those extremely high paying dividends, which is always a good investment. I’m leaning more towards Penn West because Pengrowth just lowered their dividend yield. The nice thing about these companies is they pay their dividends on a monthly basis. This means your investment compounds monthly and grants you a higher return than the quoted dividend. I want to maximize my returns this year. I want to aim at getting a 54% return. I know it seems high and unrealistic, but I could sell the shares I already own and put them in cash and make a 32% return.

Everyone has a different investment strategy and I am not saying that mine is perfect, but since I’ve changed my style, money is certainly coming faster than before. Just remember that diversification in small amounts will lower your return. I would recommend putting your money in a high-yield savings account until you reach a $1000 dollars. After that, you can look at what stocks fit your investment style and strategy.

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Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, January 12^th, 2007 Full Value $11,137.28
• Friday, January 12^th, 2007 Full Value $11,168.66
• Increase of $31.38 which is a ~.2% increase.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, January 12^th, 2007 Full Value $2356.52
• Friday, January 26^th, 2007  Full Value $2,291.42
• Decrease of $65.1 which is a ~2.0% decrease.

“Some stocks traded lower for the second-consecutive day as investors remained concerned about higher interest rates following better-than-expected economic data. Crude-oil prices, which rebounded above $55 a barrel, also weighed on the market.“WSJ

As private equity stocks suffer the worst 4^th quarter in three years, a lot of my retail stocks have been pulled down. My energy stocks have remained stagnant even with the reports of the crude oil rebound. The overall market is at a low vs. what the market should be; which means it’s a good time to buy. Looks like a great time to buy Circuit City stock don’t you think?

	Today’s Change		-0.16 (-0.79%)

My mutual fund is keeping its pace by providing steady monthly returns. I recently sold all my Balanced Fund shares and purchased Global Equity shares. I wanted to remove the safety net and purchase some international stocks. The year to date return is nice and most of stocks are still in North America which is less risky. We shall see how these new funds perform over the long haul.

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Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Monday, January 1^st, 2007 Full Value $11,125.85
• Friday, January 12^th, 2007 Full Value $11,137.28
• Increase of $11.43 which is a ~.01% increase.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Monday, January 1^st, 2007 Full Value $2401.75
• Friday, January 12^th, 2007 Full Value $2356.52
• Decrease of $45.23 which is a ~2.0% decrease.

The New Year is starting very slow in both my retirement accounts. As you can see, my mutual fund has increased a little, while my stock portfolio has dropped due to Vonage dropping in value even more. Suncor Energy Inc (SU) is finally looking like it’s picking up some speed after dropping more than $10 at the end of 2006.

I’ve decided that instead of posting my stock performance on a weekly basis, I will start posting it on a monthly basis; unless there are some radical changes that develop. I’ve also calculated my “wanted” return for 2007.

• Mutual Fund -15% growth in 2007 which would be $12794.73
• I will need my portfolio to increase in value by $1657.45

• Individual Stock Portfolio 18% growth in 2008 which would be 2834.06
• I will need my portfolio to increase in value $477.55

I will also be contributing to my Roth IRA so I will have to calculate my real return after I think of how much I want to add this year.

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Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, December 22, 2006 Full Value $10,881.66
• Friday, December 29, 2006 Full Value $11,125.85
• Increase of $244.19 which is a ~2.2% increase.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, December 22, 2006 Full Value $2344.10
• Friday, December 29, 2006 Full Value $2401.75
• Increase of $57.65 which is a ~2.45 increase.

Stock trading for 2006 is complete and I didn’t receive what I originally anticipated earlier this year. It turns out both my stock and mutual fund portfolio didn’t push up in the last month like I thought. They finished strong with an average of over 15% growth this year which is still a very nice return. My mutual fund balance on January 1^st, 2006 was $9548.45 and finished on December 29, 2006 with a balance of $11,125.85; which is a yearly return of 16.5%.

My individual stock portfolio had some real winners and some pretty big laggers. Circuit City had a pretty solid year till mid October. They dropped nearly 17% in one month and dropped even more in December. My stock portfolio balance on January 1^st, 2006 was $2042.78 and finished with a balance of 2401.75; which is a yearly return of 17.57%. Not too shabby with three bad stocks.

Here are my Superman stocks for this year in order of performance.

• DELTA AIR LINES INC: 89% return
• IAC/InterActiveCorp : 30.5% return
• Adobe Systems Incorporated: 30.33% return
• Sun Microsystems, Inc.: 23.74% return
• HONDA MOTOR CO ADR: 23.47
• Google Inc.: 20.80% return
• GEN MOTORS: 20.17% return

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Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, December 9, 2006 Full Value $10,971.00
• Friday, December 22, 2006Full Value $10,881.66
• Decrease of $89.34 which is a ~1% decrease.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, December 9, 2006  Full Value $2368.40
• Friday, December 22, 2006  Full Value $2344.10
• Decrease of $24.3 which is a ~1.2 decrease.

The mutual fund was the big shocker last week. If my mutual fund would have stayed the same (in terms of share price), the fund could have produced my 20% return for the year. On December 15^th I received my dividends and capital gains for the year which awarded me with $510.72. That’s a nice payment, but all the shares in my mutual fund went down in value by about 4%. The only real positive from this situation is that I purchased the funds at the discounted price.

My stock portfolio is floating around the 15% return area which is okay but not wonderful. This will be the smallest return I’ve received ever in my stock portfolio. I’ve done a few risky investment moves this year that have either helped or damaged my portfolio. The big pusher was Delta that gave a 110% return this year! My three let downs were Vonage, Whole Foods, and Circuit City. They’ve lowered my overall portfolio by 8.4%. Ouch! All of those stocks are considered to be volatile growth stocks, so hopefully they will perform next year.

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Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, December 1st, 2006 Full Value $10,877.46

• Friday, December 9, 2006  Full Value $10,971.00

• Increase of $93.54 which is a ~0.9% increase.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, December 1st, 2006  Full Value $2339.97

• Friday, December 9, 2006  Full Value $2368.40

• Increase of $28.43 which is a ~1.2 increase.

I am extremely glad I sold my shares of SunTrust this week because it’s gone down about forty cents since then. My stock portfolio went up a little since last week, but I expect it to get some more momentum before the end of the year. I added a good amount of shares and diversified myself to some outside markets that I wasn’t originally part of. Walgreens and Suncor Energy Inc. were my big purchases followed by Archer Daniels Midland Company and Penn West Energy Trust. I can see some big time growth in those companies but I am hoping that all the new purchases will be worth my time and money.

The mutual fund went up a little too because my small cap fund is finally doing a good job at the end of the year. Two weeks from now, it will be a big week for my mutual fund because I will be receiving the dividends and capital gains; hopefully seeing the last push to make my 20% return for this year.

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Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, November 24, 2006 – Full Value $10,922.02

• Friday, December 1^st, 2006 – Full Value $10,877.46

• Decrease of $44.56 which is a ~0.4% decrease.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, November 24, 2006 – Full Value $2373.71

• Friday, December 1^st, 2006 – Full Value $2339.97

• Decrease of $33.74 which is a ~1.4 decrease.

The only reason why my stock is down this week is because of my stock leader SunTrust. It was on its 52 week high last week ($83.3) and sank a little ($82.0); which lowered down the overall stock performance. SunTrust will be going up in the next two weeks, I hope, so I can sell it while it’s at the high. I trust that the portfolio will get its return, and I just upgraded my ShareBuilder account to the advantage so I can sell at a discount and buy around ten stocks for free.

My mutual fund portfolio went down a minimal amount so I will just pretend nothing happened this week. The dividends and capital gains will be coming in next week which will throw my portfolio up.

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Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, November 17, 2006 – Full Value $10,772.26

• Friday, November 24, 2006 – Full Value $10,922.02

• Increase of $149.76 which is a ~1.4% increase.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, November 17, 2006 – Full Value $2353.20

• Friday, November 24, 2006 – Full Value $2373.71

• Increase of $20.51 which is a ~.09% increase.

Even though there wasn’t much movement in my individual stock portfolio, some stocks have been going up like I planned. SunTrust is almost ready for the big sell. Hopefully, I will be able to get some good deals on the stocks I have my eyes on. Usually buying stocks at the end of the year is a bad idea because most are inflated around the holidays. When the companies release their earnings for the last quarter is usually when you see a true increase in stock price.

My mutual fund portfolio is slowing pushing up at a steady pace. If it keeps on going up at the regular 1.4% increase that I’ve been seeing for the past three weeks, I could achieve over 20% return this year (excluding inflation). I’m still crossing my fingers that the dividends and the capital gains will be the final punch for this year.

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I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel; in terms of my portfolio returns. My stock portfolio will achieve over 24% by the end of the year, and I will be selling some stock to weight out my portfolio (it needs it really bad because SunTrust has 60% of my portfolio! 401(k) transfer).

My mutual fund on the other hand will probably not be getting its scheduled 20% return. I’m thinking it will be around 17%, but hopefully I will get some capital gain that will boost it up some more. I usually get a good amount of money from capital gain and dividend return which ends up kicking up the portfolio about 4-5%. So I may get my forecasted 20%.

I’m only another ~$140.00 off my individual stock portfolio goal. I know the holidays are going to jerk up my retail stocks, and my airline stocks. I am also hoping to see a positive return in my Vonage performance. As you know Vonage has gone down almost 60% year to date. Fortunately, I didn’t buy it when it was $17.50. I would just like to see a 1% return! I know I won’t be making a ton of money off Vonage for sometime though, but when I do I can see it being big.

Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, November 10, 2006 – Full Value $10,628.20

• Friday, November 17, 2006 – Full Value $10,772.26

• Increase of $144.06 which is a ~1.4% increase.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, November 10, 2006 – Full Value $2292.98

• Friday, November 17, 2006 – Full Value $2353.20

• Increase of $60.22 which is a ~2.6% increase.

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This was a good surprise before the holidays. Most of the growth in my individual stock portfolio was caused by Delta. I was surprised to see the increase in worth because SunTrust slowly moved down (which reflects on my portfolio heavily because I have 17 shares of the company). I thought that I would lose another 2-3% before the holidays, but it seems like people are buying now.

Mutual Fund Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, November 3, 2006 – Full Value $10,485.46

• Friday, November 10, 2006 – Full Value $10,628.20

• Increase of $142.74 which is a ~1.3% increase.

Individual Stock Performance (All grouped together)

• Friday, November 3, 2006 – Full Value $2,233.81

• Friday, November 10, 2006 – Full Value $2292.98

• Increase of $59.17 which is a ~2.6% increase.

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