The "Digging" Report Q4 2004

December 31, 2004

My Personal "Mutual Fund" OTC:RASXX

Note: OTC means Over The Counter. The ticker symbol is fictitious; please don't ask your broker to buy it. In the rare event that such a ticker does exist please inform me at once, in order to change it. I don't want to mislead anyone.

The fourth quarter delivered the post-election rally that many expected. As a matter of fact, the rally started a couple of weeks before the election. Although the gains were in the single digits, they sure beat my negative performance. Less that 2% for the quarter and a loss of over 6% for the whole year. The bad performance of the first quarter could not be overcome. The only thing I can say in my defense is that 2004 was a highly volatile year and for the most part trendless. However, once I leave the workforce, only growing equity will be able to support me. Excuses will certainly not. Recapping the year, the market and my account turned up in August, but the slope of my rise did not match that of the general market. 

Performance as of 12/31/2004

NAV: 15.69

* Annualized compound return

The 1, 3, 5 and 10 year periods are counted backwards starting from the report date

Performance is before personal taxes. Maintenance and research costs (my personal time doing the accounting, trading and web publishing; time spent on the web and investment books) are not taken into consideration.

Freedometer ratio: 3.69%

Scale: 0-10 Worthless slave; 11-25 Rank and file; 26-40 Lowest level privileged; 41-75 Candidate for temporal release; 76-99 Almost free on parole; 100+ § A free person!

§ Unless you can't make ends meet with your present salary.

Quarter to date

Year to date

Since Inception

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