Awesome weather still!!

Today I read that in December we only had 1.7 inches of snow, about 19 inches less than last December. There have also been 31 days of above average temperatures since December 1, compared to something like 14 or so last year over the same time period. Let's hope the trend continues!

At the end of the year, I always recommend that people review their investments and consider if they are appropriate going forward. As my statements from my various funds have come in, I've started the process of evaluating my performance. Of course to evaluate performance, you need some kind of benchmark for comparison. One of the more popular benchmarks? The S&P 500 right? So what was the performance of the S&P 500 last year? Without dividends, it was 0%. That's right, a big goose egg. So if you could muster any old type of return, you beat the market!! Congratulations!! We'll see what my return turns out to be on my portfolio, but it's looking good so far. New investments and reallocations are on the docket for 2012.