Well, let’s see how we did. Early on in 2017, I outlined 8 great investing themes for the year. As the benchmark, the S&P 500 generated a return of 20% for the year. That’s the mark to beat.
Here’s the scorecard for the 8 Investing Themes of 2017:
Chinese Growth Theme — China Index ETF, Performance YTD: 33% (beat)
Japan Value Theme — Japan Index ETF, Performance YTD: 23.4% (beat)
Europe Value Theme — Europe Index ETF, Performance YTD: 27.1% (beat)
Protectionism Theme — US Small Cap ETF, Performance YTD: 13.7% (missed)
Precious Metals Theme — Gold ETF, Performance YTD: 11% (missed)
Both Value & Growth Theme — Technology ETF, Performance YTD: 33.5% (beat)
Rising Interest Rates Theme — Financial ETF, Performance YTD: 20% (matched)
Reflation Theme — Metals & Miners ETF, Performance YTD: 24.3% (beat)
Most of the international investments did well because of foreign growth but also because of the decrease in the value of the US dollar. I gave a half-time review last year of the 8 themes at the end of the summer.
So, of the 8 investing themes, 5 beat, 2 missed and 1 matched the benchmark. With equal weighting, the total return of these 8 investing themes is 23.25%, beating the benchmark by 3.25%. It’s been a good year all-around for investing in 2017.
Let’s see what 2018 brings. If you want to see what I think might be 8 great investing themes for 2018, you can check them out here.
Happy investing!
Disclaimer: The above references an opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Please do your own homework.
Jake Ryan is the founder of Tradecraft Capital, a startup advisor, an angel investor & writer on investing. If you enjoyed this article “clap” to help others find it! For more, join us on Facebook, Twitter.
