A lazy portfolio question

[seen]

This might be a silly question; in fact I'm pretty certain I'm misreading this but:

Margaritaville - Lazy Portfolios - MarketWatch.com

Can someone please explain the return percentages to me? Why is the "total portfolio" annual return so much lower than the 3 individual funds' annual averaged?

Thanks.

[disneysteve]

That's really strange. I have no idea how to explain that.

If 1/3 earned 16.85%, 1/3 earned 19.14%, and 1/3 earned 5.66%, the average would not be 5.73%. It would be 13.88%.

Makes no sense that I can see.

[lhkorn99]

I bet they got the allocation percentages wrong - math doesn't add up otherwise for the total return.

[seen]

I appreciate the feedback, thanks. I wasn't sure if I was just misreading how the calculation was done, or missing some hidden cost/fee or something, so I'm glad it's just a mistake.

[scfr]

Something's whacky with the numbers on the link you provided.
For better data, check out these links:

http://assetbuilder.com/lazy_portfolios/

http://assetbuilder.com/couch_potato/couch_potato_cookbook

(Scott Burns is one of the founders of Asset Builder.)