portfolio up 30%

[bethasaver]

Per Mint, my portfolio has changed, for the positive 30%. It's been around here for months. It calculates using the price paid vs. market value. Now, I have no training in finance or investments- just what I read about and research. When picking funds for 403b/401k I just do some research, read some blogs, examine past performance. Is there some sort of catch here? Does mint not calculate this correctly? Do I have some talent for picking funds that I'm not aware of?! What's supposed to be average, what's low and what's excellent? What might a portfolio like this do in the future?

[disneysteve]

You really haven't given enough info to answer your questions.

What time period are you talking about? What investments do you own?

The market has been doing really well, hitting record highs. Is it possible that you got a 30% return over a short period of time? Absolutely. Is that normal or average? Absolutely not. Long term average annual return is generally in the 8-10% range for good growth funds though most of us use a lower number for planning purposes like 7% just to be safe.

If you aren't sure if the returns are being properly calculated, just look up each fund and see what the reported returns are.

[bethasaver]

I'm not really sure the time period, because it's what I paid when I bought it compared to what it's worth today. Some were bought a couple years ago, some are recurring every paycheck.

Here's a screen shot of my funds. Thanks.

[bjl584]

The time period is probably a rolling average for the quarter or maybe even for the last 30 days.

You certainly shouldn't expect that to continue. Everyone's portfolio has been making huge gains lately with the market hitting new highs. Things are starting to cool off now though. You should see that normalize and go back down to more historic levels.

[MatthewC]

Still need more info. Steve is right when he asks how long you have had your investments.

If you want a good answer, you need to ask a good question. (And in this case, that means more information)

If you can't say when you bought each investment and how much they each went up, no one can really tell you how well you did. If you happened to own all of them for just 1 year previous to your post, you did rather well. (although my own simulation that started based on 8/31 data of last year went up 43.03% + dividends - expenses not calculated in over a 1-year period)

I can't see your screenshot, don't know the breakdown of your investments, and don't know their individual gains. So I can't really say how well your investment did.