SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker and monthly Fund Performance Rankings (FPR) report have been updated to reflect mutual-fund performance data current through May 31, 2018. (The Tracker and FPR typically are updated between the 10th-14th, but we've been able to move things up a bit this month.)

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker is our most popular web tool. It allows SMI members to personalize our mutual-fund rankings to their specific situation. The result is a monthly report showing only the funds each member is interested in, ranked by momentum and sorted according to SMI's risk categories (or without the categories, if a member prefers). This allows a member to take the 20,000+ funds SMI tracks every month and instantly transform those rankings into a concise report covering only the specific offerings available via his or her 401k (or other retirement plan).

The Fund Performance Rankings report contains performance data and momentum rankings on more than 1,600 no-load funds and ETFs. The funds included have been selected on the basis of asset size, brand familiarity, and brokerage availability. You'll find help in understanding how to use the FPR (page 2), an overview of the 70+ risk categories that help you compare "apples to apples" (page 3), and explanations for the various data-column headings (page 4).

To receive an email when the FPR and Tracker updates go live each month, visit the SMI home page and click on "My Account" under Quick Links. From there, go to the "Email Subscriptions" page and check the box next to "FPR/Tracker Update."

Why Upgrade?

SMI offers two primary investing strategies for “basic” members. They are different in philosophy, the amount of attention they require, and the rate of return expected from each. Our preferred investing strategy is called Fund Upgrading, and is based on the idea that if you are willing to regularly monitor your mutual-fund holdings and replace laggards periodically, you can improve your returns. While Upgrading is relatively low-maintenance, it does require you to check your fund holdings each month and replace funds occasionally. If you don’t wish to do this yourself, a professionally-managed version of Upgrading is available.

SMI also offers an investing strategy based on index funds called Just-the-Basics (JtB). JtB requires attention only once per year. The returns expected from JtB are lower over time than what we expect (and have received) from Upgrading. JtB makes the most sense for those in 401(k) plans that lack a sufficient number of quality fund options to make successful Upgrading within the plan possible. Here are the funds and percentage allocations we recommend for our Just-the-Basics indexing strategy.

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker and monthly Fund Performance Rankings (FPR) report have been updated to reflect mutual-fund performance data current through April 30, 2018. (The Tracker and FPR typically are updated between the 10th-14th of the month, depending on when the weekend falls.)

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker is our most popular web tool. It allows SMI members to personalize our mutual-fund rankings to their specific situation. The result is a monthly report showing only the funds each member is interested in, ranked by momentum and sorted according to SMI's risk categories (or without the categories, if a member prefers). This allows a member to take the 20,000+ funds SMI tracks every month and instantly transform those rankings into a concise report covering only the specific offerings available via his or her 401k (or other retirement plan).

The Fund Performance Rankings report contains performance data and momentum rankings on more than 1,600 no-load funds and ETFs. The funds included have been selected on the basis of asset size, brand familiarity, and brokerage availability. You'll find help in understanding how to use the FPR (page 2), an overview of the 70+ risk categories that help you compare "apples to apples" (page 3), and explanations for the various data-column headings (page 4).

To receive an email when the FPR and Tracker updates go live each month, visit the SMI home page and click on "My Account" under Quick Links. From there, go to the "Email Subscriptions" page and check the box next to "FPR/Tracker Update."

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker and monthly Fund Performance Rankings (FPR) report have been updated to reflect mutual-fund performance data current through March 31, 2018. (The Tracker and FPR typically are updated monthly between the 10th-14th of the month, depending on when the weekend falls.)

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker is our most popular web tool. It allows SMI members to personalize our mutual-fund rankings to their specific situation. The result is a monthly report showing only the funds each member is interested in, ranked by momentum and sorted according to SMI's risk categories (or without the categories, if a member prefers). This allows a member to take the 20,000+ funds SMI tracks every month and instantly transform those rankings into a concise report covering only the specific offerings available via his or her 401k (or other retirement plan).

The Fund Performance Rankings report contains performance data and momentum rankings on more than 1,600 no-load funds and ETFs. The funds included have been selected on the basis of asset size, brand familiarity, and brokerage availability. You'll find help in understanding how to use the FPR (page 2), an overview of the 70+ risk categories that help you compare "apples to apples" (page 3), and explanations for the various data-column headings (page 4).

To receive an email each month when the FPR and Tracker updates go live, go to the SMI home page and click on "My Account" under Quick Links. From there, go to the "Email Subscriptions" page and check the box next to "FPR/Tracker Update."

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker and monthly Fund Performance Rankings (FPR) report have been updated to reflect mutual-fund performance data current through 2/28/2018. The Tracker and FPR typically are updated monthly between the 10th-14th of the month, depending on when the weekend falls.

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker is our most popular web tool. It allows SMI members to personalize our mutual-fund rankings to their specific situation. The result is a monthly report showing only the funds each member is interested in, ranked by momentum and sorted according to SMI's risk categories (or without the categories, if a member prefers). This allows a member to take the 20,000+ funds SMI tracks every month and instantly transform those rankings into a concise report covering only the specific offerings available via his or her 401k (or other retirement plan).

The Fund Performance Rankings report contains performance data and momentum rankings on more than 1,600 no-load funds and ETFs. The funds included have been selected on the basis of asset size, brand familiarity, and brokerage availability. You'll find help in understanding how to use the FPR (page 2), an overview of the 70+ risk categories that help you compare "apples to apples" (page 3), and explanations for the various data-column headings (page 4).

To receive an email each month when the FPR and Tracker updates go live, go to the SMI home page and click on "My Account" under Quick Links. From there, go to the "Email Subscriptions" page and check the box next to "FPR/Tracker Update."

Have you ever wished you could keep up with the SMI strategies without having to devote as much time to it? Despite the newsletter’s best efforts to keep the SMI strategies as simple as possible, the reality is that, if you desire to manage a portfolio of multiple strategies, as many SMI readers do these days, it takes considerable time and effort.

If you’ve ever thought it would be nice to have your portfolio managed for you, the new “Private Client” offering from SMI Advisory may be of interest. (SMI Advisory Services is an affiliated, but separate, company from the SMI newsletter and website.)

One of the most important aspects of investing is knowing yourself. This applies in numerous ways — we often discuss it in terms of not exceeding your true emotional risk tolerance. But it can also apply in terms of realizing that managing your investments isn’t what you want to spend your time on! Many readers would find it liberating to be free of the ongoing duties and responsibility of implementing their portfolio strategies. That option has just become available.

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker and monthly Fund Performance Rankings report have been updated to reflect mutual-fund performance data current through 1/31/2018. The Tracker and FPR are typically updated monthly between the 10th-14th of the month, depending on when the weekend falls.

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker is our most popular web tool. It allows SMI members to easily personalize our mutual-fund rankings to their specific situation. The end result is a personalized monthly report showing only the funds each member is interested in, ranked by momentum and sorted according to SMI's risk categories (or without the categories, if a member prefers). This allows a member to take the 20,000+ funds SMI tracks every month and instantly transform those rankings into a concise report covering only the specific offerings of their 401k (or other plan).

The Fund Performance Rankings report contains performance data and momentum rankings on more than 1600 no-load funds and ETFs. The funds included have been selected on the basis of asset size, brand familiarity, and brokerage availability. You'll find help in understanding how to use the FPR (page 2), an overview of the 70+ risk categories that help you compare "apples to apples" (page 3), and explanations for the various data-column headings (page 4).

You can sign up to receive an email each month when the data goes live. Just go to the SMI home page and click on "My Account" under Quick Links. From there you can go to the "Email Subscriptions" page and check the box next to "FPR/Tracker Update" to receive the monthly email notification.

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker and monthly Fund Performance Rankings report have been updated to reflect mutual-fund performance data current through 12/31/2017. The Tracker and FPR are typically updated monthly between the 10th-14th of the month, depending on when the weekend falls.

SMI's Personal Portfolio Tracker is our most popular web tool. It allows SMI members to easily personalize our mutual-fund rankings to their specific situation. The end result is a personalized monthly report showing only the funds each member is interested in, ranked by momentum and sorted according to SMI's risk categories (or without the categories, if a member prefers). This allows a member to take the 20,000+ funds SMI tracks every month and instantly transform those rankings into a concise report covering only the specific offerings of their 401k (or other plan).

The Fund Performance Rankings report contains performance data and momentum rankings on more than 1600 no-load funds and ETFs. The funds included have been selected on the basis of asset size, brand familiarity, and brokerage availability. You'll find help in understanding how to use the FPR (page 2), an overview of the 70+ risk categories that help you compare "apples to apples" (page 3), and explanations for the various data-column headings (page 4).

You can sign up to receive an email each month when the data goes live. Just go to the SMI home page and click on "My Account" under Quick Links. From there you can go to the "Email Subscriptions" page and check the box next to "FPR/Tracker Update" to receive the monthly email notification.