The importance of "total returns"

Total returns are computed including the investment of the dividend/interest in your computations.

Interesting enough it is difficult to find a site where to compute the total return of an investment.

We found that the total return of JNK was 32% in the past three years while SPY (ETF for S&P 500) returned 13.3% over the same period.

Using high-yield mutual funds from Fidelity and using their website, they show that in the past 10 years the typical high-yield fund more than doubled and some tripled their total return while SPY returned 30% in the same period.

I am intrigued by these figures given the bearishness on bonds by some major gurus/experts.

Why are high-yield bonds' returns so high? Will history repeat itself? For a detailed answer please subscribe to The Peter Dag Portfolio on www.peterdag.com.

George Dagnino, PhD
Editor, The Peter Dag Portfolio. Since 1977
2009 Market Timer of the Year by Timer Digest

To find out more about my in depth views of the markets and my strategy just visit our website https://www.peterdag.com/ where you can subscribe to The Peter Dag Portfolio. You can also call me at 1-800-833-2782 to discuss your specific investment portfolio.

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