[Note: I started the Sleepy Portfolio in 2005 to benchmark my personal portfolio, which was then invested mostly in individual stocks. The portfolio started off with an initial cash infusion of $100,000 but no new money has been added since. The portfolio has the following asset allocation: 5% cash, 15% short bonds, 5% real return bonds, 20% Canadian stocks, 22.5% US stocks, 22.5% Europe and Pacific, 5% Emerging markets and 5% REITs. The entire portfolio (apart from the cash portion) is invested in broad-market, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trading in the Canadian and US stock exchanges. The cash portion is invested in the Altamira T-bill Fund.]

The Sleepy Portfolio had a somnolent first quarter — it advanced just 1.3%. A big culprit was the rapid appreciation of the Canadian dollar from $1.05 to parity with the US dollar. The dollar’s rise negated the significant advances in US stocks and emerging market stocks in the portfolio. Gains were made in Canadian stocks (up 3.9%), US stocks (up 2.7%), Emerging Markets (up 1.49%) and REITs (up 3.62%). Bonds (down 1.1%) and EAFE markets (down 2.18%) found themselves in the losing column. Distributions from portfolio components have boosted the cash position close to 7%, some of which should be channelled into the asset class that is well below target: EAFE stocks captured through the Vanguard Europe Pacific ETF (VEA):

Transaction

VEA: Buy 60 shares at $35.12 (plus $9.99 in commissions).

Here’s how the portfolio looked at the end of 1Q-2010:

Sleepy Portfolio snapshot as of April 6, 2010

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