Although still humbled by last year’s dismal performance, we remain cautiously optimistic that our decision to ride out the downturn and take a longer term view is still the right strategy.

This year the COLEG portfolio increased in value by 31%. At the close of business on December 31, brokerage account assets totaled $320,444.17. Last year at this time, the assets in this account were valued at $244,424.63. This represents an absolute increase in value of $76,019.54.

During the year, we increased our position in the Zweig Fund, along with some minor automatic dividend reinvestments in a health care fund and a couple convertible bond funds we hold.. Our only sale this year was in mid November when a bond fund we held began trading at a premium to the underlying assets. Along with collecting a nice dividend for several years, we also realized a gain on the sale because of this condition. Using the proceeds from this sale, in December we also established a new position in the Diamond Hills Financial Trends fund given our under weighting in the banking and financial services sectors.

On a less positive note, the income generated by dividends, interest and capital gains continued to decline throughout the year.

The Investment Committee continuously evaluates alternatives and monitors the financial markets and our portfolio holdings. As before this committee remains committed to their long terms goals of growth, income and diversification of the portfolio. 

The following is the makeup of brokerage account assets as of December 31, 2009, along with their percentage of the overall allocation: