Year To Date Performance Of Several Financial Investments

Even the precious metal miners are doing well this year.  But we must consider the absolute beating they took in 2013, and the overall depressed prices at which many of them are still trading.  I think the third chart tends to put the brutality of the correction in the precious metals during 2013 in perspective.

While volatility in investments can be thrilling on the upside, it is a kind of portfolio hell to the downside.  Live by beta, die by beta. 

Unless of course you have access to asymmetric knowledge, with an advantageous positioning at the market table, and can turn in almost perfect trading records over long periods of time. 

Still, this is a nice change of pace so far.