iPig stands for: Inflation-Protected Income Growth.
These are not Saul stocks, but the portfolio has now doubled in 4.25 years, and an XIRR of 17.9%, compared to the SPY with DRIP at 15.3% over the same time period. Note that a little while back Chuck stopped actively managing the portfolio, but he still posts to the discussion group.
You can read the kick-off for it here: https://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2012/12/04/i…
And you can read the status report here on the board: http://discussion.fool.com/the-former-ipig-portfolio-has-now-dou…
The performance of the portfolio far surpassed Chuck’s expectations when he set it up, which essentially to throw off an income stream that increases each year as a bulwark against inflation. Inflation has been low, so perhaps that’s why it’s done so well. It’s unfortunate that he’s not managing it actively now - some expect inflation to rise and it’d be interesting to see how this kind of stock picking does in that kind of environment.
I realize that especially at this precise moment in time, there are many portfolios that are looking good over the medium term (since 2010), so I don’t read too much into this. My own portfolio is up 175%, while, if my calculations are correct, Saul is up 116% (but that’s ending Jan, so it’s probably more today).
So, for a portfolio designed to be defensive, it’s done quite well. The real test is how it would do in a real bear market. If it could perform significantly better in a down market, then that would be attractive to people nearing retirement age. But, we may never know, as it’s not being actively managed.
Just wanted to throw out some food for thought. Substantive discussions of the iPig portfolio should go to the iPig portfolio board of course. But, as I am always checking my investing philosophy against other ideas, I thought others might want to have this kind of benchmark as well. Since I’m personally up significantly more than iPig, I’m in no rush to change right now, but I do realize that my investing world could change at any moment.