1997 Dow Performance

Many investors felt that 1997 provided a wild ride in the stock market. The Dow Dividend System we use for our clients continued to plug along as it has for the last 26 years for which we have tracked the performance.

The Dow five stocks generated a total return for 1997 of 20.5% and the Dow 10 stocks generated 21.9%. That's not so fantastic you may say, and I agree. The Dow System we use is not designed to be fantastic—it's designed to beat the market over time by delivering above average returns over a complete up and down cycle. Remember the tortoise and the hare story? The Dow System is the tortoise. It looks slow, but has won in the end!

The Dow Strategy reminds me of an unstoppable tank that keeps moving forward, regardless of the barriers in its path. During 1997, every one of the January 1, 1997 Dow 10 stocks rose for the year. Additionally, over the last 25 years, the Dow 5 System had only 2 declining years. Here are the total results for those 25 years:

 

 

Dow 5

Dow 10

Compounded Annual Return

21.1%

18.3%

Total Return

11,813%

6,558%

Accumulation of $10,000 invested

$1,198,404

$667,757

 

(The results of these charts are as of 12/31/97 and do not include any commission, fees or taxes. Note that any stock strategy can incur losses).

If you seek to make money in the market with a strategy that has proven itself over many years, has had low volatility and removes you from the fray of Wall Street hype and watching the market, we are happy to manage an account for you. Simply bring in your statements and we can show you how to easily make a transfer.

Comparative Dow Strategy Performance

January 1, 1993 to December 31, 1997

 

Investment

Annualized Return

Dow 10

24.2%

Dow 5

24.8%

S&P 500

21.0%

Fidelity Magellan

19.6%

Vanguard Index 500

20.9%

Fidelity Contrafund

20.3%