Sage Advice Quarterly Market Review 4Q2011

2011 was an extremely challenging year for investors as an assortment of macro challenges, geopolitical events and natural disasters caused dramatic swings in sentiment and violent risk on/risk off market swings. From an asset class perspective, bonds, REITS and Gold lead performance in 2011, with international equities delivering the worst returns. Fixed income outperformed equities by a wide margin, with the Barclays Aggregate bond index returning 7.84% in 2011, exceeding global equities by nearly 13%. From a risk-adjusted standpoint, core U.S. bonds were the most favorable asset class in 2011, with strong returns and below average volatility.