Top 100 Index Rises 17.8% a Year for 10 Years Through Feb. 2019

The BetterInvesting 100 Index (BIXX), reflecting the portfolios of Main Street investors, followed up an 8.4 percent increase in January with a 3.6 percent gain in February.

For the previous 10 years, the annual return was 17.8 percent versus annual growth of 18.8 percent for the S&P 500 Equal-Weight Index (based on a total return for both indexes in which dividends are reinvested). The BetterInvesting index's five-year gain of 10.6 percent a year outperformed the 9.5 percent annual increase for the S&P 500 EWI.

BIXX's total return index ended February at 480.24, versus 463.60 at the end of January. Without dividends reinvested, the index was 356.33 at the end of February, an annual increase of 15.7 percent for the past 10 years and of 8.9 percent for the past five years.

The BetterInvesting 100 Index comprises the most popular holdings of investment clubs, employing annual data from the myICLUB.com online club accounting program. Solactive calculates the index, which began on April 9, 2007, at a base value of 150. BIXX is equal-weighted, meaning that each component constitutes the same percentage in the index.

BIXX reflects actual portfolio decisions by individual investors in investment clubs, while other indexes are weighted heavily toward decisions by large institutional investors. BetterInvesting's individual members and investment clubs tend to have a longer-term focus than do institutions, with clubs' average holding period for stocks at 3.2 years in 2018, according to myICLUB.com data.

Holding quality stocks selling at reasonable prices for the long term allows clubs and individual investors to benefit from the return these stocks often earn when the market recognizes their excellence. Long-term investing also reduces the costs of trading, which effectively increases return.

In February, the most common stocks acquired by investment clubs that subscribe to club-accounting portal myICLUB, in terms of number of clubs buying, were:
1) Apple (AAPL)
2) Amazon.com (AMZN)
3) CVS Health (CVS)
4) Disney (DIS)
5) Microsoft (MSFT)
6) AT&T (T)
7) Visa (V)
8) Boeing (BA)
9) Canopy Growth (CGC)
10) Home Depot (HD)

BIXX includes companies of all sizes, from small and medium-size firms to the world's largest companies. To see the top 100 companies held by BetterInvesting members, go to the BetterInvesting website at www.betterinvesting.org.

To track the performance of BIXX, go to the Solactive site: www.solactive.com/?s=betterinvesting+100.