Greenspan's Greenbacks

It’s may seem hard to believe, but Alan Greenspan is boring when it comes to investing.

While the Fed chairman keeps most of his money in Treasury Bills, there's nothing boring about what that has meant to his portfolio in the past year.

While most stock investors saw their account balances drop during one of the market's toughest times ever, Greenspan was actually making money.

Based on his just released financial disclosure form, it's difficult to tell exactly how well he did because the Fed lists assets only in ranges of worth, not by their actual value. But taking the high end of the range, here's how Greenspan's greenbacks compare:

Last year, when the markets headed south in a hurry with the Nasdaq taking a nosedive of nearly 40%, Greenspan’s assets actually went up just short of 40%, climbing from $7 million to $9.6 million.

You might think that the man who can move markets with a single word or simply by changing the size of his briefcase might be tempted to do a little market-timing on the side. But the truth is that Greenspan keeps his investments in treasuries to avoid any appearance of conflict-of-interest.

By law, the head of the Fed cannot own the stock of banks or thrifts. Yet Greenspan goes one step further and steers clear of stocks entirely.

So while even Greenspan may be exuberant, irrationally or no, about his personal portfolio these days, remember also that that he missed out on the biggest bull market in history.