Comments on: Model Retirement/Investment Portfolios: A Comparison

By: Asset allocation - Fires of Heaven Guild Message Board

Asset allocation - Fires of Heaven Guild Message Board — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:47:50 +0000

[...] fund providers: FundAdvice.com – Suggested Portfolios 8 separate portfolios linked from this page: Model Retirement/Investment Portfolios: A Comparison ? My Money Blog Good friend got M.S. in Finance @ U of Illinois and this was a professor of his: Focus 580 on [...]

By: Limoman

Limoman — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:05:40 +0000

All recomendations of Portfolios I guess are pretty good.. All are based upon their Past Performance, but also based upon older methods of the market and Not including The New ETF’s, Leverging and dozens of other New ways of Investing and the fact that none since the past 10 yrs..

The past 10 yrs has allowed Millions More into the market and to Make changes so easily thanks to the Internet and the PC and this has Got to effect the Future with alot more Volatility..

And notice None came up with a ALL Bond Portfolio… Wonder How Come? But I have seen others and Done some of my own and they have done just about as well to even better.. And even IF Owning All Bonds produces 2-3% Less APY? So what.. If you can save enough $ to compensate for that and it will give You What you Need and want?
Go for it!

To Much emphisis is hyping owning too much in Equities.. Of course these authors Have too… Why? It supports their Own careers and their Industry.. Does Wall Street make more selling Bonds or Stocks?

I would advocate To go ahead and try those Rec’d. Ports If “YOU WANT TO MAKE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN” and take at least a 50% Higher Risk.. With Bonds the odds are about 6-5 you will achieive your goals using making only 6-7%, Add the Equities and those Odds Get alot worse.. like 50/50 on any given yr, that you have to start taking $ out of your Portfolio..

Just have to use the Yrs of 00-02′ as an example..Not 08′..
AT THE FIRST SIGN OF A BEAR? GET INTO NOTHING BUT TREASURIES? Why not? Just ck the Bear Yrs and see for yourself..
and for just One Fund to start with? VBMFX, then VFIIX, Then use VUSTX for Bears.. If have to own Equities? VWINX at the most.

Most won’t like that, since it forces one to have to Save More and Have Less to spend…But, that’s just too Bad now isn’t it?

And Only use Extra $ you might have, AFTER fully funding your Retirement Port.. to own much anything else..

Was the best advice I got from the Hundreds of Limo Clients I served working in this Business..
And when I was Financially able to retire 10 yrs earlier than Planned? The $ was There, durning 2002…and Making $, not loosing it..

If you want to “Make as Much as You Can” ( MMAYC) then go ahead with all these other suggestions and IDEA’s.. Since they are based upon the Past performance and that’s only about 75% of pciture, that other 25% can really take a big Bite out of your $ at anytime..

By: Simple Portfolios Are Best | HarvestingDollars

Simple Portfolios Are Best | HarvestingDollars — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:22:01 +0000

[...] for a great review of some recommended asset allocations, check out My Money Blogs series on Retirement Portfolios. It’s absolutely fantastic. Share and [...]

By: Rile Zani

Rile Zani — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:12:01 +0000

If you compare stocks to real assets – even gold – for the last decade, you will see stocks are actually going backwards in comparison and you have lost ground even if you made a lot of money in the market….
You can invest in Real Estate using your retirement funds if you go offshore and invest where they do not have recourse loans. Check out Entrust or Equity Trust….
If you compare the USD to the world economy – you will see the USD is dropping like a rock. Why not get your money in multiple accounts in different currencies with say First Caribbean and hedge on the dropping USD with currencies going up….
There are 40 million people who visit Las Vegas each year for vacation, but 120 million visit Dubai. There are other places outside the US doing better, go seek them out…
It is time for US investors to invest in the world economy before they (we) are all broke. Russians lived their sheltered lives behind an actual wall, until the wall came down and they figured they were broke….

I am not saying that the US economy is broke, but it is suffering compared to many other countries. I just throw out some new food for thought is all. Hope everyone has a nice day….

By: Greg Retzloff

Greg Retzloff — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 21:02:51 +0000

The guru of asset allocation, Roger Gibson (“Asset Allocation,” 4th ed.), suggests seven major asset categories: short-term debt, U.S. bonds, non-U.S. bonds, U.S. stocks, non U.S stocks, real estate securities, and commodity-linked securities. These would be weighted in a porfolio using some form of mean-variance software to get an optimun mix, given an investor’s risk tolerance.

This is the gold standard, guys.

By: Ducks

Ducks — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:41:14 +0000

This has been great info. Can’t wait to see the other portfolios.

By: skip1047

skip1047 — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 19:00:17 +0000

I hope that I am posting in the correct thread for this question.

Has anyone had any success in finding reasonably priced software for an individual investor to use in constructing the lowest risk/highest-return portfolio to meet his or her investment goals and risk tolerance?

There seem to be tons of Professional Tools out there.

There do not seem to by many geared toward the individual that allows you to:

1. Set up the holdings in your model portfolio
2. Allow you to set you initial allocation by percentage, number of shares dollar amount
3. Calculate the Standard Deviation for your model for 3/5/10 years
4 Place your portfolio on an “Efficient Frontier” graph
5. This allows you to modify your holdings, or asset allocations to arrive at the best risk/return allocation to meet your needs.

The best I have found in several weeks of searching is ?Steel Mutual Funds – Pro Plus? that can be found at:

http://www.mutualfundexpert.com/

The cost is at the far end of my intended budget at:

? Mutual Funds – Pro Plus Everything in Professional, plus: 701 data columns, calendar year and monthly data & graphs for 44 years with Monthly data, Bull-Bear market performance, 1, 3, 5, 10-year Risk-adjusted Performance statistics

$62 for a monthly subscription (full updates from Morningstar.com each month), $122 per quarter for one(1) data update per quarter or $129 to buy the product one time, with a one time data download. They offer a free trial.

If anyone has had any success, please feel free to contact me at:

Dk1047@mail.com

By: Obea

Obea — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 22:48:15 +0000

I just started my first real job after graduating and have no clue what this whole 401k thing is about. I know i def want to utilize it, but i am not sure how. Any tips? I’m 23…making a little under 40,000

By: The Idea Of “Core and Explore” Investing » My Money Blog

The Idea Of “Core and Explore” Investing » My Money Blog — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:53:02 +0000

[...] Core Ideas (80-95% of total portfolio) 100% Target Retirement Fund, or 33% Total US Stock Market Index, 33% Total International Index, 33% Total Bond Index, or Something based on one of these model asset allocation portfolios. [...]

By: Model Portfolios Built with ETFs (I) — Couch Potato Portfolio - The Sun’s Financial Diary - Accumulating wealth is like building The Great Wall, one brick at a time

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 18:06:24 +0000

[...] Last month, Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog ran a series on model portfolios which covered some (so far six) popular portfolios based on various investment philosophies. When these model portfolios were originally developed (some are more than thirty years old), the main investment vehicles were mutual funds, where were apparently the only choices at that time. However, the recent development in the exchange traded funds (ETFs) world presents an opportunity to rethink the ways to build portfolio based on those classic asset allocations. In fact, as ETFs rapidly gaining ground on mutual funds, largely due to their obvious benefits such as low cost and flexible pricing when compared with their mutual fund counterparts, there are already portfolios contain nothing but ETFs. [...]

By: February 2007 Investment Portfolio Snapshot » My Money Blog

February 2007 Investment Portfolio Snapshot » My Money Blog — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:31:05 +0000

[...] I am still ironing out a slightly tweaked asset allocation, one that has a more balanced domestic/international distribution and something I hopefully won’t mess with again for a long time. I’m reviewing the model portfolio comparisons and the books they came from, including Ferri’s new book All About Index Funds. [...]

By: Starting Your Own Portfolio Out With Limited Funds » My Money Blog

Starting Your Own Portfolio Out With Limited Funds » My Money Blog — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 11:41:24 +0000

[...] All of these suggested portfolios were developed by smart people who did their homework. But none of them are the same! This is because every single one also made compromises based on their interpretation of current research, simplicity, availability of suitable investments, costs, and also to some measure their overall predictions of the future. We have to do the same thing on our end. [...]

By: Model Portfolio #6: Merriman’s FundAdvice » My Money Blog

Model Portfolio #6: Merriman’s FundAdvice » My Money Blog — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 02:57:58 +0000

[...] (This is the sixth in my series of Model Portfolio Comparisons.) [...]

By: Me, Myself and Money

Me, Myself and Money — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:58:27 +0000

Nice article. I really like your blog
I just have 2 questions
1) All articles/books talk about Asset allocation where you assign some % to small cap stocks, some % to REIT, some % to bonds & so on. Even though that should be your goal, it doesn’t work that way. Normally people don’t invest a lump sump amount of say 10K. So people buy 1 investment at a time & after say a couple of years they just find out what their actual asset allocation is; which turns out to be a little different from what they had planned
2) So much talk everywhere is about retirement & earning money after retiring. Doesn’t any one want money right now?

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 11:09:21 +0000

Thanks mapgirl, I’ve added Siegel to my reading list as well.

By: mapgirl

mapgirl — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:54:42 +0000

Jonathan,

You really need to add Jeremy Siegel’s “Stocks for the Long Run”. His work is the academic foundation for why people should stick their retirement funds into a stock mutual fund for 20+ years. If anyone out there needs definitive statistical analysis that the stock market has been the best investment over any 20 year period in the NYSE’s history, this is it.

By: Model Portfolio #4: The Intelligent Asset Allocator » My Money Blog

Model Portfolio #4: The Intelligent Asset Allocator » My Money Blog — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 08:13:50 +0000

[...] (This is the fourth in my series of Model Portfolio Comparisons.) [...]

By: Model Portfolio #3: All About Asset Allocation » My Money Blog

Model Portfolio #3: All About Asset Allocation » My Money Blog — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:38:45 +0000

[...] (This is the third in my series of Model Portfolio Comparisons.) [...]

By: Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Class Definitions: Stocks » My Money Blog

Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Class Definitions: Stocks » My Money Blog — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 23:09:48 +0000

[...] What do all these asset classes in the model portfolio comparisons mean, anyways? Total Market? Large-Cap? Value? One big hurdle is that there are no set definitions for any of these classes, and each individual mutual fund can and will use it’s own interpretation. But let’s try anyways, starting with equities. [...]

By: Posts I Enjoyed Last Week - The Sun’s Financial Diary - Accumulating wealth is like building The Great Wall, one brick at a time

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 16:49:59 +0000

[...] Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog starts a series of portfolio analysis based on some widely used models. And sometimes, you can afford to be lazy and still beat the market, according to JLP. [...]

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 04:03:14 +0000

Yes, I might use IAA instead of Four Pillars even, as I seem to have lost my copy of Four Pillars…

By: Model Portfolio #2: The Boglehead’s Guide To Investing » My Money Blog

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:27:10 +0000

[...] (This is the second in my series of Model Portfolio Comparisons.) [...]

By: Model Portfolio #1: Couch Potato Portfolio » My Money Blog

Model Portfolio #1: Couch Potato Portfolio » My Money Blog — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:21:13 +0000

[...] (This is the first in my series of Model Portfolio Comparisons.) [...]

By: Sun

Sun — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 22:26:01 +0000

I have read Bernstein’s The Intelligent Asset Allocator and found it’s quite good. But the are quite some similarities between this book and the Four Pillars. So it may not be necessary.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 21:11:59 +0000

Ah yes, the Bogleheadsn Guide to Investing. How could I forget, I even bought that book!