Vanguard Wellington

[mpt follower]

Does anyone use ONLY Vanguard Wellington for stocks? I need to find another balanced fund that holds about the same % of bonds as Wellington does, but my search always returns to Wellington. Today I own a combination of Wellington and Wellesley, but Wellesley is too low in stocks to accomplish my goal, and I do not want to use a 100% stock fund. Please no discussion on diversification, I am very comfortable with mostly US companies and mostly the type owned by Wellington, i.e., large multinational ones. Thank you for your help.

[Sheepdog]

Want just one fund? Look at Balanced Index ..60/40 allocation. It has similar growth with more diversification. Here is a comparison between Wellington and Balanced Index. https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... tingFrom=2

[Tom_T]

Balanced Index is a nice fund. Also, look at Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth: 60/40 stock/bond split, with a 70/30 domestic/international equity split.

[billyt]

Wellington provides half the stocks in my portfolio. The rest of the stocks are split: 30% SP500, 25% Extended Market, 35% Total International, 10% REIT. I add enough fixed income to bring me to my desired stock/bond allocation (45/55). I have been very happy with the performance of Wellington in my portfolio.

[stevewolfe]

Maybe consider 2 funds in additional to Wellington - Vanguard Equity Income for say 65% and Vanguard intermediate term corporate bond fund for the remaining 35%. This will not replication the international stocks in Wellington, but otherwise should line up with the same style, etc.

[sscritic]

I need to find another balanced fund that holds about the same % of bonds as Wellington does, but my search always returns to Wellington.

Why do you need another? What is your goal?

[Grt2bOutdoors]

I use Wellington. How about Dividend Appreciation Index - holds similar high quality names - equity only with similar characteristics for growth and income potential.

[sscritic]

There is another thread about loyalty to Vanguard. If your search for a fund company that has what you want keeps coming back to Vanguard, why would you want another company?

Your search for a fund that meets your needs keeps coming back to Wellington; if so, why would you want another fund?

[mpt follower]

I need to find another balanced fund that holds about the same % of bonds as Wellington does, but my search always returns to Wellington.

Why do you need another? What is your goal?

I am a bit concert about giving all the money to just one fund. Am I wrong?

[Toons]

Want just one fund? Look at Balanced Index ..60/40 allocation. It has similar growth with more diversification. Here is a comparison between Wellington and Balanced Index. https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... tingFrom=2

+1
Excellent Idea

[DSInvestor]

Vanguard LifeStrategy Moderate Growth VSMGX er=0.16% maintains 60/40 AA and is essentially a three fund portfolio (TSM, TISM, TBM II) in one fund.
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... =INT#tab=2

[Peter Foley]

Dodge and Cox has a low cost balanced fund. It went through some tough years during the last recession when it loaded up on bank stocks. I used to own it but sold it and replaced it with an index fund a number of years ago. It is a low cost actively managed fund.

[fire5soon]

There's always Vanguard's STAR fund which is approx 60/40 stock/bond w/ an ER of 0.34%

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0056&FundIntExt=INT

.

[robertalpert]

I need to find another balanced fund that holds about the same % of bonds as Wellington does, but my search always returns to Wellington.

Why do you need another? What is your goal?

I am a bit concert about giving all the money to just one fund. Am I wrong?

Sounds like a concern with active-management-risk. Using additional actively managed funds will multiply the management-risk, not reduce it. Keeping Wellington plus adding an index fund (eg Vanguard balanced fund) would decrease management risk yet increase portfolio complexity. There is no perfect choice.



But on the other hand, If using only one actively-managed fund, Wellington (and/or) Wellesley are the only ones I would consider.

[joe8d]

I am a bit concert about giving all the money to just one fund. Am I wrong?

As stated byDSInvestor:

Vanguard Life Strategy Moderate Growth VSMGX er=0.16% maintains 60/40 AA and is essentially a three fund portfolio (TSM, TISM, TBM II) in one fund.

Important point.The LS Funds are,in reality, a portfolio of funds with automatic rebalancing.

[matt.danley]

How about VWELX, then VEIEX for more equity risk and VFITX for more interest rate risk?

[ttomporowski]

Erwin

Yes, i use only Wellington.* This obviously does not mean i am smart. But i am comfortable.

thomas neil

*When my spouse's investment club disbanded, about 20K of stock holdings in various companies was moved to Ameritrade and i don't do much more than monitor it.

[rj49]

There's always Vanguard's STAR fund which is approx 60/40 stock/bond w/ an ER of 0.34%

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0056&FundIntExt=INT

.

I've looked at STAR too. It has lots of managers and submanagers in the underlying funds, so you're not relying on one manager. They also have a bit of growth, small, two international funds (plus international stocks in the other funds), and bonds in GNMA and ST/LT corporate funds. If you look at the 3-year comparison of Wellington to its benchmark, it's lagged a bit, probably a case of asset bloat when everyone started piling into it and they had to close it for a while and raise the minimum investment. I'd rather choose it as to pair with something like Wellesley, because Wellington has substantial overlap in styles, management, and even similar stocks.

Another option I've mentioned is having Equity Income paired with a bond fund of your choice. That way if we get a 30-year secular bond bear market or runaway inflation, the bond segment of your portfolio won't drag down the stock portion, especially when it comes time for withdrawals and tax-loss-harvesting. Wellington and Wellesley have fairly long durations for their bond portfolios, so they could suffer if the bond market heads south. The beautiful return charts of Wellesley and Wellington reflect a long period of declining interest rates, so both are a perfect example of why past returns don't guarantee future results, despite the 'by gosh it's been around since 1929, they must be doing something right' argument (Lehman Brothers was around since the 1860s too).

[sometimesinvestor]

Does it have to be with Vanguard While Past performance (you knowthe drill) T.Rowe Price Capital Appreciation has had a terrific long term performance in spite of multiple manager changes. The company is very proud of that record and so it is likely that it will continue to be managed conservatively(er.73)
Domestic Stock 58.9%
Domestic Bond 22.1%
Cash 13.1%
Foreign Bonds 3.1%
Convertibles 2.1%
Foreign Stock 0.8%
Preferreds 0.4%
Options -0.4%
Volatility and Other Measuresas of 12/31/2012

Quarter-End Top Holdings with Weightings
Represents 24.94 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.60 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.45 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.70 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.21 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.01 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.19 % of Total Net Assets
View Holdings as of: --Select Date-- 12/31/20122

Apple
DUNKIN' BRANDS INC
Danaher
FANNIE MAE REMICS
Invesco
Pfizer
Procter & Gamble
TRP INSTITUTIONAL FLOATING RATE FUND
Thermo Fisher Scientific
United Technologies

[mpt follower]

Does it have to be with Vanguard While Past performance (you knowthe drill) T.Rowe Price Capital Appreciation has had a terrific long term performance in spite of multiple manager changes. The company is very proud of that record and so it is likely that it will continue to be managed conservatively(er.73)
Domestic Stock 58.9%
Domestic Bond 22.1%
Cash 13.1%
Foreign Bonds 3.1%
Convertibles 2.1%
Foreign Stock 0.8%
Preferreds 0.4%
Options -0.4%
Volatility and Other Measuresas of 12/31/2012

Quarter-End Top Holdings with Weightings
Represents 24.94 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.60 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.45 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.70 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.21 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.01 % of Total Net Assets
Represents 25.19 % of Total Net Assets
View Holdings as of: --Select Date-- 12/31/20122

Apple
DUNKIN' BRANDS INC
Danaher
FANNIE MAE REMICS
Invesco
Pfizer
Procter & Gamble
TRP INSTITUTIONAL FLOATING RATE FUND
Thermo Fisher Scientific
United Technologies

Wow! Thank you, I was not aware about this specific fund. I just never look at funds beyond Vanguard. Indeed! It is a great consideration.

[stevewolfe]

Hey now - I've been invested in T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation for ~14 years now - let's not spread the word on this one and get the asset bloat that will turn it into a closet index fund...

[happyjuice8000]

I am considering investing in Wellington in my IRA. I decided to compare actively-managed Wellington (which is about 2/3 large-cap value and 1/3 intermediate-term corporate bonds) to a passive portfolio of 2/3 Vanguard U.S. Value Fund (VUVLX) and 1/3 Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Fund (VFIDX).

The results through 3/31/13 are interesting:

1 year: Wellington 12.0%, Passive Equivalent 16.49%
3 years: Wellington 10.22%, Passive Equivalent 12.19%
5 years: Wellington 6.53%, Passive Equivalent 6.14%
10 years: Wellington 9.31%, Passive Equivalent 7.75%

So Wellington is now UNDERPERFORMING during the last few years !!!

I am really shocked and disappointed.

[chicagobear]

Fidelity Puritan is a similar fund if you want to diversify your management companies. It seems to be slightly more expensive.

[WVUGuy275]

I am considering investing in Wellington in my IRA. I decided to compare actively-managed Wellington (which is about 2/3 large-cap value and 1/3 intermediate-term corporate bonds) to a passive portfolio of 2/3 Vanguard U.S. Value Fund (VUVLX) and 1/3 Vanguard Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade Fund (VFIDX).

You know, I've been wondering about this sort of thing myself for a while, and so I put together a shared spreadsheet on Google Docs: 3 Fund Portfolio vs. Wellington. This spreadsheet allows you to compare the buy-and-hold performance of the 3-Fund Portfolio vs. Wellington Investor Shares. The model assumes reinvestment of all dividends.

- Select an asset allocation for the 3-Fund Portfolio (Vanguard Total Stock Market, Vanguard Total Bond Market, Vanguard Total Intl Stock Market - all Investor Shares)
- Select an initial lump-sum investment and starting month
- Select an annual contribution amount to be DCA'ed according to your asset allocation, in monthly increments
- Select a rebalance timeline (annually, quarterly, monthly, or never)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... sp=sharing

Note: The content above is provided for entertainment purposes only. This is not financial advice. This content is for fun and love of spreadsheets only. I am not a financial advisor.