Search found 216 matches

by GLState
Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Thoughts on Quality Actively Managed Vanguard Funds To Complement SP500?
Replies: 15
Views: 1944

Re: Thoughts on Quality Actively Managed Vanguard Funds To Complement SP500?

VMVAX is a mid cap VALUE fund, not a growth fund and trailed the total return of VOO by quite a bit. The mid cap GROWTH fund beat VOO by a bit but has lower Sharpe and Sortino ratios than VOO. Are you sure you're looking at the Total Return of the S&P 500 and not just return based on price?

If today was 2018 or before, you would want to buy the mid cap value fund rather than the growth be cause was outperforming.
by GLState
Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:44 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: The future of Boglehead philosophy
Replies: 33
Views: 3708

Re: The future of Boglehead philosophy

The wiki sums up the boglehead philosophy :
"In summary, a Bogleheads investor tends to (1) save a lot, (2) select an asset allocation containing both stock and bond asset classes, (3) buy low cost, widely diversified funds, (4) allocate funds tax-efficiently, and (5) stay the course."

This philosophy should be easy to put into practice well into the future.

It is not written in stone that a true boglehead shall have a 60/40 portfolio with 20% in international equity. The 3 fund portfolio is an excellent portfolio, but there are many other excellent portfolios that also follow the boglehead principles.
by GLState
Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:24 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone use Python to analyze their finances?
Replies: 65
Views: 22331

Re: Anyone use Python to analyze their finances?

For those that are interested in a deeper dive into Quantitative Finance using R, MIT has a grad level course coming up on July 7th, 2021 on EdX.
https://www.edx.org/course/mathematical ... ve-finance
by GLState
Mon Jun 21, 2021 2:11 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Anyone use Python to analyze their finances?
Replies: 65
Views: 22331

Re: Anyone use Python to analyze their finances?

Note for anyone trying to run Hedgefundie's "Risk parity strategy using 3x leveraged ETFs" code found in the Wiki: Using the provided code in recent version of R will generate an error: Error in c.xts(c(NA, NA), c(NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, NA, : zero-length vectors with non-zero-length index are not allowed This is because the tidyverse package loads the dplyr package which has its own lag function. We have to add "stats::" wherever the lag function is in the code to use the stats lag rather than dplyr lag # long 100% spy at signal spSig <- stats::lag(signal, 2) * spyRets # long 100% upro at signal upSig <- stats::lag(signal, 2) * uproRets # go 50/50 upro/tmf at signal uptmfSig <- stats::lag(signal, 2)*.5*u...
by GLState
Wed Jun 16, 2021 9:17 pm
Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
Topic: Does anyone have any good personal finance software they actually recommend?
Replies: 54
Views: 10157

Re: Does anyone have any good personal finance software they actually recommend?

If you're looking for a complete personal finance package, you don't have a lot of choices. There is Quicken, the old Microsoft Money, or create your own with Excel, Google Sheets, R or Python. With Quicken, one transaction carries over to budgeting, loans, investments, and taxes. I didn't want to budget in one program, track portfolios in another, and track taxes in yet another. I began to use Quicken when it was nothing more than a checkbook program. I've tried many of the other programs over the years, but always stick with Quicken. Quicken has saved me a lot of time and money over the years. When my sons were in college, I could fill out a FAFSA in a few minutes, as I had all the needed info in Quicken. I had incentive to make extra pay...
by GLState
Sun Jun 13, 2021 7:40 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Treasuries as your bond allocation?
Replies: 115
Views: 14987

Re: Treasuries as your bond allocation?

How is this for an anticlimax "It probably does not make much difference" Over the longest period I could find in portfolio visualizer (1991-2021), comparing Vanguard total bond investor vs Intermediate Treasury investor, they had remarkably similar characteristics. The treasury fund had a lower duration, slightly higher returns and slightly HIGHER volatility. It was definitely not lower risk. Because of this, it had a lower Sharpe ratio. This is true if we look at a portfolio of only Total Bond or only Intermediate Treasury in isolation. However, if we have a Total Stock/Intermediate Treasury portfolio vs Total Stock/Total Bond Portfolio, the Stock/Treasury portfolio will often have slightly higher returns with quite a bit lower...
by GLState
Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:26 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Entry Barriers
Replies: 92
Views: 7208

Re: Vanguard Entry Barriers

Around 2000, I had a Schwab account. When the good times came to an end, small investors began to be charged a quarterly fee if their accounts we below a certain value (50,000 if I remember correctly). I transferred my account to Vanguard and have been with Vanguard ever since. IMO, Schwab and Vanguard have been the good guys since I've been investing (45 years). A lot of brokerages have become "nice guys" because Vanguard was taking their business. Fidelity's "nice guy" image hasn't been tested in a bear market yet. Vanguard was doing right by investors when it wasn't a "profitable" or "smart" thing to do. FYI, I've had accounts at Merrill Lynch, AG Edwards, Schwab., Fidelity, and Vanguard. I'm happy...
by GLState
Mon May 24, 2021 6:15 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Suggest a beginner Python course
Replies: 41
Views: 7044

Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

If you have no prior programming experience I would try to focus on an intro programming course that just happens to use Python as its teaching language. This would be slightly different from a Python course that may expect at least some prior programming knowledge. It's better to learn the basics of computer science anyway as it can be applied to any language, not just Python. Do you mean courses like MIT 6.00.1x and Harvard CS50x? Or some other? Thanks. Harvard CS50 gives a much wider view of computer science (multiple languages) than does MIT 600.1x. MIT 6.00.1 is more focused on using/learning Python to learn computer science basics. You can enroll in these classes as "Audit" to explore them and discover which style of class ...
by GLState
Mon May 24, 2021 9:04 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Suggest a beginner Python course
Replies: 41
Views: 7044

Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

If you have no prior programming experience I would try to focus on an intro programming course that just happens to use Python as its teaching language. This would be slightly different from a Python course that may expect at least some prior programming knowledge. It's better to learn the basics of computer science anyway as it can be applied to any language, not just Python. Do you mean courses like MIT 6.00.1x and Harvard CS50x? Or some other? Thanks. Harvard CS50 gives a much wider view of computer science (multiple languages) than does MIT 600.1x. MIT 6.00.1 is more focused on using/learning Python to learn computer science basics. You can enroll in these classes as "Audit" to explore them and discover which style of class ...
by GLState
Wed May 19, 2021 9:06 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Suggest a beginner Python course
Replies: 41
Views: 7044

Re: Suggest a beginner Python course

Many EdX courses have weekly deadlines, just as traditional classroom course. New material is generally released each week with 2 weeks to complete assignments. We are not required to meet at a certain time as the instructional videos are recorded, not live.

One advantage of a MOOC over a book or an OpenCourseWare course is that Teaching Assistants and other students are available to help with any problems that you may encounter.
by GLState
Sat Aug 29, 2020 10:29 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to compare performance of Vanguard vs Edward Jones accounts?
Replies: 35
Views: 3391

Re: How to compare performance of Vanguard vs Edward Jones accounts?

You're paying 5.75% load, 0.73% in expenses, plus whatever Edward Jones charges as a yearly account fee, to buy a basic Target Date Fund, similar to that which can be purchased at other providers without the load, with lower expenses, and without annual fees. You don't need 3 years of past performance to see what likely will be the better investment in the future. You can view the 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year returns for AALTX, with and without the sales charge (load) for this fund on the American Funds website. https://www.capitalgroup.com/individual/investments/fund/aaltx 1 yr 5 yr 10 yr with sales charge 4.43% 7.53% 9.96% without sales charge 10.78% 8.81% 10.61%
by GLState
Wed Apr 29, 2020 8:08 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: SHould I have my kid pursue coursera / edx courses?
Replies: 19
Views: 1751

Re: SHould I have my kid pursue coursera / edx courses?

Dottie57 wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 6:00 pm
wfrobinette wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 3:41 pm
Dottie57 wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 12:50 pm
TomatoTomahto wrote: Wed Apr 29, 2020 12:08 pm IME, the better colleges won’t give college credit for those (online, IB, AP, etc) courses, but they are open to letting students move up the value chain by bypassing prerequisites.

Additionally, some students will realize that the major they expected to want wasn’t actually what they want. Time saved.

Well worth it.
+1. I like Coursera. Some interesting courses. But not quite college level.
Some are college level and get you credit.
Which colleges give credit.
Arizona State gives credit for some classes on EdX.
https://www.edx.org/course?search_query=arizona+state
by GLState
Tue Mar 31, 2020 12:36 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility
Replies: 24
Views: 1770

Re: Vanguard Global Minimum Volatility

"There's an old saying in the financial markets that, during a time of crisis, “Correlations go to 1.” The meaning here is that when there's a panicked rush to the exits--as global stock markets have seen amid the spread of the coronavirus--all stocks are punished equally and indiscriminately"

https://www.morningstar.com/articles/97 ... rentiation
by GLState
Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:05 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What will you do first, once COVID pandemic is over?
Replies: 271
Views: 22854

Re: What will you do first, once COVID pandemic is over?

Hug my granddaughters! I won't have a chance to see them until this is over.
by GLState
Sat Jan 11, 2020 2:10 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Why are Dividend Stocks pushed so hard?
Replies: 129
Views: 8671

Re: Why are Dividend Stocks pushed so hard?

Writers won't keep readers if every article tells the reader to buy a Total Market fund ... writer's need new material. Writer's make money by keeping readers and Index Investing articles quickly get boring once we've read a few. "Get the market return at low cost" is not an attention grabbing heading.
by GLState
Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:19 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Does anyone own FSDAX Defense fund?
Replies: 34
Views: 2131

Re: Does anyone own FSDAX Defense fund?

thelateinvestor43 wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:44 am I only put $3500 in it, so I can see if it makes some returns. It went up yesterday, while everything else went down.
If $3500 is a small part of your portfolio, it will mean very little to your total return ... good or bad. It is $3500 that you don't have invested elsewhere. We don't have to own a piece of every idea we hear about. If these kind of ideas interest you, track their performance ... you don't have to own them. New investors have to develop an immunity to pitches and BS.
by GLState
Fri Dec 13, 2019 12:12 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Starting Portfolio when Rollover IRA is maxed out
Replies: 93
Views: 4548

Re: Starting Portfolio when Trad IRA is maxed out help

You have 19% of your portfolio in a Citibank Cash Account which pays 0.06%. You pay your advisor 1% of 19% to invest in this cash fund. Inflation is running about 2%. This money is not working for you.
by GLState
Fri Dec 13, 2019 9:07 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: What happened to treasuries in 2008?
Replies: 22
Views: 2069

Re: What happened to treasuries in 2008?

The charts confirmed what I recalled - short-term rates fell to near zero (and stayed there for quite a while), and intermediate term rates declined sharply. I hope that we don't relive those dark days anytime in my lifetime. The financial system seemed perilously close to a melt-down. So in 2008 If I held 100% of my funds in short term treasuries I would have literally lost $0. If you would have bought a 3 year treasury on Jan 1st 2008, you would have received 2.89%/year(nominal) for the next 3 years. If you had bought in Jan 2006, you would be getting 4.30% until Jan 2009. Interest on the bonds we hold does not drop. Selling after a bad event is generally not the best idea, nor is locking the barn door after the horse is stolen. Hold a p...
by GLState
Mon Oct 07, 2019 1:49 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New investor... Am I crazy?
Replies: 42
Views: 5294

Re: New investor... Am I crazy?

CSIEX has a 4.75% load.
OLGAX has a 5.25% load.
by GLState
Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:17 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Best intro to Python programming?
Replies: 22
Views: 5615

Re: Best intro to Python programming?

Microsoft just launched Python for Beginners on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... uJ9yne1mE6
by GLState
Fri Sep 13, 2019 8:20 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What dish soap do you use?
Replies: 54
Views: 4353

Re: What dish soap do you use?

When I was a kid, we didn't have these low-flow faucets, so the dish soap got agitated a lot more, which created more suds.
by GLState
Sat Aug 24, 2019 7:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Super simple fund performance comparison
Replies: 4
Views: 673

Re: Super simple fund performance comparison

You also haven't accounted for the dividends paid by VTSAX and VBTLX. Your fund likely also paid dividends. We can't use price alone to determine total return. VTSAX and VBTLX might not be good comparisons for your fund.

From June 27, 2018 to Aug 24, 2019, I calculate that VTSAX has returned 5.32% and VBTLX 9.32%. A 50/50 combination of the two would have returned 7.32%
by GLState
Tue Aug 20, 2019 8:21 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Total market index fund and recency
Replies: 29
Views: 2561

Re: Total market index fund and recency

I favor the Total Market approach because it is an easy choice to obtain the market return. I can buy a Total Market fund from Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab, confident that they will all perform within a hair of one another. The same can't be said of funds based on size, style, momentum, or other factors; Their returns encompass a much larger range. Buying the market, I don't have to worry if my small cap value fund is small enough or value-y enough or if I've tilted too much or not enough.

Total market and the slice and dice investors should do fine if they stick to their strategy through the good times and bad. If we chase the latest hot fads, funds, and factors, it may not turn out as well.
by GLState
Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: AGG over BND
Replies: 10
Views: 1785

Re: AGG over BND

Over the last 15 years there is little difference between AGG and Total Bond.
by GLState
Thu Aug 01, 2019 11:24 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: stock price not updating
Replies: 6
Views: 13311

Re: stock price not updating

The average volume in less that 3,000 shares a day. On MarketWatch and Etrade, the volume is 0 for the day ... the markets been open 3 hours.
by GLState
Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:37 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to find Individual stocks in Vanguard Index Fund
Replies: 15
Views: 1476

Re: How to find Individual stocks in Vanguard Index Fund

https://www.etf.com/etfanalytics/etf-stock-finder This page won't show mutual funds, only ETFs. VTI is the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF which has the same holding as your Total Stock Market fund found in your TR 2045 fund. Many Vanguard mutual funds have corresponding ETFs. For AT&T, the page Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO) holds 34.18M shares, Vanguard Total Stock Market holds 28.43M shares, and Vanguard Value ETF (VTV) holds 28.09M shares. Why would you want to know which Vanguard funds carry certain stocks...especially funds that you don't own or aren't thinking of buying. Vanguard has many, many index funds that follow various indices. Your original posts makes it sound like you're trying to avoid AT&T. In that case, you might wan...
by GLState
Wed Jul 31, 2019 9:00 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: How to find Individual stocks in Vanguard Index Fund
Replies: 15
Views: 1476

Re: How to find Individual stocks in Vanguard Index Fund

We don't sell, or are even concerned, because of the performance of one stock in a index fund. ATT is one of 10,711 stocks in your Target Retirement 2045 fund.

VTIVX is the Target Retirement 2045 fund. Vanguard Total Stock Market fund is one of the components of VTIVX. You can go to Vanguard's Total Stock Market page, click on the Portfolio Management tab, scroll to the bottom and click on Portfolio Holdings to see all of the companies in the fund.
by GLState
Sat Jul 27, 2019 4:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Farmland Crowdfunding Website
Replies: 5
Views: 1758

Re: Farmland Crowdfunding Website

Meb Faber's podcasts has a couple of farmland episodes you might find interesting.
https://mebfaber.com/2018/07/25/episode ... e-can-own/
https://mebfaber.com/2019/06/19/episode ... nt-income/
by GLState
Thu Jul 25, 2019 6:55 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Download Vanguard Transaction History
Replies: 24
Views: 6061

Re: Download Vanguard Transaction History

I don't know what advice you need. Just hit the Click on download button on the Account Overview page. Select "a spreadsheet compatible csv file" in Step 1. Choose a date range in Step 2. Choose the accounts that you want to download in Step 3. Click the "download" button.
by GLState
Fri Jul 19, 2019 11:02 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Starting Roth IRA
Replies: 20
Views: 1231

Re: Starting Roth IRA

I will look at going away from the target date fund and going with total stock funds any specific suggestions initial thoughts would be VTI,VOO, VTSMX,...The purpose of the dividend stocks would be some type of shelter towards a recession but i will reevaluate that decision. Like i said im 25 so not alot of capital invested. Im looking to educate myself and be more active in my account rather than just simply depositing money and forgetting about it. Not planning on buying individual stocks as a significant part of my plan but would like to be able to take advantage of good buying opportunities along the way VTI, VTSAX, & VTSMX hold the same stocks. VTSAX is probably your best choice as you will be making periodic additions to your IRA...
by GLState
Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:33 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Starting Roth IRA
Replies: 20
Views: 1231

Re: Starting Roth IRA

You have to be realistic. For a 25 year old, a Roth IRA has a contribution limit of $6000 / year. There are more than 50 Dividend Aristocrats companies just in the S&P 500... which stocks would your choose? With only $2000 allocated to "Dividend Aristocrats" you're not able to buy many shares or stocks. If you insist on "Dividend Aristocrats", ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL) would be a better choice than trying to choose individual stocks.

IMO, either VTTSX (Target Retirement 2060) or VTSAX(Total Market) would be excellent choices for your initial $6000 investment and omit the Dividend Aristocrats in any form.
by GLState
Tue Jul 16, 2019 7:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 2 to 4 fund YTD numbers from fellow Bogleheads.
Replies: 12
Views: 1446

Re: 2 to 4 fund YTD numbers from fellow Bogleheads.

Yes goingup , you're right. Corrected my initial post and updated all values to 7/16/19 data.

I assume that the OP is referring to the "traditional" boglehead 3 fund and a 4-fund portfolio (60/40) would be similar to the Life Strategy Moderate Growth fund (VSMGX).

The OPs best course of action is to go portfoliovisualizer and enter the funds, allocations, and time periods of their choosing.
by GLState
Tue Jul 16, 2019 5:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 2 to 4 fund YTD numbers from fellow Bogleheads.
Replies: 12
Views: 1446

Re: 2 to 4 fund YTD numbers from fellow Bogleheads.

Use portfoliovisualizer.com ... Enter the funds, allocations, and time periods of your choice in the "Backtest Portfolio" section.

Or use the data found on Vanguard's site...

VTI (Total Stock Market) has a YTD return of 21.10%
VXUS (Total Int'l) has a YTD return of 13.51%
TBM (Total Bond Market) has a YTD return of 5.72%

A portfolio of 48% VTI, 12% VXUS, and 40% TBM would have a YTD return of approx. 14.0372%
.48 * .2110 + .12 * .1351 + .40 * .0572

Edit: Corrected VXUS and updated all to 7/16/19 data from the Vanguard website
by GLState
Sun Jul 14, 2019 5:51 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Direct TV vs Nextstar issue
Replies: 9
Views: 1081

Re: Direct TV vs Nextstar issue

retiredjg wrote: Sun Jul 14, 2019 5:23 pm
GLState wrote: Sun Jul 14, 2019 4:54 pm These disputes have happened quite often, but usually are settled before actually cutting the feed.
I gather this has been happening before, but am not sure if the settlement is a few weeks or many months. Any observations to share?
I don't remember these disputes ever lasting this long. I have no idea how long both parties can hold out, but I can hold out longer that either ATT or Nextstar.
by GLState
Sun Jul 14, 2019 4:54 pm
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: Direct TV vs Nextstar issue
Replies: 9
Views: 1081

Re: Direct TV vs Nextstar issue

I'm on UVerse. We lost the NBC station in my area. My neighbor put up a small OTA antenna on his roof, as the NBC station is close enough to get good reception. My wife is missing one of her favorite programs, but is getting accustomed to watching news and weather on ABC. Nexstar might find they have lost a viewer.

These disputes have happened quite often, but usually are settled before actually cutting the feed.
by GLState
Thu Jul 04, 2019 8:12 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Hidden Vanguard etf?
Replies: 20
Views: 5773

Re: Hidden Vanguard etf?

If you don't see the link to "Financial Professionals" on the Vanguard Home Page, you, at some point, chose to make the Personal Investors site the default.

This would have been shown at the top of the page....
"Would you like to come directly to Vanguard's website for personal investors when you visit vanguard.com in the future? (You can change your preference anytime.)"
by GLState
Wed Jul 03, 2019 9:47 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Doubling Your Money
Replies: 47
Views: 13363

Re: Doubling Your Money

laidback_and_relaxed wrote: Wed Jul 03, 2019 9:06 am
arcticpineapplecorp. wrote: Sun May 13, 2018 11:54 am . And that's with dividends reinvested! :oops: After inflation it would've been even worse!

I don't think stock price charts you find on Vanguard, Fidelity, Yahoo, etc. include dividends. It's a price history chart, isn't it?
Most of the graphs you'll see on Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab are Growth of $10,000 charts, rather than price charts. Growth of $10.000 include dividends. I believe the graphs on Yahoo show price, but say nothing about total return.
by GLState
Sun Jun 30, 2019 5:02 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Calculating VTSAX(or total stock) return without dividends reinvested
Replies: 13
Views: 2155

Re: Calculating VTSAX(or total stock) return without dividends reinvested

Fund companies only provide total return data so we can compare our fund returns with other fund's returns. If you want to know return without dividends, you'll have to download the price data from yahoo or other providers to calculate the return yourself. In addition to accounting for capital gains, you'll have to account for "stock" splits, if any .
by GLState
Sun Jun 30, 2019 10:29 am
Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
Topic: What's tripping the trap now?
Replies: 12
Views: 2115

Re: What's tripping the trap now?

Rats can push their way out of the large Victor type rat traps. Tomcat Secure Kill Rat Traps (available at Home Depot) work well in my experience... and you won't catch yourself.
by GLState
Sun Jun 30, 2019 9:41 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Simplicity (Three Fund) vs. Return (Slightly more complex):
Replies: 45
Views: 4589

Re: Simplicity (Three Fund) vs. Return (Slightly more complex):

I think you might be cherry picking the period to back test in regards to the permanent portfolio. It seemed to do well 2005-2019 because that coincided with a period that gold did unusually well. Take a look at PRPHX, a fund set up like the permanent portfolio. Over a ten-year period it delivered a dismal 3.83%. Morningstar gives it 1 star. I wasn't cherry picking, nor promoting the Permanent Portfolio ... I simply used all of the data available on PortfolioVisualizer as example portfolios taking into account "risk" rather than just return. Many are optimizing their portfolios and their thinking based on the last ten years. Someday risk will come calling asking for payment. In a previous post, I stated that all of the data came ...
by GLState
Sat Jun 29, 2019 4:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Newbie question: is Index Fund something that you don't "contribute?"
Replies: 14
Views: 1611

Re: Newbie question: is Index Fund something that you don't "contribute?"

If you're at Fidelity, invest in Fidelity index funds. FZROX is a Fidelity Total Market Index Fund.

I would suggest doing some reading before investing. See the "Getting Started" section of the Wiki. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started
by GLState
Sat Jun 29, 2019 12:55 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Simplicity (Three Fund) vs. Return (Slightly more complex):
Replies: 45
Views: 4589

Re: Simplicity (Three Fund) vs. Return (Slightly more complex):

Rather than evaluating a portfolio just by return, it might be a good idea to see the risk that we're taking to get that return. Here's 3 portfolios on PortfolioVisualizer. Portfolio 1 is Three Fund. Portfolio 2 is Swensen's Lazy. Portfolio 3 is the Permanent Portfolio. The returns are similar, but the Permanent Portfolio has much lower standard deviation, lower worst year, and lower max drawdown ... A much smoother ride for a similar result over this time period. The Sharpe Ratio, a common risk/return measurement, is much higher for the Permanent Portfolio. I'm not advocating for The Permanent Portfolio, but it's performance (risk/return) was hard to beat during this period. https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&ti...
by GLState
Sat Jun 29, 2019 11:19 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Simplicity (Three Fund) vs. Return (Slightly more complex):
Replies: 45
Views: 4589

Re: Simplicity (Three Fund) vs. Return (Slightly more complex):

To which "Three Fund Portfolio" are you comparing your returns. Some have only a token allocation to International and perhaps only 10% bonds. Others equal weight US and International with, perhaps, 40% bonds. The past returns are very different. A three fund portfolio is easy to live with. We aren't concerned with growth vs value, large vs small, REITs, or Gold discussions. We get the market return. It seems to me that once we start slicing our portfolio, we have become active managers trying to beat the market. We know that some will win and some will lose, but, on average, we get the market return. I think the key is to stick with our portfolios,whatever they may be, and not chase performance. As long as we are buying mainstrea...
by GLState
Sat Jun 29, 2019 9:00 am
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Analyzing Mutual Fund Overlap
Replies: 5
Views: 2682

Re: Analyzing Mutual Fund Overlap

Find the fund overlap for ETFs here: https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php

Find correlations for specific time frames (correlations vary) with PortfolioVisualizer ... set up two or three portfolios, each with a single fund or ETF ... monthly correlation is found in the "Assets" tab. https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio
by GLState
Fri Jun 28, 2019 5:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What percentage of total portfolio in REIT's do you have? Why? . . Why not?
Replies: 240
Views: 27510

Re: What percentage of total portfolio in REIT's do you have? Why?

I don't hold the REIT fund, so I don't have an opinion on what the future holds. I see REITs as a sector, rather than as an asset class. If I were to overweight, I would tend toward small or value, rather than REITs. $10,000 invested in VGSIX in 2007 would have been worth only $3442 by Feb 2009 ... a 68% drawdown vs 51% for the Total Market fund. The correlation between the two funds during this time was 0.81. Could you run the same analysis using the tech bubble popping? I believe REITs did well during this time compared to Total Stock. That may provide a better overall comparison. During the dotcom crash 2000-2002, REITS (VGSIX) did do much better that Total Market (VTSMX)... final balance $14,729 (13.78% GAGR) for REITS and $6293 (-14.3...
by GLState
Fri Jun 28, 2019 9:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: What percentage of total portfolio in REIT's do you have? Why? . . Why not?
Replies: 240
Views: 27510

Re: What percentage of total portfolio in REIT's do you have? Why?

I don't hold the REIT fund, so I don't have an opinion on what the future holds. I see REITs as a sector, rather than as an asset class. If I were to overweight, I would tend toward small or value, rather than REITs.

$10,000 invested in VGSIX in 2007 would have been worth only $3442 by Feb 2009 ... a 68% drawdown vs 51% for the Total Market fund. The correlation between the two funds during this time was 0.81.