What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

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TheTimeLord
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What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by TheTimeLord »

Here are my best portfolio moves in 2013. I started off with each of my accounts (401k, IRA and Roth) setup using my AA. Around mid-year I decided to spread the AA over all the account instead of balancing each one and converted my Roth to 100% equity since it was small. Turned out very nicely. Second best would be moving my 30% Fixed Income allocation from 50% Tips/50% Total Bond to 25% Tips/25% Total Bond/50% Cash.
IMHO, Investing should be about living the life you want, not avoiding the life you fear. | Run, You Clever Boy! [9085]
livesoft
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by livesoft »

Sold Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond fund in March-April and put money into short-term corporate bond index.

RBD trades in VBR and VWO worked out really well, too.
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Taylor Larimore
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TIPS: Intermediate-Term to Short-Term

Post by Taylor Larimore »

Starbux:

My only move in several years was in February when we exchanged Vanguard's Intermediate-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Fund (VIPSX) to their new Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Fund (VTAPX). I felt the shorter-term fund would be less volatile for our advancing age.

Merry Christmas!
Taylor
"Simplicity is the master key to financial success." -- Jack Bogle
Sidney
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by Sidney »

I re-balanced to bonds in the spring of 2013 to get back to my target. While I would have benefited from staying with the higher equity mix, I have no regrets.
I always wanted to be a procrastinator.
abrix
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by abrix »

I rebalanced once in June per my IPS and opened my 457(b). Cheers!
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ejvyas
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by ejvyas »

Sticking to my Lazy Portfolio was the best move :beer
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Dale_G
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by Dale_G »

Rebalanced as required throughout the year according to my IPS (my IPS does however dictate a slow increase in percentage of equities). I'll do the same next year.

There are a lot of things I cudda, wudda, shudda done in hindsight. My foresight is limited however, so I will just stick to the plan.

Dale
Volatility is my friend
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cfs
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by cfs »

Leaders, good morning/afternoon/evening

Thanks for asking. As far as moves on our boring SWAN, on the IRAs added to the small-mid cap funds; on the taxable closed a couple of individual stocks to minimize taxes and moved the money to the tax-managed balanced. Passing the pillow test.

Thanks for reading and have a Merry Christmas.
~ Member of the Active Retired Force since 2014 ~
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siamond
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by siamond »

For better or worse, I stuck to my high-level AA at 75% Equities and 25% Bonds. Can't convince myself to increase the bonds % with a glide or whatever, even if I am not getting any younger (!). And well, in 2013, it turned out to be for the better... :happy
SP-diceman
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by SP-diceman »

Sitting on my hands.
:happy
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theduke
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by theduke »

I stayed the course.
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bottomfisher
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by bottomfisher »

Simplifying. Not quite 3 fund portfolio due to personal account, 457, Roth IRA and SIMPLE IRA. But well on way. Cashed out personal account gains for house down payment that we recently moved into. 457 and Roth hold only 1 fund. No rebalancing opportunity, but simplicity overshadows this drawback for me. SIMPLE IRA down to 3 funds.
nordsteve
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by nordsteve »

No trades in my investment account so far in 2013. Will be rebalancing this week.
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ruralavalon
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by ruralavalon »

No portfolio moves at all.

Merry Christmas.
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epictetus
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by epictetus »

Read this board every day.
Rebalanced on my birthday as per plan.
was only vaguely and from a distance aware of stock market and bond market returns.

Thank you Bogleheads!!!!!
Focus on what you can control
basspond
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by basspond »

Encouraging and nudging our daughter to get all of her college applications in early. She wasn't too optimistic about getting into the state school of her choice but she did. We could have been looking at doubling costs if she had gone to the private school 2nd option.
FlyOverState
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by FlyOverState »

2013 will be our first year for maxing out BOTH her SEP-IRA and my 401K!
Thanks, | John | | FlyOverState
letsgobobby
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by letsgobobby »

In general most of our portfolio moves are 'good' or we wouldn't do them. Mostly that means doing nothing new or different, or literally nothing at all, but in any case not very interesting. Our best 'portfolio moves' for 2013 were to continue saving aggressively for retirement and college and sticking with our IPS.
J295
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by J295 »

Staying the course.
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nisiprius
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by nisiprius »

Doing nothing.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
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fishnskiguy
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by fishnskiguy »

nisiprius wrote:Doing nothing.
Ditto.

Chris
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longinvest
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by longinvest »

J295 wrote:Staying the course.
^
That, and replacing narrow or currency-hedged ETFs with new Vanguard Canada offerings:

VCE (Canadian Large Cap) => VCN (Canadian All Cap)
VFV (S&P 500) => VUN (US Total Market)
VEF (currency hedged Developed ex North America) => VDU (Developed ex North America)
Variable Percentage Withdrawal (bogleheads.org/wiki/VPW) | One-Fund Portfolio (bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=287967)
RNJ
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by RNJ »

1) Aggressive tax-loss harvesting in EM

2) Rebalancing with no tax consequences using above TLHs.

3) Opening a donor advised fund and making almost all charitable contributions with appreciated securities rather than out of cash flow.
Longtimelurker
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by Longtimelurker »

I had two.

1: I negotiated a 5% discount on my rent for the year in exchange for paying the year up front. I took the money all from bonds. So 5% return + 3% loss avoidance = 8% net good guy in my FI pool.

2: I continued my strategy with my ESPP to sell immediately. My company is down 28% this year, and my co-workers are hurting. I am up ~20% (15% purchase discount and some lucky timing) in my ESPP, and I take that money and put it into my portfolio - which is up ~20% this year.
Stay the course. If you can't resist greed, and fear is proven to be 2x as strong, you are doomed as an investor.
Novine
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by Novine »

1. Unwound the rest of the wife's retirement accounts from Merrill Lynch. So glad to be free of that mess.

2. Maxing out my 457 contributions for the first time. Sure wish I had been able to do this sooner in my investing lifetime but better now than later.

3. Otherwise, stayed the course with the remainder of our retirement portfolio which was the best move for 2013.
arcane23
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by arcane23 »

I feel like all my moves in 2013 were my best moves since I had no moves prior to joining bogleheads. I discovered the forum in October 2012 but it was 2013 when I fully bought into the philosophy. Best move was to invest my cash (minus EF) into funds per my IPS. Writing an IPS was an awesome move in itself :happy

I sometimes regret that I didn't discover this site sooner but then it could have been a lot worse and my money would still be sitting in some savings account earring me a whopping 0.9% interest.
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ray.james
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by ray.james »

Switching to Target retirement 2045
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bogleblitz
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by bogleblitz »

I bought an investment property in April 2013. At the time, my REIT AA was about 15%. I reduced REIT to 5% of my total portfolio.
chw
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by chw »

1). Selling DBC commodities fund (holdover investment from precious advisor) early in 2013, and reallocating based on IPS.

2). Fully funding wife's 403b plan.

3). Consolidating investment accounts to the extent that we could to simplify financial life.

In general staying the course, though was a easy year to do so with most market sectors (equities) having a banner year.
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youngindexer
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by youngindexer »

Moving all my assets to vanguard in a domestic equity heavy 3 fund portfolio :mrgreen:
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TheTimeLord
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by TheTimeLord »

RNJ wrote:1) Aggressive tax-loss harvesting in EM

2) Rebalancing with no tax consequences using above TLHs.

3) Opening a donor advised fund and making almost all charitable contributions with appreciated securities rather than out of cash flow.
I really like #3. An excellent move.
IMHO, Investing should be about living the life you want, not avoiding the life you fear. | Run, You Clever Boy! [9085]
haban01
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by haban01 »

Staying the Course and re-balancing. For some it should be finding this forum!!!
Eric | | "Stay the Course" | "Press on Regardless"
john94549
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by john94549 »

I bought a tad of VEMAX for the long-term, which was a bit of a bust. However, that said, my best move was no move at all. Just obeyed my IPS.

I didn't even try to get "cute" in my fun money trading account at Schwab. Just kept re-balancing to 50% equities/50% cash.

Boring, but nice.
supertreat
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by supertreat »

dropping REITs early in the year and moving that money into small cap value
Assets - Liabilities = Equity + (Income - Expenses)
Casper
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by Casper »

1. Rolling over my wife's John Hancock retirement account to Vanguard (put it all into TR2045).

2. Opening a 529 for our 2-year-old.
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nedsaid
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by nedsaid »

Starting in July, I started a program of mild rebalancing from stocks into bonds and have been doing it in small waves. In my brokerage IRA, I am using dividends from individual stocks and ETFs to buy into a bond fund which I have done for about three to four years now. For 2013, all of my IRA contributions are going into bond funds. At my workplace savings plan, 40% goes into bond funds and the rest into stock funds.

So I have been putting an emphasis on bonds in 2013. Buying a lot of them, the dollars seem a lot but the percentage of my portfolio is small.

Other than that, I am staying the course. No large shifts in my portfolio. Just buying more bonds than normal. Mild rebalancing.
A fool and his money are good for business.
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BHCadet
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by BHCadet »

Our best move was we didn't have to make any major move at all.
No selling and buying except for the followings:
1. On our tax deferred accounts, automatically reinvested the dividends and cap gains to the same funds.
2. New contributions on the tax deferred accounts go to the lowest performance fund (Bond).
3. In our taxable account, re-direct the dividends and cap gains to the lowest performance fund (International).
wheld280
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by wheld280 »

1) Another vote for doing nothing

2) Finding & joining this forum
asherah
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by asherah »

Going from

Equity Europa, North America, Pacific, EM - each Core + SC
REITS Europa + North America
Bonds EM
Bonds Global DM AAA-AA
Bonds € Aggregate

= 13 ETFs

to

MSCI ACWI IMI - 60 %
€ Aggregate - 25 %
Bonds Germany 1-10 - 15 %

= 3 ETFs

ACWI IMI - as most other global equity ETFs here in Germany - is not on the cheap side with a TER of 0,55 % but I like the portfolio this way
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VictoriaF
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by VictoriaF »

My only 2013 move was to sell some stocks to bring my Asset Allocation closer to the target. The bad news are that the stocks are now higher than when I have made the sales; the good news are that I still have slightly more stocks than I need and I can sell them at the current higher price.

Victoria
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RNJ
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by RNJ »

StarbuxInvestor wrote:
RNJ wrote:1) Aggressive tax-loss harvesting in EM

2) Rebalancing with no tax consequences using above TLHs.

3) Opening a donor advised fund and making almost all charitable contributions with appreciated securities rather than out of cash flow.
I really like #3. An excellent move.
All of the above came about as a result of joining the forum (in truth, my best move of the year). As for #3, I love the idea of doing good and doing well :happy
leonard
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by leonard »

StarbuxInvestor wrote:Here are my best portfolio moves in 2013. I started off with each of my accounts (401k, IRA and Roth) setup using my AA. Around mid-year I decided to spread the AA over all the account instead of balancing each one and converted my Roth to 100% equity since it was small. Turned out very nicely. Second best would be moving my 30% Fixed Income allocation from 50% Tips/50% Total Bond to 25% Tips/25% Total Bond/50% Cash.
My best move was to set and forget 4 years ago and not tweak my AA or AA account location endlessly.
Leonard | | Market Timing: Do you seriously think you can predict the future? What else do the voices tell you? | | If employees weren't taking jobs with bad 401k's, bad 401k's wouldn't exist.
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InvestorNewb
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by InvestorNewb »

Went 100% equities in February 2013. In hindsight wish it was all in Total US Stock Mkt. :D
My Portfolio: VTI [US], VXUS [Int'l], VNQ [REIT], VCN [Canada] (largest to smallest)
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sephage
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by sephage »

Had been planning on tweaking my AA to slightly more bonds at year end. Just did that, and by luck it happened when equities were at an all time high. Wish I could intellectually justify my feeling of being a genius, which I'm not, but decided to enjoy the fortuitousness of the timing anyway...
"I've got a bad feeling about this..." - Every Star Wars character at least once
Seekwhat
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by Seekwhat »

Definitely deposing my financial advisor in favor of diy low expense investing. That, and seeking out advice here were my best financial moves of 2013!
gte939h
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by gte939h »

Seekwhat wrote:Definitely deposing my financial advisor in favor of diy low expense investing. That, and seeking out advice here were my best financial moves of 2013!
+1, dumped my actively managed account, joined this community and moved to the 3 fund DIY approach. Very excited to see what the following years bring. Thanks for the help so far.
TheRightKost87
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by TheRightKost87 »

+1 for discovering this site.

That, and using the knowledge to start my investing career off on the right foot
"The problem with diversification is that it works, whether or not we want it to"
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White Coat Investor
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by White Coat Investor »

Not bailing on BRSIX when it was dramatically underperforming the CRSP 10 a few years ago.
1) Invest you must 2) Time is your friend 3) Impulse is your enemy | 4) Basic arithmetic works 5) Stick to simplicity 6) Stay the course
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carorun
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by carorun »

Increasing my savings rate.
bpp
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Re: What Was Your Best Portfolio move in 2013

Post by bpp »

Opened a NISA account.
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