Yeah, I hold TSM, but I don't know that it's exactly the core of my holdings at this point, given the amount of Vanguard's USSV it takes to get the small and value loads I want. Don't know what I think about using MCV as a core. I'll track down some of your posts to see what you're saying about it.RNJ wrote:Your welcome. It's a handy site.
Recently, in other threads, I've been posting about how difficult it is to achieve meaningful value loadings using VG funds, especially when one has a TSM fund at the core of a portfolio. There are those out there who can stick with a research-based, rational rationale for holding only USSV, or beginning with a MCV fund at the core and foregoing TSM. To my mind, very tough to do simply from an emotional perspective.
Great discussion.
I think I'm pretty rational about my choices, but not without my emotional limits. One of the things about researching the underlying concepts and principles that determine these investing strategies is that the more one understands, I think, the more one is able to keep the emotions in check. I'm defintely in a very different place than when I started researching these things. I also find it useful to keep reading and learning, even if it doesn't change anything I'm doing. It helps me stick to my plan.
So I guess I'm suggesting that emotions aren't a static thing. They can be relative to amount of knowledge and understanding. Which is why I keep saying people really need to understand things for themselves and make their own decisions. When they're ready to do that, then their ready.
It took me a year of researching, reading books, reading tons of threads, figuring out the handful of bogleheads who I think know what they're talking about, taking everyone else with a grain of salt, and even deciding which of the generally respected (here) authors I think understand things better than others.
Lastly, I suppose I think that the better one understands the strategies and concepts, the more one is able to recognize one's emotions and separate them from rational questions. So no amount of knowledge may allow one to completely overcome emotional effects, but it may help one recognize one's limits a lot better, which is also helpful in choosing a strategy which one can live with.
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Speaking of how hard it is to achieve meaningful small and value loadings. I was just fiddling around with the x-ray tool (for what it's worth). If you go 50% VBR, 25% EFV, and 25% VEU (in other words 50% SV, 25% ILV, 25% ISB), I think that would to many people seem insanely strongly tilted to value and small. And yet, with those funds you don't quite have 50% value equities and still have slightly more than 50% core and growth equities. Just food for thought for those who may imagine that 25/25/25/25 portfolios are tilting halfway toward value. In addition, only 26% of the equities in that portfolio are small, the rest are midcap and large cap; that despite the appearance that 75% of one's funds are in small cap funds.