Asset allocation Category

Bloomberg interviewed Steve Leuthold this morning and the legendary investor had some interesting insights into how 2009 will play out. He has turned even more bullish now given the level of fear among investors. Oh, and he also thinks the S&P 500 will close at least above 1,000 in 2009, a 40%+ return [...]

That feels so good to say.  I’ve tried to be a more growth and value manager for some time but it just never fit.   Its not that I’m anti-growth or anything like that.  Its just that its not my presonality.
I started running money back around the market peak of 2000 and let me tell you it was not fun there [...]

Year-end items

In: Asset allocation, Portfolio Management

Since the end of the year is fast approaching I think its a good idea to do a little “portolio housekeeping”. While its good to review your portfolio several times a year most people don’t do that. At the very minimum you should review your portfolio and make plans for the coming year.
Things to accomplish:
1. [...]

Lizard Brain

In: Asset allocation, Portfolio Management

I recently started reading Mean Markets & Lizard Brains. Its an interesting take on how the human brain deals with investing. I am not very far into it (50 pages) but I see that Paul Farrell mentions it in an article on lizard and rat brains he wrote for Marketwatch.
Yes, you heard right: Your [...]

Yesterday I picked up the Sunday paper and read it over a couple of cups of coffee.
It was nice to see Paul Farrel of Marketwatch write a little piece on commodities over the weekend. I think he covered the topic pretty well and highlited a couple of funds that I covered in my previous [...]

What do I like?  I get this question from people all the time.  Mostly the question is phrased as “what stock should I buy?�  Now if you have been to my site before you will know that it’s not a “stock picking� site.  It is a site about building and running diversified portfolios, not the [...]

Basically a 401k is a retirement account that is started by a company for its employees. These plans are also called defined contribution plans, since the contribution rate is set (defined) by the company when it starts the plan.
Usually 401k participants will have several different mutual funds options to choose from. There will most likely [...]

Model Portfolio

  • Q4-08 Model Portfolio Update

    The 4th quarter, and all of 2008 for that matter, was an extremely difficult investing environment. There truely was no place to hide if you were not 100% in short term U.S. Treasurys.
    Performance:

    Aggressive -19.25% (Q4) & -32.77% (2008)
    Moderate -13.89% (Q4) & -24.86% (2008)
    Conservative -8.41% (Q4) & -15.51% (2008)

    Positives:
    For the full year only three investments [...]

  • Q3-07 Model Portfolio Update

    The third quarter of 2007 saw a return of volatility to the portfolio, but each portfolio had a positive return.  Below are the quarterly returns for each portfolio: 

    Aggressive + 2.07%
    Moderate + 2.18%
    Conservative + 2.45%

    Positives:
    For the first time in a long time, any growth domestic equity performed well.  Large, Mid, and Small Cap Growth all outperformed their [...]

  • Q2-07 Model Portfolio Update

     The second quarter of 2007 was a relatively good quarter with each model posting solid returns.

    Aggressive + 4.11%
    Moderate + 3.10%
    Conservative + 2.13%

    One asset class that showed disappointing returns as the REIT class.  The VNQ holding was down -9.35 for the quarter.   REIT’s have had quite a strong run over the past few years so this [...]

  • Q4-06 Model Portfolio Update

    The themes that have dominated over the past several years, value over growth, small/mid cap over large cap and international over domestic equities have continued into the 4th quarter of 2006.
    The 4th quarter for the models also saw an environment where no asset finished with negative performance. Leading the strong finish to 2006 was international [...]