Comments on: What are My Investments and How are They Doing So Far? http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/about-me/what-are-my-investments-and-how-are-they-doing-so-far/ Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:42:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Frugal2000http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/about-me/what-are-my-investments-and-how-are-they-doing-so-far/#comment-43425 Frugal2000 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:27:56 +0000 http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/?p=1908#comment-43425 Fortunately, I haven't seen any negative month this year. However, I am pretty certain that July will be the first negative month. I have tried to hedge my portfolio (about 10%) by using gold (GLD), short ETF (SRS, SKF) and dollar averaging. Currently, my portfolio consists of cash (6%), US stock (27%), Foreign stock (45%), Bonds (12%) and others (10%). I am not comfortable with current portfolio which has invested too much in stock (partially due to dollar averaging). I am going to reduce some positions in stock when opportunities are around in coming months.(1) Dec. 2007, $118,239 (2) Jan. 2008, $121,567 (3) Feb. 2008, $121,677 (4) Mar. 2008, $123,288 (5) Apr. 2008, $123,288 (6) May 2008, $124,777 (7) June 2008, $125,733 Fortunately, I haven’t seen any negative month this year. However, I am pretty certain that July will be the first negative month. I have tried to hedge my portfolio (about 10%) by using gold (GLD), short ETF (SRS, SKF) and dollar averaging. Currently, my portfolio consists of cash (6%), US stock (27%), Foreign stock (45%), Bonds (12%) and others (10%). I am not comfortable with current portfolio which has invested too much in stock (partially due to dollar averaging). I am going to reduce some positions in stock when opportunities are around in coming months.

(1) Dec. 2007, $118,239 (2) Jan. 2008, $121,567 (3) Feb. 2008, $121,677 (4) Mar. 2008, $123,288 (5) Apr. 2008, $123,288 (6) May 2008, $124,777 (7) June 2008, $125,733

]]> By: Sunhttp://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/about-me/what-are-my-investments-and-how-are-they-doing-so-far/#comment-43415 Sun Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:18:39 +0000 http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/?p=1908#comment-43415 Brendan: I agree with you that individual stocks are much volatile than mutual funds. But that doesn't mean that no individual stock is worth holding for the long term. In fact, I do plan to hold a few stocks, such LFC and V, for a long time because I believe they have good business.When I started to buy mutual funds, I started with actively managed funds for the reasons of return and minimum investment requirement. Even though the funds I have in taxable account are all active funds, the costs of owning these funds are a lot higher than index funds. Also I am pretty happy with most funds' performance so far. I do use index funds in my retirement accounts. Brendan: I agree with you that individual stocks are much volatile than mutual funds. But that doesn’t mean that no individual stock is worth holding for the long term. In fact, I do plan to hold a few stocks, such LFC and V, for a long time because I believe they have good business.

When I started to buy mutual funds, I started with actively managed funds for the reasons of return and minimum investment requirement. Even though the funds I have in taxable account are all active funds, the costs of owning these funds are a lot higher than index funds. Also I am pretty happy with most funds’ performance so far. I do use index funds in my retirement accounts.

]]> By: Brendan Rosshttp://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/about-me/what-are-my-investments-and-how-are-they-doing-so-far/#comment-43359 Brendan Ross Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:36:57 +0000 http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/?p=1908#comment-43359 Remember straightforward fund performance is only part of the equation. Although it doesn't matter in a down market, you really want after tax performance. I wrote an essay on this topic: <a>Performance after taxes</a>Your portfolio differs from those that I typically construct in a few ways:1) Not sure why you have individual stocks. Investors are not rewarded for the risk of individual holdings, so you're speculating by holding these specific stocks, which in aggregate aren't likely to outperform their index yet have higher volatility2) Add to your Real Estate in the form of Index REITs. This asset class has a low correlation to equities and bonds and should typically comprise a fraction of your equities position3) Consider switching out of actively managed funds and into index funds across all equity classes. There is little evidence that actively managed funds even succeed in recoupong their additional expenses, let alone beat indexes over time. Remember straightforward fund performance is only part of the equation. Although it doesn’t matter in a down market, you really want after tax performance. I wrote an essay on this topic: Performance after taxes

Your portfolio differs from those that I typically construct in a few ways:

1) Not sure why you have individual stocks. Investors are not rewarded for the risk of individual holdings, so you’re speculating by holding these specific stocks, which in aggregate aren’t likely to outperform their index yet have higher volatility

2) Add to your Real Estate in the form of Index REITs. This asset class has a low correlation to equities and bonds and should typically comprise a fraction of your equities position

3) Consider switching out of actively managed funds and into index funds across all equity classes. There is little evidence that actively managed funds even succeed in recoupong their additional expenses, let alone beat indexes over time.

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