retired at 48 - All Comments

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

Limoman — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:37:00 GMT

Geech you really have 95% In VFSTX?

and this has been your Port for How long? I hope it's just a "Short Term" or next yr or 2 ?

I believe in being Flexible too...but I have people I consult with in addition to my own judgement..to help me make better mistakes...LOL

R You Constantly changing it every Yr in the Bonds? or plan to stay in VFSTX for the LT..?

Don't get me wrong.. I own VFSTX also, but just for 50% of my STerm $, while other ST $ is In FFRHX.

But my LT bond $ being in GNMA , TIPS and VBMFX most of the time since 03'-07', but in late 07' and 1st qtr of 08', I moved out of TIPS and VBMFX and into Treas.> VFITX and VUSTX. Then Sold in Jan. and back into GNMA, VBMFX..and alittle in EM Debt Bonds of PREMX...

Not so sure on Getting back into TIPS just yet..

Unlike 00-02', it's a real challenge with Bonds this time around..

Best of Luck!

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

retired at 48 — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 20:35:28 GMT

Hi Limoman

Sorry, I missed your post...just discovered it in the blog part of shared portfolios.

No. The 100% VFSTX came about because when we started this Portfolio Challenge thread, SINCE M* CANNOT HANDLE CASH, we all agreed to use VFSTX until M* provided capability to use Money Market Funds.

I didn't realize the extent of the bear market that lay ahead. And while I successfully stayed out of it, the VFSTX also took a relative haircut...but since recovered. I announced that 50% would be in money market fund at the start, but no way to accommodate this. Oh, well.

But this is a demo portfolio, to be a learning experience for all. The key point is trying to take a $400,000 cash rollover and inject it into the market, while mitigating risk of a large decline. So far, successful progress.

In retrospect, I could have focused more on the fixed income aspect. For instance, I bought TIPs for my own portfolio, but not this one. Oversight. I bought Fidelity's Ginny Mae bond fund for myself, but not this one! My focus was on stock investing, and this young retiree navigated this, well!

R48

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

Limoman — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:52:20 GMT

Just a note to let you know how appreciated you have been to the Boards and yours truly..

I think it's Great you desided to GIVE BACK and Try to Help others down this Path of Investing business

We need alot more Like you

Dennis

Retired @ 55

mostly due to the Luck of the Irish and Good Fortune along the way..for Helping others for most of my life.

What you Give out, will come back 2 fold to you..

I had my doubts after Loosing my Wife so early in our lives, but none the less.

and Score More Points with St. Peter when That time comes doesn't hurt either..

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Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

retired at 48 — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:51:10 GMT

Limoman...a big thanks for your kind words of encouragement and support.

R48 (Short nickname bestowed by Boglehead Forum members)

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

REDSINFO — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:05:47 GMT

Hey there retired at 48. Congrats by the way.

I am actually retired as well, but Im 28. No no, Im not being cocky. I was in the Army as an explosives specialist for 9 years. The day after Christmas in 2006 three small Iraqi boys came running up to my route clearance vehicle throwing anti-tank grenades, one of them was lucky enough to toss it directly down my gunner's hatch. I went through several surgurys (7 I think) and lost the majority of my right foot. The military forced me to retire and awarded me full benefits.

I am currently finishing up my degree in Corporate Finance at Arkansas State U after which I will pursue my masters degree.

I read several of your comments and I wanted to contact you. I wonder if you might consider looking at my portfolio and giving me any advice that you might have? I am new to this site and I havent really gotten any solid info from it just yet.

If you could comment on any portion of my portfolio I would greatly appreciate it. Have a good one.

Reddi Parker

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

retired at 48 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:44:34 GMT

REDSINFO:

Hey there retired at 48. Congrats by the way.

I am actually retired as well, but Im 28. No no, Im not being cocky. I was in the Army as an explosives specialist for 9 years. The day after Christmas in 2006 three small Iraqi boys came running up to my route clearance vehicle throwing anti-tank grenades, one of them was lucky enough to toss it directly down my gunner's hatch. I went through several surgurys (7 I think) and lost the majority of my right foot. The military forced me to retire and awarded me full benefits.

I am currently finishing up my degree in Corporate Finance at Arkansas State U after which I will pursue my masters degree.

I read several of your comments and I wanted to contact you. I wonder if you might consider looking at my portfolio and giving me any advice that you might have? I am new to this site and I havent really gotten any solid info from it just yet.

If you could comment on any portion of my portfolio I would greatly appreciate it. Have a good one.

Reddi Parker

A very big HELLO Reddi Parker.

I read your post, looked at your portfolio, took a walk, returning, showing your post to my wife (She wonders why I'm on the Forums a lot), and she said: "Yes, special case."

You see, Reddi, I was previously on the Boglehead Forum and they had a personal message system enabling posters to contact others, directly. I'm here to provide guidance, either on the forum posts, or personally directly to others. I don't exclude anybody.

But for a select few, I'd like to offer more...sort of a personal assistance and guidance in their investment life, going forward...of course if they so desire.

Anecdotally, the last person was a 40ish female mother of two, who PM'd me, saying: "I told him not to do it!...My husband bought a motorcycle and two weeks later died in an accident...do I have to go back to work or is the life insurance and savings sufficient."

Life experiences like hers and yours are like vaccinations, making me realize how fortunate I have been, thus the strong desire to give back.

So Reddi, here is my Email address: ret-at-48 and

combine this with the words: @live.com

For I need some more information, some personal, that you can provide to me either by Email or post it on the forum, or use both communication channels. The needed info is:

What is your desired asset allocation?

Why Bank of America Stock? Why any stocks?

Please provide an approx, or actual, dollar amounts invested...taxable/IRAs etc.

Do you have tax free spaces in use now (like IRAs/ and amounts).

Do you need Emergency Funds? Your thoughts regarding that?

Elaborate some on your investment history to date..how did you get to that portfolio? It sure must seem like a roller coaster...down two thirds, followed by a wild recovery so far!

This is a start. More involvement, I promise. Just stay with me.

BTW I think I speak for many, many forum members in saying: Thanks Reddi for your service to our country!

retired at 48 (R48)

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

paulbrown — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:11:32 GMT

R48, I'm just starting to share a portfolio and didn't know if we should be adding dividend, capital gains transactions to funds in the shared portfolio? How do you handle that?

Thanks, Ron

retired at 48:
Ask questions related to the "socialize.morningstar.com/.../SharedPortfolioSnapshot.aspx">R48 Early Retiree" Portfolio here.

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

retired at 48 — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:26:56 GMT

rondom:

R48, I'm just starting to share a portfolio and didn't know if we should be adding dividend, capital gains transactions to funds in the shared portfolio? How do you handle that?

Thanks, Ron

socialize.morningstar.com/.../icon-quote.gif"> retired at 48:

Ask questions related to the "socialize.morningstar.com/.../%3Ca%20rel=" target=_new nofollow?>socialize.morningstar.com/.../SharedPortfolioSnapshot.aspx">R48 Early Retiree" Portfolio here.

Hi Ron...and Welcome.

Yes, I add them all back in, and I presume others do also.

If a portfolio contains fixed income holdings of, let's say, bond funds, one has to add them back in. From my experience the M* Portfolios permit making "automatic additions of distributions.", but you need to select this manually. I do it periodically, about quarterly. One could do it every month, but I tend to forget about it.

If you enter your portfolio in the PD/M Thread titled R48, Norbert & Chins Investment Challenge, please provide a description of your investment strategy, goals, what the portfolio is trying to accomplish, tidbits like how you do buying/selling. For it is a learning experience for all of us.

Again, welcome.

R48

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

Fundscan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:37:50 GMT

Q1: How did the 29.29% stock portion not cause a sharp decline to the overall portfolio which would show up on the graph?

Q2: Was foreign treated as hands off when you created the portfolio? What percentage would you induce if you updated the portfolio?

Q3: Bonds, growth, energy, technology, banking, and emerging markets seem to miss some asset classes. What inspired you to ignore other asset classes?

Good food for thought in your demo portfolio & posting.

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Early Retiree portfolio

retired at 48 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:52:16 GMT

Fundscan:

Q1: How did the 29.29% stock portion not cause a sharp decline to the overall portfolio which would show up on the graph?

OK Fundscan... Good observation. The portfolio was started as a $400,000 cash rollover from a Company 401.K into the investors IRA. This is a very typical situation, and a difficult investment situation...that is, starting from cash.

So the answer is: the portfolio was not 29.29% in equity funds during the bear market. During all of 2008 and into 2009 most mutual funds had their NAVs below the 200 day Moving Averages. Under the strategy for this portfolio, which is one of the risk mitigation, the tool said: NO BUYING. The portfolio thus was mostly cash, and early retiree avoided the big downdraft, and he is quite happy, drinking scotch, watching football now as the portfolio value is now $450,000!

Q2: Was foreign treated as hands off when you created the portfolio? What percentage would you induce if you updated the portfolio?

No. I believe a retiree portfolio should have some foreign, perhaps to 20%. It is one shortcoming of my investing this model portfolio so far; namely, I should have been accumulating the foreign equity side as well. Perhaps I felt a correction would occur, allowing accumulation to begin. It didn't occur.

I then began a small position in DEM, an emerging market fund with a very high dividend yield. I will Pyramid Up this position. In hindsight, I should have started buying in April, as I did for my personal accounts, and the Young Aggressive Investor Model Portfolio bought heavily into China (FXI).

Q3: Bonds, growth, energy, technology, banking, and emerging markets seem to miss some asset classes. What inspired you to ignore other asset classes? Good food for thought in your demo portfolio & posting.

The portfolio satrategy is valuations and momentum investing, coupled with strategic allocations. The "growth" comes from the fact for the past year, growth has been beating value. Value is normally the best place, but in about 7 of the past 10 years, value has beaten growth. I feel it is growth's turn. And the momentum suggests this is not wishful thinking...growth is beating value, so I accumulated it first. Value later.

Similarly, in the growth arena, high technology is beating everything domestic. So I invested there. Again, current momentum influencing where to invest. So far, so good.

Investing in energy funds is to me a good way for retirees to have that currency/dollar hedge, a good current dividend yield, international flavor, and stocks that should increase over time. Black gold, if you will. So I am buying the energy sector as a major, core component of the portfolio. Thus, I feel it should be a major core component of any retiree portfolio. so far, it has benefitted the portfolio.

"Banking" is a value component, and I feel will be the next great investment arena. I made a starting purchase last year when it crossed the 200 day MA on upside, but didn't buy more as it didn't follow through. Yes, that Pyramid Up thing saved me a lot here. No purchases in last year.

As stated above, up to 20% foreign in the equity side is OK. DEM privides a high dividend payer in a true growth area, emerging markets. I expect these markets to be highly volatile, but the yield will provide a downside buffer. It did during the last bear market.

Lastly, the bond side is Vanguards Short Term Bond Fund, VFSTX. I wanted half this in Money Market funds but M* Portfolio Manager cannot handle MM Funds. All participants agreed to use VFSTX. In any event, I am not buying long term bonds as I view the risk/reward is not good enough. Mid term is max, and one to three year duration bonds preferred.

Good to chat...R48

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Young Investor portfolio

youngin — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:17:16 GMT

R48, just curious why the x-ray shows only a 4% exposure to Intl? Isn't that kind of low? Shouldn't intl exposure for a young aggressive investor be closer to 50%? thanks

Re: Q&A for retired at 48's R48 Young Investor portfolio

retired at 48 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:35:21 GMT

Hi youngin.

That's an excellent observation and question.

The answer is the portfolio being shared is incorrect...it is not showing a 16% position in FXI (China) etf, the largest position in the portfolio. I confirmed on my regular view of the PORTFOLIO that it is still there.

I am enroute to Florida for the winter, so I will take this up with M* if it persists. I had not noticed this. (M* also dropped the portfolio value by a like amount?)

So the Young Aggressive Portfolio currently is about 20% International, with a goal much higher. But I have hesitated to start a position in Emerging Markets, awaiting a correction, as I have about 15% cash to invest yet (started with 100% cash last year).

Good observation, youngin.

I plan a full strategic review of the development and timing used in this portfolio, when I get relocated. Please critique.

R48