Welcome! Please Log In
Go
Essentials Popular Topics
My Favorite Forums Join Discuss to setup a list of your favorite forums.
Re: Portfolio evaluation mwleach  11-20-2007, 4:07 PM | Post #2458259
0  

Hi, Ed -

(BTW, I am also a military retiree about 10 years behind you - age 60)

There are likely folks on here who would do a detailed analysis for you, but I am just going to concentrate briefly on the "big picture" as I see it.

You look like you are in pretty good shape to me - if you are worried you don't need to be IMO.  You're about 65% stocks, 20% bonds, 15% cash.  That's a pretty good mix.  If you only need 2-3% annually, your porfolio should easily last both your lifetimes with some left over.  You guys are likely getting well over half your income from your military retired pay and Social Security.  You can look at both of those together as, in effect, one big position in inflation adjusted bonds.  (So things like TIPS are one thing you DON'T need IMO.)  Given your situation I think your asset allocation is fine.  You could lighten up a bit more on the equities, but 60% would clearly be OK (At the other end, I would not go below 50% equities if I were you.)

So your overall position is good, and  frankly, your individual funds look good to me.  You have quite a number of funds, and it's probably a bit cumbersome.  You can do pretty much the same thing with far fewer positions and simplify matters quite a bit if you so desire.  That's what I'd do - keeping the best of your funds and selling the rest - but I would not be rushed into anything.

The only thing I would change from a strategic standpoint is the fact that you currently have very little that will cover you in case inflation does get out of hand.  If I had your holdings I would feel more comfortable if I had a 10%-15% position in what I call "hard assets"  That would be some combination of gold or gold stock funds, REIT funds, commodity or natural resources funds.  For example, you might consider picking up some T Rowe Price New Era (PRNEX), and some of the Gold ETF (GLD) or perhaps the Toqueville Gold Fund (TGLDX) . (Too bad Vanguard Precious Metals Fund, VGPMX, is closed - you might consider that if it reopens).  You could buy any of these and perhaps some of an REIT fund as well with the proceeds from your condo after it sells.

You could see a fee only planner if you so desire, but unless there are more complications than what you outlined here, I'm not sure there is a big need for it.  Presumably you have already seen an attorney about setting up living trusts for estate and estate tax purposes - that I WOULD definitely do if you have not already done so.  Good luck.

MWL

Topics Gold ETF hard assets natural resources T Rowe Price New Era View Complete Thread
 
© Copyright 2008 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. Please read our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Quotes for NASDAQ are 15 minutes delayed. All other exchanges are delayed 20 minutes.