Not in my personal opinion.

You apparently are aware the mid-cap funds are doing well now, particularly the mid-cap blend index fund (which I own). But you are too concentrated in mid cap in particular and large cap to a lesser degree. Small caps are down most currently but historically they perform better than large and mid-cap; whether they will do so in the future remains to be seen.

I am not a Diehard but I have swung around to the view the investing in low cost index funds is probably the most efficient way to go. You have a start with a good one, TRMBX. Give some thought to going with Large Cap index funds and at least one small cap one. Then if you want to over weight large cap you can use the Growth and Income fund though I personally do not do that.

At some point you probably should add some real estae, either the TIAA Real Estate Account (doing very poorly right now) or the Real Estate Securities mutual fund.

Also eventually you might consider raising your International holdings to more than 20%. 

Ray 

Thanks a lot for the website from Jared and the post from Ray.

I have a lot of  funds in the  TIAA Real Estate Account and Stock Account... I am considering to move some (or all) to the mutual funds. I just realized I can invest in the mutual funds now.  Here s my future percentage based upon the two posts above:

10.00%		TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Fund - Retirement Class
5.00%		TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund - Retirement Class
30.00%		TIAA-CREF International Equity Fund - Retirement Class
25.00%		TIAA-CREF Mid-Cap Value Fund - Retirement Class
15.00%		TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Index Fund - Retirement Class
15.00%		TIAA-CREF Small-Cap Equity Fund - Retirement Class

Thanks a lot. Please let me know if this is a good start. I think now I have 25% LC, 25 MC, 15% SC, 30% Foreign, and 5% Real Estate Securities mutual fund. I can not purchase Equity Index Fund- that was the reason I just use Growth and Income. Any other comments before I sell my CREF Variable Annuity Accounts?

Also, shall I keep CREF Variable Annuity Accounts any way? The only thing bother me is it is not easy to put the CREF Variable Annuity Accounts into MorningStar. Thanks a lot Ray and Jared.

Zipper

.

Zipper,

How in the world did you get the colored blocks in your post!?!?!

What VAs do you presently hold? I would certainly keep some money in the REA.

I have watched the Mid-Cap Value Fund in the past and it indeed has done well but currently the only Mid-Cap I hold is the Mid-Cap Blend Index fund which I believe you said you do presently own; I would favor it over the value fund but this is a personal choice.

Just watch your ERs; you have chosen to go with the actively managed funds over the Index version and that works for a while but I am not sure it is a profitable long-term strategy.

Ray 

Retirement Plan:

I have a lot of  funds in the  TIAA Real Estate Account and Stock Account...  Here s my future percentage based upon the two posts above:

 

10.00%		TIAA-CREF Growth & Income Fund - Retirement Class
5.00%		TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund - Retirement Class
30.00%		TIAA-CREF International Equity Fund - Retirement Class
25.00%		TIAA-CREF Mid-Cap Value Fund - Retirement Class
15.00%		TIAA-CREF Large-Cap Value Index Fund - Retirement Class
15.00%		TIAA-CREF Small-Cap Equity Fund - Retirement Class

 Why would you replace the TIAA Real Estate Account with the TIAA-CREF Real Estate Securities Fund?

While REA is only up 0.65% for the year while RESF is up  5.22%, the one year returns are REA up 9.17% vs RESF down 13.54%.  Are you planning to swap back and forth every quarter depending on the most recent returns of the two?  I don't see the advantage of the RESF.

Zipper,

I was able to access the Merriman site this morning.  Basically, he recommends that equities be diversified in a proper balance of  large cap vs. small cap, growth vs. value, and domestic vs. international funds.  In my opinion, your mix would meet these criteria, with the possible exception of not having representation in the small cap value area.  If you wanted, you could use the Small Cap Vaue Index fund to fill in this gap, but I don't really think it's all that important.

I'm assuming that you have thought out your 100% equities strategy carefully, and that it is consistent with your risk tolerance.  When I began my university career, I started with a 75% equities allocation, and then switched to 100% equities until I was a few years from retirement.  At that point, I scaled back to an approximate 50% equity allocation.  Since retirement, however, I've become much more risk averse, and have preferred to invest in funds with less volatility, such as the TIAA Real Estate Account.

Good luck to you!

Jared

Zipper, I agree with Ray's first post.  It's not fair to you for me to read between the lines of just a post or two, but there's something you're not telling us.  I mean, about how you came up with these choices.  If you are eligible to buy TIAA Real Estate Account, your choice of the Real Estate Securities mutual fund is inexplicable.  My read is that you're making choices because of the difficulty of getting frequent M* readouts on TIAA Real Estate Account and the variable annuities.  That is irritating, but it hasn't stopped lots of people from having comfortable retirements with them.

I'm really afraid that you are planning to do a lot of swapping, not just annual rebalancing to the same allocation for a few years.  Have you considered the CREF Stock Variable Annuity as a one-stop choice for almost all of your actual equities?

I'd feel better if you told us what you would do in a year when a 100% Equity allocation goes down 20% or more. Can you keep your hands off?  Referring to your subject line, I don't agree that 100% Equities is appropriate in retirement, even for someone who has more than he needs to retire.  Are you retired? Have you taken the TIAA-CREF asset allocation online questionnaire?

Are you aware that CREF Stock VA is 75% US, 22% diversified International, and 3% Emerging Markets?  This is a great mix, even if it leaves you with "nothing to talk about at cocktail parties". (Don't take that personally - I just mean that it's a one-stop decision!)

Tim

Zipper,

When the future is past, it's easy to know exactly what to do.

When the future is present, we think and hope we know what to do.

When the future is in the future, we can't honestly know what to do.

So; spread your bets out on as many choices that are different from each other, and make certain that at least one choice seems guaranteed.

No one can prove you wrong, and no one can prove you right.

Best of luck, (that's not just an expression),

Sy  

Zipper, I agree with Tim about CREF Stock and TIAA Real Estate.  I once sliced and diced but was never really sure about what I was doing.  Rebalancing became a chore and I sought simplicity.  I now only hold TIAA Traditional, TIAA Real Estate and CREF Stock. 

My investment life is now simpler and I give much less thought to my investments.  I read less of the investment porn that once made me constantly question myself.  Some like the game but I found peace. Good luck regardless of the road you choose.

Mike

Mike is right of course about the simplicity and thoroughness of the coverage across size and geography provided by the Stock Account. I used it as the core of my T-C holdings for at least 25 of the 32 year of my accumulation stage with T-C. However, there is a cost and this is the higher ER that it carries. In comparison to the ERs associated with the Retirement Class Index funds (for the most part, there are a few exceptions), the ERs with them are currently about $0.22 less than that of the Stock Account. The significance of this depends on the individual investor.

Another factor to consider is the the "slice and dice" approach is said to produce at least the same performance return a total stock market account (the Stock Account approaches being a total global account) with less volatility (smaller standard deviation); I believe Larry Swedroe has stated this at various times in various sources. 

My guess is Mike is aware of this and chooses to pay the "price." Others may come to a different conclusion. There are as many have said, "many roads to Dublin" and no particular is necessarily better than the other for everyone. It is a personal choice. At this point in my investing career I tend to go with the slice and dice approach. 

Ray 

Ray,

I also prefer the simple model of holding Traditional, CREF stock, and RE. The Ibbotson review recommended a slice-and-dice approach, which I rejected because the standard deviation was much higher than my current portfolio projections and because I have no interest in watching and juggling 20-30 funds. There is also no way that I'll limit my RE holdings to 3%, which was the Ibbotson recommendation. And for the record, my WMA supports my current portfolio allocation decisions, and he personally holds almost as much RE as do I.

Henry