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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Investor Alley => Topic started by: milesdividendmd on August 11, 2014, 12:56:20 AM

Title: A nice review of model portfolio options.
Post by: milesdividendmd on August 11, 2014, 12:56:20 AM
I came across this article today on white coat investor.

http://whitecoatinvestor.com/150-portfolios-better-than-yours/

It does a really good job of identifying multiple portfolio construction options from one fund portfolios to slice and dice extravaganzas.

I thought this would be a good resource for those looking to construct a portfolio, in addition to the oft cited lazy portfolio page on Bogleheads.

Enjoy
Title: Re: A nice review of model portfolio options.
Post by: arebelspy on August 30, 2014, 11:17:22 PM
I don't know how so many portfolios could be better than the readers given two things:
1) The readers' portfolio probably very closely approximates one of them, and
2) Many of the portfolios premises conflict with each other.

Is 100% BRK > PP > 100% Vanguard S&P > "your" portfolio?

IDK how you'd rank these, besides personal preference (and hindsight), so I don't know how the author can claim anything close to the title of the piece.

No deep analysis on any of these, so I'd imagine for someone starting out, this contains very little useful information.  I'd rather see 3-4 different strategies compared and analyzed and discussed who should be investing in each, and why, than just listing a bunch of popular portfolios, personally.

/shrug 

YMMV.  :)
Title: Re: A nice review of model portfolio options.
Post by: milesdividendmd on August 30, 2014, 11:35:06 PM
ARS,

I took the title as completely tongue in cheek.

I think the whole point of the article is that there are thousands of ways to slice and dice a passive portfolio, and that the only way to tell which is best is in retrospect.

I think WCI did a pretty nice job of hitting most of the options from one-funders to the permanent portfolio to Bernstein's cowards portfolio and every thing in between.

More of a laundry list than anything.
Title: Re: A nice review of model portfolio options.
Post by: arebelspy on August 31, 2014, 12:18:39 AM
I took the title as completely tongue in cheek.

Ah.  Perhaps.

I think WCI did a pretty nice job of hitting most of the options from one-funders to the permanent portfolio to Bernstein's cowards portfolio and every thing in between.

More of a laundry list than anything.

Yeah, as a big list of "here's some portfolios to look into," it's not bad.

Like I said, I prefer a more nuanced discussion, but a list is fine too.

I guess it's all in how you present it, and something about it just rubbed me wrong.  Probably just started with my (mis?)reading the title and snowballed from there.  :)
Title: Re: A nice review of model portfolio options.
Post by: milesdividendmd on August 31, 2014, 12:26:00 AM

I took the title as completely tongue in cheek.

Ah.  Perhaps.

I think WCI did a pretty nice job of hitting most of the options from one-funders to the permanent portfolio to Bernstein's cowards portfolio and every thing in between.

More of a laundry list than anything.

Yeah, as a big list of "here's some portfolios to look into," it's not bad.

Like I said, I prefer a more nuanced discussion, but a list is fine too.

I guess it's all in how you present it, and something about it just rubbed me wrong.  Probably just started with my (mis?)reading the title and snowballed from there.  :)

That's interesting.

Off topic but have you read Kahneman's Thinking Fast And Slow?

He covers the framing bias and about 100 other cognitive traps that I find myself falling into all of the time.   

It's a very important book that I imagine you would really enjoy as a philosophy buff.

Not a quick read but it really changed my perspective on thinking in general.

Highly recommended!
Title: Re: A nice review of model portfolio options.
Post by: arebelspy on August 31, 2014, 12:55:35 AM
I have not, but it does sound interesting from the short summary I just found.

Thanks for the recommendation; added to my reading list!
Title: Re: A nice review of model portfolio options.
Post by: TomTX on August 31, 2014, 08:57:49 AM
Amusing. My portfolio is darn close to #2. Vanguard Total Stock Market. Not sure whether I count the I-bond emergency fund or not as part of the "portfolio"