Author Topic: Show us your Portfolio Compostion  (Read 24346 times)

Ottawa

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Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« on: January 08, 2014, 09:47:50 AM »
Here is mine...the gold thing is interesting.  I have put it down as 5% (this is 5% of total liquid porfolio value)...I recently received this as a gift.  I would never buy it as an investment.  However, I'm thinking of holding it...thoughts?

I've included only the % held and the MER.  I 'rebalance' every 2 weeks (paycheque excess) by buying the worst performer....although the VUN appreciation has outrun the ability for me to rebalance the rest of the portfolio...VUN is about 3.5% beyond my target of 35%...

Edit:  Whoops, when I replaced the attachment I deleted the 'gold allocation'. 
« Last Edit: January 10, 2014, 01:42:45 PM by Ottawa »

the fixer

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2014, 10:27:45 AM »
50% US stock (mostly VTSAX/VTI plus some VFIAX that's a holdover from when I started)
15% International stock
15% REITs
15% bonds
5% cash (right now most of "bonds" and "cash" are mixed together in a rewards checking account paying 3% APY)

The percentages are within a good range for my age, but I really like it because it's so easy to tell when rebalancing is needed. Bonds, REITs, and International should all have the same value. Cash should be about a third of that. Then US stock is ten times cash.

matchewed

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2014, 10:39:03 AM »
85% US Equity
10% International Equity
5% Bonds

My plan is that within the next few years I'll adjust my bond allocation higher by investing in the bonds. My max position in bonds (30% or 40% I haven't laid out which) should kick in right around FIRE which I'll maintain for a few years and readjust to more of an aggressive allocation again.

thepokercab

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2014, 11:10:09 AM »
60%  U.S. Stocks
25%  Int'l Stocks
10%  REITs
5%   Bonds

I also do some allocating between emerging markets and developed markets for the international equities I have.  For my U.S. equities my primary holding is VTSAX, but then I use ETFs to get some additional exposure to small capitalization and value stocks.  I also try to maintain some international exposure in the REITs and Bonds as well.   


okiedoke

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2014, 11:22:09 AM »
Everyone here is so bullish on stocks.   I look like a weenie with my age in bonds.   Oh well, I'm comfortable with it. 

Just rebalanced at the first of the year.  Held in a traditional IRA unless otherwise noted.

Retirement Accounts
Domestic Stock                                  34%
Spartan Total Stock Mkt (401k)         10%
VTI (US Total Stock Mkt)                    13%
VNQ (US REIT)                                    11%
VBR (Small Cap Value)                       10%
   
Foreign Stock                                    30%
Spartan Intl Index (401k)                   10%
VEA (Developed Markets)                    10%
VWO (Emerging Markets)                    10%
   
Bonds                                               36%
Spartan US Govt Bond Index (401k)    5%
LQD (Corporate Bond Index)             10%
EMB (Emerging Mkt Bond Index)        10%
MUB (Muni Bonds) (taxable acct)       10%
   
   
College / 529s   
Global Index -- 70% US, 22% Intl, 8% REIT   100%
« Last Edit: January 08, 2014, 11:26:17 AM by okiedoke »

Will

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2014, 11:45:11 AM »

Retirement Accounts
Domestic Stock                                  34%
Spartan Total Stock Mkt (401k)         10%
VTI (US Total Stock Mkt)                    13%
VNQ (US REIT)                                    11%
VBR (Small Cap Value)                       10%
   

10+13+11+10=44, not 34

Will

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2014, 11:52:19 AM »
Ottowa-

Why is your VUN expense ratio so high?  It shows a management fee of .15 over at https://www.vanguardcanada.ca/individual/etfs/etfs-detail-overview.htm?portId=9557#overview

Ottawa

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2014, 12:07:32 PM »
Ottowa-

Why is your VUN expense ratio so high?  It shows a management fee of .15 over at https://www.vanguardcanada.ca/individual/etfs/etfs-detail-overview.htm?portId=9557#overview
Thanks for the Catch!  I totally naffed that up.  I merged two different spreadsheet columns...and the MER's got placed in the wrong rows...it is fixed now!

AlanStache

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2014, 12:17:45 PM »
Does anyone have any data on rebalancing every two weeks with the new pay check vs rebalancing annually?

Every two weeks I look at what is more than 1k off the target allocation and then buy it back up to the target percent, if something is more than 1k above allocation I would sell back down to target.  (more commonly trades happen around 1.2k than strictly 1k, but you get the idea.)

If you rebalance annually how do you decide what to buy with the new funds every two weeks?  Do you have some master schedule where you know on July 15th 2014 you will buy 1500$ worth of VNQ no matter its price or the value of everything else you own?

Ottawa

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #9 on: January 08, 2014, 12:23:15 PM »
Does anyone have any data on rebalancing every two weeks with the new pay check vs rebalancing annually?

Every two weeks I look at what is more than 1k off the target allocation and then buy it back up to the target percent, if something is more than 1k above allocation I would sell back down to target.  (more commonly trades happen around 1.2k than strictly 1k, but you get the idea.)

If you rebalance annually how do you decide what to buy with the new funds every two weeks?  Do you have some master schedule where you know on July 15th 2014 you will buy 1500$ worth of VNQ no matter its price or the value of everything else you own?

I've wondered that myself...the way I see it, by rebalancing frequently on a set schedule where the period is short - your average dollar cost will be smoother, and lower risk...that is, less susceptible to the potential for  'bad timing' that could occur by executing all trades to rebalance once per year. 

Here's a fun calculator to play with wrt $ cost averaging.
http://www.moneychimp.com/features/dollar_cost.htm

In general...lump sum will win in a constantly rising market.  Problem is...we don't know if it will constantly rise.  Thus, dollar cost averaging is a good insurance against inadvertent 'bad timing'...
« Last Edit: January 08, 2014, 12:27:24 PM by Ottawa »

okiedoke

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #10 on: January 08, 2014, 12:26:56 PM »

10+13+11+10=44, not 34

Whoops, thanks, Will.  Dumb Excel formula error.   

Actual percentages are 40% domestic, 24% foreign, 36% bonds.  Weird that I missed that.   

AlanStache

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2014, 01:20:37 PM »
Quote
In general...lump sum will win in a constantly rising market.
  but it sounds like that links simulation is assuming you get all your money on one day per year; this is not how most of use wadge slaves get paid.  But this might be valid for lump sum dividend payments ie its best to put it right back into the market rather than spacing the buys out.  I dont think that you would come out ahead if you saved up your pay for one year then made one buy per year.

I have wanted to test this, might have to write some code to test it all...  sort of hoping someone could just link the answer.  "Sometimes two months in the lab can save two hours in the library"-some experimenter.

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2014, 02:08:25 PM »
Does anyone have any data on rebalancing every two weeks with the new pay check vs rebalancing annually?

Every two weeks I look at what is more than 1k off the target allocation and then buy it back up to the target percent, if something is more than 1k above allocation I would sell back down to target.  (more commonly trades happen around 1.2k than strictly 1k, but you get the idea.)

If you rebalance annually how do you decide what to buy with the new funds every two weeks?  Do you have some master schedule where you know on July 15th 2014 you will buy 1500$ worth of VNQ no matter its price or the value of everything else you own?

I've wondered that myself...the way I see it, by rebalancing frequently on a set schedule where the period is short - your average dollar cost will be smoother, and lower risk...that is, less susceptible to the potential for  'bad timing' that could occur by executing all trades to rebalance once per year. 

Here's a fun calculator to play with wrt $ cost averaging.
http://www.moneychimp.com/features/dollar_cost.htm

In general...lump sum will win in a constantly rising market.  Problem is...we don't know if it will constantly rise.  Thus, dollar cost averaging is a good insurance against inadvertent 'bad timing'...

You guys don't rebalance daily? Laaazy.

Seriously though I don't put too much thought into it. I have my 401K account rebalancing every month automatically, and I just stick with one stock index outside of the 401K. Here's my current allocation, which is mostly low cost index type stuff across a wide range of small, mid, large cap, intl, and maybe 10% bonds. Too lazy to add the current MER, but most are pretty low.

Election Percent Summary
    Election Percent   Investment Name
   5.00%   VANGUARD TOTAL BOND MKT SIGNAL
   5.00%   PIMCO TOTAL RETURN INSTL
   5.00%   VANGUARD INFLATION-PROTECTED S
   10.00%   DODGE & COX STOCK
   10.00%   VANGUARD 500 INDEX SIGNAL
   25.00%   VANGUARD MID CAP INDEX SIGNAL
   10.00%   PRUDENTIAL JENNISON MID CAP GR
   20.00%   BLACKROCK SMALL CAP GROWTH EQU
   10.00%   VANGUARD TOTAL INTL STOCK IND

Cecil

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2014, 03:11:32 PM »
After this week when my annual rebalance completes, I'll look like this:

US Small Cap Value (VBR): 20.1%
US Total Stock Market (VTI/VUN): 37.7%
International Stocks (VXUS): 16.1%
Canadian Bonds (XBB): 17.8%
Canadian Index Fund (with employer): 8.4%

The allocation is a bit off what I wanted because I had to spread everything over 6 different accounts, but it's pretty close. I definitely need more Canadian stock exposure, and to that end I intend to buy loads of VCN this year in my taxable account.

thepokercab

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2014, 04:52:12 PM »
Quote
If you rebalance annually how do you decide what to buy with the new funds every two weeks?  Do you have some master schedule where you know on July 15th 2014 you will buy 1500$ worth of VNQ no matter its price or the value of everything else you own?

Personally, i use Personal Capital to track my investments, and I use their "investment check up" tool to see where I should rebalance.  Essentially- every week i have automatic withdrawals set from my checking account into my various brokerage accounts.  Then, every couple of weeks or so I'll re-run the check up tool and it will have a section saying that if I want to match my target allocation I should trade the cash i've built up for those couple of weeks (plus anything else that's gone over my target allocation) in exchange for a certain amount of international stock + domestic stock.  Seems to work ok for me.   

daverobev

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #15 on: January 08, 2014, 05:03:31 PM »
After this week when my annual rebalance completes, I'll look like this:

US Small Cap Value (VBR): 20.1%
US Total Stock Market (VTI/VUN): 37.7%
International Stocks (VXUS): 16.1%
Canadian Bonds (XBB): 17.8%
Canadian Index Fund (with employer): 8.4%

The allocation is a bit off what I wanted because I had to spread everything over 6 different accounts, but it's pretty close. I definitely need more Canadian stock exposure, and to that end I intend to buy loads of VCN this year in my taxable account.

Heh, I have one TFSA, one RRSP, and a UK-based account, and my stuff is a *mess*. All over the shop. 6 accounts? Wow.

bigchrisb

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #16 on: January 08, 2014, 05:05:53 PM »
Mine is a bit skewed by a large shareholding in my employer (a micro-cap where I own ~15% of the company)

Micro-cap stock (employer) 33.5% MER=0
Australian (home country) stock (direct stock / LICs): 40.5%  Average MER = 0.07% (low cost LICs and direct stocks)
REITS: 5% MER=0
US stock: 8% MER=0.075% (mix of IVV and VTS)
Rest of world stock: 11.5% MER=0.15% (VEU)
cash/other: 1.5%

There is also investment debt equal to 33% of total asset value (I'm leveraged), so I guess you could list the "cash" category as -31.5% in a different interpretation.

Zaga

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #17 on: January 08, 2014, 05:16:07 PM »
Target numbers below

International Index - 14%
S&P 500 Index - 46.2%
Small Cap Index - 9.8%  (Obviously these 2 are my approximation of total stock index, it's what was available in my 401-K)
Intermediate Bond Index - 30%

So, that's target, and we're pretty close to that right now.  Unfortunately DH's new 401-K is all American Funds with high ER's, so soon a significant portion of our domestic stock will be in the Growth Fund of America.  Well, it's better than missing out on the tax deduction!

wtjbatman

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #18 on: January 08, 2014, 10:40:14 PM »
75% - U.S. Stocks (index fund in my 401k, rest is individual dividend stocks and dividend ETFs)
5% - International Stocks (dividend ETFs)
0% - Bonds
Rest is "alternative" (according to Personal Capital), and uninvested cash from dividends and Roth IRA contributions.

I'm looking to add more REIT (first) and International (second) exposure.

gecko10x

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #19 on: January 09, 2014, 05:47:30 AM »
Roth:
50% Fixed Income
     70% SCHP (35% of portfolio)
     30% SCHR (15% of portfolio)
50% Equity
     35% International Equity (17.5% of portfolio)
          FNDC 
     65% US Equity (32.5% of portfolio)
         RZV (21.7% of portfolio)
         SCHD (10.8% of portfolio)

401k:
50% Fixed
    BND
50% Equity
    25% International
        NTDET MSCI EAFE Index (12.5% of portfolio)
    75% US
       NTDPT S&P400 Index (37.5% of portfolio)

mustachioso

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #20 on: January 10, 2014, 11:39:46 AM »
I just recently (this week) started worrying about asset allocation so I have some work to do but here goes:

US stocks: 80%
Int'l Stocks: 15%
Bonds: 5%

This is in a mix of:
401k (Target Retirement 2055 Trust Plus, 50% employer match!)
Roth IRA (vfifx, not thrilled about the 0.18% expense ratio)
Scottrade stock picking (making up a ridiculous 25% of my net worth)
Taxable investment in VFIAX (should have gone with VTSAX, damn)

WillPen

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #21 on: January 10, 2014, 11:56:24 AM »
All of our retirement accounts (Across Vanguard and Fidelity Funds) look like this:

50% Total Stock Market Index
25% International Market Index
25% Total Bond Market Index.

My wife and I are in our early to mid thirties (34 and 32)

I have not efficiently placed everything into the proper accounts yet, though. I hope to have that done within the next month or two.

Spudd

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #22 on: January 10, 2014, 12:24:32 PM »
Bonds (CLF)                     18.78%
Cash                             4.31%
Real Estate: CA (VRE)   11.14%
Real Estate: US (VNQ)       9.59%
Stock: Canadian (ZLB)     20.97%
Stock: International   (VEU)17.52%
Stock: US   (VTI)                 17.69%

There are a few dribs and drabs of random individual stocks in these categories too, but the vast majority is the ETFs listed above.

My "ideal" AA is 20/10/10/20/20/20 in the order listed above, excluding cash. But I have a tolerance on the percentages and I won't rebalance until they drift too far out of tolerance. The cash is so high at the moment because I put in my annual TFSA contribution, but it didn't bring anything out of tolerance. I don't like to pay too many commissions so I only buy/sell when needed.

Cecil

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #23 on: January 10, 2014, 12:28:06 PM »
After this week when my annual rebalance completes, I'll look like this:

US Small Cap Value (VBR): 20.1%
US Total Stock Market (VTI/VUN): 37.7%
International Stocks (VXUS): 16.1%
Canadian Bonds (XBB): 17.8%
Canadian Index Fund (with employer): 8.4%

The allocation is a bit off what I wanted because I had to spread everything over 6 different accounts, but it's pretty close. I definitely need more Canadian stock exposure, and to that end I intend to buy loads of VCN this year in my taxable account.

Heh, I have one TFSA, one RRSP, and a UK-based account, and my stuff is a *mess*. All over the shop. 6 accounts? Wow.

My TFSA and RRSP, my wife's TFSA and RRSP, our joint taxable account, and my employer-matched RRSP. Not to mention my wife's group pension.

Because we share everything, I want a single asset allocation, but it's hard with so many accounts and the inability to transfer money from one to the other to balance things out.

Ottawa

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #24 on: January 10, 2014, 12:33:52 PM »
After this week when my annual rebalance completes, I'll look like this:

US Small Cap Value (VBR): 20.1%
US Total Stock Market (VTI/VUN): 37.7%
International Stocks (VXUS): 16.1%
Canadian Bonds (XBB): 17.8%
Canadian Index Fund (with employer): 8.4%

The allocation is a bit off what I wanted because I had to spread everything over 6 different accounts, but it's pretty close. I definitely need more Canadian stock exposure, and to that end I intend to buy loads of VCN this year in my taxable account.

Heh, I have one TFSA, one RRSP, and a UK-based account, and my stuff is a *mess*. All over the shop. 6 accounts? Wow.

My TFSA and RRSP, my wife's TFSA and RRSP, our joint taxable account, and my employer-matched RRSP. Not to mention my wife's group pension.

Because we share everything, I want a single asset allocation, but it's hard with so many accounts and the inability to transfer money from one to the other to balance things out.

Yeah, I find it does get a little complicated...like Cecil - we have 2xTFSA, 2xRRSP, 2xDBP(defined benefit pension) and 2x non-registered accounts (one each with Questrade and TDW) and 1xRESP.  The Questrade is where the fortnightly 'stache goes - since it is Zero commish on ETF purchases.  Keeping portfolios balanced by only injecting new cash is difficult.  This especially holds true with DBP folks who have little RRSP room - and thus, it is hard to tax shelter interest heavy vehicles like bonds..fortunately our strategy is fairly low in these type of instruments.  This is why you'll see the ETFs we use are structured to be tax-advantaged in a non-registered account through Canadian eligible dividends and ROC.

Also, I found using Norbert's gambit to buy VXUS to be a pain.  SO, I will start buying the following to replace VXUS:

2/3 XEF http://ca.ishares.com/product_info/fund/overview/XEF.htm
1/3 XEC http://ca.ishares.com/product_info/fund/overview/XEC.htm
These ratios roughly approximate VXUS.

See note at CCP under the Complete Couch Potato here: http://canadiancouchpotato.com/model-portfolios/.  These ETFs are also unhedged. 

As a result, my portfolio MER will go up a whopping 0.01%...but, the savings on currency change will MORE than make up for this!

« Last Edit: January 10, 2014, 12:46:36 PM by Ottawa »

Ottawa

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #25 on: January 10, 2014, 01:23:09 PM »

Also, I found using Norbert's gambit to buy VXUS to be a pain.  SO, I will start buying the following to replace VXUS:

2/3 XEF http://ca.ishares.com/product_info/fund/overview/XEF.htm
1/3 XEC http://ca.ishares.com/product_info/fund/overview/XEC.htm
These ratios roughly approximate VXUS.

See note at CCP under the Complete Couch Potato here: http://canadiancouchpotato.com/model-portfolios/.  These ETFs are also unhedged. 

As a result, my portfolio MER will go up a whopping 0.01%...but, the savings on currency change will MORE than make up for this!

XEC and XEF have only been on the market for just less than a year.  When you look at the tracking of XEF(brown line) and XEC (blue line) vs VXUS (thick green line)...and given that you would have 2/3XEF to 1/3XEC...it looks to be tracking VXUS fairly well...

See attachment.


daverobev

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #26 on: January 10, 2014, 01:32:26 PM »
Agreed - buying XEC in the RESP, I'm not doing any CAD-USD conversions.

Happy I transferred CAD to USD when I did (didn't use N'sG, so I lost 2% with Questrade, sigh), as I'm getting some US money as divis in my RRSP. What I will probably do in the future is pay USD directly into Questrade from my US rental. Not sure. RRSP is probably not actually going to get any more contributions now I'm, in theory, SAHD.

Big thing this year is to use up some lovely TFSA room, plus get my wife's side of things clipping along.

My composition is something ridiculous like:

90% real estate
3% UK
2% everything excl US
1% EU
3% individual stocks
1% REITs

And 95% is unregistered. Lordy.

monstera051289

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #27 on: January 10, 2014, 06:43:50 PM »
I'm 25.

31% - VTSMX (not contributing much other than reinvesting)
30% - Lending Club (extremely aggressive portfolio, contributing large portion of my income.)
12% - company 401k (S&P500 Index)
10% - Forex (Zulutrade, specifically. This is my play money, highest risk investment by far, lots of fun and a great hobby)
17% - Liquid Savings/opportunity money, basically just used to pay off whatever rewards credit card i'm using for the month. Not much of an emergency fund since I live at home and don't really need much. Also will be used if I find a new investment that I want to jump into.

Total equity of about $21k. Aiming to retire in 10 years (in a cheaper part of the world).

Charlotte

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #28 on: January 11, 2014, 03:37:52 AM »
I just want to thank everyone for posting on this thread. I've been looking at our retirement accounts (all 6 of them!) and realizing that we do not need to own 22 different funds!

Our allocations are approximately 75% stocks, 10% bonds and 15$ "other". The overall allocations might be fine, but the 22 funds is unnecessary. Addressing this will be a 2014 goal....

mpbaker22

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #29 on: January 11, 2014, 07:02:27 AM »
47.5% - US Stock Funds
5.63% - Cash 
6.46% - Lending Club
7.91% - International Stock FUnds
7.6% - In process of changing (Will add $3,000 to VGSIX, and the rest will probably be a Vanguard international fund or VTSAX or Vanguard 500).
25% - Individual US Stocks

Cash - Not by portfolio design, I just have irregular bills and might quit my job, so I'm not eager to put all my cash in stocks.

Individual Stocks - D'oh! There are a couple semi-legitimate reasons for this, but I'll be re-balancing the next few months to bring it down to 10-15%.  For one thing, my employer comprises 2% of this because I was given part of my match in company stock for my first year. That was fine since it was only 1/3 of the 9% match.  Also, I had a small amount of money when in college that I put in individual stocks.  It doubled several times over, and I've kept a few of those holdings.

hoppy08520

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #30 on: January 11, 2014, 08:16:55 AM »
Here's mine:

US Stock Funds
29.4% Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX)
14.7% Vanguard Small Cap Value Index Fund (VSIAX)
 4.9% Vanguard REIT Index Fund (VGSLX)

International Stock Funds
10.5% Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTIAX)
 8.4% Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small Capital Index Fund (VFSVX)
 2.1% Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Index Fund (VGXRX)

Bonds
21.0 % Thrift Savings Plan G Fund (sorta like a stable value fund)
 9.0% Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VBTLX)

When you look at these numbers over the entire portfolio, the percentages might look arbitrary. I got to these numbers in the following way.

First, my overall portfolio allocation is:

70% - Stocks
30% - Bonds

Within Stocks:
70% - US
30% - International

Within US Stocks:
60% - Total US Stock Market Index Fund
30% - Small Cap Value Index Fund
10% - REIT

Within International Stock, similar to  US but more Small:
50% - Total International Stock Market Index Fund
40% - International Small Cap
10% - International REIT

Within Bonds:
70% - TSP G Fund
30% - Total Bond Market Index Fund

What let me to this portfolio composition was modern portfolio theory, which states that if you hold the right combination of imperfectly correlated asset classes (like US and International, like Stocks and REITs, like Small and Large), then you can achieve a higher expected return at a reduced volatility, compared to what you could expect with a simpler portfolio with total-market funds. A few decades from now, I'll let you know how this worked out ;-)

I do like my portfolio overall but sometimes I feel like I have too much in bonds. I'm in my early 40's. I had an 80/20 portfolio for some time, but around a year ago I crept up to 25% bonds, and earlier this year to 30% bonds, but during this time I also gradually added the overweights to small, value and REIT. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Either I'll have missed out a little bit on the rise in the stock market in 2013, or I'll have prepared myself a bit for the coming correction by locking in some of my gains...we shall see.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2014, 11:07:34 AM by hoppy08520 »

Jack

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #31 on: January 11, 2014, 08:51:34 AM »
My desired allocation is 100% stocks, with 15% international. (Bonds are pointless since I'm not debt-free -- if I want to invest in something bond-like, I'll just pay down loans instead.) I intend to add real estate (properties held directly, not REITs) in the future.

My actual allocation differs from desired because I rebalance only by buying, and I haven't been buying recently (except "bonds," as explained above). The use of some index funds and some ETFs is due to the fact that the ETFs are in a taxable brokerage account, while the funds are in IRAs.

My current allocation is:
VTSAX - 87%
VTI - 8.5%
VXUS - 4.5%

I also have some loose change (fractions of shares) in VFIFX and AAPL, apparently because some dividends got left behind when I sold. : /

pachnik

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #32 on: January 11, 2014, 09:05:17 AM »
My RRSP composition is 50/50 stocks/bonds:

25% total return bond fund
25% high yield bond fund
20% Cdn. index
10% International index
20% US index (S&P)

pretty much a Couch Potato composition.

My non-registered composition (which is with a financial planner) is:

40% monthly income fund
5% special situations fund
50% managed investments
5% DJ index

okiedoke

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #33 on: January 11, 2014, 10:41:21 AM »
Here's mine:

US Stock Funds
29.4% Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSAX)
14.7% Vanguard Small Cap Value Index Fund (VSIAX)
 4.9% Vanguard REIT Index Fund (VGSLX)

International Stock Funds
10.5% Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VTIAX)
 8.4% Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small Capital Index Fund (VFSVX)
 2.1% Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate Index Fund (VGXRX)

Bonds
21.0 % Thrift Savings Plan G Fund (sorta like a stable value fund)
 9.0% Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VBTLX)

When you look at these numbers over the entire portfolio, the percentages might look arbitrary. I got to these numbers in the following way.

First, my overall portfolio allocation is:

70% - Stocks
30% - Bonds

Within Stocks:
70% - US
30% - International

Within US Stocks:
60% - Total US Stock Market Index Fund
30% - Small Cap Value Index Fund
10% - REIT

Within International Stock, similar to  US but more Small:
50% - Total International Stock Market Index Fund
40% - International Small Cap
10% - International REIT

Within Bonds:
70% - TSP G Fund
30% - Total Bond Market Index Fund

What let me to this portfolio composition was market portfolio theory, which states that if you hold the right combination of imperfectly correlated asset classes (like US and International, like Stocks and REITs, like Small and Large), then you can achieve a higher expected return at a reduced volatility, compared to what you could expect with a simpler portfolio with total-market funds. A few decades from now, I'll let you know how this worked out ;-)

I do like my portfolio overall but sometimes I feel like I have too much in bonds. I'm in my early 40's. I had an 80/20 portfolio for some time, but around a year ago I crept up to 25% bonds, and earlier this year to 30% bonds, but during this time I also gradually added the overweights to small, value and REIT. I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Either I'll have missed out a little bit on the rise in the stock market in 2013, or I'll have prepared myself a bit for the coming correction by locking in some of my gains...we shall see.

I like this portfolio.  Well done. 

Have you read Bernstein's stuff?

Only thing I might consider tweaking is the bond allocation.  Maybe corporate or international bonds for a little more yield and diversification?

hoppy08520

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #34 on: January 11, 2014, 12:02:22 PM »
Here's mine: << snip >>
I like this portfolio.  Well done. 

Have you read Bernstein's stuff?

Only thing I might consider tweaking is the bond allocation.  Maybe corporate or international bonds for a little more yield and diversification?
Thanks. Yes, I have read Bernstein -- he's probably my favorite author on this topic and the The Four Pillars of Investing is my favorite investing book and was very influential on me. I also liked The Investor's Manifesto although I think most of it was a restatement of the Four Pillars. I still haven't read The Intelligent Asset Allocator; I keep hearing about how technical it is so I've shied away from it, but maybe I should pick it up.

As for bonds, I have pondered adding high-yield corporate and international as you suggest. In fact, in the lead up to switching around my portfolio, I toyed with both of those and struggled not to add them.

The reason I held back was because for international bonds, even with Vanguard's new fund, there seems to be a lot of contention about holding international bonds when I read the debates on Bogleheads.

And as for corporates, I think it makes sense, but if I were to hold them, then in order to keep the overall portfolio risk the same, I'd need to simultaneously shift my overall AA a bit more conservative since corporate bonds are almost stock-like (see how they acted during the 2008 crash). So I felt like I wouldn't have a lot to gain by doing so, as I'd just be shifting some risk/reward around. A lot of people say, "Take your risk on the equity side". I'm not sure if that's the best advice, but that's what I decided to do. Rather than stretch for yield in my fixed income allocation, instead I went for riskier asset classes in stocks and kept my fixed income allocation more safe (hence the large G Fund allocation).

Finally, from a decision-making standpoint, it was hard enough to go from a 3-fund portfolio like WillPen (love this portfolio btw) to what I have now.
50% Total Stock Market Index
25% International Market Index
25% Total Bond Market Index.
I felt like I could mentally handle only so much complexity at once, and struggling over the fixed income side of the equation caused me to drown in paralysis analysis, so I just kept it simple on the fixed income side of the portfolio.

ender

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #35 on: January 11, 2014, 12:03:45 PM »
Across my 401k, Roth IRA, and taxable investments:

  • 62.5% US stock (35% VTSAX, 50% S&P index, 15% small cap index)
  • 27.5% international stock (all VGTSX/VTIAX)
  • 10% bonds

The stock split is 70% US and 30% international. It's a bit more complicated to get that ratio in all accounts combined.

I intend to rebalance every year on my birthday to achieve that breakdown for a few years. Eventually I will begin increasing the bond percentage.

kpd905

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #36 on: January 11, 2014, 04:02:03 PM »
50% Total US Stock Market
15% Small/Mid Cap US Stock
25% Global Ex-US
10% US Bond Index

okiedoke

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #37 on: January 11, 2014, 08:11:04 PM »
Here's mine: << snip >>
I like this portfolio.  Well done. 

Have you read Bernstein's stuff?

Only thing I might consider tweaking is the bond allocation.  Maybe corporate or international bonds for a little more yield and diversification?
Thanks. Yes, I have read Bernstein -- he's probably my favorite author on this topic and the The Four Pillars of Investing is my favorite investing book and was very influential on me. I also liked The Investor's Manifesto although I think most of it was a restatement of the Four Pillars. I still haven't read The Intelligent Asset Allocator; I keep hearing about how technical it is so I've shied away from it, but maybe I should pick it up.

I'd skip Intelligent Asset Allocator and read his new ebook series.  3 short books published in the last year.  IAA is not that technical -- if you read the others, you can get through it -- but it's 15 years old. 

Finally, from a decision-making standpoint, it was hard enough to go from a 3-fund portfolio like WillPen (love this portfolio btw) to what I have now.
50% Total Stock Market Index
25% International Market Index
25% Total Bond Market Index.
I felt like I could mentally handle only so much complexity at once, and struggling over the fixed income side of the equation caused me to drown in paralysis analysis, so I just kept it simple on the fixed income side of the portfolio.
[/quote]

I totally understand.  For years, I had a very similar 3 fund portfolio almost identical to that before reading a bunch of asset allocation books last month.  I liked the elegance and simplicity (and still do), but was finally convinced that I could eke out 1% more with a tad less risk.   Who knows, though.  There's a whole lot to be said for simple solutions.  If someone else (who wasn't a committed finance nerd like me) asked me for advice, that's what I'd recommend. 

monarda

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #38 on: January 11, 2014, 10:48:34 PM »
Hmmm.  I have lots of accounts, each with a different allocation.

Conventional and Roth IRAs, each about 80% stocks, 20% bonds
Two investment accounts (Sharebuilder and Betterment) with a bit more conservative allocation.
I'm trying the Vanguard Life Strategies VSCGX and VSMGX and a municipal bond fund.

I've got a lot of equity in four houses, and a fair amount of cash.
I'm pretty risk averse.  Low risk, moderate returns for me.
I'm happy if someone else does most of the fund picking, hence my choices.

I sometimes choose stocks and mutual funds for non-standard reasons,
One of the index funds I have in my IRA is managed by a high school classmate.
And my major individual stock held in my IRA is a company where I used to work.




k9

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #39 on: January 13, 2014, 06:41:00 AM »
I'm French, 35.

I implemented a tweaked permanent portfolio :

30% cash + ST bonds
30% stocks (indexes)
30% gold bullions

I also have a bunch (let's say 10%) of picked stocks (that is my variable portfolio, in PP terminology).
No LT bonds because I have a mortgage, so that would be silly.
I rebalance about once a year, if needed.

I feel like an ET in this stock-bugs community, but I don't care ;)

b4u2

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #40 on: January 13, 2014, 09:27:42 AM »
This is mine. 401k though Fidelity with weekly contributions. I haven't rebalanced in years and have no idea what I should at this point. Last year was 33% return.

Current
Balance (%)   Investment   Current Balance ($)
25.74%    FID BLUE CHIP GR K   
18.40%    FID MID CAP STOCK K   
15.29%    VANG PRIMECAP ADM   
15.14%    BARON GROWTH INST   
13.40%    ROCKWELL COLLINS STK   
10.86%    MSIF INTL EQUITY I   
1.16%    FID PURITAN K   
100%   
« Last Edit: February 03, 2014, 02:06:29 PM by b4u2 »

soccerluvof4

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #41 on: February 03, 2014, 01:00:18 PM »
Currently Invested about 35% DCA currently with assets being transferred from VMSXX. Without counting additional funds to invest the monies currently alloted I want to have DCA in no later than one year.

40% VTSAX
30% VBTLX
15% VGSLX
15% VTIAX


grmagne

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #42 on: February 03, 2014, 03:38:22 PM »
My investments are all over the place because 20.5% is taken right off my paycheques and put into long-term investments. It includes 4.5% company stock (a Dutch company, that's why my international stocks are so high). Another 10% goes into a pension plan with only 4 choices: I picked the "Aggressive Growth" option with a 3% MER. Yeah, that sucks but I'm locked into it until I leave the company. The other 6% goes into an RRSP account, again with a horrible MER. Luckily I'm able to transfer 25% of the balance every year to another financial institution. This year I'll use my RRSP transfer to purchase SCHA, a US Small Cap ETF. The rest of my investments are with my own money so I can pick low MER options. I never liked my company's retirement benefits with the lousy MERs until I learned recently that most people don't have any corporate retirement benefits at all. I guess 20.5% is better than nothing :).

Canadian Stocks        40%
U.S. Stocks               16%
International Stocks   27%
Canadian Bonds         14%
U.S. Bonds                 2%
International Bonds     1%

PeteD01

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #43 on: February 03, 2014, 06:44:19 PM »
55% tiaa traditional (guaranteed)
4% bond index
4% international index
3% small cap index
34% total stock market index

I harvested last fall because a personal goal was reached and put the proceeds into the tiaa traditional. Ongoing investments are going into the various index funds.

Peter

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #44 on: February 03, 2014, 07:01:54 PM »
Thanks. Yes, I have read Bernstein -- he's probably my favorite author on this topic and the The Four Pillars of Investing is my favorite investing book and was very influential on me. I also liked The Investor's Manifesto although I think most of it was a restatement of the Four Pillars. I still haven't read The Intelligent Asset Allocator; I keep hearing about how technical it is so I've shied away from it, but maybe I should pick it up.


As okiedoke pointed out, you can probably skip Intelligent Asset Allocator, especially if you've read the other two. It's fairly similar information across the three books.

Hoppy, have you had a lot of difficulty keeping this portfolio in check? Is it a massive pain-in-the-ass to re-balance and/or contribute at the targeted ratios?

I ask because I love the Bernstein portfolios in theory, but I'm a bit afraid to execute them because I think it would take a lot of work.

Cheers.

kyleaaa

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #45 on: February 04, 2014, 06:48:25 AM »
I post my asset allocation on my blog. I tilt heavily to small and value with extra emerging markets, just for fun.

20% Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX)
20% Vanguard Small Cap Value Index fund (VISVX)
10% Vanguard REIT Index fund (VGSIX)
10% Vanguard Short Term Bond Index fund (VBISX)
15% Vanguard Total International Stock Market Index fund (VGTSX)
15% Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small Cap Index fund (VFSVX)
10% Vanguard Emerging Markets Index fund (VEIEX)

aclarridge

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #46 on: February 04, 2014, 08:39:50 AM »
Here's my current portfolio:

Equity & REITs: 77%
Bonds & Cash: 23%

In detail:
VCE 23%
VFV 22%
VEE 15%
VNQ 12%
VSC 5%
Cash 17%
Other (individual stock) 4%

I know the cash is fairly high but it's in TFSAs earning 1.9%, and might be used for a down payment (I've been saying that for a couple years though).
I made a bit of a bet on Emerging Markets at the beginning of this year, but I think eventually I'd like to move to XEF/XEC in some proportions as Ottawa has described.
I also find it a bit of a pain to Norberts Gambit into VNQ, and I'm not sure whether I really want to allocate that much to REITs. I would like to propose a toast for our depreciating dollar, as I bought most of this USD at or around par last year.

I think over time I'm going to simplify my portfolio a fair bit - switch to the broad market indices (VCN, VUN) when it's tax efficient to do so, maybe drop the REIT not sure yet, move to a balanced Bond ETF (short/long corp/gov), and replicate VXUS if possible (XEF/XEC is fine but I hope Vanguard gives us Canadians access to VXUS).

I also am restricted by the practicalities of paying $10/trade (I work for a bank so I have to have my account with them) and dealing with investments in ~5 accounts. Trying to do the best I can and not sweat the small stuff.

sleepyguy

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #47 on: February 04, 2014, 03:45:54 PM »
Currently with Sunlife from work.

40% US index
30% Int Index
20% Can Index
10% Bonds


Ohio Teacher

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #48 on: February 04, 2014, 05:17:54 PM »
Mixture of ETFs and funds, all Vanguard:
60% Total US
30% Total ex-Us
5% Total Bond
5% REIT

I'm thinking of getting out of the bond position and adding more REIT, as I'm starting to be convinced that paying down my mortgage is already a fixed return without the volatility.

OceanCid

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Re: Show us your Portfolio Compostion
« Reply #49 on: February 05, 2014, 02:40:01 AM »
80% stocks (80% US - VTI, 20% International - VEU)
20% bonds (BND). And I think I will split this up furter in VNQ and cash. But I'm still reading, I haven't decided yet.