Poll

Do you have a *written* IPS?

Yes I do
63 (46.3%)
No, but I have one bouncing around my head
58 (42.6%)
No, I don't see the use
15 (11%)

Total Members Voted: 136

Author Topic: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?  (Read 6724 times)

Eric

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Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« on: January 24, 2019, 03:19:57 PM »
I know we talk a lot about the IPS and how it's a good tool for planning.  Do you guys actually have a written plan though?  Do you think it's necessary to write it down?

Read here if you're not familiar:

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Investment_policy_statement

seattlecyclone

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2019, 03:45:33 PM »
I went with "I have one bouncing around my head."

I have a spreadsheet that tracks the current amounts I have in each asset class and prompts me when to rebalance. If I did write an IPS down, it would basically be this:

* Maintain my current asset allocation indefinitely,
* Rebalance when the spreadsheet tells me to,
* Don't panic and sell during a market correction,
* During FIRE prefer to withdraw from taxable first before the retirement accounts, and
* Consider Roth conversions during FIRE if other income is still low enough for a nice ACA subsidy.

I'm sure I could codify a bunch of the collected wisdom of this forum and make a really long document if I really felt like it, but I don't really consider that the best use of my time at this moment.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2019, 03:47:08 PM by seattlecyclone »

Eric

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2019, 03:56:34 PM »
Mine's pretty simple too.  Don't time the market.  Stay the course.  Think long term.  Broad index funds.  Yadda yadda. 

But I did write it down.  While I'm sure that's not absolutely necessary at this point in my investing career, I do tend to think that writing things down (in general) can really help solidify my thoughts on a topic.

If I did write an IPS down, it would basically be this:

* Maintain my current asset allocation indefinitely,
* Rebalance when the spreadsheet tells me to,
* Don't panic and sell during a market correction,
* During FIRE prefer to withdraw from taxable first before the retirement accounts, and
* Consider Roth conversions during FIRE if other income is still low enough for a nice ACA subsidy.

And you're now dangerously close to needing to change your vote.  lol

Sailor Sam

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2019, 03:56:59 PM »
I've got a written statement:

CASH
1. $500 in hard currency
2. $1,000 in paper currency
3. $10,000 in savings account

INVESTMENTMENTS
1. Traditional TSP
2. IRA account(s)
3. Vanguard Brokerage Taxable

PHILOSOPHY (order of priority)
1. Annual charity = $10,000 ($420/check @ 12 months)
2. DCA to maximize TSP = $19,000 ($860/check @ 11 months)
3. DCA to maximize IRAs = $6,000 ($250/check @ 12 months)
    1. Use 2019 draft tax return to allocate trad/Roth, ~Feb 2020
4. Semi-Monthly deposit to Vanguard Brokerage, set to keep spending cash ~$1,250/check
5. Unspent spending cash to savings account at end of pay period
6. Balance > $10,000 in savings account to Vanguard Brokerage at end of calendar year

ALLOCATION
1. TSP = L2050 fund
2. IRA = 90% VTSAX stock, 10% VBFMX bond
3. Betterment = fallow, leave it alone!
4. Vanguard = 90% VTSAX stock, 10% VTIAX international stock
5. Overall allocation = 10% cash, 10% bonds, 80% stocks
6. Net worth calculations quarterly
7. Rebalance yearly with infusions, vice selling

The gov't shutdown is playing merry fuckery with my TSP dollar cost averaging. More's the pity.

JAYSLOL

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2019, 06:15:36 PM »
I went with i have one bouncing around my head.  I don't really plan to write it down because i've been following what i feel the right course is for me and don't plan to change that.  Literally the only emotion i've felt with this little correction we just went through was mild excitement for whats going to be posted on the "Top is In" thread.  My investing horizon is far enough i don't have to worry about bad years or changing asset allocation to match my FI timeline.  So for now my IPS is "I'll write something down at the slightest feelings of fear or greed towards the market"

Mr. Green

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2019, 06:36:31 PM »
I wrote one that uses the Bogleheads template, and it's very simple like the Bogle heads template. It's declares an 80/20 stock/bond mix as a target asset allocation and that's about it.

Eric

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2019, 06:46:56 PM »
Literally the only emotion i've felt with this little correction we just went through was mild excitement for whats going to be posted on the "Top is In" thread. 

This is hilarious.

marty998

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2019, 08:55:11 PM »
Mine is in my head. Mostly it consists of "buy equities everytime I have $10,000"

Next trigger point for major review is when I will go and buy a house and upgrade from my apartment. Not sure when that will be.

steveo

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2019, 04:06:31 AM »
No. I've never been a fan of over formalising a lot of stuff. I know my target (at this point in time) and I know what I am investing in. I don't see how writing it down will help me.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2019, 10:02:58 AM »
I have one and a template to it is in my signature.

What I have is a financial plan, which includes my investment philosophy and my asset allocation.

I update the document on December 31st after the markets close, so I have a snapshot of my finances. Going back, it is interesting seeing how far we have come.
« Last Edit: January 25, 2019, 10:06:03 AM by CowboyAndIndian »

thd7t

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #10 on: January 25, 2019, 11:02:11 AM »
I wrote one in 2013 when I discovered the ER concept, but I haven't updated it or looked at it since.  However, the gist of it was to consistently invest in broad based index funds (100%), not to time the market or withdraw, and to increase my investments whenever my income increased.

I also decreased my emergency fund and eliminated some debt (that I probably should have held on to), but that wasn't in the statement.  However, I have maintained projections/tracking that I did attach to the statement.

Mr. Green

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #11 on: January 25, 2019, 11:43:54 AM »
One potential motivator: writing down your IPS makes it easier to share with e.g. a spouse.
This was a big reason I wrote it down. Granted, my wife's tolerance may be different than mine, but if I were to die suddenly, at least she would have something in writing that shows what my thought process was (since I manage our money) regarding how our money is invested, versus having no idea, or not being able to remember what we've talked about in the past.

Eric

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #12 on: January 25, 2019, 12:01:38 PM »
One potential motivator: writing down your IPS makes it easier to share with e.g. a spouse.
This was a big reason I wrote it down. Granted, my wife's tolerance may be different than mine, but if I were to die suddenly, at least she would have something in writing that shows what my thought process was (since I manage our money) regarding how our money is invested, versus having no idea, or not being able to remember what we've talked about in the past.

Definitely agree with this.  It's one thing to talk about it and be on the same page, but a whole other thing to execute it.

COEE

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #13 on: January 26, 2019, 03:30:23 AM »
I wrote one a couple of years back for the first time.  I've updated it each year since and have referenced it to recall decisions we've made.  I'm finding that the longer we use it, the less it changes.  I agree that our EPS helps me communicate with my spouse what our goals are.

If you have one "bouncing around in [your] head" how are you suppose to recall what's in your head when times get tough?

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

fredbear

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #14 on: January 26, 2019, 10:44:43 AM »
I've got a written statement:

...

Solid.  2 suggestions:
HSA.  Drawdown maybe necessary from time to time, but all the time compounding and tax deductibility - it's another supplemental investment plan most of the time.
Real estate.  Done right it's one of several passive income streams flowing in no matter where you are on the globe.  We like the ability to shift living costs from investment outfall to RE inflow depending on what the market is up to or down to.  I think the ideal target is being able to fund your retired life completely either from your RE or from your investments.

NVDee

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #15 on: January 26, 2019, 02:35:13 PM »
I've got a written statement:

CASH
1. $500 in hard currency
2. $1,000 in paper currency



What's the difference?  $500 in coins??

Sailor Sam

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #16 on: January 26, 2019, 02:46:40 PM »
I've got a written statement:

CASH
1. $500 in hard currency
2. $1,000 in paper currency
What's the difference?  $500 in coins??

Yup. It satisfies my nascent prepper urges, but remains below the fucking-crazy threshold.

efree

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #17 on: January 27, 2019, 01:28:11 AM »
It would be pretty impossible for me to write an IPS because most of my investments (more than 60%) are in P2P lending platforms and it's a very new asset class. New platforms get created all the time, interest rates change often, the business results of the platforms can be good or bad, etc. There are lots of things to monitor and they affect how much money I invest in each platform. The rates are higher than 10%, sometimes even higher than 15% (for business loans) so I prefer P2P over stocks even if it is riskier. Maybe my outlook will change as my stache grows.

Indexer

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #18 on: January 27, 2019, 08:40:40 AM »
It would be pretty impossible for me to write an IPS because most of my investments (more than 60%) are in P2P lending platforms and it's a very new asset class. New platforms get created all the time, interest rates change often, the business results of the platforms can be good or bad, etc. There are lots of things to monitor and they affect how much money I invest in each platform. The rates are higher than 10%, sometimes even higher than 15% (for business loans) so I prefer P2P over stocks even if it is riskier. Maybe my outlook will change as my stache grows.

I think you could still have an IPS. People often think of stocks/bonds, but your AA is best thought of as risky/conservative. Stocks=risky, bonds= conservative.  High yield bonds, even though they are bonds, should actually sit in the risky bucket.

On that note, you should probably have some diversification. My concern with having so much in P2P lending is that they are all likely highly correlated. In normal economic times you might have a few go bad each year, which you can price in, but in a recession you might see a huge chunk of your portfolio collapse and never recover.

VTSAX & VTIAX will fluctuate a lot in a recession, but they will recover. I'm not as confident about a bunch of personal loans at 15%. When times get tough people worry about their mortgage and let the personal loans and credit cards default.

COEE

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #19 on: January 27, 2019, 09:13:18 AM »
It would be pretty impossible for me to write an IPS because most of my investments (more than 60%) are in P2P lending platforms and it's a very new asset class.

It's not impossible for you to have an IPS... your IPS should just state something like, "Invest 60% in P2P lending".

NVDee

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #20 on: January 27, 2019, 10:51:43 AM »
I've got a written statement:

CASH
1. $500 in hard currency
2. $1,000 in paper currency
What's the difference?  $500 in coins??

Yup. It satisfies my nascent prepper urges, but remains below the fucking-crazy threshold.

Sounds more like pirate urges to me. 

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #21 on: January 27, 2019, 12:47:47 PM »
I've got a written statement:

CASH
1. $500 in hard currency
2. $1,000 in paper currency
3. $10,000 in savings account

INVESTMENTMENTS
1. Traditional TSP
2. IRA account(s)
3. Vanguard Brokerage Taxable

PHILOSOPHY (order of priority)
1. Annual charity = $10,000 ($420/check @ 12 months)
2. DCA to maximize TSP = $19,000 ($860/check @ 11 months)
3. DCA to maximize IRAs = $6,000 ($250/check @ 12 months)
    1. Use 2019 draft tax return to allocate trad/Roth, ~Feb 2020
4. Semi-Monthly deposit to Vanguard Brokerage, set to keep spending cash ~$1,250/check
5. Unspent spending cash to savings account at end of pay period
6. Balance > $10,000 in savings account to Vanguard Brokerage at end of calendar year

ALLOCATION
1. TSP = L2050 fund
2. IRA = 90% VTSAX stock, 10% VBFMX bond
3. Betterment = fallow, leave it alone!
4. Vanguard = 90% VTSAX stock, 10% VTIAX international stock
5. Overall allocation = 10% cash, 10% bonds, 80% stocks
6. Net worth calculations quarterly
7. Rebalance yearly with infusions, vice selling

The gov't shutdown is playing merry fuckery with my TSP dollar cost averaging. More's the pity.

I really like this and the simplicity of it. My problem is I haven’t settled on a path yet and 2 questions keep bopping in my head, do I buy property or not (leaning towards never, except a base of operations somewhere, so maybe), and do I have a kid or not? I’ll still try and give it a go, based on my current thinking.

MrThatsDifferent

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #22 on: January 27, 2019, 02:55:51 PM »
Hey, I have one now! Thanks a lot, that was a great and useful exercise. Nice to have my thinking in one place and organized.

2Birds1Stone

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #23 on: January 27, 2019, 04:04:49 PM »
Yup, it's very helpful.

Paul der Krake

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #24 on: January 27, 2019, 04:32:58 PM »
Yes, ours written down and stored in The Cloud™. It outlines what we're doing and why we're doing it.

efree

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #25 on: January 28, 2019, 01:08:45 AM »
It would be pretty impossible for me to write an IPS because most of my investments (more than 60%) are in P2P lending platforms and it's a very new asset class. New platforms get created all the time, interest rates change often, the business results of the platforms can be good or bad, etc. There are lots of things to monitor and they affect how much money I invest in each platform. The rates are higher than 10%, sometimes even higher than 15% (for business loans) so I prefer P2P over stocks even if it is riskier. Maybe my outlook will change as my stache grows.

I think you could still have an IPS. People often think of stocks/bonds, but your AA is best thought of as risky/conservative. Stocks=risky, bonds= conservative.  High yield bonds, even though they are bonds, should actually sit in the risky bucket.

On that note, you should probably have some diversification. My concern with having so much in P2P lending is that they are all likely highly correlated. In normal economic times you might have a few go bad each year, which you can price in, but in a recession you might see a huge chunk of your portfolio collapse and never recover.

VTSAX & VTIAX will fluctuate a lot in a recession, but they will recover. I'm not as confident about a bunch of personal loans at 15%. When times get tough people worry about their mortgage and let the personal loans and credit cards default.
I think you may be thinking about American P2P lending but I'm a European and I mostly invest with platforms that offer a buy-back guarantee, which means that I don't have to worry about individual people not paying, I only have to worry about the loan originator not going bankrupt. Which is a risk, I admit, but I think I'm sufficiently diversified across many loan originators. The bigger risks are the business loans on https://kuetzal.com that don't offer a buy-back guarantee but for 18% I'll take the risk. I've written more about it on my blog.

I don't worry much about all the P2P loans being highly correlated because many of the loan originators work in many countries all over Europe and Asia, some work even in Africa. If people in one country start to have difficulties, that won't cause the originators to go bankrupt. I'm saying this because it already happened once in Georgia (the one next to Armenia) in 2016 or 2017 when the regulation was changed and short-term loans were outlawed.

It would be pretty impossible for me to write an IPS because most of my investments (more than 60%) are in P2P lending platforms and it's a very new asset class.

It's not impossible for you to have an IPS... your IPS should just state something like, "Invest 60% in P2P lending".
See, I'm not at all sure that I want to keep it 60% long term. Maybe I'll have a couple of bad experiences and decide that 20% is more appropriate, or maybe everything will go smoothly and I'll decide instead on 80% - with the caveat to buy stocks when they're on sale. I just don't know, and that's why I can't write the IPS.

COEE

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #26 on: January 28, 2019, 06:59:44 AM »
It would be pretty impossible for me to write an IPS because most of my investments (more than 60%) are in P2P lending platforms and it's a very new asset class.
It's not impossible for you to have an IPS... your IPS should just state something like, "Invest 60% in P2P lending".
See, I'm not at all sure that I want to keep it 60% long term. Maybe I'll have a couple of bad experiences and decide that 20% is more appropriate, or maybe everything will go smoothly and I'll decide instead on 80% - with the caveat to buy stocks when they're on sale. I just don't know, and that's why I can't write the IPS.

IPS's are living documents and an IPS does not have to say 60% forever.  You are wise in thinking that knowing how you want this position to change with time in advance of any decisions is an important thing to consider.  These changes can, and should, be outlined in your IPS so that you don't deviate from your plan.

It is also important to consider if you don't want to be 60% long-term you may be timing the P2P market.  The regulars at this website (myself included) generally frown upon market timing.  If you can't identify how you want your position to change with time then you are more than likely timing the P2P market.

Sailor Sam

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #27 on: January 28, 2019, 07:06:18 AM »
I've got a written statement:

CASH
1. $500 in hard currency
2. $1,000 in paper currency
What's the difference?  $500 in coins??

Yup. It satisfies my nascent prepper urges, but remains below the fucking-crazy threshold.

Sounds more like pirate urges to me.

Oh, nay! I shoot pirates with such:


matchewed

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #28 on: January 28, 2019, 07:43:27 AM »
Yeah I have one. It's pretty simple. I've only updated it with including income streams such as real estate. Not sure if it "belongs" there but it keeps my overall plan documented. I can understand the argument that I don't need it since it is in my head but I guess externalizing it may help me think more objectively about it. Like proofreading or something...

frugalnacho

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #29 on: January 28, 2019, 09:28:41 AM »
I have one written down.  My philosophy is to minimize expenses wherever possible, invest in low cost index funds, and stick to the IPS no matter what.

My objective is to retire by age 40.  My secondary objective is to minimize taxes.

AA: 60% US (VTSAX or equivalent) and 40% international (VTIAX or equivalent)

I check my AA annually on my birthday.  If my AA deviates more than 5% from my target I re-balance in tax sheltered accounts.  I try to split my periodic investments to a 60/40 ratio, but If I have a large chunk to invest I will check my AA at the time and then invest according to my target AA.

This is one of the first things I did after discovering MMM in 2014.  I've made a few changes to it depending on circumstances (like when we were saving up for IVF we re-prioritized and had additional objectives), but it is largely unchanged from the beginning.  It completely removes any uncertainty or temptation about what or where to invest. 

efree

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #30 on: January 28, 2019, 11:04:07 AM »
IPS's are living documents and an IPS does not have to say 60% forever.  You are wise in thinking that knowing how you want this position to change with time in advance of any decisions is an important thing to consider.  These changes can, and should, be outlined in your IPS so that you don't deviate from your plan.

It is also important to consider if you don't want to be 60% long-term you may be timing the P2P market.  The regulars at this website (myself included) generally frown upon market timing.  If you can't identify how you want your position to change with time then you are more than likely timing the P2P market.

I'm sorry for saying this but it doesn't seem to me you know what P2P lending is. There is no "market" to time. There are platforms which offer loans for me to buy. I need to investigate each platform and choose the ones I like. This is not like a stock market index where you invest in all the stocks. I invest in six platforms currently and I'll probably add another 3-4 this year. It would not make sense to invest in platforms that I think are unreliable or intransparent or simply offer low interest rates. Plus, more than 10-15 platforms gets difficult to manage because you have to manage them all separately.

Here's an example. There's a platform called Peerberry, it's about a year and a half old. Several P2P bloggers visited the office, spoke with the CEO and concluded that it's a nice little platform. As a result, many investors joined it (me included). Now it has come to our attention that the platform has been sold to some new owners we know nothing about. Also, the very nice and professional CEO just left the company to join a competing platform. What are we (the investors) supposed to make of that? Maybe it's nothing - or maybe there's some trouble brewing. We don't know. I'm not withdrawing my money yet but I'm monitoring the situation. I cannot predict under what circumstances I would withdraw my money so I can't write it in an IPS. If something really bad happens to the platform then I won't be able to access my money at all so I would want to do it before then. But the criteria are unknown. (If you're curious about what happens when a P2P platform goes down, google "p2p collateral".)

I guess you could call what I'm doing "timing my exit from the platform" but that is what all P2P investors should do. No one should write in the plan "I'm going to invest in this platform for 10 years, no matter what happens." That's just silly. There is always the platform risk, that's why the interest rates are so high.

I do admit I'm timing the stock market though. Most months I put most of my savings into P2P but in December I put it all into stocks. I don't think it was a bad decision but again, there's no criteria that I could write into an IPS for doing this. It just seemed like the thing to do.

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #31 on: January 28, 2019, 03:25:47 PM »
I don't and have been fire'd for going on almost 4 years. My plan is pretty simple. 60/40, Adjust once a year if enough deviation and take my withdrawals.

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #32 on: January 29, 2019, 07:44:48 AM »
I don't have one, except in my head. I have spreadsheet where I track every investment to the penny, including fees. Each year I revisit to see if I need to re-balance and to consider whether I could achieve the same investment allocation with a different blend of funds to lower my expense ratio.

The idea of writing down an IPS is really only desirable from the perspective of giving my wife some direction if I croak. She has zero interest in our investments, but I suppose it would be a good thing to plan for an untimely demise on my part.

Rural

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #33 on: January 29, 2019, 08:22:45 AM »
I have only a plan in my head, and I was just thinking my husband wouldn't have a clue if something happened to me. That's a reason to write things down.

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #34 on: January 31, 2019, 11:58:19 PM »
It's mostly for CYA. Always have an unofficial version of the IPS expressed in plain English that both you and your advisor can agree on.

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chasesfish

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #35 on: February 01, 2019, 05:44:05 AM »
I finally sat down and wrote one after the most recent bear market.  I am near early retirement and found myself throwing all my cash allocation in the market, borrowing some on margin and investing more, and buying call options as it kept falling.

It worked out pretty well, but I found myself sitting around saying "wtf am I doing".

I published the full IPS here.

Its about controlling my emotions and actions.  I made a small option trade yesterday, but kept it to $1,000 instead of $10,000 like I wanted to do

Mississippi Mudstache

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #36 on: February 01, 2019, 06:23:22 AM »
It's mostly for CYA. Always have an unofficial version of the IPS expressed in plain English that both you and your advisor can agree on.

Why would I need advisor?

use2betrix

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #37 on: February 01, 2019, 06:37:03 PM »
I don’t have a written one but have some broad general rules in my head similar to others here.

The nature of my work as a contractor can be very volatile and very stressful. When it’s going well and I’m happy and not stressed I keep around a $30k emergency fund. When I’m annoyed and want to consider pulling the plug, it’ll get closer to $50k-$60k.

Last week my boss fired my coworker who’s been causing 90% of my major stress the last 6 months. My current emergency fund is about $55k. Now that he’s gone I should probably dump $20k or so into the market :)

effigy98

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #38 on: February 01, 2019, 07:10:08 PM »
Have a doc that is the plan and various "words of advice" notes in case I want to panic.
Have a spreadsheet that makes re balance robotic and takes out all guess work. Spreadsheet does not care what the prices are, only the balance as it is 100% focused on asset allocation color coded to buy or sell so at a glance I can rebalance in a couple minutes 6 portfolios (401ks, Roths, HSA, Taxable). I also have back-test results for asset allocations on anything I have looked up over the years for the bad years in my lifetime as a gut check (2000, 2008) as I have a rule to not have more than a 20% maximum drawdown and these two periods have lots of data and work nicely to test.

ixtap

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #39 on: February 01, 2019, 07:55:18 PM »
It has been discussed and we sometimes remind each other to stick with the plan, but it isn't written down.

Am I going to regret not delaying the sale of ESPP? Nope, you will rest easy knowing that you stuck with the plan. And don't forget to log back in to buy your ETF in a few days.


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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #40 on: February 05, 2019, 09:57:17 PM »
It's mostly for CYA. Always have an unofficial version of the IPS expressed in plain English that both you and your advisor can agree on.

Why would I need advisor?
Me neither but this is for ppl for insist on using an advisor

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #41 on: February 14, 2019, 01:17:29 PM »
I have one built into my excel spreadsheet that defines my goal allocations.  Once a month I update my accounts, which then updates the categories to compare to my goals.  If I'm off by over 3%, conditional formatting turns a color.  I'm always off.  I just can't get myself to buy as much VTI or VTSAX and my policy wants me to.  I'm so much more of a worrywart and I always hold WAY too much cash or cash-equivalent. 


Rural

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #42 on: February 14, 2019, 01:43:40 PM »
 I wrote one last weekend because they were bringing in the advisers for our 403b at work this past week. Don't know if it will help me at all, but handing that over at the beginning of the meeting got us right past the usual complaining about me having too much in equities and left more time for the stuff I actually did want more detail about.

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #43 on: April 17, 2019, 05:33:02 PM »
I know we talk a lot about the IPS and how it's a good tool for planning.  Do you guys actually have a written plan though?  Do you think it's necessary to write it down?



I do not have a written IPS nor do I need one because I imbibed all that my father taught me about the steely self-discipline long-term investing requires. My undergraduate degree is a  B.S. in Business Administration w/ a major in Finance that is obviously useful for self-directed investors such as myself.

Novices just beginning  their investment life  who do not have such advantages should write down their ISP so that during extreme stock-market volatility   they can read their personal  rationale for investing and its object so as to avoid the panicky mistakes all too many investors make that greatly  delay or defeat achievement of  their financial objectives.

« Last Edit: April 17, 2019, 05:37:37 PM by John Galt incarnate! »

FIREstache

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #44 on: April 17, 2019, 07:51:35 PM »

30+ years of investing - never needed it.  I never panicked through big market drops.  I'm sure it's good for some people, though.

Villanelle

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #45 on: April 19, 2019, 11:54:11 AM »
I have a detailed spreadsheet with our target allocation and a note at the bottom that I will sell to rebalance if any category gets off by >5%, and that during my annual review, at which I determine the year's buying allocations, I will make changes to attempt to address any smaller discrepancies. 

Beyond that, I don't really think I need anything.

Well, that's not entirely true.  I'm still mulling over a strategy for withdraws, once we get to that point.  I think that is going to be far more challenging for me to both come up with and stick to.  The idea of pulling money out in a down market is both terrifying and abhorrent.  Knowing that, I think it's going to be a fairly conservative approach, which will likely mean keeping a lot of money in cash.  I'm imaging maybe quarterly withdraws and keeping between a year and 3 months expenses in cash, with specific triggers for when I don't make a withdraw, and when I make up for missed withdraws.  I just need to figure out what, exactly, that looks like. 

vand

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Re: Who has a written Investment Policy Statement?
« Reply #46 on: April 19, 2019, 05:38:31 PM »
I don't have a IPS as such; in my view it takes a lot of time, trial and experience, to develop an investment philosophy and structure your investments accordingly.

I've investing for 20 years now, and my investment philosophy has continued to evolve over that time.

Now I basically structure my investments under 3 strategies:

global macro strategy
- I put my money into investments according to how I see the world changing over the next decade

income strategy
- Solid bluechip dividend payers

all-weather strategy
- my own version of the permanent portfolio strategy designed to provide growth in any economic conditions through a diversified basket of uncorrelated assets

I'm not saying this is necessarily "better" than eg just someone lumping into a market tracking fund, but it reflects my own philosophies and has a degree of sophistication that keeps my interest piqued, and so it is right for me.

 

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