Hard to believe it has been 2 years since I last updated my recipe for a happy retirement. And 2 years before that I had the original post. Every 2 years seems like a nice interval to revisit my thoughts in this area. We are now getting close to completing […]
Yesterday was the last trading day of the month of October. Time to update the IVY timing portfolio signals. This post updates the signals for the basic IVY 5 asset class timing portfolio, also known as GTAA 5. You can see the signals at world beta or at dshort as well. I have my […]
Today was the last trading day of the month of September. Time to update the IVY timing portfolio signals. This post updates the signals for the basic IVY 5 asset class timing portfolio, also known as GTAA 5. You can see the signals at world beta or at dshort as well. I have my […]
Today I’d like to address some of the biggest concerns with the IVY portfolios, in particular the timing versions. Three big concerns with the implementation of IVY are management fees, trading commissions, and taxes and that they may impact performance enough to render any advantage mute. These are truly valid […]
Now that I’ve presented several variations and updates to the IVY portfolios, in this post I update all the relevant portfolio statistics and compare them to some commonly held diversified portfolios. I provide the definitions of the portfolio stats and the various portfolios. I conclude with some brief observations. In […]
Today I’ll cover a few other extensions to the IVY timing model beyond those I covered in my last post. The source of these extensions is the same, Mebane Faber’s IVY update outlining these approaches. The extensions I’ll cover are varying the weighting of the asset class mix and taking […]
OK, deep breaths, deep breaths….The drivel the passes for reporting on retirement issues never ceases to amaze me. But this time I found a real howler. The “paper of record”, the venerable NY Times, recently published a piece on the 4% safe withdrawal rule, titled “4% Rule for Retirement Withdrawals […]
Investing and weight lifting? I must have lost it. No, not quite yet. Bear with me. My latest post on cash as the ultimate diversification tool got me thinking about a very underused investment strategy, barbell investing. The term and strategy come from the bond world of investing. It is […]
The safe withdrawal rate (SWR) that I’ve discussed in several posts (here, here, here) is a great tool to use for retirement planning and once in retirement. I’ve presented a range of SWRs from the super conservative 4% that has worked 100% of the time to the slightly more aggressive […]
I’ve covered one of my alternative investment strategies for retirement portfolios already, in my post on structured products. Today, I’ll introduce the primary strategy I use to generate income from my cash balance – option selling. Cash is an important part of any asset allocation. It allows an investor to […]
I figure that after my last post on stock market returns for the next 10 years, I’ll try and do something similar for bonds. After all, these are the two most important assets classes that make up retiree portfolios, often in the much talked about 60%/40% stock, bond allocation. Without […]