Maybe the best thing about quant or automatic investing is the peace of mind it provides during times of market turmoil. While I would by no means characterize the recent market action as ‘turmoil’, many investors seem to think it is. It always amazes me how short term the investor Read more…
What’s the hardest part of the retirement decision? For many its taking the leap of faith that financially what’s worked in the past will continue to work in the future. And often the start of every single year, during those early years of retirement, brings the anxiety right back again. Read more…
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 Read more…
Now that 2012 is behind us I wanted to update my analysis of the worst times to retire in history. See here for the original post. Armed with my own annual return data base I can now show at lot more detail as to the progress of the portfolios of Read more…
All the year end results are in so its time to update the performance of the retirement portfolios that I track. I’ll quickly review 2012 performance for the IVY portfolios, the Permanent Portfolio, and the traditional 60% /40% stock-bond portfolio. Then I’ll put them in context of their long run Read more…
Happy New Year everyone. Hard to believe its 2013 already. Time to look back at 2012 and see how I did versus my retirement goals. For those interested the 2011 review is here and the 2010 review is here. This marks the end of our 3rd year living the full Read more…
Do you know why you own bonds in your portfolio? There are many reasons to own bonds but one of the biggest reasons historically is no longer a good one for many investors. Bonds are often held in portfolios to provide a safe and steady source of income, in particular Read more…
Time out in the boonies, in our case the wonderful eastern Sierras, almost forces you into a reflective mood. Yesterday was one of those days where the amazing beauty of a spectacular hike (see my wife’s post and pics here) got me thinking about what is needed for a happy Read more…
Today I want to discuss what I consider to be the best alternative to the IVY timing portfolio. For those of you new to the blog, I think that most investors default portfolio should be the IVY timing portfolio. For background see here. It gives investors good returns and great Read more…