Re-balance Cycle Reminder All MyPlanIQ’s newsletters are archived here.
For regular SAA and TAA portfolios, the next re-balance will be on Monday, October 24, 2016. You can also find the re-balance calendar for 2016 on ‘Dashboard‘ page once you log in.
As a reminder to expert users: advanced portfolios are still re-balanced based on their original re-balance schedules and they are not the same as those used in Strategic and Tactical Asset Allocation (SAA and TAA) portfolios of a plan.
Please note that we now list the next re-balance date on every portfolio page.
Survey & Feedback
At MyPlanIQ, we take our users’ feedback seriously. We are always hungry for this information. At the end of every newsletter, there is this button
How can we improve this newsletter? Please take our survey
that collects your feedback. In this newsletter, we want to share with you what you have to say about us.
The newsletter survey results
The following charts show the breakdown on your evaluation on our newsletters.
Overall, we are satisfied that we provide quality contents to you. We believe that, in addition to our system, our newsletters offer unreserved and comprehensive education materials. It’s also clear that we still have work to do: about a quarter of users are clearly not satisfied.
Samples of the feedback
Here we show some example feedbacks:
Have you decided against have comments following the newsletters? I would like to see the community’s thoughts on some of the portfolios.
My father and I regularly read your newsletter and enjoy it! Thank you!
I personally would like it if the Market Overview section was a little less conservative, or if it painted a better picture of what the market is at any given point in time.
I usually can’t read the charts. The colors are too close together, and I am not color blind. Pick better colors and use thicker lines. Also, any chart with a date range over 5 years ought to be a Log chart or it is Totally misleading in the importance of the last 2 or 3 years. Seriously, a 25 year chart that isn’t logarithmic is just nonsense. And you should have more charts 15 and 20 years long.
Your observations me and insights are directly on target, refreshingly ringing true – consistently. THANK YOU!!!
I just want to thank you for your unique newsletters and for all of the archived data, which is not available elsewhere for litle guys, to my knowledge. Today’s newsletter is an example of how you help–you diagnosed the problem (in a portfolio I follow, as it happens) and figured out a solution. This is really wonderful. Please keep up the great work.
On the critique side, I have to say I am still a little confused about what it means to follow a portfolio and to personalize one. Perhaps you could either remind us, or put up an “IQ for dummies” page where it’s easy to figure out all the rules.
IMO, there may be too much weight placed on using fixed income rather than cash to provide higher returns in both tactical and strategic portfolios. If US interest rates on high quality bonds were to trend upward over an extended period as they have in the past (prior to the recent 25+ year bull market in bonds), the value add by bonds vs cash would most likely be negated.
While back testing will show improved risk/reward using bonds in lieu of cash, we can easily recognize that it really is different this time….when it comes to the level of interest rates and the potential for future bond fund returns. Going forward the bond bull market returns will not as likely be duplicated.
A screener to sift through the hundreds (thousands?) of plans
First let me say that I have been an avid investor for about 20 years, read all of your newletters, am sincerely interested in the subject matter …
Your explanations of the various strategies are very good. However, there are so many options to choose from, the sheer number of possible portfolios (and combinations as you have suggested in newsletters) makes it difficult for even a fairly experienced investor to choose which strategy (or combination thereof) to use…
There appears to be a reformat to the email update the last few months as it displays in a difficult to read manner. It only occurs in Webmail (Earthlink). I can send a screenshot if you like
1) Would like to see portfolios designed specifically for taxable accounts.
2) It would help investors “narrow the field” of portfolio choices if there was a chart or series of multiple choice questions that would lead investors to those portfolios best suited to their individual situation.
3) Alternatively (to 2 above), a newsletter or article specifically devoted to assisting investors (who have self-directed IRA’s) choose a portfolio approach that was best suited to them, all things considered.
1] still making changes on re-balance days is difficult and avoiding broker complaints with switches is a problem
2] Being away and unable to re-balance for a few days is also a problem – once I am 3 or 4 days out of sync each month what do I do ? Is it better to leave things alone until the next re-balance – this is the dilemma ….
3] the concept is good but is also hard to implement with large portfolios in different accounts with different brokers. Some are retirement, some annuity and some are straight brokerages – all with different tax implications
Although I don’t go to your web site, your newsletter is the only one I receive that provides realistic, rational advice. I really like it so I don’t think it can be improve
……
The takeaway is that we would like to encourage your continuous feedback. Furthermore, we also would like to remind our readers that the comment section of a newsletter is open for every user.
We are also actively working on a mobile app that makes it very easy to use. From what we got in the survey, this is perhaps one of the most desired improvement.
Again, thank you for participating!
Portfolio Review
The alternative portfolios listed on Brokerage Investors page have kept up with general markets. Given the current elevated market levels, we think these portfolios should have a place in an investor’s investment account.
Latest Alternative Allocation Portfolios Performance Comparison (as of 9/30/2016):
Ticker/Portfolio Name | YTD Return** |
1Yr AR | 3Yr AR | 5Yr AR | 10Yr AR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio | 11.5% | 11.6% | 6.0% | 4.7% | 6.7% |
Permanent Income Portfolio | 8.7% | 10.0% | 6.9% | 6.5% | 6.2% |
My Simple Alternative Hedge Fund | 8.3% | 8.7% | 5.0% | 7.2% | 9.4% |
VWINX (Vanguard Wellesley Income Inv) | 8.0% | 10.8% | 7.0% | 8.6% | 6.9% |
**YTD: Year to Date
Market Overview
Stocks are consistently at an elevated level, though investors have shown less and less conviction. Deutsche Bank’s woe created some dislocation in markets but in general, at least at this moment, it seems to be contained. However, we shall remind our readers that markets are highly unstable. Given the upcoming US presidential election, it’s possible for markets to be on hold for a while. We repeat our cautious position: maintain proper risk allocation, choose a well designed investment strategy and be prepared for possible market disruption.
For more detailed asset trend scores, please refer to 360° Market Overview.
We would like to remind our readers that since the financial crisis in 2008-2009, we have not seen substantial structural change in the U.S., European and emerging market economies. Economies have heavily relied on low interest debts. Capital might be misallocated to unproductive investments and consumption. U.S. stock valuation is at a historically high level. It is thus not a good time to take excessive risk. However, we remain optimistic on U.S. economy in the long term and believe much better investment opportunities will arise in the future.
We again would like to stress for any new investor and new money, the best way to step into this kind of markets is through dollar cost average (DCA), i.e. invest and/or follow a model portfolio in several phases (such as 2 or 3 months) instead of the whole sum at one shot.
Latest Articles
- September 26, 2016: Fixed Income Investing: Actively Managed Funds vs. Index Funds
- September 19, 2016: Stock Investing: Actively Managed Funds vs. Index Funds
- September 12, 2016: Newsletter Update
- September 5, 2016: Overvalued Markets And Long Term Timing Strategies
- August 29, 2016: Your 401K Finally Draws Attention
- August 22, 2016: Inflation Protected Securities TIPS For Current Overvalued Markets
- August 15, 2016: Risk On: Emerging Market Stocks And Small Cap Stocks
- August 8, 2016: Portfolio Construction Using Stock ETFs And Bond Mutual Funds
- August 1, 2016: Adding Value To Your Own Investments
- July 25, 2016: Tactical Asset Allocation Funds Review
- July 18, 2016: Strategic Asset Allocation & Lazy Portfolio Review
- July 11, 2016: Asset Trend Review
- June 27, 2016: Secular Cycles For Tactical And Strategic Investment Strategies
- June 20, 2016: A World of Debt
- June 13, 2016: Managed Futures For Portfolio Building
- June 6, 2016: Newsletter Summary
- May 30, 2016: Swensen Portfolio And Permanent Portfolios
- May 23, 2016: AAII Article And Some Web Changes
- May 16, 2016: The PIMCO (Dis)Advantages
- May 9, 2016: Boost Your Dull Summer Investments
- May 2, 2016: Low Cost Index Fund Investing
- April 25, 2016: Tax Free Municipal Bond Funds & Portfolios
- April 18, 2016: Asset Class Trend Review
- April 11, 2016: Construction of Sound And Conservative Portfolios
- March 28, 2016: Total Return Bond ETFs Review
- March 21, 2016: Small And Large Company Stock Performance In Different Economic Expansion Cycles
- March 14, 2016: Are Tactical And Timing Strategies Losing Steam?
- March 7, 2016: Defined Maturity Bond Fund Analysis
- February 29, 2016: Smart Strategic Asset Allocation Rebalance When Market Trend Changes
- February 22, 2016: Be Cash Smart
- February 15, 2016: Bond ETF Portfolios
- February 8, 2016: Newsletter Collection Update
- February 1, 2016: Total Return Bond Fund Portfolios In A Volatile Period
- January 25, 2016: Alternative Portfolios Review
- January 18, 2016: Strategic Asset Allocation: A Cautious Outlook
- January 11, 2016: Review Of Trend Following Tactical Asset Allocation
- January 4, 2016: What Worked And Didn’t In 2015
- December 21, 2015: Distressed Assets
- December 14, 2015: High Yield Bonds And Their Correlation With Stocks
- December 7, 2015: Diversification And Global Allocation
- November 30, 2015: Investors and Speculators Combined
- November 23, 2015: Active Stock Fund Performance Consistency
- November 16, 2015: Permanent, Risk Parity And Alternative Portfolios Review
- November 9, 2015: Broad Base Core Mutual Fund Review
- November 2, 2015: Broad Base Index Core ETFs Review
- October 26, 2015: Total Return Bond Fund Review
- October 19, 2015: Advanced Portfolio Review
- October 12, 2015: What About Commodities?
- October 5, 2015: Core Satellite Portfolios In A 401k Account
- September 28, 2015: Risk Managed Strategic Asset Allocation Portfolios Revisited
- September 21, 2015: Quest For The Best Investment Strategy
- September 14, 2015: Core Satellite Portfolios In Market Turmoil
- September 7, 2015: Market Rout Creates An Opportunity to Reposition Your Portfolios
- August 31, 2015: Review of Asset Allocation Funds and Portfolios
- August 24, 2015: Market Rout And Your Portfolios
- August 17, 2015: ETF or Mutual Fund Based Portfolios
- August 10, 2015: Updated Newsletter Collection
- August 3, 2015: Slippery Asset Trends
- July 27, 2015: Performance Dispersion Among Momentum Based Portfolios
- July 20, 2015: Global Balanced Portfolio Benchmarks
- July 13, 2015: Pain in Tactical Portfolios
- July 6, 2015: Fixed Income Total Return Bond Funds In Strategic Asset Allocation Portfolios
- June 29, 2015: Core ETF Commission Free Portfolios
- June 22, 2015: Secular Asset Trends
- June 15, 2015: Giving Up Bonds?
- June 1, 2015: Summer Blues?
- May 26, 2015: Cash, Bonds and Stocks In A Rising Rate Environment
- May 18, 2015: Portfolio Update
- May 11, 2015: Pain in Fixed Income?
- May 4, 2015: The Balanced Stock and Long Term Treasury Bond Portfolios
- April 27, 2015: Long Term Treasury Bond Behavior
- April 20, 2015: 529 College Savings Plan Rebalance Policy Change
- April 13, 2015: Total Return Bond Funds As Smart Cash
- April 6, 2015: The Low Return Environment
- March 30, 2015: Brokerage Specific Core Mutual Fund Portfolios 2
- March 23, 2015: Investment Arithmetic for Long Term Investments
- March 16, 2015: Brokerage Specific Core Mutual Fund Portfolios
- March 9, 2015: Newsletter Collection Update
- March 2, 2015: Total Return Bond ETFs
- February 23, 2015: Why Is Global Tactical Asset Allocation Not Popular?
- February 16, 2015: Where Are Permanent Portfolios Going?
- February 9, 2015: How Have Asset Allocation Funds Done?
- February 2, 2015: Risk Management Everywhere
- January 26, 2015: Composite Portfolios Review
- January 19, 2015: Fixed Income Investing Review
- January 12, 2015: How Does Trend Following Tactical Asset Allocation Strategy Deliver Returns
- January 5, 2015: When Forecast Fails
- December 22, 2014: Long Term Asset Returns: How Long Is Long?
- December 15, 2014: Beaten Down Assets
- December 8, 2014: Implementing Core Asset Portfolios In a Brokerage
- December 1, 2014: Two Key Issues of Investment Strategies
- November 24, 2014: Holiday Readings
- November 17, 2014: Retirement Spending Portfolios Update
- November 10, 2014: Fixed Income Or Cash
- November 3, 2014: Asset Trend Review
- October 27, 2014: Investment Loss, Mistakes And Market Cycles
- October 20, 2014: Strategic Portfolios With Managed Volatility
- October 13, 2014: Embrace Volatility
- October 6, 2014: Tips For 401k Open Enrollment
- September 29, 2014: What Can We Learn From Bill Gross’ Departure From PIMCO?
- September 22, 2014: Why Total Return Bond Funds?
- September 15, 2014: Equity And Total Return Bond Fund Composite Portfolios
- September 8, 2014: Momentum Based Portfolios Review
- September 1, 2014: Risk & Diversification: Mint.com Interview
- August 25, 2014: Remember Risk
- August 18, 2014: Consistency, The Most Important Edge In Investing: Tactical Case
- August 11, 2014: What To Do In Overvalued Stock Markets
- August 4, 2014: Is This The Peak Or Correction?
- July 28, 2014: Stock Musings
- July 21, 2014: Permanent Portfolios & Four Pillar Foundation Based Framework
- July 14, 2014: Composite Portfolios Review
- July 7, 2014: Portfolio Behavior During Market Corrections
- June 30, 2014: Half Year Brokerage ETF and Mutual Fund Portfolios Review
- June 23, 2014: Newsletter Collection Update
- June 16, 2014: There Are Always Lottery Winners
- June 9, 2014: The Arithmetic of Investment Mistakes
- June 2, 2014: Tips On Portfolio Rebalance
- May 26, 2014: In Praise Of Low Cost Core Asset Class Based Portfolios
- May 19, 2014: Consistency, The Most Important Edge In Investing: Strategic Case
- May 12, 2014: How To Handle An Elevated Overvalued Market
- May 5, 2014: Asset Allocation Funds Review
- April 28, 2014: Now The Economy Backs To The ‘Old Normal’, Should Our Investments Too?
- April 21, 2014: Total Return Bond Investing In The Current Market Environment
Enjoy Newsletter
How can we improve this newsletter? Please take our survey
–Thanks to those who have already contributed — we appreciate it.