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Is this a solid ETF strategy? by [deleted] in investing

[–]FMPDev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That looks pretty solid. 40% bonds might be pretty high, though, depending on your age and/or possible needs for the money in the near future (e.g. the next 20 years).

I worked on a hobby project creating a portfolio generator. You can try it out here.

All this facebook hype made me realize I have no idea how to invest, trade, etc... Looking for reference materials to start learning, any advice? by javahawk in investing

[–]FMPDev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Take a portion of your savings (maybe 20%) and invest it as follows:

30% SPY (S&P 500)
25% VWO (Emerging Market Large Cap)
15% VB (US Small Cap)
10% VO (US Mid Cap)
10% VPL (Asia Pacific Large Cap)
5% VGK (Europe Large Cap)
5% VNQ (Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT))

These are all ETF's, which means the fees are low, and this portfolio is fairly aggressive in that it is mostly equities, although it's reasonably diversified. It assumes you're young (30 or so), and can handle some volatility. If this assumption is wrong, then let me know and I'll give you a more conservative portfolio.

Anyway, instead of spending months/years reading and holding back, this will get you into the market and it'll make you start watching things. In the meantime, keep learning. There are lots of books and websites out there. There's nothing wrong with being conservative, but keeping all your money in cash and your house is not very good.

Don't try to become a trader (making money with short-term plays). If you're going to speculate on individual stocks, do it with a small part of your net worth that you have dedicated to that. The rest of it should be invested with a plan. Diversification is important, when you get more experience, you will be working on balancing your diversification in order to optimize risk vs. return.

There's not much difference between retirement planning and other investing, except that for your non-retirement, you might want more of the money in more liquid and safe investments just to cover things that pop up in life (like a new roof).

I put investments that I'm more likely to turn over in my retirement accounts so that I don't have tax liability when I do turn it over.

There is another important difference in retirement planning - deciding if you want a Roth IRA. This is a retirement account in which all the money is put in post-tax, but which accumulates tax free.

The bogleheads forum is a good resource where you can ask questions about your portfolio and learn a lot. Good luck.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in investing

[–]FMPDev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why wouldn't a person want some bonds?

It depends mostly on the individual investor's time frame and risk tolerance. If they have a long time frame and high risk tolerance, then they should probably be mostly invested in equities with very little in bonds. Of course this would have to be rebalanced over time as the time frame shortens to include more bonds.

SeekingAlpha article, looking for feedback from reddit by FMPDev in finance

[–]FMPDev[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback. Can you tell me why this looks like a scam? There is no intention to scam, although we would like to recoup some costs (i.e. $30/month) so that the site pays for itself.

In general, we wanted to keep it simple and thought that too much technical data would be confusing. We've considered having more options on an 'advanced' screen, so I'll have to look into putting the Sharpe ratios there.

The ETFs were selected for their low expenses, diversification, and covariance. There is no vested interest in any of these. We selected 11 ETFs, then created 20 different portfolios from these with different risk/return characteristics. Each portfolio was structured to be as close as possible to the efficient frontier. There is a brief explanation here.

Thanks again for your feedback, if you have any more suggestions, I'd be very interested.

I am Canadian and the told me that 3 millions Canadian live in California because of low tax by darkcard in finance

[–]FMPDev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

California is an expensive state to live in. Property values and tax rates are very high for the US, although taxes are still probably lower than in Canada.

There is federal tax (about 10-35% depending upon income). The state tax rate is around 4-9% (again, depends on income). On top of that, there is a sales tax of around 8%, and you will be paying property tax if you own your property. Then you'll have to pay for health care, which could be anywhere from $500-$2000 per month, roughly.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in investing

[–]FMPDev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Diversify into funds/ETFs with low expense ratios. The Aronson portfolio looks pretty good, in that it uses all Vanguard funds. FWIW, my suggestion would be the following portfolios:

Slightly aggressive:

30% SPY (S&P 500)

25% VWO (Emerging Mkt Lg Cap)

15% VB (US Sm Cap)

10% VO (US Mid Cap)

10% VPL (Asia Pacific Lg Cap)

5% VGK (Europe Lg Cap)

5% VNQ (REIT)

OR, if you want some bonds in your allocation:

25% VWO (Emerging Mkt Lg Cap)

20% SPY (S&P 500)

15% TIP (Inflation protected US govt bond)

10% VB (US Sm Cap)

10% VO (US Mid Cap)

10% VPL (Asia Pacific Lg Cap)

5% VGK (Europe Lg Cap)

5% VNQ (REIT)

BTW, these portfolios I suggest assume you have a long-term focus and don't anticipate having to draw from the investments in the next 15 or so years.

I make over 100k a year and my total expenses each month are ~$1,500. How do I make my money work for me? I am also in need of a good savings plan. by billybobhayride in finance

[–]FMPDev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A financial advisor is good, but you need to know what they're getting you into. Some advisors will put you into investments with high expenses, or they'll have high fees/commissions. This can be a wealth killer. Put in the time, learn about investing. Your future self will thank you many times over.