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Investing: 7 Steps to Spring Clean Your Portfolio

April 16, 2013 By 9 Comments
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Some beautiful flowers in the sun.

Spring time is traditionally the time to clean the garage and to get the yard in shape.  It’s also a great time to clean up your investment portfolio.  Here are 7 steps to a cleaner, more efficient portfolio.

Think of your investments as a portfolio

This is the first key step.  Many investors focus on each holding and fail to look at the sum of the parts.  Nobody is saying that investing in quality mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, etc. is not important.  Start with your overall portfolio and determine if you are properly allocated in line with your financial goals and risk tolerance.  Ideally this would all be an extension of your financial plan.  Even younger investors starting out should think in terms of their overall portfolio, even if this is only a few holdings at this point. 

Find your most recent statements and organize your records 

Make sure that you receive and review statements from ALL investment accounts every time one is issued.  This might be monthly or quarterly depending upon your custodian and the type of account.  Keep them all in a file (paper and/or electronic) and more importantly find a way to take a consolidated, overall view of your holdings as a portfolio.  I enter all client accounts and holdings into a spreadsheet. I suggest categorizing your portfolio by account and by asset class (large cap, small cap, etc.).  At a minimum, this will show you how well you are diversified across different asset classes.  You might also be amazed at the number of individual holdings across all of these accounts, I call this financial clutter.  This is common among folks who might have a number of old 401(k) accounts at their former employers.  I had a client with almost 50 distinct holdings across multiple accounts when we started working together.  This is hard for anyone to track and monitor efficiently. 

Consolidate your accounts

To the extent possible, consolidate your accounts.  Unless there is a compelling reason to leave an old 401(k) with a former employer, monitoring your portfolio will be much easier if you roll these accounts into a consolidated IRA or even into your current employer’s 401(k) if allowed and the plan is a good one.  This also holds true if you have several IRA accounts with various custodians as well as for taxable accounts, annuities, etc.  

Review your asset allocation plan (or develop one)

This should happen before reviewing your individual investments so you aren’t influenced by your current allocation. As I’ve advocated here many times you need to have a financial plan in place before you decide upon an asset allocation strategy.  The financial plan should drive your investing activities, your allocation, and your choice of investments.  A well-constructed financial plan will help you focus on your risk-tolerance and your goals for the money you save and invest.

Review your current investment holdings

Have your stocks hit their sell targets? How do your mutual funds compare to their peers? It is important to establish a monitoring process for your individual holdings, and to review your holdings against appropriate benchmarks on a regular basis. If needed, make changes to your holdings if they no longer fit. 

Rebalance your portfolio 

You may need to buy and sell holdings or perhaps you can allocate new investment dollars to do this. Once you have determined that this is needed, you should get your allocation back in line as soon as possible to ensure that your allocation is consistent with the risk and return targets in your financial plan.  Remember your allocation should be reviewed across all of your various accounts.

Establish a regular process to review and monitor your portfolio 

Getting your portfolio in shape once does no good if you don’t establish a process to review your portfolio and your holdings on a regular basis.  This doesn’t mean looking at your investments daily or even weekly.  Depending upon your needs and your interest in doing this quarterly or semi-annually is sufficient for most.  At least annually this should be incorporated with a review of your financial plan to ensure that everything is in synch.

Please feel free to contact me with your financial planning and investing questions.  Check out our Financial Planning and Investment Advice for Individuals page to learn more about our services.  

For you do-it-yourselfers, check out Morningstar.com to analyze your investment holdings and your portfolio. Please click on the link to get a free trial for their premium services.  Please check out our Resources page for links to some additional tools and services that might be beneficial to you. 

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ETFs or Mutual Funds? – Why Not Both?

April 8, 2013 By 8 Comments
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Diversification - Investing

Over the past several months I’ve read a number of articles along the lines of “ETFs vs. Mutual Funds.”  In most cases these articles take an either or position which is generally in favor of ETFs.  While I am a fan of ETFs and use them extensively in client portfolios, my question is why do we need to choose between ETFs and mutual funds?  Why not use both?

Looking over the portfolios of my individual clients I could not find one that did not include both ETFs and mutual funds.  In addition some include closed-end mutual funds as well as individual stocks.

Advantages of ETFs  

Originally ETFs were introduced as a way to trade various stock market indexes.  The S&P 500 SPDR (ticker SPY) just turned 20 and is generally at or near the top of the list in terms of ETF trading volume.  The availability of low cost ETFs across a variety of equity and fixed income indexes has mushroomed over the years.  As a financial advisor I use them extensively for their style consistency, low cost, and in many cases their consistently above average performance within their style peer groups.

Especially after the 2008-09 financial crisis the number of ETFs offered has mushroomed and so has the variety of offerings.  Actively managed ETFs are growing and the success of PIMco’s ETF version (ticker BOND) of its popular PIMco Total Return (ticker PTTRX) mutual fund will undoubtedly spur further growth here.

Why bother with Mutual Funds?

In looking at mutual funds you have to divide them into actively managed funds and passive (index) funds.

If you are indexing all or part of your portfolio you want to look at various factors in making your decision as to whether to go with a mutual fund or an ETF.  These include:

  • The size of your account/portfolio.  Even in the world of index mutual funds there are some lower cost versions available to investors who can meet higher minimum investment thresholds.  Vanguard is a good example here.
  • Cost to own.  The expense ratio should be the main factor, but transaction costs can come into play.  While the availability of no-transaction fee ETFs is growing, the ETF you want to buy may not be on this menu at a given custodian.  Likewise some mutual fund families might incur a transaction fee at certain custodians.
  • How will you invest?  If you are dollar cost averaging into a fund/ETF at say $250 per month you’ll want to look for options with no transaction costs.

While actively managed mutual funds get a bad rap in the press, there are still a number of well-managed reasonably priced funds across equity and fixed income styles.  A Schwab study a number of years ago touted a “core and explore” approach to investing.  This meant that the core of the portfolio would be index funds, with the use of actively managed funds in certain asset classes where good index products were not available.

Given the expansion of indexing to a wide range of assets classes in both the ETF and mutual fund format this approach in its original form may be passé.  However I still use a number of actively managed funds across both individual and institutional portfolios.

In choosing an active fund I’m looking for some or all of the following:

  • Long-term outperformance.
  • Superior risk-adjusted performance.
  • Consistency of management.
  • Something that I can’t find in an index product that adds to the overall quality of the portfolio.

Certainly there are a lot of mutual funds that don’t belong in your portfolio.  Loaded funds, proprietary funds from various brokerage houses and other high fee alternatives put a lot of money into your broker/registered rep’s pockets.  Go with no load funds and always shop for the most competitive share class available to you in terms of expense ratio.

Why exclude either ETFs or Mutual Funds?

My point here is not to argue the merits of either mutual funds or ETFs, or for that matter active management vs. passive.  Certainly I’ve seen some excellent examples of portfolios that are all ETF and/or all index products.

However why limit yourself and feel that you need to avoid funds or ETFs?  There are so many choices out there, I feel that I owe to my clients to look at the whole universe of ETFS, mutual funds, and other products that might enhance their portfolio and help them to achieve their investment goals.  In building a portfolio I suggest that you take the approach of picking the best investing vehicles for the various allocation “buckets” in your portfolio whether they be ETFs, mutual funds, actively managed, or passive index products.

Please feel free to contact me with your financial planning questions.  Check out our Financial Planning and Investment Advice for Individuals page for more information about our services.   

For you do-it-yourselfers, check out Morningstar.com to analyze your mutual funds, ETFs, and all of your investments and to get a free trial for their premium services.

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Investment Diversification – A Look at the Basics

March 13, 2013 By 5 Comments
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Market Jitters...

Investment Diversification is one of the basic tools  of building a sound investment portfolio. Diversification is the fancy name for  the advice your mother might have given you:  Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.  This is the basic tenant behind asset allocation, a key diversification tool.

My fellow finance blogger Ken Faulkenberry defines investment diversification as follows:

“Investment portfolio diversification is a portfolio strategy combining a variety of assets to reduce the overall risk of an investment portfolio. “  

A basic look at diversification 

Based on Ken’s definition you could use stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, private equity and a whole host of assets and asset types in building a diversified portfolio.  In the examples that will follow I am going to limit this to mutual funds investing in stocks and bonds.  Please note that nothing that follows should be construed as advice or a recommendation of any kind.  The mutual funds and allocation percentages used are for example only. 

Let’s start with an investor with $100,000 to invest.  Let’s go back in time to January 1, 2000.  One thought would be to pick a fund that invests in a variety of stocks.  Perhaps the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX) is a good choice.  How much would an investment of $100,000 have grown to by December 31, 2009, the end of the press has deemed the lost decade?  The answer is that your $100,000 investment would have shrunk to $90,165 for an average annual loss of 1.03%.  Truly a lost decade for this investor.

Let’s say this investor added the following funds to his portfolio:

  • Vanguard Small Cap Index (NAESX)
  • Vanguard Mid Cap Index (VIMSX)
  • Vanguard Total International Stock Index (VGTSX)

How much would an investment of $100,000 invested equally in each of these four funds have grown to by December 31, 2009?  (We are assuming no taxes or rebalancing in this and all examples in this article)  The answer is $137,511.  This is $47,346 or about 52% more than an investment of our investor’s cash only in the Vanguard 500 Index.  Let’s look at the average annual investment returns for each of these funds for the period 1/1/2000 – 12/31/2009:

Vanguard 500 Index -1.03%
Vanguard Small Cap Index  4.36%
Vanguard Mid Cap Index  6.13%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index 2.29%

 

While the average annualized return of 3.23% over the course of the decade is nothing to write home about, it does illustrate the potential benefits of diversification.

Let’s add some bonds 

Some say building a portfolio is much like cooking, which is one of my favorite pastimes.  My motto in the kitchen is “… when in doubt add more wine…”  Sadly wine and investing are not a good mix.

What if we added some bond funds to the mix?  In this case let’s add the following funds:

  • PIMco Total Return (PTTRX)
  • T. Rowe Price Short-Term Bond (PRWBX)
  • American Century Inflation Adjusted Bond (ACITX)
  • Templeton Global Bond (TPINX)

If we now divide the investor’s $100,000 investment equally among the four equity funds from the prior example and among these four bond funds, by 12/31/2009 the $100,000 investment has grown to $174,506 or almost double what an investment of $100,000 in the Vanguard 500 Index Fund alone would have yielded.  The portfolio’s average annual return was 5.72% for the decade.

Looking at the average annual investment returns for each of the bond funds for the period 1/1/2000 – 12/31/2009:

PIMco Total Return 7.65%
T. Rowe Price Short-Term Bond 4.89%
American Century Inflation Adjusted Bond  7.20%
Templeton Global Bond 10.66

 

The impact of diversification

Again this example was based on eight funds weighted equally with no rebalancing and the reinvestment of all distributions.  This was an unusual decade in that bonds largely held their own or outperformed equities.  It is likely that if we performed this same analysis for the ten years ended December 31, 2019 the results would look different.  None the less there are a few things we can take away from this analysis:

  • The decade 2000-2009 was a poor one for large cap stocks as illustrated by the use of the S&P 500 index fund.
  • Small, mid cap, and international equities outperformed domestic large cap stocks.
  • Diversifying the equity holdings in this example boosted overall portfolio return.
  • Bonds were aided by generally declining interest rates and lower volatility than equities.  Both of these factors helped their overall return for the decade and really boosted our hypothetical portfolio.  Bonds in general have a relatively low correlation to equities which assisted in mitigating the volatility of our portfolio and enhanced returns.
  • Even in this “lost decade” asset allocation helped enhance return.

What does this mean for the future? 

Clearly the period used in the analysis was unique one, a decade that contained market declines (as measured by the S&P 500 Index) of 49% from March of 2000 through October of 2002 and 57% from October of 2007 through early March of 2009.  However it seems that market volatility has become the norm rather than the exception so the current decade will likely be an interesting one as well.  A few lessons we can take forward:

  • Diversification reduces risk.
  • Diversification among assets with low correlations to one another further reduces risk.
  • Diversification is important because we have no way of knowing which investments or asset classes will perform well or poorly or when.

Please feel free to contact me with your investing and asset allocation questions. 

For you do-it-yourselfers, check out Morningstar.com to analyze your investment holdings and to get a free trial for their premium services.  Please check out our Resources page for links to some additional tools and services that might be beneficial to you. 

Note that all data used in this article was generated via Morningstar’s Advisor Workstation.

Photo Credit:  Flickr

 

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Dow 14,000 – Big Deal or Just a Number?

February 4, 2013 By 9 Comments
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On Friday February 1, 2013 the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 14,010.  This is the first close above 14,000 for the index since October of 2007.  The news media is, of course, making a huge deal about this.  It’s newsworthy and captivates the public’s interest.

In reality 14,000 or any number on the Dow is pretty meaningless.  For example the Dow sustained a triple digit loss today.  I discussed this in my recent US News Smarter Investor contribution (as picked up by Business Insider) I Couldn’t Care Less How Well The Stock Market Is Doing Right Now And Neither Should You.  As I said in the article “I have no idea what the stock market will do over the next year let alone the next week. Frankly I really don’t care. My opinion is that your financial plan, your tolerance for risk, and your financial goals should drive your investment allocation. Any buying or selling of stocks or any other type of investment should be driven by keeping your asset allocation in line with your financial plan.”

In fact the Dow is a pretty narrowly focused index of 30 stocks of very large companies.  While this index is influential and widely followed it is not really a good indicator of much of anything.

A look at the S&P 500 

Let’s take a look at “the market” as depicted by another widely followed index, the S&P 500, an index of the 500 largest U.S. stocks.  Not only is the S&P 500 a broader large cap index than the Dow, it also tends to be a benchmark for many investment managers.  The following chart from JP Morgan shows the behavior of the index from 1997 through December 31,2012:

As I write this the S&P 500 is straddling the 1,500 mark, about 4% below its all time high of 1565 set in October of 2007.  As you can see from the chart the current market rally off of the March 2009 lows is some 46 months along now.  According to data from S&P the average length of nine Bull Markets off of market low points since 1946 is 68 months, with a range in length from 26 months to 148 months.

What does this all mean? 

In this writer’s opinion all of this hype and hoopla surrounding the Dow hitting 14,000 and the S&P hitting 1,500 is pretty meaningless.  Investors need to diversify among various asset classes and types of holdings such as stocks and bonds (funds or individual holdings) both domestic and international.  The chart below from JP Morgan below does a nice job of showing the benefits of a diversified portfolio over time.  Various benchmarks and asset classes are depicted across equities, fixed income, real estate, and alternatives.  This chart also does a nice job of showing the ups and downs of the returns of the various asset classes both on a relative and an absolute basis from year to year.  Note the Asset Allocation portfolio depicted by the graph points in the middle of the chart.  While this is a sample portfolio compiled by JP Morgan, it does demonstrate the benefits of diversification.

What to do now 

This is a great time to ignore the market hype and stick to your financial plan if you have one in place, or to get one done if you don’t.  Investing isn’t different in 2013 no matter what the talking suits on CNBC and elsewhere might tell you.  If anything the investing landscape becomes more treacherous as the market increases.  Don’t panic, but don’t let yourself get caught up in the hype either. 

Please feel free to contact me with your financial planning and investing questions at any time.  

Check out our Resources page for links to some services and tools that you might find beneficial.

The charts are courtesy of JP Morgan Asset Management.

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Mutual Funds – The First Shall be Last and So On

January 9, 2013 By 4 Comments
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English: Investment Process Focused on Risk Me...

Well another year is in the books and there is no shortage of articles about what worked well and what didn’t in terms of investing.  For those of us who use and follow mutual funds it’s always instructive and interesting to take a look back as we move forward.  Here are some observations and examples from 2012 and some lessons that we can take into the future.

Artisan Mid Cap Value ARTQX 

The managers of this fund were named as Morningstar’s Domestic Manager of the Year for 2011.  So how’d they do in 2012?  The fund gained a respectable 11.39% for the year, but that only ranked the fund in the 86th percentile (bottom 14%) of its category.  Did the award go to their heads?  I doubt it.  I’ve written about this closed fund here before and it is one of my favorite mutual funds.  This fund is included in the menu of several 401(k) plans for whom I provide advice as well as in the portfolios of many of my individual clients.  The fund’s track record since its inception has been exemplary and in fact the fund ranks in the top 1% of all funds in its category for the ten years ending 12/31/12.  Artisan is a solid fund company who regularly closes funds that have become too large, including this fund.  While we can’t predict the future, the fund’s relatively poor 2012 performance is a non-issue in my mind at this point.

American Funds Growth AGTHX

My October post on this multi-share class fund asked if it was a fallen star.  Using data from the A shares, the fund had a banner 2012 returning 20.54% and placing in the 7th percentile of its category.  This comes after finishing in the 64th percentile or below in three of the five prior calendar years.   This still leaves the fund in the 53rd percentile of its category for the five years ended 12/31/12; though the fund is in the 22nd percentile for the trailing ten years.  As I discussed in the post, the fund was a top performer year in and year out until 2007.  As one industry publication pointed out, the fund has become somewhat of a “closet indexer” with its increasing correlation to the S&P 500 Index.  In fact the Vanguard Large Growth Index Fund is a far less expensive alternative that has outperformed Growth Fund by almost 300 basis points annually for the past three years and has gained almost three times as much annually for the past five years ending 12/31/12.  While I have tremendous respect for the American Funds as a group, this fund’s 2012 performance does nothing to change my view of the fund as an investment vehicle for my clients.

On a more macro level, 2012 saw the rebound of both developed and emerging markets international funds as a group after a dismal year in 2011.

What does all of this tell us, frankly not much as far as how to invest into the future? 

 An investment process is critical

Here are some of the factors that we usually look at when evaluating mutual funds and ETFs (from Fi360 and our Investment Policy Statements):

  • Does the fund have at least a three year track record?
  • Does the fund manager have at least a two year track record with the fund?
  • Does the fund have at least $75 million in assets?
  • Do the fund’s composition (its holdings) and its Morningstar style look like other funds in its investment category?
  • The fund’s expense ratio should be in the category’s 75th percentile.  (In reality we like to see this number much lower than that).
  • The fund’s risk-adjusted returns (Sharpe and Alpha) in the top 50% of its peer group of funds.
  • Trailing 1, 3, and 5 year returns at least in the top half of its peer group of funds.
  • Has the fund experienced a significant gain or loss in assets?
  • Has ownership of the fund changed?
  • Has there been turnover in the fund’s management?

While some investors may disagree, we believe in asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing.  We use both active and passive mutual funds and ETFs to fill the allocation slots in the portfolio, and we monitor those holdings on a regular basis.

As discussed above, there will always be fluctuations in the performance of various investments whether they are individual stocks or bonds or managed products such as mutual funds and ETFs.  Certain asset classes will underperform at various times (such as Foreign Stocks in 2011).  The point is to have an investment process in place that uses a disciplined methodology to make investment decisions.  In my experience, this is a key element in long-term investment success.

Feel free to contact me with questions about your investments.

For you do-it-yourselfers, check out Morningstar.com to analyze your investments and to get a free trial for their premium services.  Please check out our Resources page for links to some additional tools and services that might be beneficial to you.

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Mutual Funds – Are “Family Values” Important?

October 22, 2012 By 2 Comments
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Over the years I’ve been asked whether there is a mutual fund family (or families) that I prefer.  My answer is generally

My Investments from the last year or so

along the lines that I choose mutual funds and ETFs based on screening and their fit in a particular client portfolio.  This is absolutely true but there are families that I do tend to use more than others.

For example, for the individual client assets which I custody at Schwab (which is the bulk of them):

  • Vanguard mutual funds and ETFs comprise about 22% of these assets.
  • PIMco mutual funds, ETFs, and closed end funds make up just over 10%.

In addition to Schwab I have individual clients with a smattering of assets at other custodians, including Vanguard.

A significant portion of my practice involves providing advice to several 401(k) plans, as well as a couple good-sized pension plans and foundations.  Both Vanguard and PIMco are well-represented, along with Fidelity.  In the case of Fidelity two of the larger 401(k) plans are administered by Fidelity and we do have a number of Fidelity funds in both plans (along with a number of non-Fidelity funds).

In the case of Vanguard I am drawn to their low cost index products, I rarely use their actively managed funds.  In the case of PIMco the bulk of the assets are in three of their funds. Their fixed income expertise and their research orientation are impressive.

A Sample 401(k) Menu

Beyond this a look at the funds and ETFs that I use would reveal no particular loyalty to any family or fund provider.  I am typically looking for something in a particular fund in a given asset class and I don’t really care which fund family they are affiliated with, unless I uncover some negative aspect about the fund company.  As an example, here are the fund families represented in one of the 401(k) plans for which I serve as advisor:

  • Vanguard (4 index funds plus their Target Date Funds)
  • American Funds
  • American Beacon
  • PRIMECAP
  • Artisan
  • BMO Funds
  • Northern Funds
  • Dodge and Cox
  • Oakmark

Red Flags to Look For

While I am fund family agnostic, there are however, some fund family red flags that might give you pause when considering an investment.  Here are three:

  • A sense of general turmoil.  Janus is a prime example of firm where this concern is prevalent to me.  The company is on its 5th CEO since 2003 and they have experienced a noticeable amount of manger turnover.
  • Refusal to close popular funds.  One of the things that I really like about Artisan (a relatively small fund firm in Milwaukee) is that they routinely close funds when they take on too much money for the managers to effectively manage.  Perhaps the “poster child” here is Sequoia who had reopened their lone fund in 2008 after being closed to new investment for over 20 years, feeling comfortable for the first time that they could effectively manage new money.  They just re-closed the fund once again in the past year.  It seems to be a rule that money follows performance.  A fund that has a couple of really good years will attract waves of new investors.  In my opinion it is irresponsible for the fund company to keep the fund open if they don’t feel they can effectively manage these inflows.  In my opinion this is the definition of greed overruling shareholder interests.
  • A commissioned or fee-based rep who pushes a particular fund family, especially if that family is also his/her employer.  A recent example involves a lawsuit against JP Morgan Chase alleging that their reps pushed the company’s proprietary funds over those from other families.  I suggest asking many questions of this rep if you like them, or better terminating the meeting on the spot if you are a prospective client.

As an individual investor I would caution you against loyalty to any fund family.  Rather start out with the overall portfolio allocation that you are shooting for and then pick the best funds/ETFs to fill those “buckets.”  Ideally this is an outgrowth of your financial plan.  As a practical matter you might be unable to buy some funds due to investment minimums and other factors.  However there are many custodians that offer access to a wide array of funds across many families.  I would generally suggest going that route vs. limiting yourself to a situation where you only have access to a single family or a very small number of fund families.

As is always the case, nothing published on this blog constitutes investment advice nor should you take it as such.  Please see the Disclaimer page for more.

Please feel free to contact me with your investing and financial planning questions.

Check out Morningstar.com to analyze your mutual funds and to get a free trial for their premium services.

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Friday Finance Links October 19, 2012

October 19, 2012 By 2 Comments
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The Packers did a number on Houston last Sunday night; let’s hope they can keep it up against the Rams.  On Saturday we 08FTB UNM 2167root for USC, Northwestern, Northern Illinois, and whoever is playing Notre Dame.  So this week it’s go Brigham Young.

Here are some articles and blog posts that I suggest for your weekend personal finance reading:  

Personal Finance Blogs

Peter Anderson describes The Three Fund Portfolio: A Simple Diversified Investing Strategy at Bible Money Matters.

J.P. outlines The Best Reasons to Sell a Stock  at Novel Investor.

Joe describes a Roth Conversion Math Fail at Roth Mania.

Barb tells us to Save for Retirement Now at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance.

Glen offers 5 Tips for Helping You Stick with Your Investment Strategy at Free From Broke.

Posts from Fellow NAPFA members

Lon Jeffries wrote Short Sale vs. Foreclosure at figuide.com.

Carolyn McClanahan wrote A Binder Full of Women And Why They Need Health Reform at Forbes.com.

Jim Blankenship guides us in Understanding Your Credit Score at figuide.com.

Other articles from around the web

Christine Benz shares Best Practices for Health Savings Accounts at Morningstar.com

Also at Morningstar.com Morningstar Names Best 529 College-Savings Plans for 2012.

Ian Salisbury tells us there is A price-cutting war in your 401(k) at marketwatch.com.

I took a week off from blogging for the US News Smarter Investor blog but here is a link to my author page where you can check out my past contributions.

Shout Out To: 

Josh Brown who announced that last Monday’s The Good Leads  post would be his last for the Wall Street Journal.  Josh has featured several posts from this blog and I really appreciate his support, as well as the great content links he has provided on a daily basis.  Josh is a regular contributor on CNBC and I really enjoy his blog The Reformed Broker.  I’m sure we will hear much more from Josh, his voice lends a great perspective to the financial world.

Here’s wishing everyone a great weekend.  

Photo credit:  BYU.edu

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Vanguard Target Date Funds – A Look Under The Hood

October 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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I’ve written several posts on Target Date Funds for this blog.  I have mixed feelings about them.  On the one hand TDFs do

Vanguard

provide investors with a professionally managed all-in-one investment solution.  Ideally you invest in the fund with a target date closest to your anticipated retirement date and the fund does the rest.  The manager typically lightens up on equities over time until the fund reaches its Glide Path into retirement, which is a point where the equity allocation levels off and you “glide” into retirement.

This is great in theory, but the reality is that across various fund families TDFs with the same target date can vary widely in their allocations and as to when the Glide Path starts.  Personally I like TDFs more for younger investors versus those who are within say 15 years or so of retirement.  Target Date Funds have become a staple in 401(k) plans due to the safe harbor given to plan sponsors who use them as the default investment choice for those plan participants who do not make an election of their own.

Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, and Vanguard control about 80% of the TDFs assets.  Let’s take a look under the hood at the Vanguard Target Retirement funds.

Vanguard offers funds with target dates beginning in 2010 and going out to 2060 in five year increments.  Additionally they offer an Income version of the fund for those already in retirement.

Low Cost and Simple

Vanguard’s approach is both simple and low cost.  The underlying funds consist mostly of Vanguard’s low cost index funds.  The overall expense ratio of the funds is a weighted rollup of the underlying funds and currently ranges from 0.17% to 0.19%.  This is far less expensive than either Fidelity or T. Rowe Price and each of the Vanguard funds ranks in the top (lowest expense) percentile of their respective peer categories.

Solid Performance

  • Each of the funds from the 2010 through the 2050 fund received a top ranking from Fi 360 a mutual fund and ETF ranking service that I utilize in their most recent rankings through the quarter ended September 30, 2012.
  • The Retirement Income fund received a score of 6 from Fi 360 meaning that it ranked in the top 6% of the 211 funds in its category based upon the 11 ranking criteria used by the service.
  • The 2055 and 2060 funds do not have enough history to receive a ranking.

Glide Path and Asset Classes

Vanguard uses 7 asset classes in its TDFs; Fidelity uses 11; T. Rowe Price uses 12.  This is not good or bad, but does reflect Vanguard’s more basic approach.

Vanguard’s Glide Path levels off at age 72; Fidelity’s at age 80; T. Rowe Price’s at age 95.  The Glide Path assumes that the investor will hold the fund until death; this may or may not be the case in reality.

Are Target Date Funds the Right Answer? 

As mentioned above, I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand TDFs are often a better solution than simply letting one’s retirement plan assets languish in a money market account.  On the other hand I am convinced that investors who are either comfortable doing their own allocation or who utilize an advisor are generally better served by tailoring an allocation from among the menu of investment choices offered in their 401(k) plan.

As far as Target Date Funds go, I generally like the Vanguard version for their basic, easy to understand approach and their low cost.

Check out Morningstar to look under the hood of Vanguard’s Target Date Funds and to compare them against other alternatives that you might be considering.  Get a  free trial for their premium services.

Please feel free to contact me with questions regarding your investments and your retirement planning issue.

Photo credit:  Flickr

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Friday Finance Links August 17, 2012 – Anniversary Edition

August 17, 2012 By 4 Comments
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The big event this week is our 28th wedding anniversary tomorrow.  My still lovely wife, Kyung, and I will be heading to the city for dinner and perhaps other activities.  (photo of Kyung with two of Chicago’s finest during NATO weekend here in Chicago earlier this Summer during our unsuccessful quest to find some protesters)

Here are some articles and blog posts that I suggest for your weekend personal finance reading: 

Personal Finance Blogs 

Tom at Stupid Cents asks Are You Making Spending Decisions Based on Fear? highlighting some ways advertisers others use fear to get us to spend our money.

Ryan at Cash Money Life discusses Investing for Cash Flow – Building a More Diversified Investment Portfolio.  Hard to believe a guy who looks this young is so smart.

Ken Faulkenberry at AAAMP Blog looks at a strategy for the income portion of your portfolio in This is How to Optimize Your Income Asset Allocation Plan.

Fellow financial planner and blogger Jeff Rose says It’s Time for Another Movement – Life Insurance Style.  I couldn’t agree more. 

Posts from Fellow NAPFA members 

Eve Kaplan asks Could You Be Forced To Pay Your Parent’s Long Term Care Bill?

Richard Feight discusses the question Rent Or Buy?

Kimberly Howard provides some sound advice on Preparing Finances For A Potential Layoff. 

Other articles from around the web

Kimberly Palmer of U.S. News warns us to Beware of These Common Holes in Homeowners Insurance Coverage.

Chuck Jaffe discusses 6 money lessons for your college student at Marketwatch.com.

Robert Powell offers 11 reasons to leave your 401(k) behind when you leave a job at Marketwatch.com.  Some good ideas, however as Bob says everyone’s situation is unique.

For the third week in a row I’m including an article from Christine Benz on Long-Term Care 4 Best Practices When Self-Insuring for Long-Term Care.  I’m a big fan of Christine’s; her articles on Morningstar.com are always worthwhile reading.

In case you missed it here is a link to my latest post for the US News Smarter Investor Blog Your Takeaway for New 401(k) Fee Disclosures.    

Thank You

For the second week in a row to Josh Brown for featuring one of my posts in his  The Good Leads  post in the Wall Street Journal this past Tuesday.  Josh also blogs at The Reformed Broker which is a must read financial blog.

Here’s wishing everyone a great weekend.

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