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4 Things To Do When The Stock Market Drops

February 3, 2022 by 10 Comments
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Today was an ugly day in the stock market. The S&P 500 declined by 2.44% and the Dow dropped 1.45%. Much of this decline was fueled by the huge decline in Facebook’s parent’s shares. Meta Platforms, Inc. (ticker FB) saw its share price decline by a stunning 26.39% in a single day on the heels of its Q4 earnings report. At the end of 2021, Meta shares comprised 1.96% of the Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF (ticker VOO).

Today’s decline is on top of high levels of market volatility that we’ve seen so far in 2022.

My thoughts on how investors should react to this type of stock market decline haven’t changed since I first wrote this post a number of years ago.

4 Things to do When the Stock Market Drops

Breathe 

Cable news networks like CNBC provide extensive coverage and analysis on days with a steep stock market decline like we saw today. It’s easy to get caught up in all of this.. Don’t let yourself be sucked in and rattled.

Step back, take a deep breath and relax.

Take stock of where you are 

Review your accounts and assess the extent of the damage that has been done. Investors who are well-diversified may be hurt but generally not to the extent of those who are highly allocated to stocks.

Review your asset allocation 

With the tremendous year for stocks in in 2021, many investors are likely still in a good long-term position. If you haven’t done so recently, perhaps it is time to review your asset allocation and make some adjustments. Proper diversification is great way to reduce investment risk. This is a good time to rebalance your portfolio back to your target asset allocation if needed as well.

Go shopping 

Market declines can create buying opportunities. If you have some individual stocks, ETFs or mutual funds on your “wish list” this is the time to start looking at them with an eye towards buying at some point. It is unrealistic to assume you will be able to buy at the very bottom so don’t worry about that.


Before making any investment be sure that it fits your strategy and your financial plan. Also make sure the investment is still a solid long-term holding and that it is not cheap for reasons other than general market conditions.

The Bottom Line 

Steep and sudden stock market declines can be unnerving. Don’t panic and don’t let yourself get caught up in all of the media hype. Stick to your plan, review your holdings and make some adjustments if needed. Nobody knows where the markets are headed but those who make investment decisions driven by fear usually regret it.

Those who make investing decisions driven by fear usually regret it.

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Approaching retirement and want another opinion on where you stand? Not sure if your investments are right for your situation? Need help getting on track? Check out my Financial Review/Second Opinion for Individuals service for detailed guidance and advice about your situation.

NEW SERVICE – Financial Coaching. Check out this new service to see if its right for you. Financial coaching focuses on providing education and mentoring regarding the financial transition to retirement.

FINANCIAL WRITING. Check out my freelance financial writing services including my ghostwriting services for financial advisors.

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions about anything you’ve read here at The Chicago Financial Planner. Don’t miss any future posts, please subscribe via email. Check out our resources page for links to some other great sites and some outstanding products that you might find useful.

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4 Benefits of Portfolio Rebalancing

August 22, 2020 by 14 Comments
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The past couple of years have been a roller coaster ride in the stock market. The S&P 500 lost 4.38% in 2018 mostly from a poor fourth quarter performance. The market recovered nicely in 2019 with the index posting a 31.49% total return for the year. This trend seemed to be continuing into 2020, with the index hitting a record high in late February.

Then the markets felt the impact of COVID-19. By late March the index had plummeted over 33% from its all-time high reached only a month prior. Since then, however, the stock market has recovered nicely with the S&P 500 closing at an all-time high yesterday.

The recovery in the markets has been an uneven one. Growth stocks have led the way, while value has largely lagged. Apple’s shares are up over 70% year-to-date, Amazon is up almost 78% and Microsoft is up over 36%.

With all of these gyrations among various asset classes over the past couple of years, you may be taking on more or less risk than is appropriate for your situation. If you haven’t done so recently, this is a good time to consider rebalancing your investments. Here are four benefits of portfolio rebalancing.

4 Benefits of Portfolio Rebalancing

Balancing risk and reward

Asset allocation is about balancing risk and reward. Invariably some asset classes will perform better than others. This can cause your portfolio to be skewed towards an allocation that takes too much risk or too little risk based on your financial objectives.

During robust periods in the stock market equities will outperform asset classes such as fixed income. Perhaps your target allocation was 65% stocks and 35% bonds and cash. A stock market rally might leave your portfolio at 75% stocks and 25% fixed income and cash. This is great if the market continues to rise but you would likely see a more pronounced decline in your portfolio should the market experience a sharp correction.

Portfolio rebalancing enforces a level of discipline

Rebalancing imposes a level of discipline in terms of selling a portion of your winners and putting that money back into asset classes that have underperformed.

This may seem counterintuitive but market leadership rotates over time. During the first decade of this century emerging markets equities were often among the top performing asset classes. Fast forward to today and their performance has been much more muted.

Rebalancing can help save investors from their own worst instincts. It is often tempting to let top performing holdings and asset classes run when the markets seem to keep going up. Investors heavy in large caps, especially those with heavy tech holdings, found out the risk of this approach when the Dot Com bubble burst in early 2000.

Ideally investors should have a written investment policy that outlines their target asset allocation with upper and lower percentage ranges. Violating these ranges should trigger a review for potential portfolio rebalancing.

A good reason to review your portfolio

When considering portfolio rebalancing investors should also incorporate a full review of their portfolio that includes a review of their individual holdings and the continued validity of their investment strategy. Some questions you should ask yourself:

  • Have individual stock holdings hit my growth target for that stock?
  • How do my mutual funds and ETFs stack up compared to their peers?
    • Relative performance?
    • Expense ratios?
    • Style consistency?
  • Have my mutual funds or ETFs experienced significant inflows or outflows of dollars?
  • Have there been any recent changes in the key personnel managing the fund?

These are some of the factors that financial advisors consider as they review client portfolios.

This type of review should be done at least annually and I generally suggest that investors review their allocation no more often than quarterly.

Helps you stay on track with your financial plan 

Investing success is not a goal unto itself but rather a tool to help ensure that you meet your financial goals and objectives. Regular readers of The Chicago Financial Planner know that I am a big proponent of having a financial plan in place.

A properly constructed financial plan will contain a target asset allocation and an investment strategy tied to your goals, your timeframe for the money and your risk tolerance. Periodic portfolio rebalancing is vital to maintaining an appropriate asset allocation that is in line with your financial plan.

The Bottom Line 

Regular portfolio rebalancing helps reduce downside investment risk and ensures that your investments are allocated in line with your financial plan. It also can help investors impose an important level of discipline on themselves.

How has the volatility in the stock market impacted your investments and your financial plan? Approaching retirement and want another opinion on where you stand? Not sure if your investments are right for your situation? Need help getting on track? Check out my Financial Review/Second Opinion for Individuals service for detailed guidance and advice about your situation.

NEW SERVICE – Financial Coaching. Check out this new service to see if its right for you. Financial coaching focuses on providing education and mentoring for the financial transition to retirement.

FINANCIAL WRITING. Check out my freelance financial writing services including my ghostwriting services for financial advisors.

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions about anything you’ve read here at The Chicago Financial Planner. Don’t miss any future posts, please subscribe via email. Check out our resources page for links to some other great sites and some outstanding products that you might find useful.

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8 Portfolio Rebalancing Tips

May 25, 2020 by 6 Comments
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In light of the recent stock market volatility, it’s important to review your asset allocation and consider rebalancing your portfolio if needed. This post looks at some ways to implement a portfolio rebalancing strategy. Here are 8 portfolio rebalancing tips that you can use to help in this process.

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Set a target asset allocation 

Your asset allocation should be an outgrowth of a target asset allocation from your financial plan and/or a written investment policy. This is the target asset allocation that should be used when rebalancing your portfolio. 

Establish a time frame to rebalance 

Ideally you are reviewing your portfolio and your investments on a regular basis. As part of this process you should incorporate a review of your asset allocation at a set interval. This might be semi-annually for example. I generally suggest no more frequently than quarterly. An exception would be after a precipitous move up or down in the markets.

Take a total portfolio view 

When rebalancing your portfolio take a total portfolio view. This includes taxable accounts as well as retirement accounts like an IRA or your 401(k). This approach allows you to be strategic and tax-efficient when rebalancing and ensures that you are not taking too little or too much risk on an overall basis.

Incorporate new money 

If you have new money to invest take a look at your asset allocation first and use these funds to shore up portions of your asset allocation that may be below their target allocation. A twist on this is to direct new 401(k) contributions to one or two funds in order to get your overall asset allocation back in balance. In this case you will need to take any use of your plan’s auto rebalancing feature into account as well. 

Use auto pilot 

For those with an employer sponsored retirement plan such as a 401(k), 403(b) or similar defined contribution plan many plans offer an auto-rebalancing feature. This allows you to select a time interval at which your account will be rebalanced back to the allocation that you select.

This serves two purposes. First it saves you from having to remember to do it. Second it takes the emotion and potential hesitation out of the decision to pare back on your winners and redistribute these funds to other holdings in your account.

I generally suggest using a six-month time frame and no more frequently than quarterly and no less than annually. Remember you can opt out or change the interval at any time you wish and you can rebalance your account between the set intervals if needed.

Make charitable contributions with appreciated assets 

If you are charitably inclined consider gifting shares of appreciated holdings in taxable accounts such as individual stocks, mutual funds and ETFs to charity as part of the rebalancing process. This allows you to forgo paying taxes on the capital gains and may provide a charitable tax deduction on the market value of the securities donated.

Most major custodians can help facilitate this and many charities are set-up to accept donations on this type. Make sure that you have held the security for at least a year and a day in order to get the maximum benefit if you able to itemize deductions. This is often associated with year-end planning but this is something that you can do at any point during the year.

Incorporate tax-loss harvesting

This is another tactic that is often associated with year-end planning but one that can be implemented throughout the year. Tax-loss harvesting involves selling holdings with an unrealized loss in order to realize that loss for tax purposes.

You might periodically look at holdings with an unrealized loss and sell some of them off as part of the rebalancing process. Note I only suggest taking a tax loss if makes sense from an investment standpoint, it is not a good idea to “let the tax tail wag the investment dog.”

Be sure that you are aware of and abide by the wash sale rules that pertain to realizing and deducting tax losses.

Don’t think you are smarter than the market 

It’s tough to sell winners and then invest that money back into portions of your portfolio that haven’t done as well. However, portfolio rebalancing is part of a disciplined investment process.  It can be tempting to let your winners run, but too much of this can skew your allocation too far in the direction of stocks and increase your downside risk.

If you think you can outsmart the market, trust me you can’t. How devastating can the impact of being wrong be? Just ask those who bought into the mantra “…it’s different this time…” before the Dot Com bubble burst or just before the stock market debacle of the last recession.

Rebalance, you are not smarter then the stock market.

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The Bottom Line 

Portfolio rebalancing is a key strategy to control the risk of your investment portfolio. It is important that you review your portfolio for potential rebalancing opportunities at set intervals and that you have the discipline to follow through and execute if needed. These 8 portfolio rebalancing tips can help.

Approaching retirement and want another opinion on where you stand? Not sure if your investments are right for your situation? Need help getting on track? Check out my Financial Review/Second Opinion for Individuals service for detailed guidance and advice about your situation.

NEW SERVICE – Financial Coaching. Check out this new service to see if it’s right for you. Financial coaching focuses on providing education and mentoring on the financial transition to retirement.

FINANCIAL WRITING. Check out my freelance financial writing services including my ghostwriting services for financial advisors.

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions about anything you’ve read here at The Chicago Financial Planner. Don’t miss any future posts, please subscribe via email. Check out our resources page for links to some other great sites and some outstanding products that you might find useful.

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How Much Apple Stock Do You Really Own?

January 5, 2020 by 4 Comments
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Apple (AAPL) stock has been a great investment over the years. Based upon its stock price and the number of shares outstanding it is the largest U.S stock based upon market capitalization. This means it is the largest holding in many popular index mutual funds and ETFs. This can lead to significant stock overlap in your portfolio if you aren’t aware of the underlying holdings in the funds and ETFs you own.

Chuck Jaffe wrote an excellent piece for Market Watch several years ago discussing the impact that a significant drop in Apple stock had on a number of mutual funds that hold large amounts of Apple. He cited a list of funds that had at least 10% of their assets in Apple.  On a day when Apple stock fell over 4% these funds had single day losses ranging from 0.22% to 2.66%.

The point is not to criticize mutual fund managers for holding large amounts of Apple, but rather as a reminder to investors to understand what they actually own when reviewing their mutual funds and ETFs.

Major price gains

Apple stock gained over 88% in 2019 and has an average annual gain in excess of 32% for the 15-years ending December 31, 2019. For index funds and ETFs whose holdings are market-cap weighted, these types of gains mean that the percentage of the fund in Apple stock has increased as well.

Percentage of Apple stock in major funds and ETFs

A number of index ETFs and mutual funds counted Apple as a significant holding as of December 31, 2019. The following percentage of assets for each fund are from Morningstar.

  • ishares Russell 1000 Growth ETF 8.53%
  • Vanguard Growth Index Investor 8.17%
  • Fidelity Growth Company 5.98%
  • SPDR® S&P 500 ETF Trust 4.57%
  • iShares Core S&P 500 ETF 4.57%
  • Fidelity 500 Index 4.34%
  • Vanguard 500 Index Investor 4.32%

In addition, it is also a dominant holding in several tech-related index funds, including:

  • Technology Select Sector SPDR® ETF 19.72%
  • Vanguard Information Technology ETF 17.53%
  • Invesco QQQ Trust 11.51%

Stock overlap 

In the late 1990s a client had me do a review of their portfolio as part of some work I was doing for the executives of the company. He held 19 different mutual funds and was certain that he was well-diversified.

The reality was that all 19 funds had similar investment styles and all 19 held some of the popular tech stocks of the day including Cisco, Intel and Microsoft. As this was right before the DOT COM bubble burst in early 2000 his portfolio would have taken quite a hit during the market decline of 2000-2002.

This type of situation could easily be the case today with stocks in companies like Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent), Facebook and others. Tools like Morningstar can help investors look under the hood of various ETFs and mutul funds to gauge the amount of stock overlap across their portfolio.  (The prior link is an affiliate link. I may receive compensation if you purchase their service at no extra cost to you)

Understand what you own 

If you invest in individual stocks you do this by choice. You know what you own. If you have a concentrated position in one or more stocks this is transparent to you.

Those who invest in mutual funds, ETFs and other professionally managed investment vehicles need to look at the underlying holdings of their funds. Excessive stock overlap among holdings can occur if your portfolio is concentrated in one or two asset classes. This is another reason why your portfolio should be diversified among several asset classes based upon your time horizon and risk tolerance.

As an extreme example, someone who works for a major corporation might own shares of their own company stock in some of the mutual funds and ETFs they own both inside their 401(k) plan and outside. In addition, they might directly own shares of company stock within their 401(k) and they might have stock options and own additional shares elsewhere. This can place the investor in a risky position should their company hit a downturn that causes the stock price to drop. Even worse if they are let go by the company not only has their portfolio suffered but they are without a paycheck from their employer as well.

The Bottom Line 

Mutual fund and ETF investors may hold more of large market capitalization stocks like Apple and Microsoft than they realize due to their prominence not only in large cap index funds but also in many actively managed funds. It is a good idea for investors to periodically review what their funds and ETFs actually own to ensure that they are not too heavily concentrated in a few stocks, increasing their portfolio risk beyond what they might have expected.

Not sure if you are invested properly for your situation? Check out my Financial Review/Second Opinion for Individuals service.

NEW SERVICE – Financial Coaching. Check out this new service to see if it’s right for you. Financial coaching focuses on providing education and mentoring regarding the financial transition to retirement.

FINANCIAL WRITING. Check out my freelance financial writing services including my ghostwriting services for financial advisors.

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions about anything you’ve read here at The Chicago Financial Planner. Don’t miss any future posts, please subscribe via email. Check out our resources page for links to some other great sites and some outstanding products that you might find useful.

 

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Smart Beta ETFs the Next Big Thing?

October 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
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For those of us involved in financial services it is hard to check your Twitter stream or visit an industry website without seeing the term smart beta. ETF providers have really taken to this trend and have introduced many new ETFs based on some aspect of smart beta.

Nobody follows a trend quite like the folks who market mutual funds or ETFs and smart beta is the hip thing that all of the “cool kids” are doing. At a recent ETF industry conference sponsored by Morningstar (MORN) this was virtually all anyone was talking about in the sessions I attended.

What is smart beta and is it really smart?  Are smart beta ETFs the next big thing in ETF investing?

Smart Beta Defined 

According to Investopedia (for whom I am a frequent contributor):

“Investment managers that follow a smart beta investment strategy seek to passively follow indices, while also taking into account alternative weighting schemes such as volatility. That’s because smart beta strategies are implemented like a typical index strategies in that the index rules are set and transparent. Smart Beta strategies will differ from standard indices, such as the S&P 500 or the Barclays Aggregate, in that the indices focus on areas of the market that offer an opportunity for exploitation.” 

We will attempt to expand on that definition a bit below. 

Factor investing 

Most smart beta ETFs take an aspect or a factor from a traditional index. Traditional index ETFs passively track a market value weighted index like the S&P 500.  Some popular factors include low volatility, momentum; equal-weighted indexes, dividends and quality are common factors. An equal-weighted index would give equal weighting to a huge stock like Apple (APPL) and to the smallest stock in terms of market capitalization in the S&P 500 Index.

An example of a smart beta ETF based on a factor is the Powershares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF (SPLV).

This ETF invests in the 100 stocks in the index that have exhibited the lowest volatility over the past 12 months. A sound idea in theory and perhaps ultimately in practice.

Like many smart beta ETFs the inception date of SPLV was May 5, 2011 over two years after the low point of the markets during the financial crises. The index the ETF follows was essentially created in the lab via back-testing, much like the Peter Boyle character in the movie Young Frankenstein. This means that most of the “history” of this ETF is via back-testing and not real performance data. As a presenter at the Morningstar conference said, he’s never seen a back-test that did not yield a positive result.

Looking at SPLV’s results, the ETF trails the S&P 500 index in terms of trailing three year returns 12.95% to 14.77% on an average annual basis for the period ending 10/19/2015. However for the year-to-date period through the same date SPLV has gained 1.27% versus 0.41% for the index.

Looking at another measure, standard deviation of return which measures the variability of the ETF’s returns (up and down) over the three year period ending 9/30/2015, the standard deviation for SPLV is +/- 9.63% versus +/- 9.74% for the index. My guess is that a selling point of this ETF would be lower volatility but over the past three years the smart beta ETF is only fractionally less volatile than the index and an investor would have considerably less money if they had held SPLV over a more traditional ETF like the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY).

Is an investment in SPLV a bad idea? I don’t know because I have no idea how this ETF will hold up in a pronounced bear market. Yes it has performed better than the full index so far in 2015 including the volatility in August and September. How will it do if we hit a rough patch like 2000-2002 or 2008-2009? Good question.

A growth area 

According to data from Morningstar as of 6/30/2015:

  • There were 444 smart beta products listed in the U.S.
  • These products accounted for $540 billion in assets under management which was 21% of all U.S ETF assets.
  • Of the new cash flows into ETFs over the past 12 months, 31% went into smart beta products.
  • The assets in these products grew 27% over the same period.
  • A quarter of new ETF launches over the past five years were smart beta products.

Who uses smart beta ETFs? 

From what I have heard and read smart beta ETFs are being used largely by financial advisors and institutional investors versus individuals. You might say so what? These folks are likely investing your money either via your relationship with a financial advisor who may use them in a portfolio or use a TAMP (turnkey asset management program) program offered by a third-party to manage your money.

Reasons to use Smart Beta 

Morningstar cites several reasons investors and advisors might consider smart beta ETFs:

  • To manage portfolio risk
  • To enhance portfolio returns
  • For tactical asset allocation, meaning an allocation that is based in part on the advisor’s assessment of market conditions
  • Reducing fees versus actively managed mutual funds
  • To use an active strategy grounded by an index core

Many, including me, view strategic beta as a form of active management. A presenter at the Morningstar conference suggested that any smart beta ETF with an expense ratio of 50 basis points or higher should not be considered as this is the lower end of the fee range for the better actively managed mutual funds offering an institutional share class.

What does this mean for individual investors? 

Again I suspect that most of the money invested here will be institutional or via financial advisors. As an individual investor working with a financial advisor who suggests using smart beta ETFs in your portfolio, you should ask them to explain their rational. Why are these ETFs a better choice than an asset allocation strategy using more traditional index products?

If you will using smart beta ETFs on your own, be sure that you fully understand the underlying index which was likely created post-financial crises via back testing. Understand that smart beta strategies may look good on paper but in reality they can take a number of years to prove themselves.  Lastly understand that strategies that look good in testing may not work as well when millions of dollars are actually invested there real-time.

For financial advisors 

Most financial advisors that I know are very deliberate in testing new products and investing ideas before using them with clients. With the rise of third-party advisors such as TAMPs and ETF strategists, financial advisors still need to understand the underlying products and strategies being used to invest their client’s hard-earned money.

The Bottom Line 

Smart beta is the next evolution of ETF investing or so say the firms trying to gather assets into these products. I’m not saying that smart beta isn’t an enhancement or that I am against new investing inovations. I am leery of any investment vehicle designed to solve a problem or fill a role in portfolios that have not gone through a full stock market cycle. With any investment vehicle that you are considering, be sure to fully understand the benefits, the risks and the costs. How smart is smart beta? We really won’t know until the market goes through a full cycle that includes a significant correction.

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions about anything you’ve read here at The Chicago Financial Planner. Don’t miss any future posts, please subscribe via email. Please check out our resources page as well.  

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Schwab Intelligent Portfolios: The Evolution of the Robo Advisor?

March 16, 2015 by 7 Comments
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Charles Schwab (SCHW) recently launched its much anticipate entry into the Robo Advisor space, Schwab Intelligent Portfolios.  Schwab instantly will become a major player here simply because they are Schwab.

I honest don’t know if Intelligent Portfolios are a good thing for investors or not.  I do suspect that the introduction of Schwab Intelligent Portfolios represents a big step in the evolution of Robo Advisors.

Competitor reactions to Schwab Intelligent Portfolios 

Betterment CEO Jonathan Stein appeared on CNBC recently and frankly I was taken aback at how critical he was of the new Schwab offering.

Wealthfront’s CEO wrote a very critical post about Schwab’s entrance into the Robo Advisor space.

These reactions alone tell me that Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios are a big deal and a potential game changer in the Robo Advisor world.  Wealthfront and Betterment are two of the stronger players in the Robo Advisor space.  Both are well-funded and Betterment has forged a deal with Fidelity to allow them to offer Betterment to the advisors who custody assets with Fidelity Institutional.  The reactions of these executives tell me they are more than a bit concerned about Schwab entering their space.

Competitor reactions mean that Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios are a big deal.

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Schwab Intelligent Portfolios 

Schwab Intelligent Portfolios have a low $5,000 minimum investment, they carry no management fees, investors will not incur any direct transaction costs and there are no account fees.

Like most Robo Advisors, Intelligent Portfolios will be powered by algorithms using ETFs across 20 different asset classes, as well as a cash allocation invested in a bank account at a Schwab-affiliated bank.

The Schwab Intelligent Portfolios are bit different than other Robo Advisor models in that they will allocate a significant percentage of an investor’s portfolio to several Schwab ETFs based on the fundamental indexing approach of advisor Rob Arnott. The service will utilize model portfolios for investors based upon their goals and risk tolerance.

Additionally each of the portfolios has a significant allocation to cash via Schwab’s affiliated bank. The allocation would range from 7% for a 30-year-old investor to 15% for a more conservative 65 year-old investor. The cash allocations have initially drawn a skeptical reaction from some financial advisors.

While there will be no fees for the service, Schwab will make money from the expense ratios of the ETFs, as well as the money invested via the Schwab affiliated bank.  The Intelligent Portfolios will include tax-loss harvesting for investors with at least $50,000 invested as well as automatic rebalancing.

Additionally Schwab has announced the launch of an institutional version of the Intelligent Portfolios during the second quarter of 2015 for use by financial advisors who custody assets with Schwab Institutional.

The Evolution of Robo Advisors 

Schwab’s Intelligent Portfolios represents the latest entry into the Robo Advisor space by a major financial services firms.

Fidelity Investments has formed partnerships with Betterment and Learnvest that allows financial advisors who custody assets with them to offer these services to their clients under their own umbrella.  This is a great way for these advisors to court younger clients who might not meet their normal minimums and work with them in a meaningful way until they might become full-service clients in the future.

Vanguard has launched its own Robo Advisor service and it has drawn over $4.5 billion in assets without any advertising.  Most of this money has likely come from investors with money already at Vanguard and represents an additional 20 to 40 basis points in revenue on money that is already there.

For the very reasonable fee Vanguard offers clients a financial plan, asset allocation advice, rebalancing and ongoing financial advice.  They likely will roll this service out more widely in the near future and they reportedly are thinking of offering a version for financial advisors whom their institutional sales group already calls on.

Overall the Robo Advisor offerings by Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, TD Ameritrade and some others represent the next step in the evolution of Robo Advisors.

At some point I envision the use of Robo Advisors by the likes of Schwab and the financial advisors who custody with them almost like Major League Baseball uses the minor leagues as a farm system.  Clients who want solid advice but who don’t meet the minimums of many financial advisors will start out in some sort of online service and as their accounts grow and their needs evolve they will move to the “big leagues” and become full service clients.

Overall I view the evolution of the Robo Advisor as a good thing for both clients and financial advisors.  For clients this represents another choice in how to get financial advice.  For financial advisors it represents a viable way to serve clients who the financial services industry has not done a good job of serving in the past.

Read more about Robo Advisors 

We Interrupt This Program To Bring You… RoboWars a great piece on I heart Wall Street.

Broken Values & Bottom Lines the piece I mentioned above by Wealthfront CEO Adam Nash.

I asked three robots how I should invest, got three different answers by Yahoo! Finance’s Michael Santolli.

I’ve written several pieces on the topic for Investopedia:

Schwab’s New Robo-Advisor Service Explained

Robo-Advisors and a Human Touch: Better Together?

Is An Online Financial Advisor Right For You? 

I invite you to contact me to ask any questions that you might have, to tell me what you like or don’t like about the site, and to suggest topics that you would like to see covered here in the future. 

Please check out our Resources page for tools and services that you might find useful.

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Do I Own Too Many Mutual Funds?

February 25, 2015 by 10 Comments
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In one form or another I’ve been asked by several readers “… do I own too many mutual funds?”  In several cases the question was prompted by the number of mutual fund holdings in brokerage accounts with major brokerage firms including brokerage wrap accounts.  One reader cited an account with $1.5 million and 35 mutual funds.

So how many mutual funds are too many?  There is not a single right answer but let’s try to help you determine the best answer for your situation.

The 3 mutual fund portfolio 

I would contend that a portfolio consisting of three mutual funds or ETFs could be well-diversified.  For example a portfolio consisting of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX), the Vanguard Total International Stock Index (VGTSX) and the Vanguard Total Bond Index (VBMFX) would provide an investor with exposure to the U.S. stock and bond markets as well as non-U.S. developed and emerging markets equities.

As index funds the expenses are low and each fund will stay true to its investment style.  This portfolio could be replicated with lower cost share classes at Vanguard or Fidelity if you meet the minimum investment levels.  A very similar portfolio could also be constructed with ETFs as well.

This isn’t to say that three index funds or ETFs is the right number.  There may be some additional asset classes that are appropriate for your situation and certainly well-chosen actively managed mutual funds can be a fit as well.

19 mutual funds and little diversification 

A number of years ago a client engaged my services to review their portfolio.  The client was certain that their portfolio was well-diversified as he held several individual stocks and 19 mutual funds.

After the review, I pointed out that there were several stocks that were among the top five holdings in all 19 funds and the level of stock overlap was quite heavy.  These 19 mutual funds all held similar stocks and had the same investment objective.  While this client held a number of different mutual funds he certainly was not diversified.  This one-time engagement ended just prior to the Dot Com market decline that began in 2000, assuming that his portfolio stayed as it was I suspect he suffered substantial losses during that market decline.

Adding more mutual funds doesn’t necessarily mean added diversification.

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How many mutual funds can you monitor? 

Can you effectively monitor 20, 30 or more mutual fund holdings?  Frankly this is a chore for financial professionals with all of the right tools.  As an individual investor is this something that you want to tackle?  Is this a good use of your time?  Will all of these extra funds add any value to your portfolio?

Can you realistically monitor 30 mutual funds?

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What is the motivation for your broker? 

If you are investing via a brokerage firm or any financial advisor who suggests what seems like an excessive number of mutual funds for your account you should ask them what is behind these recommendations.  Do they earn compensation via the mutual funds they suggest for your portfolio? Their firm might have a revenue-generating agreement with certain fund companies.  Additionally the rep might be required to use many of the proprietary mutual funds offered by his or her employer.

Circumstances will vary 

If you have an IRA, a taxable brokerage account and a 401(k) it’s easy to accumulate a sizable collection of mutual funds.  Add in additional accounts for your spouse and the number of mutual funds can get even larger.

The point here is to keep the number of funds reasonable and manageable.  Your choices in your employer’s retirement plan are beyond your control and you may not be able to sync them up with your core portfolio held outside of the plan.

Additionally this is a good reason to stay on top of old 401(k) plans and consolidate them into an IRA or a new employer’s plan when possible.

The Bottom Line 

Mutual funds remain the investment of choice for many investors.  It is possible to construct a diversified portfolio using just a few mutual funds or ETFs.

Holding too many mutual funds can make it difficult to monitor and evaluate your funds as well as your overall portfolio.

Approaching retirement and want another opinion on where you stand? Not sure if your investments are right for your situation? Concerned about stock market volatility? Check out my Financial Review/Second Opinion for Individuals service for detailed guidance and advice about your situation.

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Robo Advisors – A Brave New World?

January 24, 2015 by 1 Comment
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The piece below is written by Doug Dahmer and originally appeared under the title “Robo-Advisors” – rise of the machines on Jon Chevreau’s site Financial Independence Hub.  Jon is at the forefront of a movement he calls “Findependence.”  This is essentially looking at becoming financially independent so that you can pursue the lifestyle of your choosing.   Jon is a Canadian author and journalist, check out his book Findependence Day.  Jon has contributed several prior posts here as well. 

I know Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, I read Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and I love the Terminator movies (I’ll be back!).

From all this I know three things: Robots are very smart. Robots always start off to help you. Robots have a tendency to turn on you.

One of the newest crazes and buzzwords in personal finance is: “Robo-Adviser.” If you’re not familiar with the term, it refers to investment management by algorithm in the absence of human input.

With a “Robo” you are asked to complete an on-line risk assessment questionnaire. Your responses determines the prescribed portfolio of ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) with a built-in asset allocation best suited to your needs. Once a year the portfolio is rebalanced to this prescribed asset allocation recipe. 

Dynamics change as shift from Saving to Spending

The “Robo” approach relies heavily upon a basic “buy/hold/rebalance” investment strategy. This passive strategy can work to your advantage during your accumulation years. These are the years when time is your friend, and dollar cost averaging through market cycles offers the opportunity to give your returns a boost.

However, as we get older and begin to prepare for and transition into our spending years, things change. Unfortunately, too few people realize that the investment strategies that served us well during our savings years turn on their head and work to our disadvantage as the flow of funds reverses and savings turns to spending. 

Dollar Cost Ravaging

Suddenly time changes from friend to foe where “dollar cost averaging” turns to “dollar cost ravaging” or what we call, the Mathematics of Catastrophe. (More about which in our next Hub blog). During the second half of your life the simplistic money management approach followed by “Robo- Advisers” can start to look like a “deed of the devil.”

Another concern is that “Robos” are unable to deal with the reality of expense variability. If you believe that in retirement, a fixed, annual withdrawal rate from a diversified portfolio will address your income needs I can with confidence suggest you are at best short-changing yourself and at worst setting yourself up for a cataclysmic financial failure.

I have been in this business a long time and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that a properly constructed life plan is very important in the second half of your life. It is only when you know what you want to do, when you want to do it and what it will cost to do it, that you can start to build the financial framework to make it happen.

Only through your life plan are you able to anticipate years of surplus and years of deficits and take the steps to bend them to your benefit. You need to bring together cash flow optimization, tax management and pension style investment management to make it happen and in the process add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your lifetime assets and cash flow. 

Robos ill equipped to link life to investment plan

Linking your life plan to your investment plan is the secret to success, but “robo investing” is not equipped to handle the nuances of that linkage. A Retirement Income Specialist knows that the type of money management you need is much more complex where the cash-flow demands outlined in your life plan need are linked to your investment plan. Tax planning, income optimization and risk mitigation means it is dangerous to leave your investment management running on auto-pilot.

Isaac Asimov’s first law of robotics holds that: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

“Robo-adviser” firms would do well to review this law. When it comes to investors heading into the second half of their lives, “Robo Advisers” may well be about to break it. 

Doug Dahmer, CFP, is founder and CEO of Emeritus Retirement Income Specialists. With offices in Toronto and Burlington, Emeritus’ C3 process is one of the industry’s most comprehensive retirement planning processes. 

Online financial advisors or Robo Advisors are popping up all over the place and if you believe the financial press they are the future of financial advice.  In part I believe they are or will at least shape the future of financial advice.  I weighed in on this topic recently via  Is An Online Financial Advisor Right For You? for Investopedia.

Please feel free to contact me with your questions.  

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions about anything you’ve read here at The Chicago Financial Planner. Don’t miss any future posts, please subscribe via email. Please check out our resources page as well.

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5 Reasons Investors Use ETFs

July 26, 2014 by 5 Comments
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Fidelity recently polled nearly 600 high net worth investors to gain a better understanding of their thinking about the market and where they plan to invest in 2014. Notably, 43% of investors said they are planning to increase their investment in ETFs over the next 12 months.

Fidelity created this graphic that highlights 5 reasons investors use ETFs (or don’t use them).

 5 Reasons Investors Use ETFs

Other key findings of the Fidelity study include:

  • Despite the small gains this year in the DJIA (1.6% as of June 5, 2014), 55% believe it will end the year up 5% or more.
  • When it comes to the U.S. economy, investors continue to feel cautious. The majority (71%) feels it’s headed in the right direction vs. 29% who say it’s stagnant or headed in the wrong direction.
  • 62% of investors also believe a market correction—when a major index declines by at least 10% from a recent high—is likely to happen in 2014.
  • The indicators that would motivate the most investors holding cash to re-invest into the market are a stronger U.S. economy (28%) and higher interest (12%). 25% report holding no cash on the sidelines.
  • Over half (59%) of investors prefer to grow their portfolio by investing in domestic equities vs. 18% in international equities.
  • Over a third (35%) invest in ETFs for broad market exposure (indexes), while 27% of investors don’t invest in ETFs because they need to learn more. 

Advantages of ETFs 

ETFs have several features that are advantageous to investors:

  • ETFs are generally transparent regarding their holdings.
  • ETFs can be bought and sold during the trading day.  This offers additional opportunities for investors.
  • Stop orders can be used to limit the downside movement of your ETFs.
  • ETFs can also be sold short just like stocks.
  • Many index ETFs carry low expense ratios and can be quite cheap to own.
  • Many ETFs are quite tax-efficient.
  • ETFs can provide a low cost, straightforward way to invest in core market indexes.  

Disadvantages of ETFs  

  • ETFs can be bought and sold just like stocks.  In some cases this could serve to promote excessive trading that could prove detrimental to investors.
  • ETF providers have introduced a proliferation of new ETFs in response to their popularity.  Some of these ETFs are excellent, some are not.  Many new ETFs are based on untested benchmarks that have only been back-tested.  Additionally there are a number of leveraged ETFs that multiply the movement of the underlying index by 2 or 3 times up or down.  While there is nothing inherently wrong with these products they can easily be misused by investors who don’t fully understand them.
  • Trading ETFs generally entails paying a transaction fee, though a number of providers have introduced commission-free ETFs in order to gain market share.  

ETFs have proven to be a great innovation for investors.  If used properly they are a great addition to your investing toolkit.  Like any investment make sure you understand what you are investing in (and why) before you invest.

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions about anything you’ve read here at The Chicago Financial Planner. Don’t miss any future posts, please subscribe via email. Please check out the Hire Me tab to learn more about my freelance financial writing and financial consulting services. 

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What Do ETFs and Youth Soccer Have in Common?

April 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
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Another sign of spring here in the Chicago area is the appearance of lines on the local youth soccer fields.  All three of our kids played soccer and we still miss watching them play.

So what do ETFs and youth soccer have in common?  From our experience as the parents of three travel soccer players, including one who was a ref for several years, very few parents understand the rules of the game which sadly too often leads to some really bad behavior on their part.  From many of the questions that I get and from what I read many investors don’t understand ETFs all that well either.  This post will attempt to highlight some of the basics of ETF investing for those readers who may be unclear or have a few questions.

(One example of some over the top soccer parents occurred when our now 23 year daughter was playing in a 9 year old game.  Some parents from the other team came over to our side of the field and started a fight.  My wife ended up as a witness in soccer court and two dads ended up being banned from any Illinois youth soccer game or practice for two years.) 

 

 

What is an ETF? 

According to the NASDAQ site:

“In the simplest terms, Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are funds that track indexes like the NASDAQ-100 Index, S&P 500, Dow Jones, etc. When you buy shares of an ETF, you are buying shares of a portfolio that tracks the yield and return of its native index. The main difference between ETFs and other types of index funds is that ETFs don’t try to outperform their corresponding index, but simply replicate its performance. They don’t try to beat the market, they try to be the market. 

ETFs have been around since the early 1980s, but they’ve come into their own within the past 10 years.”

In simple terms ETFs are essentially mutual funds that trade on the stock exchanges much like shares of common stock such as Apple or IBM.  They are bought and sold during the trading day just like stocks.

While it is true that the first ETFs were index tracking products, actively managed ETFs are coming into play with perhaps the most successful active ETF so far being the ETF version of PIMco’s Total Return bond fund (ticker BOND).

Advantages of ETFs 

ETFs have several features that are advantageous to investors:

  • Most ETFs are transparent as to their holdings.
  • ETFs can be bought and sold during the trading day.
  • Stop orders can be used to limit the downside movement of your ETFs.
  • ETFs can also be sold short just like stocks.
  • Many of the index ETFs carry low expense ratios and can be quite cheap to own.
  • Due to their structure, many ETFs are quite tax-efficient.
  • ETFs provide a low cost, straightforward way to invest in core market indexes. 

Disadvantages of ETFs 

  • ETFs can be bought and sold just like stocks.  In some cases this could cause investors to trade in and out of ETFs when perhaps they shouldn’t.
  • The popularity of ETFs has caused ETF providers to introduce a proliferation of new ETFs, some are excellent, some not so much.  Many new ETFs are based on untested indexes that have only been back-tested.  Additionally there are a number of leveraged ETFs that multiply the movement of the underlying index by 2 or 3 times up or down.  While there is nothing inherently wrong with these products they can easily be misused by investors who don’t fully understand them.
  • Trading ETFs generally entails paying a transaction fee, though a number of providers have introduced commission-free ETFs in order to gain market share. 

All ETFs are not created equal 

Much of the growth in ETFs was fueled by basic index products such as the SPDR 500 (ticker SPY) which tracks the S&P 500 index.  Vanguard, ishares, and the SPDRs all started with products that tracked core domestic and international stock and bond indexes.  The popularity of ETFs grew in the wake of the financial crisis and ETF providers have been falling all over themselves to bring new ETFs to market.

Some of these new vehicles are good, but others track questionable indexes or benchmarks.  These products are essentially made up in a lab, reminiscent of Gene Wilder, Terri Garr, and Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein.

There is a site with an ETF Deathwatch section listing various ETFs and other exchange traded products that are on life support.  This Bloomberg article comments on some ill-fated ETFs as well.

Free trades are good or are they? 

Fidelity and Schwab most notably have offered platforms that allow commission-free ETF trades for their own branded ETFs and a select menu of other ETFs.  This is fine as long as these are the ETFs that you want to own.  Note I’ve found that several of the Schwab ETFs are very low cost and track core indexes so they can be good choices.

Additionally you can trade Vanguard’s ETFs commission-free if you trade in an account at Vanguard.

At the end of the day you should buy the ETFs that are best for your situation.  This assessment should include the underlying ETF benchmark, the expense ratio, and the liquidity.  If you can trade it commission-free so much the better.

Overall ETFs can be a great investment vehicle for both traders and long-term investors.  As with any investment vehicle it is incumbent upon you to understand what you are buying and how it fits into your investment strategy.

Please contact me with any thoughts or suggestions about anything you’ve read here at The Chicago Financial Planner. 

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