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Old 12-28-2015, 08:09 AM   #561
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Down about 3.4%. Most numbers were relatively flat, other than my company stock which had a bad year (darn that Canadian economy!). I was holding too much through our ESPP (18% of portfolio), so have started to sell off and will continue to do so.
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Old 12-28-2015, 08:20 AM   #562
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Overall my portfolio is down 2.48% -
 
VANGUARD BD INDEX FD INC TOTAL BD BND 1-Jan-15 20.00%
VANGUARD INTL EQUITY INDEX FDS MSC EMERGING VWO 1-Jan-15 12.00%
VANGUARD INTL EQUITY INDEX FDS MSCI PAC VPL 1-Jan-15 12.00%
VANGUARD INTL EQUITY INDEX FDS MSCI EUROPE VGK 1-Jan-15 12.00%
VANGUARD INDEX FDS VANGUARD REIT VNQ 1-Jan-15 8.00%
VANGUARD INDEX FDS VANGUARD SMALL CAP VBR 1-Jan-15 12.00%
VANGUARD INDEX FDS VANGUARD LARGE CAP VV 1-Jan-15 12.00%
VANGUARD INDEX FDS VANGUARD VALUE VTV 1-Jan-15 12.00%
CORE ACCOUNT - CASH CASH 1-Jan-15 0.00%
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Old 12-28-2015, 12:38 PM   #563
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My DW and I are up 1.54% total net of deposits. We had a strong 1st 1/2 that offset a hard fall since July 1. We moved from an aggressive managed portfolio of funds in June, to a Modern Portfolio style with a new adviser at a small investment trust bank on July 1, and as the Bloomberg article points out, it was not a good year for this style of management. The Year Nothing Worked: Stocks, Bonds, Cash Go Nowhere
Bloomberg Business. Our problem was worsened by the manager fee of 0.45% on assets under management, plus fund expenses averaging >0.85%.

We moved 75% of our IRA assets into Wellington and Wellessley VG funds in late December and are going to self manage from here out as I finally retire in January!!!!! (Actually, taking one for the team layoff) Had we done this in July, we would have lost a lot less since July 1. The balance of our accounts are in VG indexed stock funds.

I am trying to evaluate the bond risk on these two balanced funds going forward, as maturities average >9 years. I would be interested to know if those who held these funds as primary investments this year are holding, or increasing diversity with shorter term bond ladders etc. to reduce market rate risk, and adding a little more indexed foreign exposure? Perhaps the subject of another thread.
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Old 12-28-2015, 05:59 PM   #564
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Old 12-28-2015, 06:24 PM   #565
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My DW and I are up 1.54% total net of deposits. We had a strong 1st 1/2 that offset a hard fall since July 1. We moved from an aggressive managed portfolio of funds in June, to a Modern Portfolio style with a new adviser at a small investment trust bank on July 1, and as the Bloomberg article points out, it was not a good year for this style of management. The Year Nothing Worked: Stocks, Bonds, Cash Go Nowhere
Bloomberg Business. Our problem was worsened by the manager fee of 0.45% on assets under management, plus fund expenses averaging >0.85%.

We moved 75% of our IRA assets into Wellington and Wellessley VG funds in late December and are going to self manage from here out as I finally retire in January!!!!! (Actually, taking one for the team layoff) Had we done this in July, we would have lost a lot less since July 1. The balance of our accounts are in VG indexed stock funds.

I am trying to evaluate the bond risk on these two balanced funds going forward, as maturities average >9 years. I would be interested to know if those who held these funds as primary investments this year are holding, or increasing diversity with shorter term bond ladders etc. to reduce market rate risk, and adding a little more indexed foreign exposure? Perhaps the subject of another thread.
I have about 40% of our liquid NW in Wellesley/Wellington (The majority in Wellesley) and have been retired for 12 years + now living off my investments. As you have probably seen in Vanguards line up, those two funds regularly outperform the equivalent allocation Vanguard balanced index funds and also outperform a roll your own combination of index funds that are weighted similarly to W/W. The W/W combination has certainly experienced the same market conditions with the widely anticipated Fed increase in interest rates this year as the other comparable index funds yet have outperformed YTD, 3,5,and 10 years.

I have no clue what explains this + performance on the part of these actively managed funds but I've certainly enjoyed the benefits during my retirement. At this stage after all these years I'm inclined to allow W/W management to continue to do what they seem to do better than equivalent index funds ( i.e. pick the right stocks and the right quality and duration bonds). Any guarantees this will continue in the future? Of course not - don't be silly.
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Old 12-29-2015, 06:35 AM   #566
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Down 0.55%

20% Vang. short term bond fund
20% Vang. intermed. term bond fund

the other 60% allocated in various Vanguard indexed funds (the typical stuff...S&P, REIT, International ....)

I'm not quite completely retired, DW is still working, so I'm not in a "distribution" mode, although I soon will be....
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Old 12-29-2015, 03:53 PM   #567
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Old 12-29-2015, 04:10 PM   #568
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We are about flat for the year, mostly due to some bonds I have in a IRA which have gone down to 20% of par value (I bought a wee bit early at 40% of par ).

It is quite funny since they pay 12.5% of face and so are paying a 62.5% yield on the current book price. A bit more than a CD.

I just need one more payment and they will be free. Company has $200m in cash $800m in debt and makes about enough per year at current metal prices to service the debt and pay wages with the first redemption date Jan 2018. Hopefully they can't file chapter 11 before they run out of money

Or copper will go back up maybe.
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2015 YTD investment performance thread
Old 12-29-2015, 05:57 PM   #569
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2015 YTD investment performance thread

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fermion View Post
We are about flat for the year, mostly due to some bonds I have in a IRA which have gone down to 20% of par value (I bought a wee bit early at 40% of par ).

It is quite funny since they pay 12.5% of face and so are paying a 62.5% yield on the current book price. A bit more than a CD.

I just need one more payment and they will be free. Company has $200m in cash $800m in debt and makes about enough per year at current metal prices to service the debt and pay wages with the first redemption date Jan 2018. Hopefully they can't file chapter 11 before they run out of money

Or copper will go back up maybe.

And I thought I was stretching for yield recently by purchasing a 7.5% yielding preferred stock last week. That was child's play compared to yours, Fermion!


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Old 12-29-2015, 06:36 PM   #570
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Yikes!

I have done a bit of bottom fishing in the past, but nothing compared to Fermion. He is fishing at the Mariana Trench!
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Old 12-29-2015, 06:39 PM   #571
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And I thought I was stretching for yield recently by purchasing a 7.5% yielding preferred stock last week. That was child's play compared to yours, Fermion!
Well these are far from the security of a utility like you purchase. Still, I think they were sold off from some junk bond funds liquidating willy nilly because of redemptions. That is about the only explanation I can come up with for someone selling a 12.5% bond for 20% of par...as long as the company can keep paying the coupon, which it seems they can for at least a couple more years.
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Old 12-29-2015, 06:43 PM   #572
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Yikes!



I have done a bit of bottom fishing in the past, but nothing compared to Fermion. He is fishing at the Mariana Trench!

I bet if Fermion started a new thread "list all your bond trades you have bought at 20% or less of par", it wouldn't have many participants.


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Old 12-29-2015, 06:43 PM   #573
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Yikes!

I have done a bit of bottom fishing in the past, but nothing compared to Fermion. He is fishing at the Mariana Trench!
I just hope I don't sink. Still, I did just get a payment in November and I expect another in May 2016. In November 2016 the bond payment will make me whole and the 62.5% return will just be bonus.

Imagine though compounding that 62.5% return for four years (these are 2019 bonds). I probably don't have the guts to do that.

Imagine if you bought $1,000,000 face of this bond ($2,000,000 face was sold at 20% of par, so that volume is available). Your six month payment on your $200,000 investment would be $62,500, more than the budget of a lot of ER people. The annual payment would be $125,000!

A new thread...how to retire on $200,000.
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Old 12-29-2015, 06:50 PM   #574
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If you drop your hook in the abyss, you may reel up some creatures like this.


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Old 12-29-2015, 07:14 PM   #575
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If you drop your hook in the abyss, you may reel up some creatures like this.






If I went fishing in that hole, my hook (wallet) would be swallowed up by that and nothing but a hookless line would be left from that fishing expedition...


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Old 12-31-2015, 10:11 AM   #576
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Up 2.38% as of 12/30/15 on a 40/40/20 AA.
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Old 12-31-2015, 10:18 AM   #577
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I am going to end the year with about 2% up on my investments, a big thanks to my 2 short term trade accounts. They returned 17% and 19%, respectively. The rest didn't fare so much. Chemical, International funds did worse. Technology fund did well. The rests broke just about even.
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Old 12-31-2015, 11:48 AM   #578
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Quicken says I'm up a whopping 0.24% on investments.

Net worth down 3% due to construction costs and DS education costs. I will have a bump in NW when the new house is completed and goes on the tax roles. It will look good, but I'm not sure I will like paying the taxes.
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Old 12-31-2015, 02:42 PM   #579
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We'll end the year with portfolio return down around -1.9%. Main drag is impact of low oil prices on energy stocks / funds which make up ~ 30% of our equities. Asset allocation currently 88% equity / 12% bonds and cash.
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Old 12-31-2015, 02:46 PM   #580
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