Anyone Familiar with Retired Investor .com?

[Hydroman]

Is anyone familiar with this service?

http://www.retiredinvestor.com/

[2dals]

Yes. Their "free" content was so good, I finally broke down and subscribed. It's the only website I've ever subscribed to, but it was worth it.

[Hydroman]

2Dals,

What have value have you got out of the subscription that made it so worth the subscription price? How long have you been subscribing?

Thanks

[2dals]

They're into asset classes, asset class valuations, and asset allocation, rather than touting individual stocks, funds, etc. They're extremely smart and analytical, but surprisingly humble, too. They have a very global outlook because they cater to global customers, not just U.S. I've subscribed now for three or four months and only wish I'd found them earlier. Their model portfolio function is different from others, too. You pick the real rate of return and ending balance (at death) you'd like to have, and their software proposes asset class allocations to achieve that. In other words, why take more risk than you need to in order to try to achieve your goals. They update their views of global asset class valuations, so you can track it, and their views of impending global economic downturn (chaos?) are pretty much in line with my own pessimism. They don't just give conclusions or "executive summaries," but rather explain their reasoning in detail so you can agree or disagree with it.

[Hydroman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2dals They update their views of global asset class valuations, so you can track it, and their views of impending global economic downturn (chaos?) are pretty much in line with my own pessimism. They don't just give conclusions or "executive summaries," but rather explain their reasoning in detail so you can agree or disagree with it.

Do they advocate a buy and hold strategy or market timing or changes in asset allocation based on prediction of future events/trends? It sounds like they might be suggesting that their subscribers reduce exposure to equities. I guess what I am getting at is once you run their models and determine the best asset allocation for your situation, what are you supposed to do with all their monthly commentary? Do the models change based on current or predicted future economic events?

Thanks agani.

[2dals]

I don't know if their actual model portfolio function varies frequently based on their predictions of global economic environment, but their commentary does. And, I doubt that they expect people to blindly adopt their model portfolio suggestions, either. I certainly didn't run out and load up on unhedged foreign bonds just because their model portfolio function matched a rather sizeable amount of that previously unknown (to me) asset class with my rather conservative portfolio income needs. However, I did put my toe in the water based on their suggestion. (Well, half way in the water since I actually split the investment between hedged and unhedged.) And, yes, I know the arguments against taking risk in the bond part of your portfolio and against taking currency risk in particular in that segment, but I was impressed enough with their reasoning to give it half a shot.