Half year FIRE portfolio status

[OldAgePensioner]

Martha,
I do love wood furniture and in Thailand they use teak which is awesome. If I go to Thailand this fall, Ben and Lancelot are definitely my first stop, ahh cheap beer.

Cut-Throat, KB,
Thanks for the thoughts, I'm a true loner, always have been, so it limits the options. I've been called a hermit by most everyone who knows me. Reading Don Quixote right now and he seems a lot like me. Tilting.

 

[KB]

Not to beat a dead horse......but most of the things on my list are individual things. I'm a bit of a loner too, and I enjoy doing things that do not require other people.

Good luck though, you're the only one that can decide when and if. It's not really the money though....

 

[OldAgePensioner]

KB,
thanks for the thoughts again. I still worry about the money thing, I have a large family (mom, 5 sibs) and all of them are marginal, financially. If any of them needed a million tomorrow, it'd get there tonight. Scares me more than anything else.

 

[MJ]

Well said cut-throat.....
And AOP you have a standing invitation to come visit Lancelot and I in Thailand - you really should get some perspective - no way you can blow through 2M$ here - even if you tried! But more importantly - time to get a life...
Cheers!

I read a "story" about a Scandinavian that got a lump sum settlement due to an injury who then went to LOS and got taken big time by a young Thai woman and her "poor" family. It wasn't 2M but "only" about 300k. After a year in LOS, he had to return emptyhanded to live with his Mom.

 

[preben]

Mj; many of that kind of horror stories here - westerners falling for a sweet Thai woman and later realizing it might not have been for love (and she might not have been that sweet ). Explains why I have a western girl friend . Cheers!

 

[OldAgePensioner]

MJ, Ben,
I have several friends who have married into the Asian community and, Ben, correct me if I'm out of line, most Thai/Asian ladies marry westerners for the purpose to help support their families.

I don't have a problem with that at all. They are very family oriented and will forego their own desires to support family. If both in the relationship know that, it's pretty easy to accept.

 

[JB]

I'm only up .85% YTD. This is total portfolio adjusted for spending.
Amazing how many of you did better than many popular asset classes (index 500, intermediate bonds).

 

[preben]

OAP; maybe not "most" but "many" would be right. This however does not go only for marrying western men - but also marrying other Thais - culturally it is completely normal and fully acceptable to marry for practical/family/status reasons more than love. Culture clash. Cheers!

MJ, Ben,
I have several friends who have married into the Asian community and, Ben, correct me if I'm out of line, most Thai/Asian ladies marry westerners for the purpose to help support their families.

I don't have a problem with that at all.  They are very family oriented and will forego their own desires to support family.  If both in the relationship know that, it's pretty easy to accept.

 

[preben]

I think reason is that most here are much more diversified than the "classic" SP500/US bonds. Cheers!

I'm only up .85% YTD.  This is total portfolio adjusted for spending.
Amazing how many of you did better than many popular asset classes (index 500, intermediate bonds).

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Ben,
Good morning. You're right, I should have said "many". I have 2 bestest of friends married to Thai ladies and my respect for those ladies is unquestionable.

I'm up 5%ish on the year mainly because of bad performance last year. Looking at the 3rd and 4th quarters is kinda scaring me.

 

[mikew]

Mj; many of that kind of horror stories here - westerners falling for a sweet Thai woman and later realizing it might not have been for love (and she might not have been that sweet ). Explains why I have a western girl friend  . Cheers!

I had a friend who went to Thailand fell for a sweet young woman (prostitute) and later realized she wasn't as much of a woman as he thought. 

 

[mikew]

OAP
How much do you think your problems have been related to your expat life?

In my case, I have always been somewhat of a loner too. Coming to Japan about 15 years ago, I found my interests slowly narrowed. Until I lost all my hobbies. Mainly, I think because I never could integrate into society and I was never financially stable. So I focused on work. Now my wife is pushing me out the door to go play.

Mike

 

[OldAgePensioner]

mikew,
really, it is 20 years of living what seemed like a great life overseas and then trying to live on my own back home.

Lots for me to work out first before I know what to advise others.

 

[mikew]

OAP
From what you have written, I can see some similarities between our situations.

The thing that worries me the most about retirement is what then. Living overseas means cutting many connections with home. I can pull up and move back to the states. But moving back to Toledo is out of the question. I have been back a few times. It takes a few weeks to adjust but you never really do. Japan has been a good life. But Japan is for work not pleasure. I also need a better climate. It has been rainy season for the past two weeks.

Some place like Thailand, Vietnam or Europe would be good for a few years but long term it would have to be back to the states.

How to spend my time. I am redeveloping my interests like bicycle touring. But I think the most important point is what happens coming back to the states. If I can make a soft landing in terms of finding like minded freinds, being in a place where I can join a compatible community, it should work out. I am worried this is luck.

The best long term answer I have come up with is move to Hawaii or somewhere else with a strong asian community.

Mike

 

[laurence]

Hmmm, basically flat this year, maybe up 2% (yay for dividends).

Outside of this freaking crazy real estate market, of course.

OAP, good luck man, follow Martha's advice, you need a nest you want to come home to, maybe someone there with brightly colored plumage, too.

 

[mikew]

Ben
Can I ask you why and how you use offshore hedge funds in your portfolio especially in relation to your index funds?

I have a couple of these through my wife but we are in the process of rebalancing towards indexing.

Mike

 

[preben]

As you know I always refer to my "base portfolio" and do not include RE (cause I live there myself/no plans to sell) and also not the strategic/gambling money. As to hedgefunds I must admit that I have not put much thought into it - as the return from my base portfolio should be enough in FIRE. I DO like the fact that it has very little correlation with anything else - and I also managed to find some with low fees and a simple strategy. That said I am this year going to review my use of same and will post here if reach any conclusions. Cheers!

Ben
Can I ask you why and how you use offshore hedge funds in your portfolio especially in relation to your index funds?

I have a couple of these through my wife but we are in the process of rebalancing towards indexing.

Mike

 

[OldAgePensioner]

Laurence, "brightly colored plumage" , that's the ticket. A man can be very happy with that.

mikew,
I'm with ya dude. Keep the faith, you got a real jump on me since I didn't even think it would be difficult. In Australia, back in 1990, the phone calls were like $2/min and letters took 2-3 weeks. I lost so many connections/casual friends/real friends due to distance. I suspect you have similar situation in Japan but you've at least thought though what coming back might be like, Nords might be best to talk with (seems, wired).

 

[mikew]

Ben

Thanks for the information. I am wavering between keeping our hedge funds or getting out. There was an article in the NY Times a couple of months ago. The focus was on US onshore hedge funds. The UK style offshore hedgefunds may operate differectly. The basic thrust was that with the boom in hedge funds the funds need to do increasing riskier things to keep the same returns. This includes using more leverage.

The following article has most of the same ideas but the thrust is different.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/03/business/yourmoney/03view.html

 

[Spanky]

The best long term answer I have come up with is move to Hawaii or somewhere else with a strong asian community.

Mike,

How about California (the Bay Area, Southern Cal) or Seattle (very close to Vancouver)? These places have strong Asian communities.

Spanky

 

[BUM]

I'm also grateful for the help divvies have given my port for the 1st half! I'm up 2.2% Which I suppose is pretty darn good considering the quote from a NYSE trader on CNN, "Flat is the new up."


BUM

 

[Spanky]

Ben,

I am up about 4% YTD. 8)

Winners:
REIT, Health care, International Explorer

Sleepers:
Total Market, Money market, short-term bonds, Pacific, Europe

Spanky

 

[malakito]

Just checked: Quicken says 3.75% from 1/1/05 to 6/30/05. This is higher than the S&P500 because my company stock (which I am whittling down but right now is perhaps 6% of my portfolio) is allegedly up 52% over that same period.

malakito.

 

[mikew]

How about California (the Bay Area, Southern Cal) or Seattle (very close to Vancouver)? These places have strong Asian communities.

Spanky

I am interested in checking out the west coast. As well as Tennesse and a couple of other places. The reason I am interested in Hawaii is Hawaiin time seems to move slower than normal.

Thanks
Mike

 

[Cb]

We're up 2.5% so far...if we see another 2.5% I might call it quits in January!

Cb