Investment Allocation - 401K inclusive

[Pilot2013]

I just saw where I can look into the top holdings on funds in my 401k and see stocks held. Doing that, I see that I may have more in some particular companies when looking at those holdings plus what I have in a Fidelity account.

Do others go to that level of detail/analysis? Will I get myself into a constant battle of looking and changing holdings if I do this (as they perhaps change holdings)?

What do others do?

Thanks!

[marko]

If you enter your funds into M* you can do an X Ray which will tell you where your holdings overlap.

It's an interesting thing to know but I don't change my holdings as a result. I think you need to look at the overall fund's objectives.

[DrRoy]

If there are companies that end up over 5% (maybe less) of your total then you might want to reallocate away from that.

[RobLJ]

Two quick points:
1) Besides the Morningstar X-Ray mentioned already, Quicken provides a light version of the Morningstar X-Ray that shows your main stock overlap, if that is of use. I only consider this in terms of individual stock purchases in one of our roll-over IRA (that is about 7% of our total investment assets).
2) More useful--to me--is looking at the fund analysis in Fidelity that shows the size/growthvalue map of a funds. We have funds scattered across 5 accounts, so I've eliminated or combined fund holdings based on overlap--my wife's 401k changed its dividend fund into one that pretty much overlaps the S&P index fund, so I don't see a reason to keep it anymore.
The beta and R2 fund ratings are also useful in terms of identifying unnecessary overlap.

I'm going to roll-over DW's 401 into her existing Vanguard roll-over IRA, which will eliminate an account and allow me to simplify holdings, especially since the choices in her ex-employer aren't that attractive. But first I need to have her change the Vanguard into a brokerage IRA.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilot2013 I just saw where I can look into the top holdings on funds in my 401k and see stocks held. Doing that, I see that I may have more in some particular companies when looking at those holdings plus what I have in a Fidelity account. Do others go to that level of detail/analysis? Will I get myself into a constant battle of looking and changing holdings if I do this (as they perhaps change holdings)? What do others do? Thanks!

[target2019]

Not so sure the free x-ray will let you see company overlap. Haven't been to that site in quite a while, so need to confirm that.

[mrfeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilot2013 What do others do?

Yet another reason to use index funds.

[Pilot2013]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrfeh Yet another reason to use index funds.

How will index funds help? I am comparing a couple of different accounts, using different funds and then looking at the top 5 holdings and seeing overlap. Just trying to understand what Index funds will do to stop that?

[mrfeh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilot2013 How will index funds help? I am comparing a couple of different accounts, using different funds and then looking at the top 5 holdings and seeing overlap. Just trying to understand what Index funds will do to stop that?

If you invest in index funds only, your investment in any one company will be equal to its market capitalization within the index. No need to looks at different funds to see how much each manager holds of the company in question.

[youbet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrfeh Yet another reason to use index funds.

Yet another reason to understand index funds which, depending on the indexes you own, can give you a specific stock or sector concentration. That may be something you were targeting for or not but you should understand and be aware. Just because a fund passively follows an index rather than being actively managed doesn't mean it won't have a concentration.

A good example is the commonly held index fund QQQ. 11.2% of that fund consists of AAPL! If you held a significant position in QQQ, you might not want to hold AAPL as an individual stock given that more than a tenth of your index fund is AAPL. Or, you might. Depends on what you want to do in your portfolio. But you should be aware of what you own.

Just being an "index" fund doesn't eliminate the possibility that the issue OP is talking about will occur.

Don't confuse "index fund" with "owning the market" or "owning domestic large caps." Many indexes and the funds that follow them are focused on market segments, market caps, etc.

To OP: Knowing what the top few holdings of your funds (actively managed or passively managed index) are can't hurt and is probably a good idea. It's quick and easy to check, so why not?