Poll:How much of an indexer are you?

[RunningBum]

I don't like rewahoo's poll so I'm making my own. He said it was ok.

I'm not making an option for people who don't want to answer or don't fit a category. Just don't answer the poll if this is the case.


edit: I would say that this is the % of your funds where you would have a choice between index and non-index funds. It's up to you to decide what that is for yourself. For me, I included both stock and bond funds, but did not include CDs or bank accounts.

 

[REWahoo]

I'm not making an option for people who don't want to answer or don't fit a category. Just don't answer the poll if this is the case.

OK, but I still reserve the right to grouse about it if I don't like your poll options.

 

[RunningBum]

OK, but I still reserve the right to grouse about it if I don't like your poll options.

Of course! It's the e-r way!

 

[REWahoo]

OK, but I still reserve the right to grouse about it if I don't like your poll options.

And I'm going to take that opportunity right now: How come you didn't include an option for those who don't index?

 

[RunningBum]

And I'm going to take that opportunity right now: How come you didn't include an option for those who don't index?

0 is less than 15%, so that would be the last option, 15% or less.

 

[frayne]

Don't really know the right way to answer, my overall spread is 60/40, 60% being funds and stocks, 40% being fixed income vehicles. Of the 60%, 90% is in Index funds.

 

[target2019]

I have more than 85% index funds!!!


But I'm learning myself to make gooder at individual pick and hold.
I'm an indexer on the outside, but a picker at heart.

 

[RunningBum]

Don't really know the right way to answer, my overall spread is 60/40, 60% being funds and stocks, 40% being fixed income vehicles. Of the 60%, 90% is in Index funds.

I edited my OP to say that it's up to you, and stated what I used as my own guidelines. Basically, if you feel you were making a choice between indexed and non-indexed funds, include it. If there wasn't really an index choice that you considered (like CDs, in my case), don't include it.

 

[W2R]

Here is what my homemade written financial plan dictates:

(1) My TSP is 100% G Fund, a government bond fund that cannot drop in share price. For me it functions like a second pension, since I take equal monthly withdrawals from the TSP. At the present monthly withdrawal amount it will last until I am in my 90's. I love this setup for covering some of my post-retirement core expenses.

(2) Also, I have 30% Wellesley for more retirement income.

Everything else is in index funds at Vanguard. I ignored the "pension-like" aspect of the G Fund, and voted 35%-65%.

 

[jebmke]

Almost all equity is indexed. All fixed is not. Some individual Tips but bonds are in VG investment grade and tax-exempt funds which are not index funds.

 

[FreeBear]

Maybe it's a bit embarrassing, but I've come to my senses and moved 401K/IRA out of managed funds only in the last few years. Average expense ratio has dropped from almost 1% to perhaps less than 0.3%. I'm still in a few managed funds in my taxable account due to the tax consequences of wholesale liquidation. We're gradually burning through the worst of these to fund the front end of ER before direct access to 401K/IRA.
Still, I never used (was used by?) a FA, especially one of those "assets under management" guys. Staying away from these guys saved our bacon...

Despite the drag of managed fund expenses and the so-called lost decade of 2000-2010 in the market, we still managed to ER. Not ideal, but good ENOUGH!

 

[stepford]

Would be in the "Heavy" category but for a substantial chunk in the Stable Value fund in my 401K. This fund is a pretty good deal compared to Short/Intermediate term bond index funds, but it is managed so down I go into "Primarily".

 

[gerntz]

No accurate answer possible with the choices. Most is in DFA (all non-index) & most of rest is in bond funds, some ETF's, but very few indexes. But rebalanced only occasionally, so not much managed. So need a "not indexed, not much managed" choice.

 

[Alan]

My tIRA and ROTH are both Wellesley (managed).

DW's tIRA and ROTH at Fidelity are index bond funds.

Overall, 55% of our equity and bond funds are indexed.

 

[RunningBum]

No accurate answer possible with the choices. Most is in DFA (all non-index) & most of rest is in bond funds, some ETF's, but very few indexes. But rebalanced only occasionally, so not much managed. So need a "not indexed, not much managed" choice.

I'm not making an option for people who don't want to answer or don't fit a category. Just don't answer the poll if this is the case.

Hmm, smileys aren't working for me on Firefox. Oh well.

 

[photoguy]

Although I have a significant chunk of money in index funds, it's really just a means for me to get passive funds (i.e. fund manager does not believe in trading to select winners) that keep costs low and attempt only to get the aggregate return of whatever slice they claim to capture.

Index funds usually meets these criteria but there are other funds which are not indexes that do so as well. I actually think strict adherence to an index can be sub-optimal.

 

[nuke_diver]

I differ than most on this board in that I don't see managed funds as an evil that must be destroyed and only index funds are worth owning. I own a fair number of individual stocks for a variety of reasons that index funds cannot provide. They actually have lower cost than the index funds generally though.

It isn't the fact that index funds are low cost that matters, it is that they outperform a given managed fund. If the managed fund outperforms the index it is a better investment. I don't wear blinders and it's worked out pretty well for me. I do watch the expense ratio/performance pretty carefully for the managed funds generally.

 

[NW-Bound]

Even if you hold an active fund, there is no guarantee that its manager is not a closet indexer. I read about this some years ago. Many large fund managers know that they are measured against the S&P every quarter if not monthly, so they do not dare deviate from it that much.

Besides, large MFs can only invest in large cap stocks. Owning a bit of a small cap would not make a dent in their performance, even if that small company grows 2x or 3x. So, they hold mostly the S&P which is all large cap stocks, and only deviate from it just a bit.

And come to think of it, most of my individual stocks are large cap and in the S&P too. So, it will takes a hell lot of work to compute the exact difference of my portfolio from the S&P. The same goes for my foreign ADR holdings and foreign indices.

 

[pb4uski]

I differ than most on this board in that I don't see managed funds as an evil that must be destroyed and only index funds are worth owning.....

I think many of us don't necessarily look at active funds as evil... it is just that so few active funds outperform index funds over long periods of time that managed funds are simply suboptimal, not evil, although some evil creeps in as the expense ratio goes higher and higher.

I think it is hard to pick an active fund and have confidence that it will outperform an index fund in the long run given that some stellar active funds have faltered (Magellan and Legg Mason Capital Management come to mind).

I'd rather accept the market return less a slight ER than take the risk of making a bad call on a good fund that falls on hard times.

 

[Lsbcal]

I have an active strategy overlaid on index funds.

 

[NW-Bound]

Looking at various indices and comparing them, I see that if I could trade between them at the right time, I would be so rich.

 

[Cheesehead]

I personally am only in index funds but lately had an interesting eye opener. I happened to have done assignments for two different mutual fund families, specifically working with their stock picking departments (dual PMs). What I learned is that they do better "during volatility", meaning they position themselves "for the downside", they use the word "defensive" a lot. In fact, they were hoping Greece would go down the toilet and start a "contagion", perhaps Spain and Italy would domino, so they could buy at the low. Both have large positions in cash hoping for a big correction they think will come soon.

So I came home and told the wife we were going to move our AA which is 50% equities (58 & 62 yo) into CDs, but really I'm too lazy, however, they scared me.

I have about 10% of my stock AA in Fidelity Small Cap Index and was NOT happy about its performance in 2014. One of the portfolio managers told me there were "4 corrections" in 2014 which is why my SC index did poorly and his was great, because they could "manage" during short crisis periods. They monitored and moved, or I guess you'd say "managed".

Oh well, I'm too cheap to pay the management fee!

 

[Major Tom]

I have 95% in index funds. The rest is in cash, and a small amount in individual stocks.

 

[dtbach]

Majority of my money is in Wellesely and Wellington. I like the idea of just a bit of guidance vs index.

 

[nash031]

Index funds and active funds have several things in common, the most important of which is the fact that I can't control the returns of either of them. Therefore, I elect to have the vast majority of my investments in the funds that cost me less to own.