2008 portfolio changes

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by poyet Trading, and the software manages 10% of my portfolio (which itself is just 13-14% of my assets the remaining being RE). So, even if it is a project I'm very committed to its impact on my NAV is limited though ! The software has performed rather well, though we've missed a stronger trend. Did not succeed to get any "customer" to start a fund, frustrating...

It'll be interesting to see how that performs over the long term.

As for small-caps' recent drop, I think more long-term performance is still there and this is a buying opportunity for asset allocations...

[poyet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords It'll be interesting to see how that performs over the long term. As for small-caps' recent drop, I think more long-term performance is still there and this is a buying opportunity for asset allocations...

Nords, you talk of US small-caps I guess ? I mentioned european small & mid caps. So far I've kept my US small and mid caps.

[jblack]

1. ramp up international (prob thru taxable VFWIX or VGTSX) from ~10% to 20%
2. add onto an older REIT position to move it back up to 5%
3. begin to look more closely at total household AA for my and DW's multiple savings/retirement accounts - only basics covered so far

[kat]

I'm moving some bond fund $ to a traditional IRA, out of taxable. Most of it will still be in taxable, which is okay since I'm spending the distributions but I wanted to lower the tax bite a bit.

Along with that, I am re-purchasing a tax managed small cap fund in taxable, moving that allocation out of tax deferred.

I had made changes in my port this year when I decided to purchase a tiny cottage on three acres in the mountains I love. Got it at a great price. Plan to sell it in 35 years. I look at it as a way to turn my "virtual money" at Vanguard into money I could enjoy.

After making changes to take out funds to buy the cottage, I found myself focusing too much on distributions instead of total return. That Vanguard paper on total return made sense to me, and I read it at just the right time. So I'm finishing off this cottage buying period by putting small cap back in taxable and putting some bonds in deferred.

85% of my assets are in taxable accounts, so I've had to be thoughtful about what I put in deferred.

[calmloki]

In a move toward greater free time and less responsibility i hope to sell a couple smaller multiple units out at the fringes of our rental perimeter. Current theory has us doing a 1031 exchange into one nice single family rental unit down in the warm-but-property-value-crashing country called SoCal and renting it out for some period of time over a year. Maybe sometime after a year or so has gone by we might end up living there.... Maybe another 1031 into a bit of country property up here - looked at 15 acres on a paved road with a bunch of trees and sky 2 miles out of town. Has a couple crummy mobiles on it that could be rented for a while and maybe down the road a couple or three years we might take up residence there - maybe do some house building in the meantime. Thinking that snowbirding might not be such a bad thing... It's bad - wanting to sell off the income producing rentals, but attracted by the scent of property bargains.
Oh. maybe buy an index stock if i can bring myself to believe that the buying opportunities are as good there as in real estate.

[Eagle43]

Well, we hit the big 65 next year. No changes; about 40% equity/50% bonds/10% cash.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by poyet Nords, you talk of US small-caps I guess ? I mentioned european small & mid caps. So far I've kept my US small and mid caps.

Yep, sorry, we're keeping the U.S. ones. Haven't chased down any European ones.

If I remember right Tweedy, Browne Global Value has been doing a lot of selling in Europe this year (10% of the share price will be distributed as cap gains). They sell when a share price hits "fair value" but they don't select for a particular market cap.