|
|
I guess I'm pleased with how my portfolio has held up this year
02-02-2014, 05:03 AM
|
#1
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Humble
Posts: 188
|
I guess I'm pleased with how my portfolio has held up this year
Co-worker complained to me this week that his 401k is down 3% for the year. I asked him what his equity% is. He has no idea, which is a whole different subject.
Anyway, I checked mine and while I've lost some money, I'm only down ~0.5%. The bonds are doing their job in the portfolio, reducing volatility and actually making some money. TIPS are up a bit and my REIT fund is also in positive territory.
I'm ~50% equity. 40 bonds, 10 cash. Will retire later this year.
|
|
|
|
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!
Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
|
02-02-2014, 07:40 AM
|
#2
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: North Oregon Coast
Posts: 16,483
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turn_the_Page
Co-worker complained to me this week that his 401k is down 3% for the year. ....
|
... and probably didn't "complain" when it was up 20-30% last year, right?
__________________
"Hey, for every ten dollars, that's another hour that I have to be in the work place. That's an hour of my life. And my life is a very finite thing. I have only 'x' number of hours left before I'm dead. So how do I want to use these hours of my life? Do I want to use them just spending it on more crap and more stuff, or do I want to start getting a handle on it and using my life more intelligently?" -- Joe Dominguez (1938 - 1997)
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 08:21 AM
|
#3
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 4,455
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turn_the_Page
Co-worker complained to me this week that his 401k is down 3% for the year. I asked him what his equity% is. He has no idea, which is a whole different subject.
|
Probably 90% equity.
__________________
May we live in peace and harmony and be free from all human sufferings.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 08:30 AM
|
#4
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Seattle
Posts: 6,023
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turn_the_Page
Co-worker complained to me this week that his 401k is down 3% for the year. I asked him what his equity% is. He has no idea, which is a whole different subject.
Anyway, I checked mine and while I've lost some money, I'm only down ~0.5%. The bonds are doing their job in the portfolio, reducing volatility and actually making some money. TIPS are up a bit and my REIT fund is also in positive territory.
I'm ~50% equity. 40 bonds, 10 cash. Will retire later this year.
|
The 50% equity should be down 4% (more if you have emerging markets). The 10% cash should be neutral.
.5 x -4% + .4 x X = -.5%
Solve X = +3.75%
Are bonds really up that much in one month?
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 08:34 AM
|
#5
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,671
|
I started out around 43/57 - down about 4.3% for the month but I am tilted pretty heavily to small/mid cap. So the 3.75% makes sense to me as an order of magnitude. Certainly .5% does not.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 08:47 AM
|
#6
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 920
|
Just last week I had a coworker comment to me that he's glad he's not "in the 401k" because the stock markets had tanked.
Up 30%, then lose 5% of it = fail?
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 09:42 AM
|
#7
|
Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 497
|
I am down 1.6%.....40 % bonds/cash
............................15% international
.............................45% stocks
__________________
You've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
Retired July '11 investments in very low cost index and mutual funds, balance once a year at best.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 10:06 AM
|
#8
|
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 23,038
|
Down about 2% YTD. About 65/35 allocation.
__________________
Living an analog life in the Digital Age.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 10:07 AM
|
#9
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 18,085
|
I am down 1.3% since the start of the year with about 65% equities. Individual stock picks in the portfolio have buoyed performance rather than bonds, since I don't have much traditional bond fund exposure. This sort of thing makes me question my choice to move to more index exposure, but I still think it makes me less likely to blow myself up with a big, bad bet.
__________________
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell
Ezekiel 23:20
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 10:11 AM
|
#10
|
Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 40,714
|
A bit early to be looking at performance, isn't it? Our portfolio is off 1.3%, same for the benchmark.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 10:22 AM
|
#11
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,809
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by ducky911
You've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?
|
"Yes sir, I feel a bit lucky", he said with his hands high in the air and wobbly legs and a hesitating voice.
A question for the unbelievers: the SP500 was down 3.6% in January 2010 but how did it do for all of 2010?
hint: up double digits
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 10:38 AM
|
#12
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 5,214
|
My current 401K - Down 2.27%
69/31
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 11:04 AM
|
#13
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,500
|
I am down less than 1% so far this year, but then my portfolio is pretty conservative. (I have retained the same AA that got me through 2008-2009 without selling low.)
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.
Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 11:06 AM
|
#14
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Minneapolis
Posts: 4,455
|
Quote:
Double digits? awesome!
__________________
May we live in peace and harmony and be free from all human sufferings.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 11:30 AM
|
#15
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,684
|
Down 1.5%, but how significant is one month?
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 11:37 AM
|
#16
|
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,809
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rustward
Down 1.5%, but how significant is one month?
|
Finally a question we can answer with authority. It is 1/12th of an annual return and 1/120 of a decade's return.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 11:37 AM
|
#17
|
Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 681
|
I don't normally participate in these "how's your portfolio doing" threads, but going into retirement I tried to put together as close to a crash-proof portfolio as I was able to assemble. The recent dip that happens to coincide with easily available year end statements allows me to measure how well I'm holding up in a down market. It turns out that overall I'm down 0.38% YTD. So I've absorbed only about a tenth the decline I would be seeing with a 100% stock portfolio.
This is definitely not intended as boasting. If I measured from the start of 2013 instead of the start of 2014, practically everyone on this board would be doing better than me. But having a bond-heavy portfolio does have its advantages in a down market.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 11:37 AM
|
#18
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Southern California
Posts: 3,999
|
Quicken tells me I'm down 1.62% on a 60/40 AA, but it does not consider my CDs to be part of my investment portfolio, so it's really not measuring my total allocation.
Looking at what my highest net worth was compared to now, it looks like my total has dropped 1.85%. Still not anything significant after such a big run up in 2013. But as Rustward pointed out, how significant is one month anyway? Means nothing in the long run.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 02:22 PM
|
#19
|
Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,340
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ready
But as Rustward pointed out, how significant is one month anyway? Means nothing in the long run.
|
Exactly. Which is why I don't concern myself with it.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
|
|
|
02-02-2014, 02:39 PM
|
#20
|
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,985
|
Never thought to look until I saw this post. Right now I'm down a whopping 1.03%. More reason to stick to my 45/35/20 allocation. The 20% cash/SV is my FIRE cushion for a few years when the j*b is gone. No idea when that will be, however the number one priority is to avoid delaying retirement due to market conditions.
__________________
Took SS at 62 and hope I live long enough to regret the decision.
|
|
|
|
|
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
|
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
» Recent Threads
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
» Quick Links
|
|
|