Are stock/stock funds still attractive?

[keegs]

Have you you changed your investment strategy, stayed the course?

I started putting new money into cash.

 

[RockyMtn]

No change here....just rebalanced to my desired asset allocation. Cash from divs, cap gains, etc goes into MM fund to pay next year's expenses.

 

[sengsational]

No change in strategy. Still dollar cost averaging into high beta equities index and maintaining my target asset allocation if the actual allocation hits a control bar.

 

[Fermion]

I keep a little cash around for buying on dips but I try to put new money to work. Cash is paying 0, the market is paying 30% to 40%.

 

[Midpack]

Most folks here seem to stick to their established (or very slowly evolving) asset allocation and investment philosophy, so stay the course is likely the predominant view here. There are fewer market timers, the group your question targets.

 

[keegs]

Our cap gains and divs are reinvested. But besides emergency funds we're all in. Not sure how much it makes sense to put new contributions into mm, but I'm giving it a try anyway.

 

[karluk]

Have you you changed your investment strategy, stayed the course?

I started putting new money into cash.

I think investors who have a set asset allocation have been almost forced into putting new money into cash for several years now. I personally have not been a net buyer of stocks since the fall of 2009. The bull market has caused the stock portion of my portfolio to easily keep pace with the new savings I've put into fixed income investments. Roughly speaking, the rebalancing I did in 2010, 2011 and 2012 resulted in about as much selling as buying of stocks, whereas in 2013 I was a big net seller.

 

[audreyh1]

I think investors who have a set asset allocation have been almost forced into putting new money into cash for several years now. I personally have not been a net buyer of stocks since the fall of 2009. The bull market has caused the stock portion of my portfolio to easily keep pace with the new savings I've put into fixed income investments. Roughly speaking, the rebalancing I did in 2010, 2011 and 2012 resulted in about as much selling as buying of stocks, whereas in 2013 I was a big net seller.

This makes sense. If your portfolio is rising faster than you are adding new money, then by default the new money is going to go into cash.

 

[F4mandolin]

I'm afraid I am one of those timer scumbags. More money than usual in cash...and have gone to a higher stock total than I wanted a few years ago. I think it is the right thing to do.....unless I am wrong

 

[galeno]

Went from 65% to 60% stocks.

 

[MooreBonds]

Am selectively closing positions in a few individual equities, based on valuations and some reducing earnings estimates.

Have moved a little new cash into a few non-leveraged Muni bond ETFs, but needing to look around for a few honest values in some beaten down sectors (i.e. have a little better long-term prospects than SHLD). Am tempted to deploy free cash into Emerging Markets/Int'l, but already have about 35%-40% of portfolio there...

I like to stay fully invested for the most part. Peter Lynch's quote keeps rining in my ear: "More money has been lost waiting for market corrections than in market corrections themselves".

Of course, that wouldn't have held true for the massive 50% drop in 2008/2009, when I thought about moving a large chunk to cash in 2007, but I'm hoping that we'll have another 20-30 year period before the next market crash of that magnitude.

 

[Dash man]

I've been moving some money from stocks that have run up a lot to some less expensive stocks. If there is a sell off, they seem less likely to fall as far as those with higher P/E ratios. I keep my equity/cash allocation pretty stable, but I move money when a company's price runs up too high or their fundamentals change. Fortunately I got rid of Target stock before this recent mess!

 

[Fermion]

There are still a few dirt cheap stocks out there. Apple is pretty attractive at $530 as is Corning at $18. Cisco won't be going bankrupt and $22 doesn't look bad. All three of those are trading well below the S&P500 average PE and all three pay more dividends than the S&P500 average, have more cash than the S&P500 average, and some of the lowest payout ratios.

 

[keegs]

....in any event, it may not be a bad idea to have some cash in your portfolio for when those opportunities show up...

 

[kaudrey]

No change in strategy, but since my AA is a bit out of whack, I am putting more new funds into bonds than stocks, to rebalance (instead of moving money around, as I am OK with rebalancing over a period of time). That is in my 401(k). New money in taxable continues to go into stocks.

 

[Birchwood]

For those who have to maintain a stock portfolio, there is always something to buy, either individual stocks or sector mutual fund.
I read some rec. Europe stocks.
Some rec. big value stocks like GE and WFC.
Some like DE, CAT, FCX INTC.
Just go slow folks!!!!

 

[foxfirev5]

With the recent dip in the markets, my new contributions are going into a Developed market fund. an emerging market fund and a high dividend yield fund. When I'm up to my 45% equity level I'll probably switch new contributions to a SV fund.

 

[jimnjana]

I changed my strategy and have gone from primarily Dividend Growth and value stocks to adding Growth stocks that have been beaten down or are just mis priced imo(maybe just value after all) . I've sold a few dividend stocks that just didn't have the dividend growth I want and have moved that money into Growth stocks.

 

[Moneygrubber]

Anyone use the paid version of Morningstar for stock and fund analysis ? I am thinking about getting a subscription .

 

[Willers]

Anyone use the paid version of Morningstar for stock and fund analysis ? I am thinking about getting a subscription .

I do just for ease of information gathering. It's not inexpensive, but as an expense ratio addition it is miniscule for me. I subscribe for convenience since almost all of the information is available somewhere else if you look hard enough for it.

 

[Moneygrubber]

Thank You

 

[John3754]

....in any event, it may not be a bad idea to have some cash in your portfolio for when those opportunities show up...

Unless the opportunity you're waiting for doesn't show for a very long time...


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[heeyy_joe]

My 10% cash pillow helps me sleep at night. You have to have money at the bottom to buy at a bottom.

 

[scrabbler1]

In my taxable account's stock fund, I switched my dividends and cap gains to cash (to my local bank's checking account) to determine what to ultimately do with them. Back in April, I did this because I needed a small cash infusion to cover a small spending spree going back to last December. But upon further review, I decided to make this more than a one-time change, maintaining the cash option. Usually, any excess dividends not needed to cover expenses go into the big bond fund so it looks like that is where these stock fund dividends will end up.

In my IRA's stock fund, I still reinvest the dividends and cap gains back into the same fund but in the IRA I make more frequent rebalancing moves so the reinvested money may get moved to the IRA's bond fund at some point.

 

[panacea]

No change- stay the course!