A little help with Asset Allocation.

[geoloco]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to Nord for his response on the "Introduce yourself section"
Sorry if this is considered a "double post".
Thought I might get a little more notice here.
I've been lurking around this board and others for quite a while now. I think I am ready for my first post and God knows I need a lot of help. You will see that my "portfolio" is quite the MESS. It's not all my fault since a lot of this came in an inheritance from my dad. I have finally settled the estate and need to get my house in order. A little background on me: 60 yrs. old planning to retire at 62 due to numerous health issues. Divorced with no dependents. Plan to retire and live in Mexico where I vacation every year. Actually this is the only place where I can probably afford to retire. I will take S.S. at 62. Pension will be a grand total of $100.00 per month. I'm sure many of you are probably thinking I'm making a big mistake in retiring early but this is something I must do for both my HEALTH and SANITY. Any and all advice and suggestions will be greatly appreciated and accepted.I guess I'm looking for the best way to generate additional income to S.S and the MEAGER pension. I probably would like to be about 60% Equities-30% Bonds-10% Cash. Also think I want to stay mostly with Vanguard. In answer to "Nord's" comment re: Firecalc I have run the numbers and it does appear that I will be able to make it work. Just need a little help with the right investments. Anyway here it is - Read it and Laugh or Weep. Thanks in advance for your thoughts,suggestions and prayers.  George

TAXABLE ACCOUNTS VANGUARD
Wellington 8.50% VWELX
Wellesley 7.50% VWINX
Div. Appreciation index 1.00% VDAIX
Prime Money Market 2.00%
Inter-Term-Invest-Gr 2.00% VBIIX
Short-Term-Invest-Gr 2.00% VBISX

VBS HOLDINGS
Walgreens 30.00% WAG
Exelon 28.00% EXC

NON-TAXABLE IRA ACCOUNTS VANGUARD
Asset Allocation 7.50% VAAPX
Growth Index 3.00% VIGRX
Prime Money Market 0.50%

VBS HOLDINGS
Lucent 0.25% LU

AMERICAN CENTURY
Int. Growth Index 1.00% TWIEX

JACOB INTERNET 0.25% JAMFX

ROTH IRA ACCOUNT VANGUARD
Total Int. Stock Index 4.00% VGTSX

401K
SEI Div. Global 0.50% SAGSX
SEI Lg. Cap Val. 0.50% TRMVX
SEI Sm. Cap Val. 0.50% SESVX
SEI Int. Trust Eq. 0.50% SEITX
SEI Stable Value 0.50%

100.00%

 

[yakers]

Just me 2 cents but I don't think you have a "big" problem, you might have a "small" problem-a small amount in too many funds?. You have a patchwork of assets which is not all bad. It depends what you want to do. I have a lot of diversification through a Target Retirement type fund with some stocks, ibonds and a couple mutual funds. But my personal guideing principle is to keep things simple. If you are the slice & dice type person and like managing money then you can have fun with all the options. I like VG and I like things simple, so going with one (or as many as you are comfortable) makes sense, are you looking for a single fund solution? The biggest issue may be taxes in readjusting funds.

I like this web site but the diehards.org site may be a better place to get a lot of portfolio suggestions. You are looking for income and you have some bond funds and didivend paying stocks, not bad. If you really are focused on income you may be a candidate for an : annuity :

 

[Nords]

George, double-posting here doesn't work that way. Most of the posters read all of the sections of the board, and the vast majority want to know who's checking in at "Hi, I am...". So double-posting on this board is wasted effort.

You might get hurt going over to the Diehards with that portfolio! They'll rip you apart if you don't clearly state that you're trying to salvage Dad's assets, and then Hokus will try to weigh in with his 100% cash allocation. You know the DHs will recommend... Wellington & Wellesley. Maybe a Target fund.

What (or who) you're looking for is posters who delight in putting hairballs like this into asset-overlap software (like M*'s Portfolio X-ray) and then telling you exactly what to ditch & what to buy, including a tax analysis. Apparently ours here are all busy elsewhere this week.

You could wait another week to see what happens, or you could try the Diehards (make sure you tell them that you literally inherited the problem!). Others include M*'s "Hands On" posters or Peteyperson over at Raddr's board.

 

[unclemick]

Yep - I go along with Nord's - you can have a lot of fun with this. This week - I'll switch from my usual pssst Wellesley or Target and let's say Benchmark VG Balanced Index and tweak from there.

Now if you're serious about Mexico and you aluded to a low tax bracket - extreme slice and dice - WITH maybe some commodity products could be on the table. If you are to be an ex pat - currency issues might loom. Drive the 'value premium'/current yield hard enough and you have left indexes behind.

As Nord's suggested - try some of the forums mentioned - for a range of answers.

heh heh heh heh - will be interesting to hear back the range of answers you get.

heh heh heh heh

 

[geoloco]

Thanks to all for your replies. I posted more over in the "Hello" area.

geoloco