Monthly Archives: March 2015

Don’t Neglect Bond Basics

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Seesaw1Dear Mr. Market:

The equity markets typically dominate the headlines but recently there has been more and more talk about the Fed and where interest rates are going. Stocks are definitely a more intriguing topic as they can move very quickly in either direction and make a dramatic impact on investor’s portfolios. Future Fed activity will have an impact on what is often the most neglected portion of a portfolio – Fixed Income or Bonds.

Most investors spend a minimal amount of time with this portion of their asset allocation. It is often the textbook definition of a ‘buy and hold’ approach and why shouldn’t it be? For the last several years investors have accepted the fact that interest rates are essentially zero and this portion of their portfolio warrants little to no attention. While this approach has been adequate investors that subscribe to this approach could find themselves with losses in what they consider their ‘sleep at night’ portion of the portfolio. When and if the Fed makes any changes to their policy investors need to be prepared to make changes to this portion of their investment portfolio.

When rates do change the behavior of bonds can be explained using something that everyone has seen on a children’s playground…a seesaw or teeter-totter. It is based on a very basic concept – when one side goes up the other will go down. When using this analogy with Fixed Income, one side would have interest rates and the other would have the principal value of the bond or fund. As rates go down the principal would go up and if rates go up the principal would decline. Fairly straightforward…isn’t it? Additionally, the further away you are from the middle of the seesaw (fulcrum point) the harder your landing will be. This playground explanation paints a simplistic explanation of how the price of bonds is affected by interest rate changes but what should you focus on when it comes to your fixed income positions? Continue reading →

March Madness: Final Four Investing Bracket 2015

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basketball on cashWelcome to the fifth year of our March Madness Investing Bracket! This series of articles is always one of the most popular investing articles on the internet! We’re proud to admit that we were one of the first investing nerds to combine our love for the markets with the passion that college basketball brings!

It’s common knowledge that people love excitement and surprises. It’s also human nature to root for the underdog and many times those two themes can certainly play out on the basketball court as well as on the stock market floor. Much like two college basketball teams that never play each other our imaginations are swept up in wondering who will “win” between a relatively unknown investment or a popular stock that has the media in a frenzy.

You may be asking what does a basketball tournament have to do with managing your portfolio or the investment world in general? At first glance there might not be much but we thought we would have a little fun and couple it with some asset allocation parallels. After all, there are many folks who have simply thrown their hands in the air at one time or simply succumbed to the notion that investing is like educated gambling. There could be some truth to that depending on your approach…

For those of you that are not familiar with the NCAA and its annual basketball tournament there are 68 teams selected and each is seeded according to their results throughout the regular season and their relative rankings. Every March the NCAA holds a single elimination tournament to crown an undisputed champion. Part of the appeal of such a tournament is that theoretically any team that makes the “big dance” has a shot at winning it all. Each and every year there is a proverbial “Cinderella” team that surprises everyone including all the ‘so-called’ experts. Prior to the tournament there is always plenty of banter and opinion on who wasn’t invited or further arguments around the seeding of the teams that did make it. That’s where we see a parallel of sorts to investing and having to make decisions among the multitudes of investment choices. With so many investment choices available, there are also as many differing opinions.

In the “real” March Madness tournament this year there appears to be a hands down favorite with the undefeated Kentucky Wildcats. Hardly any office pool or basketball analyst is betting against such a heavily favored team. If they win it all it will be the first time in over 30 years that a team stays unbeaten the whole season. Our own version of this (using investment themes and choices) shares the premise that we have four very decent #1 seeds but there is no slam-dunk pick that everyone agrees on. For this reason, our 2015 bracket is perhaps as important as ever to understand that a dark horse could win it all…

Before we begin digging into each “region” of our bracket, let’s revisit something everyone claims they know but so very few actually follow with consistent discipline. (Asset Allocation)

If you have ever looked at a chart of all the different asset classes and how they perform year to year…there is rarely a pattern or consistent way to determine next years “winner”.

For the purposes our annual investing bracket we have “seeded” or ranked four major asset classes (like the regions) and chosen several individual picks within each. There is some basic science applied to this process. We consider how the “pick” did over the past 12 months and also how it has trended over the past three months. In some cases we gave a lower performing investment a higher seed if it was trending well with recent strength or was more consistent over a longer period of time.

Each asset class (Large Cap, Small Cap & Mid Cap, Bonds/Alternatives, and International) was ranked and seeded, then corresponding seeds were assigned to “picks” that we are either adding to the portfolio or establishing new positions in. Note that we’re not highlighting 68 new investments and will only discuss some investments that we are either actively involved in or looking to add to most portfolios.

OK…Let’s dig into some of the key match-ups and explain why our Final Four going into Q2 2015 looks the way it does (CLICK HERE to view our 2015 Bracket):

Large Cap

This is typically viewed as the ‘efficient’ asset class. Continue reading →

Top 10 Life Insurance Myths

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life insurance 4

Dear Mr. Market:

We’ve used many quotes in the 91 letters that we have written to you over the last few years. They’ve covered a variety of topics and issues that investors are faced with as they attempt to navigate through the current economic environment. Today we look at a famous quote from one of our country’s founding fathers…

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain,

except death and taxes.”

          – Benjamin Franklin

Imagine if there was a product that addressed both death and taxes? Not to scare you away from this article … but there is. Individuals will typically avoid discussing it, if at all possible. The product is Life Insurance, owned by many but truly understood by few.

The Life Insurance industry has certainly not done itself any favors over the years. Individuals often experience a pushy sales process that is based on fear tactics and playing on emotions. Who really wants to sit down and discuss what will happen when they die? In an effort to serve individual needs, life insurance companies have created a plethora of products with different bells and whistles often leaving the potential client confused and completely overwhelmed. Rather than dig into the various products we will address 10 of the most common myths that are associated with Life Insurance and discuss their validity.

          1. Everyone needs life insurance

The two most basic needs that life insurance assists individuals with are: providing for dependents and covering estate taxes at death.   If you don’t have dependents or an estate valued over $5.43 million (for tax year 2015), you may not need life insurance. Throughout life your financial picture will change and your life insurance coverage needs to be adjusted as well; policies can be revised and cancelled, if needed. Continue reading →

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: February 2015 Performance Update

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MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MDDear Mr. Market:

For a guy who is usually full of surprises you’re scripting 2015 like a boring rerun of last year. As you’ll recall we had a rough start to the year with the S&P 500 dipping -3.1% in January but then February came around and erased all the negative returns for the year with a very strong month. As a matter of fact the S&P 500 had its best month in almost five years with a gain of +5.5%. The Nasdaq bubbled up (pun intended) even higher at +7%.

Everything is fine and dandy, right? The media is as giddy as they’ve been in ages. They’re showing us charts and comparisons of Nasdaq 5,000. Nothing could go wrong from here, could it? Is this another perfect backdrop for the four most dangerous words in investing?

“It’s different this time”. Continue reading →