Category Archives: Asset Allocation

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: June 2015 Performance Update

Posted on by
Reply

MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MD

Dear Mr. Market:

Like clockwork you set us up for another stretch of pretending that you wanted to inch up higher and then sold off the last week of the month. How you behaved in May is similar to what you did in June except this time your volatile temper began to show more of a resolve and rattled investors. You began the month with some semi-positive economic news along with dovish Fed commentary all to have it dampened by the Greek debt fiasco.

The S&P 500 lost -2.17% for the month of June. The poor performance turned in by our domestic markets pales in comparison to what has transpired in China. If you’re waiting for another proverbial “bubble” to burst…perhaps it’s here. In about three weeks Chinese stocks sold off sharply losing -30%. We’ll talk more about this later in this article but for those “experts” claiming that this is a good time to buy Chinese stocks, consider the reality that they are still quite expensive. If you think our markets are frothy after a six-year bull market run and a current P/E ratio of 20.5, the median P/E ratio for Chinese companies is still at 55 (down from 108!).

Here’s the current summary of the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio mix, which is updated as of this writing (July 2, 2015).

Click here to compare our portfolio against the benchmark.

What adjustments did we make? Continue reading →

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: May 2015 Performance Update

Posted on by
Reply

MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MD

Dear Mr. Market:

If you’re new to this monthly series…remember what we’re doing. This exercise, as we like to call it, is not an attempt to pick the best stock or “time the market”. We leave that futile task to those who own time machines and If you’re new to this monthly series…remember what we’re doing. This exercise, as we like to call it, is not an attempt to pick the best stock or “time the market”. We leave that futile task to those who own time machines and accurate crystal balls. For a refresher, see our first article on the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio.

Here’s the current summary of the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio mix, which is updated as of this writing (June 5, 2015).

Click here to compare the portfolio against the benchmark

What adjustments did we make?

We didn’t make any portfolio moves in May. Aside from collecting nice dividends through BND, LQD, and Conoco Philips (COP), the market environment did not warrant making any adjustments.

Why? Continue reading →

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: April 2015 Performance Update

Posted on by
Reply

MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MDDear Mr. Market:

Every month we write to you and chat about the markets and how people are behaving based on your results. Sometimes it’s good to refresh (click here) our memory of why we do this and what the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio is intended to do. First and foremost, our aim with this series of monthly articles is not to “beat the market”, race against any benchmark, or pretend we have a crystal ball. In the most ironic way possible, those that follow this series of articles will eventually understand that the primary focus of this exercise is to show you how picking stocks and trying to “time markets” is usually a hit or miss expedition. At the end of the day (or in this case, whenever we decide to stop writing these “letters”), you will likely see that holding a properly disciplined and balanced portfolio of instruments tracking specific indexes beats out most “potpourri” type portfolios. Continue reading →

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: March 2015 Performance Update

Posted on by
Reply

 MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MDDear Mr. Market:

You don’t have to be a professional money manager to be aware that the swift decline in oil prices has been one of the most impactful financial headlines in years. As a matter of fact if you didn’t own a computer, read a newspaper, or have basic access to media, you would still know that oil has dropped like a rock. All you had to do was go to the gas station and see that it costs far less to fill up your tank today than it did last year.

What you may not have noticed, however, is the huge appreciation in the U.S. dollar. The U.S. dollar index compares the dollar with a basket of other currencies and it spiked up 50% in the first couple weeks of March. It has already risen almost 8% year to date and this has impacted the stock market in ways that many are unprepared for. With any situation like this there are silver linings and opportunities that we’ll discuss later in this article.

First let’s review where we’re currently at and what we did last month:

Here’s the current summary of the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio mix, which is updated as of this writing (April 1, 2015).

Click here to compare our portfolio against the benchmark

What adjustments did we make?

The following moves were made during the month of March:

3/13/15:  Bought 200 more shares of VO (Vanguard Mid Cap Index) @ $126.19 ~$2 worth

3/25/15:  Bought 75,000 final shares of MONIF (Monitise) @ $0.191 ~$14k worth Continue reading →

Don’t Neglect Bond Basics

Posted on by
1

 

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

Posted on by
Reply

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 →

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: February 2015 Performance Update

Posted on by
Reply

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 →

Robo-Advisors: What are they and why should you care?

Posted on by
1

RoboAdvisor4Dear Mr. Market:

The financial services industry is notorious for creating new terms and services in an effort to meet the ever-changing needs of investors. Often these ‘solutions’ are quickly adopted and become broadly used while others simply fizzle away only to be quickly forgotten. Unless you’re inside the industry you won’t hear the term “Robo-Advisor” but with advertising and slick marketing you will soon be solicited by one.

As with any new service or product there are many different models that companies are using as they rush to be part of a new fad. The basic definition of a Robo-Advisor is:  a class of financial adviser that provides portfolio management online with minimal human intervention. You might not be aware of these offerings but with several large firms introducing new strategies this year it is a safe bet that you will hear about Robo-Advisor’s in the coming months.

The vast majority of these firms have only been in existence the last five years but the growth they have experienced is dynamic and catching the attention of many large national firms. Currently there are over 15 established Robo-Advisor firms – the average account size is just over $20,000, each firm has over 20,000 clients and $200 million in assets. According to the research group Corporate Insight, they posted over 36% in asset growth in just four months last year (April to July). The growth of these firms has been impressive but should it really be that surprising? Continue reading →

Who told you the S&P 500 is your benchmark?

Posted on by
Reply

benchmark4Dear Mr. Market:

Everyone wants to be associated with a winner. We are all familiar with the famous quote, “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” from ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Imagine that you are at a sporting event, you glance at the scoreboard but it shows nothing … at the end of the game you have no clue if your team won or loss. Some people claim your team won while others are not so sure. Mr. Market does exactly this to investors with their investment portfolios on a consistent basis.   As an investor how do you effectively gauge how your investment portfolio has performed and if you are victorious or humiliated in defeat?

The media would have us all believe that investors should use the S&P 500 or the Dow Jones Industrial (DJIA) as a benchmark against their portfolios. Turn on the nightly news or open a newspaper and you will quickly spot what each index closed at and what percentage they are up or down for the year. While everyone would agree that it’s important to have a sense of how the market is performing, is this the proper measuring stick investors should use to gauge how their own investments are performing?

A quick summary of the indices the media force-feed us on a daily basis: Continue reading →

MPG Core Tactical 60/40: January 2015 Performance Update

Posted on by
Reply

MW-BB798_sm6040_20130422180557_MDDear Mr. Market:

Even if you didn’t watch the 49th Super Bowl on Sunday, you inevitably heard something about it. We admittedly did not have a dog in the hunt and took the side of “let’s at least hope for an entertaining game”; and guess what folks…that’s exactly what America got!

 

Regardless if you rooted for Seattle or New England, there was plenty of excitement and surprises. Even if you could care less and were in the “I can’t wait until half time camp” you got to see Katy Perry perform with eight outfit changes. (yes…eight)

How does all this relate to the stock market and the MPG Core Tactical 60/40 portfolio? Well…we’re only one month into 2015 and volatility has come back with a vengeance! During the month of January the Dow Jones had 14 of the 20 sessions end up with triple-digit days to either the upside or downside.

The broader market indexes are now down -4% from their December 2014 highs. The S&P 500 also dropped -3.1% in January, which by the way…was the exact same performance as in January of 2014! For those with short-term memories, allow us to remind you how the “experts” said the bull market would end due to how we started the year out. (that doesn’t quite line up with how 2014 finished as a whole…does it?) Continue reading →