<p>Thank you. I don’t think I’d regret. I needed simplify.</p>
<p>I don’t like TLT. Lost 1.32 percent in a day. I know it is just one day. But the securities in that etf don’t yield much…can’t afford to lose principal when the yield is that low. If rates go up…</p>
<p>Would anyone care to discuss their growth rates for 2012? I just did an inventory of our own and am fairly pleased how the year went but not sure how it compares.</p>
<p>Do you want a breakdown by portfolio goals? For example, annual return for retirement portfolio, college fund, growth & income, etc. etc.?</p>
<p>Well, just sort of ballpark sense of how it went this year. I’m personally trying to figure out the right level of aggressiveness for the year ahead. I tend to be too conservative probably. This year I put more in stocks and came out with 10-12 percent growth on savings and retirement funds. (Our 529s are in the Michigan fixed growth fund.)</p>
<p>I have been modeling our retirement scenario with an assumed 4 or 5 percent growth factor and wonder if I should think this over.</p>
<p>10 - 12% on a savings fund is quite good.</p>
<p>Volatility has been crushed.</p>
<p>Selling options is not that lucrative…And more risky…</p>
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<p>You really have to pick your seasons - at least that is what I learned last year in writing CCs. It’s great selling when the premiums are frothy but when they aren’t - it’s hard to justify the risk given the premium and I find it easier not to bother. Especially if I want the stock.</p>
<p>*10 - 12% on a savings fund is quite good. *</p>
<p>I think so, too. I had about 35% fixed income/65% various stock funds. It felt overly aggressive given our age (mid-fifties) with a target retirement date either four or six years from now. Just trying to figure out if it makes most sense to leave it alone as currently allocated.</p>
<p>For once my spouse isn’t grumbling that I’m too conservative. Usually we come in aroungd 5 or 6 percent growth for the year . . .</p>
<p>Oh - I misconstrued your statement. My assumption was that your savings fund was all fixed income.</p>
<p>This doesn’t apply to the intelligent people here but after listening on CNBC to some traders on the floor and their thoughts about the fed statement yesterday, I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re stupid.</p>
<p>^^ It might be doable with High-Yield funds. I am too chicken to go with high-yield funds tho. I am sure they are safe enough.</p>
<p>Sewhappy, those are good returns. I think you are smart to figure that you will get lower returns in the future. Iff you end up with better returns in the future, great. That is easy to deal with.</p>
<p>Do you have a financial advisor? I used to be indifferent to using one, but after reading posts on CC over the years. I am changing my mind. I think Schwab, for example, will let you have one for free as long as the advisor doesn’t actually manage the account.</p>
<p>In this low interest rate environoment, financial advisors can really eat up an investors return. That is the downside of using one. If you can just get one for advice…
And keep your costs down by using low cost index funds…</p>
<p>Your allocation looks pretty good to me on its face…without knowing details…
I am not a professional financial advisor.</p>
<p>On a related note…</p>
<p>I think investors are acting correctly…</p>
<p>[Investors</a> Sour on Pro Stock Pickers - WSJ.com](<a href=“Investors Sour on Pro Stock Pickers - WSJ”>Investors Sour on Pro Stock Pickers - WSJ)</p>
<p>There are smart traders and there are dumb traders…just like other fields…</p>
<p>And the 20/80 rule applies…20 percent make the money…80 percent of the traders are just passing through…</p>
<p>I can’t answer you yet sewhappy because I haven’t updated my personal financial software with December transactions. But glancing at the various accounts from fixed income to high risk stocks the 2012 return as of eof Nov is ranging from 5% to 47%. One is showing 92% but I have to double check that. </p>
<p>With funds, I tend to check the expense ratio and look at the top holdings and see if it makes sense to exit now and re-enter later at a lower valuation or move to a different fund. It’s really quite a tedious process for me. It’s not easy but I have to do it to make sure the funds still make sense to meet our goals.</p>
<p>It’s not easy but I have to do it to make sure the funds still make sense to meet our goals.</p>
<p>I hear you, Krlilies. When I don’t stay on top of it I usually get burned. But if I over meddle with it, I also get burned. :(</p>
<p>This past year I started picking mostly funds that were indexed and not overly concentrated in a particular sector but more broken down just by large cap, small cap, fixed, emerging markets, domestic. I tried to pick ones that had been around long enough to have at least a 5-year inception date, preferably longer so that I could see how they weathered some of the ugly stuff. </p>
<p>Dstark, we are having some initial consultations with a financial planning group used by several of my spouse’s colleagues. It may be a good fit because they seem quite conservative, telling us they favor relatively conservative growth objectives around 5 percent and want to really push us to save and invest as much as possible right now. So they are kind of lifestyle coaches, I guess. </p>
<p>In all honesty, they don’t seem have as smart as the posters here, though. And part of me questions their real agenda – the more we hand over to them the more they will earn themselves. I dunno. I like doing it myself.</p>
<p>This had to be an incredible week for option traders.</p>
<p>The volatility drop was so large, I don’t know how many traders prepared for that.</p>
<p>If you were long premium, you got buried. If you were long, long deltas, did that cover the losses from the volatility drop? People that were long out of the money call options, if they were way out of the money… were probably a little surprised by their pnl. If you were long premium and didn’t have the upside, wow, that money went poof fast.</p>
<p>If you were short premium, the volatility drop helped you, but if you
were short deltas, you could still have gotten hurt.</p>
<p>Sewhappy, many financial advisors aren’t that good, aren’t that smart. </p>
<p>"Dstark, we are having some initial consultations with a financial planning group used by several of my spouse’s colleagues. It may be a good fit because they seem quite conservative, telling us they favor relatively conservative growth objectives around 5 percent and want to really push us to save and invest as much as possible right now. So they are kind of lifestyle coaches, I guess. "</p>
<p>I think it’s good that you got a recommendation from colleagues, and fit is very very important. </p>
<p>You don’t have to do what anybody tells. If it doesn’t feel or sound right, forget it.
You may just get an idea that helps. That helps too.</p>
<p>I think what you are doing is good. You may not need very much guidance. I like what you are doing with your portfolio.</p>
<p>“In all honesty, they don’t seem have as smart as the posters here, though. And part of me questions their real agenda – the more we hand over to them the more they will earn themselves. I dunno. I like doing it myself.”</p>
<p>Then listen. And then still do it yourself.
Like I said, I like what you are doing. </p>
<p>I hate the agenda. I hate the fees. I like making my own mistakes. I don’t like people touching my money.</p>
<p>Feel kind of guilty when they come out to meet with you and you don’t dance with them, though. Oh well. We’re small fry for them.</p>