As I noted in the other thread, buy healthcare and just own it.
I don't own any coal plays, but the only one that would interest me if I was looking is Westshore Terminals (WTSHF.pk), Canada's leading coal export terminal. We may not want coal, but other countries apparently do:
"Westshore will remain basically fully booked for capacity through 2014, 2015 and into 2016 (with a rated capacity of 33 million tonnes per annum) until such time as the $275 million new equipment upgrades are installed and become operational, and which will result in modest capacity improvements at the terminal, anticipated to commence in 2017 through early 2019."
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/westshore-terminals-accommodates-coal-shippers-131500591.html

Frontier markets (using TRAMX and WAFMX) showing strong mo (momentum)
EM seems like a mixed bag:
-MAKOX (Korea), EWW (Mexico) both showing strong mo (making new highs)
-LC China seems to be coming off recent lows (MCHFX) yet, small companies (MCSMX) and dividend investor (MCDFX) showing strong mo.
-India (MINDX) has had very strong performance (86% above it's 52wk low), yet almost 2% off it's recent high (I'm monitoring this number more closely these days)
-Russia has thrown funds like TREMX (EM Europe) and even PRESX (Europe) into a temporary tailspin...might be worth looking for a point where things improve and reverse direction.
-Egypt and Turkey get thrown around for similar reasons based on the Middle East's turmoils
RE I haven't overweighted, but hold as a diversifier to my other investments...performance seems interest rate sensitive to me...having a good year so far as LT treasuries moved lower. I own VNQ and PETDX. FIREX is a tamer way to get RE exposure.
Buy healthcare for the long term...lots of flavors these days so do your research. I own VHT and PRHSX. Here's a recent thread where others have chimed in HC:
mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/15007/healthcare-a-remedy-for-long-term-investors#latest
I like of a good broad tech fund (USNQX) long term as well.
Look for Coal to fill the energy voids created by energy disruptions...it's the dirty energy, but it is cheap and plentiful.

Good Morning ... A look at the futures is linked below.
http://finviz.com/futures.ashx
And, here is a link below for market data as reported by WSJ. Scroll down until you come to the International Overview Section and one can see how some foreign markets are trading prior to the US Market opening.
http://markets.wsj.com/usoverview
This link will take you to information on what a couple of traders are seeing in the markets.
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/15035/here-is-how-a-couple-of-traders-see-it#latest
In addition, one can access the above links and more by clicking on the below link. One might wish to save the below link as future reference as it has some new updates as of 08/12/2014.
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/14955/the-market-run-down-report-wsj-stocks-end-week-with-wild-ride
Have a grand day ... and, I wish all "Good Investing."
Old Skeet

Oh, Hosanna! Liquid Alt Indexes, for "benchmarking purposes," no doubt "for the sophisticated investor." Is it not likely that, in 3-5 yrs, these liquid alt indexes probably will have all the meaningful substance of liquid (alt) stool? And yet one could wager, with reasonable confidence, the blogging space devoted to them will be ..... limitless.
@Ted How were you able to post this and keep a straight face? [face palm] You are amazing!
The Board needs a dedicated Comedy category; I nominate this announcement as first entry.

Very satisifed AKREX shareholder here (since 2009). I've noticed the drift upwards in average market capitalization lately and used this fund earlier in the year to replace the slumping SGROX (which also has a lot of midcaps) as my large cap growth fund. He seems to be largely capitalization agnostic, so it would be good to know if he thinks this trend will hold steady or continue in the short term. Of course, the name of the manager is more important than the name of the fund, but if FBR Focus, now Hennessey Focus is any indication, he is as good of a teacher as he is a stock picker, so I am a little less concerned about succession then I once was. (I may be overweighting the lack of a meltdown PRHSX had when the fund manager and 2 analysts abruptly left last year in this analysis). I don't think Chuck sees capacity as an issue anytime soon. The current 4-5% cash level seems about the norm for him, and definitely less than the crazy high levels in 2009-2010. However, he may not see many other opportunities right now than his current holdings (low 30s, I believe), since it seems like the % of the fund in his top picks has been gradually increasing lately.

Also see:
DREYFUS: The Case For High Quality Stocks
https://public.dreyfus.com/documents/manual/perspectives/dry-fsiiqwp.pdf
and
S&P: S&P 500 High Quality Rankings Index
http://us.spindices.com/indices/strategy/sp-500-high-quality-rankings-index
and
QVM GROUP: High and Low Quality Stocks Beat the S&P 500
http://qvmgroup.com/invest/2013/06/12/high-and-low-quality-stocks-beat-the-sp-500/
and
FAYEZ SAROFIM & CO: Investing in Quality Companies
https://www.sarofim.com/assets/white papers/sarofim-quality-white-paper-2014.pdf
[Manager of Dreyfus Appreciation Fund]
and
SEEKING ALPHA CONTRIBUTOR: What is Quality in a stock?
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2163323-what-is-quality-in-a-stock
[Broad based discussion, includes Morningstar screen]

For an ETF, see perhaps:QUAL or SPHQ
QUAL
http://etfdb.com/2013/ishares-launches-msci-usa-quality-factor-etf-qual/
ETFdb:
The iShares fund takes a factor-based approach in trimming down the starting universe by employing a series of fundamental metrics screens to narrow down only the highest-quality of companies.
The methodology behind QUAL is based on three metrics of quality: high return on equity, stable year-over-year EPS growth, as well as low debt-to-equity.
SPHQ
https://www.invesco.com/portal/site/us/financial-professional/etfs/product-detail?productId=SPHQ
Powershares:
The [ETF is based on an] Index [that] is designed to provide exposure to the constituents of the S&P 500 Index that are identified as stocks reflecting long-term growth and stability of a company's earnings and dividends.

Inker defined a high-quality stock as one that has high profitability throughout an economic cycle, stable profitability and low debt. Some such high-quality stocks are trading at a lower price-earnings ratio than the broad market is, so investors can obtain them at a discount, he noted.
August 2013:Investors Should Buy Quality Stocks, Not Hide in Cash
http://www.moneynews.com/InvestingAnalysis/Inker-quality-stocks-cash/2013/08/01/id/518161/
And for an article with greater detail, see:
March 2004:The Case for Quality – The Danger of Junk
http://thetaoofwealth.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/the-case-for-quality-the-danger-of-junk.pdf

Here's the July 21, 2014 Seven Year Asset Class Real Return Forecasts. By the way, you can subscribe to receive these by email for free.

A former colleague of mine had this immortal advice: "The world runs on bulls---."

I do believe that that is the most succinct explanation of 95% of what we hear and read that I have ever heard, or ever will hear.

Also have skin in the fund from the outset. However, if I have reviewed the data correctly the stats show approx. 59% either low quality or not rated so should I read this as a tilt to high yield ? Ms.Kong indicated in her recent commentary "we are particularly vigilant about the quality of the balance sheets of our portfolio holdings" - so could a move towards higher quality be anticipated ? Will be interested in the response to your fund size question.
Thanks

Cool.
Chip should be leaving work around 5 EDT today, rather early for her but she's got a family commitment. I'll ask her this evening what sense she makes of it.
Take care, big guy!
David

This was the same discussion that the analyst against Kinder had yesterday. Note the responses:
https://twitter.com/HedgeyeENERGY/status/498983237931134976
https://twitter.com/HedgeyeENERGY/status/498814704819531777
Just funny (read first comment)
https://twitter.com/HedgeyeENERGY/status/498878223913349120

Hi John
Yes the wife is about 5 years out from retiring from the US Postal Service. I also like their funds. We have G, C, I, 2020 income funds. Sold S end of last year. She works in Amish country....home of the Amish Mafia (lol!), and we are Lebanon Levi protected!
Party on dude!
the Pudd

yes sir work for govt for 10 yrs now as nurse in healthcare @ Veteran hospital.
Their g fund is the best if you are near retirement. my portfolio [41 years old] divided equally in portion I, C, 2040 funds, and large cap/ 20% split in [10% G funds/10% and Money market, proximately 75-80s% in stocks and 20s% in fixed income.
probably retire in 20s+ yrs so don't mess w/ it until near retirements
their fees for the funds etfs are maginal/good reasonable [barclay] company that manage the funds/
one of my colleague at work just retire last wk, he is 70s yr old, he was very greedy and put all his 650sk in china and i fund in 2007 prior the crash. now his portfolio is about 760s after the the rise and more distrubutions, he has learnt his lesson and he is 100% G funds now prior to retirement which is the best thing he did few months prior to retirement...
their 2030s or 2040 or 2050 funds are also very good if your wifey want to play 'couch potato to investment game' and don't have to do much - stay passive and active at same time

@ron,
SPLV seems to perform very similarly to VDIGX. Here are the two over your holding period (actually three years):

The nice thing about VDIGX is it can be backtested over 21 years. Here's a chart comparing 100% VDIGX (SPLV) vs. a 60/40 blend of (VDIGX & BTTRX) staying fully invested over the 21 years. BTTRX is a LT Treaury fund offered by American Century.

The backtesting tool (link in previous comment box) allows investors to input specific mutual funds which enabled me to create the above chart.

FYI:
The fastest-growing segment of the global population is aged 60 and over, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. That slice of humanity is expected to increase by 45 percent by 2050.
The surge in the older population has contributed to a wave of new product introductions in biotechnology, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and expansion of healthcare services.
In addition, healthcare is a remarkably durable sector for investors, soldiering on despite periodic market downturns, like the one seen last week when the S&P 500 index had its worst week since 2012.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USL2N0QA12R20140804

Bee, my $500,000 equity example would be approx. 50% of total, the rest in cash/bond funds.

I am the least aggressive investor and a long term holder of many positions. SPLV is one of shorter term holdings just over 2 1/2 years and I look at as having about a 50% increase not your recent 5% decline.

Hey, rjb.
I get where you're coming from, but Bernstein was attempting to write a popular statistical model of a portfolio that would approach the Efficient Frontier, while claiming that, since you can't know future asset class performance, you can't know where the Efficient Frontier will lie. In order to do that, he looked at historical asset class performance and correlation. For foreign, since he's writing in the late 90s, the only thing he has long term data for is the EAFE. For small he uses the CRSP 9-10, which gets much farther into microcap territory than VTSMX.
When he starts talking about asset allocation in Chapter 5, he admits up front he is "an asset class junkie," and is willing to own "20 or 30" different asset classes. But the rub is that he wants everything to be a separate asset class. We have 15 years of hindsight and recency bias showing an across the board increase in correlations. For instance, Bernstein approaches bonds as a risk control tool, and assumes correlations of .777 between SC and the S&P 500, and .483 between the EAFE and the S&P 500. It's not so much that Bernstein doesn't want to use total market indices, but that doing so doesn't allow him to really make his broader point re: diversification because there is a lack of data. He ends up using the European stocks as a proxy for the EAFE because there wasn't a Vanguard DM fund yet.
The portfolio Ted points to, he calls the "Level-One Asset Palette," and he designs it for those who find "reading this book ... the equivalent of root canal work." Quickly after he presented it as his Lazy Portfolio. In the book he presents second level and third level "palettes," which include EM, Foreign smallcap, REITs, Natural Resource stocks, short term bonds, TIPS, foreign bonds, and valuation factors.
Not sure if that helps or not, but that's what I gather his reasoning is. Personally, if you're going for as much growth and diversification across 4 asset classes as you could easily get, I would think something like CRSP 9-10 (VB or VBR), foreign small (VSS), Real Assets (VNQ, RWO, VDE, or ALPS), and either an intermediate or hedged foreign bond fund (BND or BNDX) would be better. But some of those funds didn't exist 15 years ago.