M*: How Our T. Rowe Price Retirement Saver Portfolios Have Performed: Christine vs. Linkster

Ted

FYI: (Christine Benz's Aggressive T. Rowe Price Retirement Saver Portfolio
Anticipated Time Horizon to Retirement: 40 years )

20%: T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth (PRDGX)
15%: T. Rowe Price Equity Index 500 (PREIX)
10%: T. Rowe Price New America Growth (PRWAX)
10%: T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value (PRSVX)
35%: T. Rowe Price Overseas Stock
5%: T. Rowe Price New Income (PRCIX)
5%: T. Rowe Price Real Assets (PRAFX)

Performance
3-Year Annualized Return: 11.93

( The Linkster's Aggressive T. Rowe Price Retirement Saver Portfolio
Anticipated Time Horizon to Retirement: 40 years )

20%: T. Rowe Price New America Growth (PRWAX)
20% T. Rowe Price Equity Index 500 (PREIX)
20% T. Rowe Price Global Technology Fund (PRGTX)
20% T.Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund (PRHSX)
20% T. Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund (TRBCX)

Performance
3-Year Annualized Return: 19.82

The Entire Article:
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/880485/how-our-t-rowe-price-retirement-saver-portfolios-h.html

Derf

@Ted: Thanks for the link & links with in.
Derf

Ted

@Derf: Just having fun with Christine, but on a serious note its hard for me to believe with a 40 year time frame she wouldn't have been more aggressive leaving out technology and healthcare were major mistakes, in my opinion. If I had left out PREIX and replaced it with PRSVX my returns would have been over 20%.
Regards,
Ted

Ted

@MFO Members: Here is her E-Mail response.

Thanks for the note. I think your crystal ball is clearer than mine!
Christine

hank

WADR: Ted, it’s her f...... money.

msf

"Past performance is not a guarantee of future results."

We'll check back in 40 years to see who had the better long term portfolio.

hank

My earlier goof. Glanced at the thread on the way out the door and assumed “Christine” was a newbie here seeking advice. Didn’t realize she’s actually a journalist spewing out model portfolios. I’d be very careful criticizing the investment choices of any one individual. Only they really understand their situation and temperament.

But if folks find it either instructive or amusing to argue about model portfolios that’s fine for me. Go for it. Few of us will be here in 40 years to judge who had it right. I used to look at them for ideas 20-30 years back seeking to chart my own course. Little value or interest now to someone like me (and many others here) who’ve been at this for the past 50 years of their life. Indeed, most of the TRP funds being touted here didn’t even exist 50 years ago.

Regards

davidrmoran

she does it tutorially, it's her job

hank

Thanks @davidmoran

Who employs her? (some company or agency, wealthy individuals directly, financial planners)?

40 years is a long time. If she’s wrong, you wouldn’t know for a long time. I suppose it doesn’t matter because there’s probably no legal accountability anyway.

3 years (advertised by some here) doesn’t serm very meaningful to me. In a 40 year span (first investment to time of drawdown) a 3 year streak (positive or negative) would appear trivial.

davidrmoran

https://www.morningstar.com/content/morningstarcom/en_us/model-portfolios.html

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-benz-b83b523/

dir of personal finance at M*, for some years

hank

Thanks again @davidmoran

Re tutorial (noun) - Cambridge Dictionary

1. a period of study with a tutor involving one student or a small group
2. a period of study with a tutor and a small group of students
3. IT a document or website on a computer that shows you how to use a product in a series of easy stages:

Albeit, you used the adverb form of the word (which is rarely used). So to tie things together:
tutorially: in the manner of a tutorial (Collins Dictionary)

Here’s how M* describes Ms. Benz’s role and purpose: “Morningstar director of personal finance Christine Benz has developed a series of hypothetical portfolios for savers and retirees. These portfolios are offered as general examples for investors' reference. These portfolios are not personalized recommendations, nor are they investable products offered by Morningstar.”

Hope I’m not nit-picking. Just trying to understand why I should be particularly interested in her advice over, say, someone like Ol’Skeet here who does a great job explaining his long standing bucket approach or the folks at T. Rowe Price who present models by example. (ie - I can take apart a given target date retirement fund designed by them and visualize how much they allocate to different funds or sectors.) I’m not saying Christine Benz’s is bad advice. Just asking why she deserves more credence than someone else who’s equally (possibly more) experienced?

Nothing in Benz’s listed educational background (below) suggests any type of financial training or certification. All I see there is political science and East European history. Also, I’ve never thought of M* as an advisory firm. Always thought their forte was in statistical analysis of fund data. (But, I’ll admit to rarely looking at them.)


Christine Benz’s Experience (Linkedin) https://www.linkedin.com/in/christine-benz-b83b523/

Director of Personal Finance
Morningstar, Inc.
2008 – Present (10 years)

Director of Mutual Fund Analysis
Morningstar, Inc.
February 2006 – March 2008 (2 years 2 months)

Education
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
BA, Political Science, Russian and East European Studies
Lyons Township High School


From Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Christine-Benz/e/B002PICOLS
“Christine (Benz) holds a bachelor's degree in political science and Russian/East European studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg. She is an avid cook, a political junkie, and a long-suffering Chicago Cubs fan.”

davidrmoran

this is silly

they (M*) are a service firm and publish a huge number of service pieces

much of online journalism is service pieces, so much so that we do not even call it journalism anymore

when such are full of examples and specifics and strategies they may be called tutorial, or I could have said her articles were didactic, or just stuck with 'service pieces'

tips on baking pies, shooting free throws, changing fuses, using tampons, dealing with soybean fungus, hamstring injuries, chemo nausea, understanding fugue, choosing a masseur, saving a turtle, sawing limbs, and on and on and on.

much of these pieces' value is from clinical experience, so to speak, OtJ, or consults with experts, or both; and much of it is valueless, sure

I have been reading benz for a decade and find the work bland, obvious, though sometimes pretty subtle and counterintuitive, always clear and thoughtful, and sometimes almost excessive in considering multiple sides and views.

ever patient and reasonable and polite, unlike some of us

this particular thread and tactic she has been following for some time.

pissing at her for having a degree in poli sci looks like what it is, frankly. be sure to skip her.

Sven

Wonder how the former M* analyst, Sam Lee would perform? He is now running his own advisory firm.

davidrmoran

ba in econ (grinnell), yawn

BenWP

Ease up. It’s not rocket science, as the saying goes, and a liberal arts major can certainly learn to suggest mutual funds precisely because liberal arts majors are taught how to learn in a serious undergrad program. Better their advice than that of some techies and quants running the next hedge fund to precipitate a collapse.

Derf

For what it's worth. The link within Ted's link concerning asset allocation was worth looking at. Aggressive, middle, & conservative. Just wondering what the folks here at MFO thought ?

Good investing to all,
Derf