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10/29/12-
Change AF = American Funds
Since AC = American Century
Fund PF % 10/1/12 S: = Schwab Account
ANCFX 7% -1.31% AF Fundamental Investors
SMCWX 3.8% -1.45% AF Smallcap World Fund
CWGIX 2.2% -0.91% AF Capital World Growth & Income
ANEFX 6.8% -1.23% AF New Economy Fund
GABAX 2.5% -0.62% S: Gabelli Asset
MAPIX 0.9% 1.64% S: Matthews Asia Dividend
GASFX 0.9% -0.26% S: FBR Fund Advisors
MFLDX 2.1% -0.52% S: Marketfield
ABALX 16.2% -0.94% AF American Balanced Fund
GBLAX 0.1% -0.46% AF Global Balanced
TWSMX 9% -1.13% AC Strategic Allocation (Moderate)
ABNDX 9.5% -0.23% AF Bond Fund of America
AIBAX 7.5% -0.29% AF Intermediate Bond Fund
CWBFX 0.6% -0.61% AF Capital World Bond Fund
AHITX 10.8% 0.54% AF High Income Trust
ABHIX 4.8% 0.32% AC High Yield Bond Fund
BGNMX 1.1% -0.89% AC GNMA Bond Fund
ADFIX 2.8% -0.35% AC Diversified Bond Fund
ACITX 8.5% -0.07% AC Inflation Adjusted Bond Fund
RPHYX 0.9% 0.3% S: Riverpark Short Term HY
PONDX 2.2% 0.33% S: PIMCO Income Fund (D)
Total Portfolio Change: -0.51%
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Comments
Why do you choose to invest in so many funds? Tell me that it is simply because you like to.
Versus the more stodgy road of investing in say a single conservative fund, like Vanguard Wellesley Income Adm VWIAX, which produced similar results to your portfolio last month.
In any case, thanks for sharing.
Glad you made it out on NY before everything shut down ... Would not have wanted to get stuck there with the wrath of Sandy moving through. I watched a special last night on the storm ... man, this reminded me of Hugo that tore up the Carolina's and moved North to WV and on into PA.
I was at the Carolina coast to mid day Saturday and headed out to higher ground. My cat was feeling the effects of the storm as he usually just rides in the back window of the car in a most mundane fashion ... but, not this time as he quickly became an alley cat type. Did not like the wind, rain, etc.
Our family home in Charlotte is in one of the old neighborhoods that dates back to the late 1800's. With that the power lines are on poles that run through the alley ways. When Hugo tore everything up our home was one of the last ones to get power back as it was out for about a month as the debris had to be cleared from the alley ways before they could restring and replace blown transformers. Our street had stuff piled on the crub for months as special contractors were hired to collect the rubble. Not something I want to go through again. I feel first hand for those that have now experienced Sandy.
We were lucky though ... In Charlotte a 100 year oak tree went down with damage to our home and it took over a year to put it back together ... at the coast ... only a few branches out of the pines to pick up and the yard to clean up ... no damage whatsoever to the home. You would have thought the coastal property would have been hit the hardest and for some indeed they did get hit hard ... but, 200 miles away severe damage too.
I am sure there are those around that remember Hugo (September, 1989) ... and, I am sure there are those that will remember Sandy (October, 2012) for many years to come.
That train excursion must have been one heck of a trip? And, how about the club car? How was the food, etc? Would you make the trip again?
Glad I have been trimming equities back and by my math the S&P is about 5% off it's recent high, perhaps it will pull back some more ... Got some cash to play with now.
And, most of all I am happy to learn that you had a good trip and returned home safely.
Best wishes ... and, "Good Investing."
Skeeter
Well, the portfolio held just fine during your travels. The best is that both of you were able to sample food in new areas of the country and expand your minds with all of the locations visited. Always good for a nice unwind.
Glad to know you two are home; safe and sound and having enjoyed the journey.
Take care,
Catch
- As for Charles' inquiry as to why some of us (self included) own such a high number of funds, I'll resort to the mountain climber motto: "Becausre they're there". - Not the best reason, perhaps, but probably bears more truth than most want to admit. - Regards, hank
... Err ... excuse me while I go throw a shoe at the answering machine. *#&!!* politicians
All of the Schwab stuff except Gabelli is quite new, and a result of discussions and suggestions here at MFO. They are funds of a nature not available at either American Funds or American Century.
I've been using the same Apple Works spreadsheet for more than twenty years to keep track of this stuff, and it really isn't all that hard... I just paste in a Google Finance list of all of those funds, and the rest is automatic.
You are quite right about the possibility of one particular fund essentially providing the same results over some particular period of time. I had to laugh about that myself a while back because holding only ABALX would have given the same results as the whole portfolio for the time frame that I was looking at. Over the long haul, though, spreading it around makes for better security, I hope.
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The train itself was a lot of fun, especially traveling again through the Rocky and Sierra mountain ranges. No club car as such, but a nice observation lounge car. Food and wine decent.
Have extra cash sitting in bank, with inflationary moths steadily chewing away. Hope to put some of that back to work if market provides opportunity.
Thanks for the kind thoughts!
Regards- OJ
But resist I try. Each time we trade a mutual fund, we're out of the market a day, at least. Plus the expense of the trade. And the knowledge that the more funds we hold, the closer we are to index exposure, but with higher fees. Then, the inevitable comparison over the follow-on period: "Did I make the right trade?"
I personally will continue to try and resist. Predisposed to not hold too many funds, or employ too many money managers.
Until I read the next MFO post that is...when my resistance will inevitably wane.
Thanks again, Charles
Regards,
Ted
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/how_to_choose/article/100568/Don't_Own_Too_Many_Funds
As the phrase goes.....a little "think outside of the box".
There are those who have multiple retirement and other account types that may also cause them the have to choose among those offerings. I know several people today who have had vendor changes within 401k's, 403b's and related. In some cases, they were able to maintain the old accounts and well as the new accounts. One person has had 3, 403b vendors within 25 years. They are able to use all of the accounts and now have a much larger choice of investment funds; versus anyone of the vendors alone.
Also, I don't find a problem with having several similar fund investments within a grouping.
One may choose to be in a particular sector, be it equity or bond; and spread the ability of management, an index or etf to smooth some of the risk of manager actions against other managed funds, static indexes or eft's.
If one has 5 active managed funds in one sector area and all funds have an E.R. of .55%, one does not have a higher expense, as you noted. And how are returns reduced by having "x" number of funds?
Obviously, there are variable factors among all investors that may cause them to invest differently than you or I.
Anyway, to each their own style; and I have no right to be a critic of anyone's methods and/or choices.
Regards,
Catch
No doubt Ted has posted many fine links over the years about common mistakes made by average retail investors. Holding too many funds is one. But, the more egregious are: poor timing decisions, big single sector bets, and chasing the latest hot trend, fund, or manager. Am confident the losses arising from duplicity of funds and associated fees pales in comparison to those others.
HY 007 has clearly explained an approach that works for him. My approach is pretty much a modified version of "set it and forget it." 60-65% is essentially buy and hold, about a dozen funds including high yield, commodities, international bonds and various balanced or hybrids - DODBX and PRPFX being two. The remaining 35-40% is divided about equally between cash and equity funds. I only "play" in this part, tilting sometimes more to equities and sometimes more to cash. Allows some input - without risk of upsetting the entire apple cart. The approach evolved 10-12 years ago from an undisciplined "quagmire" of funds - leading to an unusually high number of funds still today. Many years into retirement, it's geared more for stability than for growth.
Since all $$ is directly invested with 6-7 different fund houses, trades in and out of funds are free of charge. Having $$ at several houses, frequent trading restrictions are rarely an issue. Nor do I feel the "tug" each time somebody touts a new fund. The $$ has been rolled into IRAs. Price waives its otherwise substantial IRA fees if one keeps over 50k with them or agrees to "paperless" records. The others get $10-$20 a year in fees. All told - under $100 a year - not bad when you consider that trades are free of charge. ... No one size fits all. Just some ramblings.