Markets go down as well as up and this is why I invested in the PP. When all the news is negative and the market is tanking, I can live my life because the PP is going to perform nicely in a market like this. I rebalanced my PP and bought more gold the last week in December. I personally love the ag...

I got a chance to go into the financial industry some years ago, and it was a career change for me. I had the Series 7 and 66 licenses and I was certified in mutual funds. This is what I learned, and I wished someone would have been honest with me. You are selling financial products. If you don't se...

Both of the accounts are in IRAs. No immediate tax consequences. But I want to keep commissions within a reasonable level.
From what I read, quarterly rebalancing works best. I have 5 ETFs in one account and 4 in the other.

Michael

I have given much thought about investing in general and my own personal investing and where I have made mistakes and failed over the years. It is not easy to admit my mistakes and some have been costly. The most costly for me has been going from one fad to another. If I had done nothing, I would ha...

I have been doing some research about how often to rebalance a non-PP. The simple solution is to rebalance once a year. But the best results seem to be when you rebalance quarterly. Rebalancing quarterly does have an appeal to me. Rebalancing monthly doesn't appeal to me. Any thoughts?

Michael

My PP was up .01 today when the market took a mild beating. I know a lot of people are uncomfortable about gold. But the way I see it is that the asset class that is despised today will be prized tomorrow.

Michael

About this time last year, I threw in the towel and started a PP. You may be thinking, "Are you quitting the PP?" No way. Although it has been a lackluster year for the PP and everyone is lamenting over the prospects of cash, stocks, LT bonds and gold for the future, I have learned somethi...

Hi sophie, I guess I can be described as a newbie. On December 16, 2014, I personally implemented my HBPP. Long-term bonds were high at the time. But whenever you begin your PP, some asset class will be overvalued and another will be undervalued. Yes. I have noticed some animosity between forum memb...

The idea of groupthink is probably correct. I was a part of a fundamentalist Baptist church as a teenager in the South and actually went to one of the Southern Baptist seminaries to become a preacher/minister. I did receive a Master of Divinity degree for my effort but did not become a preacher or m...

I have been following the discussions here and have not posted in a while. I started my PP on December 16, 2014. What do I have to show for my PP? BIL-steady; VTI -3.26; TLT -3.97; IAU -6.99. The PP in down-3.59. Is there anything wrong with the PP? Nope. I am always fascinated by charts and statist...

Matthew, When to sell separates the winners from the losers. I buy penny stocks and have had some success with them (this is the variable part of my portfolio). My goal is for every penny stock to double (of course not all of them do). This is my selling plan. When the stock doubles I will sell half...

Welcome Matthew, When to begin the PP always presents a dilemma. One or more of the asset groups may seem overvalued while other asset groups are tanking and looking for a bottom. I just jumped in December 2014 and allotted my 25% to the four asset groups and I have not looked back. I checked this m...

I am down -.60% since 12/16/14. But I'm in for the long haul. You have to start somewhere. Bonds were high when I started my PP, and TLT is off -13.50% from 52-week high. Maybe I can take advantage of TLT's volatility. That is the key with the PP, taking advantage of assets when they are on sale and...

Interesting discussion. I have been investing on-and-off since 1990. I have made some big blunders. The biggest is: "The talking heads know where the market is going." I don't know, and they don't know. That's the dirty little secret. It's more important to me to approach the market in a s...

I started my PP on December 16, 2014, and although it hasn't moved much, I'm staying with the PP. Some are clamoring about adding to their stock positions because stocks are on a win streak. Go ahead-load up. Not me. Things can change very quickly without warning. And today's supposed genius is tomo...

There is a part of me that is a value investor. What about USO and XLE at these levels? I don't like to go all in because the price could drop even lower. Therefore, I may take a 50% position and then wait to see it they go lower or stabilize.

MachineGhost, After years of attempting to be more of an investing gunslinger, I came to the realization my bias is more to the conservative side. I have dabbled in penny stocks and made a little money from them. I have also tried to replicate the stocks company insiders are buying. Again, it's not ...

Pointedstick,

Thank you for your insightful comment. Going 3X leverage is much too risky for me. Simple is better. There is something about buying a dividend-paying stock and collecting the dividends over the years that is more to my liking.

I have been doing some research on Barbell Portfolios, putting two extreme asset classes together. The benefit is that you can control your loss. For example, $100,000 portfolio could be divided into $95,000 in T-Bills and the other $5,000 as risky as you possibly want to be. Your maximum loss would...

sophie, I am expanding my dividend stocks and I especially like cumulative preferred stock. My plan is to live off the dividends and let everything else hopefully grow. Living off the dividends allows me not to redeem shares in a down market. I'm not a gunslinger when it goes to investing. Dividends...

The fund is The Villere Balanced Fund. I like the risk-reward ratio. I already have some money in the fund, and it has lagged this year presenting me with a favorable entry point for dollar-cost averaging.

True. Past performance is irrelevant, but it does provide some insight. I really like the fund manager's philosophy and would be comfortable putting and keeping money in this fund for the long-term.

I have about $200,000 in cash sitting in a 401K. There is a fund that I really like that has performed poorly this year. But the fund is #1 over the most recent 5 year period. The fund is a blended fund holding approximately 60% in stocks and 40% in bonds. I am cautious by nature. Dumping $200,000 i...

I'm building up cash for the downturn. I buy all dividend-paying stocks and even bought a couple of preferred stocks that were attractively priced this week on Tuesday. My buying will be selective for 2015. No great rush for me. I practice risk management and I don't apologize for it.

I am going out on a limb and say Gold will be the best performing asset in 2015. Wait and see what happens when greed turns into fear. This is not going to end pretty-too much investor complacency and Fed arrogance will lead to a stampede for the exits.