I think that a nice, safe certificate of deposit, or even better, a ladder of them, might be better suited for you. I currently have the following in-place: Assume $1 million total portfolio value for this exercise. 350K in laddered CD's with durations from 12 months through 5 years 250K in Cash or...

Honestly, this completely stinks. I'm sure a few on this board are expecting me to respond in this fashion, but it is really getting way too tiresome...Enough is enough already. I don't understand. The portfolio is positive for the year. Morningstar is showing me +3.55% and it's only April. A stock...

Honestly, this completely stinks. I'm sure a few on this board are expecting me to respond in this fashion, but it is really getting way too tiresome...Enough is enough already.

I use buddtholemew's freak-out posts as rebalancing points, but not in the traditional sense... I immediately sell my VP and buy up more PP.  Then I wait for a new ETF to come out based on the PP, and sell out of the PP whatever I had put in from my VP, and put it back. It's worked out pretty well ...

I'm really interested if you feel the same way now that you did when you first started this thread.  It's funny how the market can turn on a dime.  Treasuries have fallen, but recently the stock market just gave up much of it's recent gains, and gold this morning is around $1665 an ounce. Also, I t...

I think you must have misinterpreted something. Closing price was indeed $140.27.  Note that the Google 3-day chart shows a gain of +0.20. http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y21/timmeh49/SPY2012-03-16.jpg There really isn't anything to misinterpret. Follow the link in the original post and note the c...

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=SPY+Historical+Prices

Note that the 3-15 closing price for SPY is $140.72. SPY gained $.20 cents today, but the close price is $140.30 for a decline of $.42. Can anyone explain this discrepancy?

Best-
Budd

Today's response to GLD and TLT underperformance was completely irrational and I apologize for starting this thread in frustration. Fear of loss plays an instrumental role in my psyche and I begin to second guess my decisions under these circumstances. 5-digit daily declines have prompted me to sell...

how long have you been w/ the PP? Almost a year. Waiting to complete 12+ months before realizing gains and moving on. So you've had about a 10-12% gain over the 12 month period? Is that more or less than you hoped for when you adopted the strategy? I took a look at Vanguard Wellington (close to a 6...

I am tired of watching my portfolio total decline on a daily basis. Gold and Treasuries are taking another beating today. The portfolio served its purpose when markets were in decline, but now it is time to transition to a more conventional 60/40 allocation. how long have you been w/ the PP? Almost...

I am tired of watching my portfolio total decline on a daily basis. Gold and Treasuries are taking another beating today. The portfolio served its purpose when markets were in decline, but now it is time to transition to a more conventional 60/40 allocation. Where do you predict stocks will rise to...

I am tired of watching my portfolio total decline on a daily basis. Gold and Treasuries are taking another beating today. The portfolio served its purpose when markets were in decline, but now it is time to transition to a more conventional 60/40 allocation.

Just when you think that the portfolio is performing as expected, you have a retracement in an asset that erases months of gains. I'll never understand the perspective that the pull-backs are "healthy".

I feel more comfortable with an asset class when others believe it is sure to decline in 2012. When the sentiment is positive and sometimes euphoric, I cringe at the decline that is sure to follow. 4x25 is the best approximation if we remove all of our investment biases.

Interesting, so HB did recommend re-balancing annually even though an asset may not have breached the 15/35 tolerance band. I would say that he acknowledged that annual rebalancing wouldn't mess anything up too badly (other than reducing the long term returns of the portfolio).  I think "recom...

In the very same section, Harry discusses how he has already discontinued rebalancing at 30%. Please take a moment to explain this comment further. I am debating whether to re-balance at year's end or wait to contribute cash to the lagging asset when a tolerance band is breached. Best- Budd If the ...

In the very same section, Harry discusses how he has already discontinued rebalancing at 30%.

Please take a moment to explain this comment further. I am debating whether to re-balance at year's end or wait to contribute cash to the lagging asset when a tolerance band is breached.

Best-
Budd

I started my PP in January 2011 with 25% each in VTI, TLT, GLD, SHY.  My question is: do I rebalance each to 25% on the first trading day of 2012? or do I wait for the 15%-35% bands being hit before doing anything?  I'm planning to add new money to the porfolio as well, and since the historical ret...

Stocks - 31% Bonds  - 25% Cash    - 18% Gold    - 26% I'm currently saving into cash until I hit 15/35 bands. Saving to cash with your current split makes complete sense as you are under-invested in that area. Would you still contribute to cash under these circumstances or rebalance to 4x25%?: SPY ...

SPY - 26%
GLD - 23%
TLT - 25%
CASH - 24%

Planning to rebalance all assets to 25% at EOY with new contributions. On the other hand, may contribute to CASH and wait for an asset to reach 15% before re-balancing. Not sure which approach is optimal.

This question is non-sensical. Why are you interested in $ returns when it is easy to calculate % gains using SPY, TLT, SHV and GLD? What will you gain from the information if I told you that I made .10 cents or 100000 dollars. They are both equivalent if my starting values were $1 and 1000000 doll...

Off topic, but you might want to figure out how to live on less than $60k/year in the event of job loss. The 60K figure is to cover mortgage expenses and property taxes only. The balance required to sustain a family of 4 in CA is easily double that amount. The spouse works and will contribute to th...

I would say now is a great time to buy PRPFX. Not necessarily all at once, but the current price suggests that adding to or starting a position might make sense. My experience has been that when everyone starts getting jittery about PRPFX and noticing how much better the HB PP is performing, it's p...

I currently have 12 months worth of Cash in a Savings account at Ally that I would withdraw to cover expenses in the event of a job loss. An additional 24 months of reserves is invested in the HB 4x25 PP. These assets are held in taxable accounts and are not considered part of the retirement portfol...

Yes, that's actually how sales are run.  If it doesn't sell today, the price drops tomorrow.  Investments are never "on sale", but rather represent the price investors are willing to pay for the holding. By that, nothing is ever on sale.  Every price paid, whether for an ounce of gold, a ...