Purpose of the PP

[Jeffreyalan]

I have been reading (and occasionally) posting on this forum for a while. I have a question for those of you using the PP, either the standard 4x or your own variation. What is the purpose you are using it for? Are you using it as your primary savings vehicle? A secondary savings account? An investment account outside of your normal savings?

[drumminj]

I'm using it as my 'primary' vehicle, though I also have extra cash, and some Wellesley as well. I run a standard 4x25.

[Cortopassi]

Primary. Otherwise, rainy day cash.

[boglerdude]

In case I need to make a major withdrawal when stocks are down

[europeanwizard]

It's an investment besides saving, for now. Although I consider making it my primary savings. It's meant for being able to retire a couple of years earlier than usual.

[sophie]

Retirement/lifetime savings. Includes emergency fund.

[ochotona]

HBPP has influenced my thinking about portfolio design, and challenged my assumptions.

GOLD - never owned it before 2015. Now, I use Jim Rickard's "at least 10% for every investor" as my base gold allocation, and if it grows I'll let it swell to 35% of the portfolio, which is HBPP just before it rebalances back to 25%. If gold more than triples, then likely something "broke" with the US Dollar, so keeping a 25% gold target would seem prudent.

CASH - I used to try to minimize cash, now I embrace it as a "call option on everything", and for an emergency fund after having been laid-off from the oil industry.

BONDS - the HBPP has made me move towards T-Bonds as opposed to Corporates, so I'm moving down Exter's Pyramid.

STOCKS - I find the HBPP and John Bogle's avoidance of non-US stocks interesting. It sure seems to be a good idea right now, I'm not sure how it will play out over the years. Wait and see I guess.

I think by the time I'm ready to stop actively managing my portfolio, HBPP or some closely related variant is where I will arrive in my late-70s or 80s. I think it will be easy enough to ask one of my kids to rebalance a four-component portfolio once a year.

[jacksonM]

Retirement/lifetime savings. Includes emergency fund.

Me too.

HB said it's for the money you can't afford to lose and currently all of mine falls into that category.

I found the PP in 2008 after the meltdown by googling "Safe Portfolio". It pointed me to the book called "Fail Safe Investing" and I've been using it ever since. Retired 2 years ago and plan to keep on using it.

[buddtholomew]

PP + Cash in taxable account and 70/30 BH in retirement accounts. My CAGR over last 8 years is 3.85%. This is actually the low point for the portfolio since inception.

[I Shrugged]

Same as Sophie. Except already retired.

[Kriegsspiel]

I think of the PP as kinda like cash. Or, like cash back in the day when it had higher yield. My feelings on the individual components is similar to ocho.

[blue_ruin17]

The PP is the vehicle I use for allocating my entire LIQUID portfolio, including war-chest cash reserves and savings for purchases that are years in the future, such as a new vehicle.

I don't mentally divide my liquid assets by what account it is held in or what type of asset it is. I take a holistic view of my liquid net-worth, and allocate my assets accordingly. A few piles of cash in different accounts and in physical bills. Several stashes of gold and silver. And a tax-free savings account with stocks and treasuries. It's a simple, easy to implement and monitor, safe solution to managing my liquid portfolio.

Now, for my retirement account (RRSP), where my capital is locked in for two to three more decades, I pretty much just throw it all into an all-world equity ETF, with a little reserved in treasuries and gold just to hedge against potential decades long bouts of deflation or inflation.