% of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Discussion of the Gold portion of the Permanent Portfolio

Moderator: Global Moderator

User avatar
LittleDinghy
Full Member
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:44 am

% of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by LittleDinghy » Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:01 am

I'm currently rearranging our full retirement nest egg investments around to implement the Permanent Portfolio, but actually more like the Golden Butterfly. I am 3-1/2 years from retirement and my wife is 8-1/2 years away. Right now I'm thinking about how to implement the gold asset. On page 159 of Rowland & Lawson's book "The Permanent Portfolio" is written, "Investors who want to use a gold ETF are usually better off using a hybrid approach, with some physical gold in their possession and some in a gold fund for easy re-balancing of the whole portfolio." Also, I've seen mention in this Gold section of this bulletin board that people hold some gold in ETF's for rebalancing. My question is how should one decide what percentage of one's gold asset should be held in either ETFs or closed end funds (CEFs) for rebalancing purposes?
pmward
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1731
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:39 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by pmward » Thu Jun 13, 2019 10:20 am

LittleDinghy wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:01 am
I'm currently rearranging our full retirement nest egg investments around to implement the Permanent Portfolio, but actually more like the Golden Butterfly. I am 3-1/2 years from retirement and my wife is 8-1/2 years away. Right now I'm thinking about how to implement the gold asset. On page 159 of Rowland & Lawson's book "The Permanent Portfolio" is written, "Investors who want to use a gold ETF are usually better off using a hybrid approach, with some physical gold in their possession and some in a gold fund for easy re-balancing of the whole portfolio." Also, I've seen mention in this Gold section of this bulletin board that people hold some gold in ETF's for rebalancing. My question is how should one decide what percentage of one's gold asset should be held in either ETFs or closed end funds (CEFs) for rebalancing purposes?
I think this is a highly personal thing. I think each person here has kind of reached their own conclusion on this. Some people are even full on ETF's (the AAAU ETF in particular is compelling because it is actually backed by allocated physical gold and shares can be exchanged in kind with the Perth Mint for only a $30 delivery fee). I personally have a set number in physical gold I am slowly building up to that I plan to never sell, and once I reach that the rest will stay in ETF's. The amount I will be holding physical will be relatively small in comparison, the majority of my gold allocation is and will stay in AAAU and IAU (I use IAU for DCA purposes just because it's commission free at Fidelity, but occasionally, when the tax situation allows it, I swap it over for AAAU or physical).
Pet Hog
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 4:08 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by Pet Hog » Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:16 am

LittleDinghy wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:01 am
My question is how should one decide what percentage of one's gold asset should be held in either ETFs or closed end funds (CEFs) for rebalancing purposes?
If you're using the 35/15 rebalancing bands, then you could have 71.4% of your gold assets in physical when you rebalance out of gold for the first time. That's because you'd be selling off 10/35 (28.6%) of the total gold value (in, for example, ETFs) and keeping 25/35 (71.4%). After that, if you had to rebalance a second time out of gold, then you'd have to sell physical. To avoid that scenario, you might want 71.4% of what's left from the first rebalance to be physical. So 71.4% of 71.4%, or 51.0% physical. That means that today if you have half of your gold assets in physical, you could rebalance twice out of gold and sell only your ETFs. If you rebalance three times out of gold, you could have (0.714)^3 in physical, or 36.4%. I believe it has happened historically that a single asset has reached the 35% rebalancing band three times in a row, so that's my final answer: 36.4% in physical, 63.6% in ETFs.

These numbers apply to each of the assets, so you could say the same thing, for example, for "deep cash." I remember it as the "911" rule, because you can keep 9.11% (36.44%/4) of your total PP in assets that never have to be sold (at least until an unlikely fourth consecutive rebalance).
stuper1
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1365
Joined: Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:18 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by stuper1 » Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:22 pm

Not sure on your math for the 911 rule. It seems like if 36.4% of each asset is in a deep never-to-be-sold condition, then 36.4% of my PP is also in that state, not 36/4.
Pet Hog
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 4:08 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by Pet Hog » Thu Jun 13, 2019 4:43 pm

stuper1 wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 1:22 pm
Not sure on your math for the 911 rule. It seems like if 36.4% of each asset is in a deep never-to-be-sold condition, then 36.4% of my PP is also in that state, not 36/4.
Yes, poorly worded on my part. I meant 9.11% of total PP value in each asset class. So, for a $100,000 portfolio, $9110 in physical gold, $9111 in deep cash, etc.
stuper1
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1365
Joined: Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:18 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by stuper1 » Thu Jun 13, 2019 8:01 pm

Ok, that makes more sense. I should have realized what you were saying.
User avatar
LittleDinghy
Full Member
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:44 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by LittleDinghy » Fri Jun 14, 2019 12:22 am

Pet Hog wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:16 am
LittleDinghy wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 9:01 am
My question is how should one decide what percentage of one's gold asset should be held in either ETFs or closed end funds (CEFs) for rebalancing purposes?
I believe it has happened historically that a single asset has reached the 35% rebalancing band three times in a row,
Thank you for a great method for deciding the percentage. It is especially useful to hear that historically a single asset has reached the 35% rebalancing band three times in a row (at most, I presume).

Of course, since I'm doing something more like the Golden Butterfly (GB) rather than the PP, there are two big differences important to re-balancing:
1) Re-balancing bands for GB that are equivalent to the PP's 35-25-15 would be, I think 28-20-12.
2) I have to divide the portfolio into 5 parts rather than 4 at each re-balancing.

Now the next thing to research is what sort(s) of fund(s) in which I should buy, ETFs or closed end funds.
User avatar
sophie
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1959
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:15 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by sophie » Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:48 am

Just be aware of the tax implications of selling gold. Most of us keep ETFs in tax-advantaged accounts for future rebalancing purposes. You can use closed end funds in taxable to qualify for cap gains rates, but it's really a pain - you have to file a paper form every year, which means you not only have to deal with the headache of an additional form, but you can't file electronically.

I agree that AAAU really changed the game. Still, I like keeping my taxable gold holdings off the radar as much as possible, just because I can.
User avatar
LittleDinghy
Full Member
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:44 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by LittleDinghy » Fri Jun 14, 2019 9:31 am

Pet Hog wrote:
Thu Jun 13, 2019 11:16 am
that's my final answer: 36.4% in physical, 63.6% in ETFs.
[/quote]
AND
sophie wrote:
Fri Jun 14, 2019 7:48 am
Just be aware of the tax implications of selling gold. Most of us keep ETFs in tax-advantaged accounts for future rebalancing purposes. You can use closed end funds in taxable to qualify for cap gains rates, but it's really a pain - you have to file a paper form every year, which means you not only have to deal with the headache of an additional form, but you can't file electronically.

I agree that AAAU really changed the game. Still, I like keeping my taxable gold holdings off the radar as much as possible, just because I can.
So, it sounds like for the PP, the recommendation is to keep about 36% in physical gold in a taxable account, and a corresponding 64% in one or more ETFs in tax advantaged accounts. And from reading other posts in the gold forum, given that my wife and I are getting close to retiring (8-1/2 & 3-1/2 yrs away, respectively), the best type of tax advantaged account for us to use for the ETFs are our Roth accounts. Am I reading the advice correctly?

Of course the percentages above need to be modified a bit since we've decided to use more of a GB than a PP.
Pet Hog
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue May 28, 2013 4:08 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by Pet Hog » Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:57 am

I think 36% physical gold in taxable and 64% ETF gold in a Roth account would be a very tax-efficient strategy. One thing to consider is if/when you sell your gold ETFs to withdraw from the Roth you would be increasing your percentage of physical gold. May or may not be a concern.

I'm not sure what the "official" rebalancing bands are for the Golden Butterfly, but 28/12 seems reasonable. In that case, when rebalancing out of gold you would be selling 8/28 (28.6%) of your gold holdings and keeping 20/28 (71.4%). So, yes, the same percentages as for 35/15 PP.
User avatar
ochotona
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 3353
Joined: Fri Jan 30, 2015 5:54 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by ochotona » Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:01 pm

ETF vs Physical - I wish AAAU had come out long before I opened my GoldStar IRA account. After a number of years go by, I'll decide whether to fold up GoldStar and bring it home to Schwab as AAAU. I don't think you get much more secure than they will deliver metal to do if you desire, and it's in a decent country.

Hey, there's a Class A timing accident for you! Option B did not exist when Option A was selected.
pmward
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1731
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:39 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by pmward » Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:17 pm

ochotona wrote:
Fri Jun 14, 2019 3:01 pm
ETF vs Physical - I wish AAAU had come out long before I opened my GoldStar IRA account. After a number of years go by, I'll decide whether to fold up GoldStar and bring it home to Schwab as AAAU. I don't think you get much more secure than they will deliver metal to do if you desire, and it's in a decent country.

Hey, there's a Class A timing accident for you! Option B did not exist when Option A was selected.
Yep, the very meaning of the term "good as gold". It's also completely backed by the government as well. With a .18% ER, what more could one ask for in a gold ETF? I honestly would feel safe even if all my gold were in AAAU.
User avatar
sophie
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1959
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 7:15 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by sophie » Sat Jun 15, 2019 8:52 am

LittleDinghy wrote:
Fri Jun 14, 2019 9:31 am
So, it sounds like for the PP, the recommendation is to keep about 36% in physical gold in a taxable account, and a corresponding 64% in one or more ETFs in tax advantaged accounts. And from reading other posts in the gold forum, given that my wife and I are getting close to retiring (8-1/2 & 3-1/2 yrs away, respectively), the best type of tax advantaged account for us to use for the ETFs are our Roth accounts. Am I reading the advice correctly?

Of course the percentages above need to be modified a bit since we've decided to use more of a GB than a PP.
It doesn't have to be that precise, but it sounds like a good plan.

Because gold doesn't generate dividends, it's not a great use of Roth space. I do like it for tax-deferred accounts. Anything coming out of those gets taxed as ordinary income, so for most it's not worse than paying collectibles tax. This isn't the case for stocks, which get terrible tax treatment in those accounts. Ideally I want my Roth to make insane gains in the long term and my tax-deferred account to shrivel up and die. So I pack my Roth, HSA, & taxable accounts with stocks, and prioritize gold, cash, and bonds (about in that order) for tax-deferred.
User avatar
LittleDinghy
Full Member
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:44 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by LittleDinghy » Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:31 pm

My apologies for my probably poor way of writing the following. This is all so new to me that everything is not clear enough yet for me to be able to write about it well.

Our in-service 401k, SSP (Employer supplementary savings plan), 403b, 401a, and 457b do not contain treasury funds, or even good equivalents; the best choices for these accounts are the equities. We have most of our 25-30 year T-bonds and our cash (1-3 year T-notes and T-bills) in rollover IRAs that I've created by rolling over a 401k from a previous employer as well as by rolling over what I didn't need for equities in the current 401k (which latter allows partial in-service rollovers). We had some money in 2 Roths (his and hers). There is no way to get more money into her Roth, but in 2018 I started adding money to my Roth by rolling over both after tax deposits, as well as pre-tax deposits (up to my marginal tax rate ceiling), into my Roth, and I plan to continue such Roth conversions each year until I retire at the end of 2022. One of the Roth accounts is partially in equities (to make up the rest of the equity position for the whole Portfolio). The rest of that Roth and all of the second Roth are presently in long term Treasuries to make up the remainder of the whole Portfolio's long term treasuries position. So, all of that makes up the equity position, the 25-30 year treasury position, and most of the cash position. I made the conversion to all of the above in the last 2-3 weeks. What is left and not yet invested is the brokerage account. I was intending to cash out enough of the brokerage account to buy the full gold position in physical gold. The remainder left in the brokerage account would be in T-bills, rounding out the full cash position. I should also mention that I'm doing a nearly pure GB, rather than the PP, so the equity position is 40%, with the bonds 20%, cash 20% and gold 20%.

Now, with the advice I'm seeing here, it seems I should instead have, 20-40% in physical gold and 60-80% in funds (sounds like AAAU is preferred over Schwab's and Fidelity's commission-free gold fund options, despite the relatively small overall holdings in AAAU implying less liquidity than the others if selling of shares for rebalancing were required). So it seems to me that I need to decide whether to prioritize the portion of our Roth accounts after equities for gold (AAAU or other funds), long term treasury bonds, or cash (1-3 year treasury notes). Remember from the above that it seems we have no choice but to place our equities in our active 401k, SSP, 403b, 401a, and 457b.

Your thoughts on what to put in our Roths, given the limitation for where we can put our equities, would be much appreciated!

Also, one other concern. Despite mentioning in several spots that it might be a good idea to hold some of one's gold in funds for ease of rebalancing, the book, "The Permanent Portfolio" really seems to emphasize that gold should primarily be held in physical. Yet, thinking about three consecutive gold rebalancings leads one to primarily hold gold in funds. What is the reasoning that one can use to resolve this dichotomy one way or the other?
pmward
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1731
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:39 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by pmward » Tue Jun 18, 2019 9:36 am

LittleDinghy wrote:
Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:31 pm
My apologies for my probably poor way of writing the following. This is all so new to me that everything is not clear enough yet for me to be able to write about it well.

Our in-service 401k, SSP (Employer supplementary savings plan), 403b, 401a, and 457b do not contain treasury funds, or even good equivalents; the best choices for these accounts are the equities. We have most of our 25-30 year T-bonds and our cash (1-3 year T-notes and T-bills) in rollover IRAs that I've created by rolling over a 401k from a previous employer as well as by rolling over what I didn't need for equities in the current 401k (which latter allows partial in-service rollovers). We had some money in 2 Roths (his and hers). There is no way to get more money into her Roth, but in 2018 I started adding money to my Roth by rolling over both after tax deposits, as well as pre-tax deposits (up to my marginal tax rate ceiling), into my Roth, and I plan to continue such Roth conversions each year until I retire at the end of 2022. One of the Roth accounts is partially in equities (to make up the rest of the equity position for the whole Portfolio). The rest of that Roth and all of the second Roth are presently in long term Treasuries to make up the remainder of the whole Portfolio's long term treasuries position. So, all of that makes up the equity position, the 25-30 year treasury position, and most of the cash position. I made the conversion to all of the above in the last 2-3 weeks. What is left and not yet invested is the brokerage account. I was intending to cash out enough of the brokerage account to buy the full gold position in physical gold. The remainder left in the brokerage account would be in T-bills, rounding out the full cash position. I should also mention that I'm doing a nearly pure GB, rather than the PP, so the equity position is 40%, with the bonds 20%, cash 20% and gold 20%.

Now, with the advice I'm seeing here, it seems I should instead have, 20-40% in physical gold and 60-80% in funds (sounds like AAAU is preferred over Schwab's and Fidelity's commission-free gold fund options, despite the relatively small overall holdings in AAAU implying less liquidity than the others if selling of shares for rebalancing were required). So it seems to me that I need to decide whether to prioritize the portion of our Roth accounts after equities for gold (AAAU or other funds), long term treasury bonds, or cash (1-3 year treasury notes). Remember from the above that it seems we have no choice but to place our equities in our active 401k, SSP, 403b, 401a, and 457b.

Your thoughts on what to put in our Roths, given the limitation for where we can put our equities, would be much appreciated!

Also, one other concern. Despite mentioning in several spots that it might be a good idea to hold some of one's gold in funds for ease of rebalancing, the book, "The Permanent Portfolio" really seems to emphasize that gold should primarily be held in physical. Yet, thinking about three consecutive gold rebalancings leads one to primarily hold gold in funds. What is the reasoning that one can use to resolve this dichotomy one way or the other?
One thing to remember is that these things do not need to be perfect. There is some flexibility in the system. This is supposed to be a simple system, not a complicated one. We humans have this natural tendency to want to just complicate the hell out of everything. There's not much benefit in over complicating the PP. None of us have a perfect portfolio. We all have constraints that cause us to have to deviate from utopia in one way or another. It's ok, it's the fundamental principles that matter more than the tiny micro details. Don't overcomplicate things to the point that they are unmanageable, doing so is going to be a whole lot of work that is not likely to improve your return much. Good enough is really good enough.
User avatar
LittleDinghy
Full Member
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:44 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by LittleDinghy » Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:11 pm

pmward wrote:
Tue Jun 18, 2019 9:36 am
One thing to remember is that these things do not need to be perfect. There is some flexibility in the system. This is supposed to be a simple system, not a complicated one. We humans have this natural tendency to want to just complicate the hell out of everything. There's not much benefit in over complicating the PP. None of us have a perfect portfolio. We all have constraints that cause us to have to deviate from utopia in one way or another. It's ok, it's the fundamental principles that matter more than the tiny micro details. Don't overcomplicate things to the point that they are unmanageable, doing so is going to be a whole lot of work that is not likely to improve your return much. Good enough is really good enough.
Thank you for your kind remarks. But I still feel the need for guidance on my questions, which I'll try to state more clearly here:
1) Where should I put the gold funds and 25-30 yr T-bonds? Should I place the gold funds in Roths and 25-30 yr T-Bonds in rollover IRAs? Or should I place the gold funds in the rollover IRAs and the 25-30 yr T-bonds in the Roths? Recall that my equities are all in employer sponsored tax deferred accounts (401ks and the like) because there are no treasury funds or substitutes.
2) If I'm putting 60-80% of my gold in funds for rebalancing purposes (in the event of 3 consecutive gold rebalancings), does AAAU really make sense? Right now it has low total assets, $104.7M, compared to IAU, $11.8B (commission free at Fidelity), and even compared to GLDM, $693.3M (the commission free gold fund at Schwab). I'm wondering if lower total assets will make selling more difficult when rebalancing is required.
3) Despite mentioning in several spots that it might be a good idea to hold some of one's gold in funds for ease of rebalancing, the book, "The Permanent Portfolio" really seems to emphasize that gold should primarily be held in physical. Yet, thinking about three consecutive gold rebalancings leads one to primarily hold gold in funds. What is the reasoning that one can use to resolve this apparent contradiction one way or the other?

Thank you all!
pmward
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1731
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:39 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by pmward » Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:40 am

LittleDinghy wrote:
Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:11 pm
pmward wrote:
Tue Jun 18, 2019 9:36 am
One thing to remember is that these things do not need to be perfect. There is some flexibility in the system. This is supposed to be a simple system, not a complicated one. We humans have this natural tendency to want to just complicate the hell out of everything. There's not much benefit in over complicating the PP. None of us have a perfect portfolio. We all have constraints that cause us to have to deviate from utopia in one way or another. It's ok, it's the fundamental principles that matter more than the tiny micro details. Don't overcomplicate things to the point that they are unmanageable, doing so is going to be a whole lot of work that is not likely to improve your return much. Good enough is really good enough.
Thank you for your kind remarks. But I still feel the need for guidance on my questions, which I'll try to state more clearly here:
1) Where should I put the gold funds and 25-30 yr T-bonds? Should I place the gold funds in Roths and 25-30 yr T-Bonds in rollover IRAs? Or should I place the gold funds in the rollover IRAs and the 25-30 yr T-bonds in the Roths? Recall that my equities are all in employer sponsored tax deferred accounts (401ks and the like) because there are no treasury funds or substitutes.
2) If I'm putting 60-80% of my gold in funds for rebalancing purposes (in the event of 3 consecutive gold rebalancings), does AAAU really make sense? Right now it has low total assets, $104.7M, compared to IAU, $11.8B (commission free at Fidelity), and even compared to GLDM, $693.3M (the commission free gold fund at Schwab). I'm wondering if lower total assets will make selling more difficult when rebalancing is required.
3) Despite mentioning in several spots that it might be a good idea to hold some of one's gold in funds for ease of rebalancing, the book, "The Permanent Portfolio" really seems to emphasize that gold should primarily be held in physical. Yet, thinking about three consecutive gold rebalancings leads one to primarily hold gold in funds. What is the reasoning that one can use to resolve this apparent contradiction one way or the other?

Thank you all!
1) Until you are able to roll your 401k over after you retire, I would personally put the bonds in tax deferred and gold in Roth. This simply because you will want the bonds in tax deferred both before and after retirement. But it probably doesn't matter to be honest. Just do whatever you gotta do to get your allocation as close to your desired percentages as possible.

2) You're over thinking this. I wish they hadn't mentioned the mix and rebalancing thing. If you want to be super anal you can go that route. Or you can go all physical or all ETF. I mean these things really don't matter all that much. You're not going to be selling often so I wouldn't worry about the spread in AAAU. AAAU is still a very new ETF, by the time you actually need to do a rebalance it will have more assets under management / liquidity. It's an ETF, like GLDM, that is meant for buy and hold. The ER matters much more than liquidity for a long term hold.

3) The book did mention that things should be primarily held physical, and physical is a great way to hold gold. But the point we were getting at is that AAAU is "as good as gold" because it is an ETF that can be exchanged in kind for gold that is allocated and backed by the government of western Australia. This ETF did not exist at the time of the book. If it had, it is possible that their recommendations may have been stated differently, especially considering that a .18% ER is SO much cheaper than physical for anything other than a lifetime hold. Their main concern in the book with ETF's was safety. But I think AAAU checks all the boxes for safety. I think it's just as safe as a Perth Mint unallocated account at the end of the day. It's your choice. Don't overthink these things. Just do whatever is easiest and safe enough for you to sleep at night. Diversity in holdings isn't bad either, some physical, some AAAU, some in an unallocated account somewhere, etc can work, but it adds complexity. Don't complicate these things to the point that you will not comply with the rules. Simplicity is usually best, and this is a trait that Harry personally spoke a lot about that has kind of gotten lost in the book and on these forums. Harry routinely chose simplicity over optimization.
User avatar
LittleDinghy
Full Member
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:44 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by LittleDinghy » Fri Jun 21, 2019 2:21 pm

pmward wrote:
Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:40 am
LittleDinghy wrote:
Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:11 pm

Thank you for your kind remarks. But I still feel the need for guidance on my questions, which I'll try to state more clearly here:

1) Where should I put the gold funds and 25-30 yr T-bonds? Should I place the gold funds in Roths and 25-30 yr T-Bonds in rollover IRAs? Or should I place the gold funds in the rollover IRAs and the 25-30 yr T-bonds in the Roths? Recall that my equities are all in employer sponsored tax deferred accounts (401ks and the like) because there are no treasury funds or substitutes.

2) If I'm putting 60-80% of my gold in funds for rebalancing purposes (in the event of 3 consecutive gold rebalancings), does AAAU really make sense? Right now it has low total assets, $104.7M, compared to IAU, $11.8B (commission free at Fidelity), and even compared to GLDM, $693.3M (the commission free gold fund at Schwab). I'm wondering if lower total assets will make selling more difficult when rebalancing is required.

3) Despite mentioning in several spots that it might be a good idea to hold some of one's gold in funds for ease of rebalancing, the book, "The Permanent Portfolio" really seems to emphasize that gold should primarily be held in physical. Yet, thinking about three consecutive gold rebalancings leads one to primarily hold gold in funds. What is the reasoning that one can use to resolve this apparent contradiction one way or the other?
1) Until you are able to roll your 401k over after you retire, I would personally put the bonds in tax deferred and gold in Roth. This simply because you will want the bonds in tax deferred both before and after retirement. But it probably doesn't matter to be honest. Just do whatever you gotta do to get your allocation as close to your desired percentages as possible.

2) You're over thinking this. I wish they hadn't mentioned the mix and rebalancing thing. If you want to be super anal you can go that route. Or you can go all physical or all ETF. I mean these things really don't matter all that much. You're not going to be selling often so I wouldn't worry about the spread in AAAU. AAAU is still a very new ETF, by the time you actually need to do a rebalance it will have more assets under management / liquidity. It's an ETF, like GLDM, that is meant for buy and hold. The ER matters much more than liquidity for a long term hold.

3) The book did mention that things should be primarily held physical, and physical is a great way to hold gold. But the point we were getting at is that AAAU is "as good as gold" because it is an ETF that can be exchanged in kind for gold that is allocated and backed by the government of western Australia. This ETF did not exist at the time of the book. If it had, it is possible that their recommendations may have been stated differently, especially considering that a .18% ER is SO much cheaper than physical for anything other than a lifetime hold. Their main concern in the book with ETF's was safety. But I think AAAU checks all the boxes for safety. I think it's just as safe as a Perth Mint unallocated account at the end of the day. It's your choice. Don't overthink these things. Just do whatever is easiest and safe enough for you to sleep at night. Diversity in holdings isn't bad either, some physical, some AAAU, some in an unallocated account somewhere, etc can work, but it adds complexity. Don't complicate these things to the point that you will not comply with the rules. Simplicity is usually best, and this is a trait that Harry personally spoke a lot about that has kind of gotten lost in the book and on these forums. Harry routinely chose simplicity over optimization.
Thank you pmward for your very thorough and thoughtful guidance! In thinking again about my questions and your responses, there is one more possibility that occurs to me. As mostly previously discussed, if we buy the gold fund (probably AAAU) in our Roths, these gold funds would make up about 67% of our total gold allocation, leaving the other 33% to be physical gold using money that I'd remove from our brokerage account; This means the 25-30 yr treasury bonds would be in our traditional IRAs. The remaining funds in the brokerage account would then be for cash (some T-bills as our emergency 1 year of expenses, but mostly 1-3 yr T-notes). Being in our brokerage account the income from the cash would be taxable.

An alternative to the above is to just buy the gold fund (probably AAAU) in the brokerage account, as well as buy the physical gold using money removed from the brokerage account. This would leave enough money in the brokerage for the 1-3 year T-Bills portion of the cash allocation (also acting as our emergency fund), which would be taxable. The remaining cash would be in traditional IRAs. In this case the taxable amounts in our brokerage account would be the income from the emergency fund and any capital gain in the gold when rebalancing. Our marginal tax bracket is 24% and likely after our retirement will remain at 24% (but some small possibility of being 22%).

Any thoughts on which of the two above scenarios would be preferred?

Also, obviously I'm getting close to pushing the buttons on buying this gold right when gold is taking off (I pushed the button on the equities a couple of weeks ago). So, I'm also wondering whether I should buy gold (funds and physical) now or wait to see if they subside. Any thoughts on this question would also be much appreciated.
User avatar
LittleDinghy
Full Member
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:44 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by LittleDinghy » Sat Jun 22, 2019 5:25 am

In the second scenario in my last post I failed to mention that the 25-30 year T-bonds would be in our Roth accounts.
pmward
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1731
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:39 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by pmward » Sat Jun 22, 2019 10:22 am

It's a balancing act. I have most of my cash allocation in taxable as well because that just how my assets aligned. The real priorities are to have as much bonds in traditional as possible, as much stocks in Roth and HSA (if applicable) as possible, and then fill in the gold wherever you can (I prefer taxable on gold, but it's fine to hold in an IRA, preferably traditional, if that's the constraints you have). So I personally would choose the second option, that actually most closely matches the tradeoffs I made in my accounts. Some people prefer to have some gold in IRA's for rebalancing, but I don't think it's a big deal personally since it throws off no yield and can be offset with capital losses in other places.
User avatar
LittleDinghy
Full Member
Full Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 11:44 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by LittleDinghy » Sun Jun 23, 2019 5:22 am

Thank you pmward. You are giving us a lot of confidence that we are doing the right thing. Now all I have to do it somehow decide to buy the gold at around 1400. It is hard psychologically when I almost bought it at 1280 a few weeks ago. It feels like I should just go ahead and do it as my sense is that its not going back down again any time soon, and may continue going up. How would you experts at this respond to this challenge? This will be the first gold I've ever bought, and on the heels of implementing the rest of the portfolio in the past few weeks, also for the first time. All big scary moves for us!
flyingpylon
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:04 am

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by flyingpylon » Sun Jun 23, 2019 6:14 am

LittleDinghy wrote:
Sun Jun 23, 2019 5:22 am
Thank you pmward. You are giving us a lot of confidence that we are doing the right thing. Now all I have to do it somehow decide to buy the gold at around 1400. It is hard psychologically when I almost bought it at 1280 a few weeks ago. It feels like I should just go ahead and do it as my sense is that its not going back down again any time soon, and may continue going up. How would you experts at this respond to this challenge? This will be the first gold I've ever bought, and on the heels of implementing the rest of the portfolio in the past few weeks, also for the first time. All big scary moves for us!
I am by no means an expert and I have not followed every detail in this thread. But when faced with similar situations I always try to remember that I’m buying into an asset allocation, not just a specific asset. So you either believe in your allocation or you don’t. If you believe in it, then you have to buy the required assets and it all works out in the end. I bought some gold back in the $1700 range (ouch) but I’ve also bought some much lower than that and the overall portfolio has performed well over the years. You just never know what asset is going is going to lead the charge over any given time period, and you have to own them all to take advantage of that.
pmward
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1731
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:39 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by pmward » Sun Jun 23, 2019 10:06 am

LittleDinghy wrote:
Sun Jun 23, 2019 5:22 am
Thank you pmward. You are giving us a lot of confidence that we are doing the right thing. Now all I have to do it somehow decide to buy the gold at around 1400. It is hard psychologically when I almost bought it at 1280 a few weeks ago. It feels like I should just go ahead and do it as my sense is that its not going back down again any time soon, and may continue going up. How would you experts at this respond to this challenge? This will be the first gold I've ever bought, and on the heels of implementing the rest of the portfolio in the past few weeks, also for the first time. All big scary moves for us!
If it puts you at ease at all, from a technical standpoint there is no real hard resistance in gold until almost $1700. So if the breakout doesn't reverse in quick order here, there's a lot of room for this rally to run before the big institutional shorts will start to try to fade the rally. Buying a breakout is always tough, because breakouts like this either breakout like mad, or they reject and pull back. FWIW, while it is possible gold could reject, I don't think there is a lot of room for it to go down. It's about as safe of a breakout as you can buy, as the potential reward far outweighs the risks. If you are too nervous you could DCA once a week for the next two months or something like that? If we get a runaway breakout you might lose a bit on the whole, but you at least had some of your cash in play instead of standing on the sidelines too scared to do anything. Or you could wait until this coming Friday at the last hour of the trading day to see if we are going to get another weekly close above $1375, and if we do just pile it all in. I would feel reasonably comfortable with 2 weekly closes above that level. That also happens to be the end of month, so that gives some extra confidence as a lot of hedge funds make big moves on Fridays and on the last trading day of the month. Or you could do what flying said and just throw it all in tomorrow. Either way, the PP is set up so you are hedged, even if in the very slim chance gold should not only reject the breakout but have a violent breakdown (once again, I think this is very unlikely since gold has built a solid base over the last 5 years, there just isn't much room to go down, imo).
Kbg
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 2815
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 4:18 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by Kbg » Sun Jun 23, 2019 5:27 pm

This is an age specific question, but for the younger investor, why would one not load up the ROTH space with equity? (Keep what is likely going to be the largest end amount tax free)
stuper1
Executive Member
Executive Member
Posts: 1365
Joined: Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:18 pm

Re: % of gold asset in ETF or CEF for rebalancing purposes

Post by stuper1 » Sun Jun 23, 2019 6:53 pm

Some people use their Roth IRA as a place for their emergency fund, because you can always take your contributions out without penalty.
Post Reply