ITA Wealth Management

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Lifetime ITA Membership
  • Portfolios
    • Bethe Portfolio
    • Bohr Portfolio
    • Carson Portfolios
    • Dirac Portfolio
    • Einstein Portfolio
    • Franklin Portfolio
    • Galileo Portfolio
    • Gauss Portfolio
    • Huygens Portfolio
    • Kahneman-Tversky Portfolio
    • Kepler Portfolio
    • McClintock Portfolio
    • Millikan Portfolio
    • Pauling Portfolio
    • Rutherford Portfolio
    • Schrodinger Portfolio
  • Forum
  • Reset Password
  • Contact Me
  • ITA Feedback
  • About Me
You are here: Home / Portfolio Management / Portfolio Construction / Reworking The Investment Quiver

Reworking The Investment Quiver

September 25, 2020 By Lowell Herr 6 Comments

With the majority of ITA portfolios currently recommending no new purchases, now is a good time to rework the investment quiver if you are not completely satisfied with either the Factors or Asset Classes that make up your portfolio.  Think through what asset classes or factors you want to include in the portfolio.  Below are some suggestions.

Sample Investment Quiver

I generally begin with specific asset classes.  Here are ones I consider essential to every portfolio other than the Dual Momentum accounts.  These six ETFs mirror the recommendations that come out of the “Swensen Six.”

  1. U.S. Equities – My preference is to use VTI.  If this is not a commission free ETF for you, another ETF might fill in for VTI.
  2. Developed International Equities – VEA is my preference.  If one does not wish to include a specific ETF for Emerging Markets, then VEU is a good choice as it combines Developed and Emerging Market Equities.
  3. Emerging Market Equities – VWO is my go to ETF for this asset class.  I would not include this ETF if using VEU for the #2 slot.
  4. U.S. Real Estate – VNQ is my choice for this asset class.
  5. Bonds – Here I generally go with either BND or AGG.
  6. Treasuries – TLT is my ETF of choice.

I consider the above six as first tier or essential ETFs to include in any portfolio.  Now we move to the second tier group.  This is where one begins to apply more judgment and I expect different investors will come up with different recommendations and choices.

Rather than I bias readers with my choices, please place your ETF recommendations in the Comment section provided below.  If you are commenting for the first time, I need to approve your first message, so be patient.  On occasion, a comment is caught in the Spam folder.  I check that regularly, but if your comment does not immediately show up, the Spam net might be the problem – which I will solve.

Have a go and let me know what ETFs should be added to the “Swensen Six.”

(Visited 122 times, 1 visits today)

Filed Under: Portfolio Construction Tagged With: Portfolio Construction

Comments

  1. Lee Schamp says

    September 26, 2020 at 7:54 AM

    Lowell,

    I would consider two other bond funds: International BNDX and inflation protected VTIP.

    …Lee

    Log in to Reply
    • Lowell Herr says

      September 26, 2020 at 9:10 AM

      Lee,

      Thank you for the suggestions. These are two additional “off ramp” securities one might use when equities are out of favor. David Swensen recommends holding 15% in an inflation protected security such as TIP or VTIP. VTIP has a much lower expense ratio compared to TIP as does BNDX compared to BWX.

      Lowell

      Log in to Reply
  2. Jim Hotvedt says

    September 26, 2020 at 8:57 AM

    Lowell,

    I always include the tech heavy QQQ and momentum factor MTUM in my portfolios.

    ~jim

    Log in to Reply
    • Lowell Herr says

      September 26, 2020 at 9:13 AM

      Jim,

      Thanks for these two additions to the few I suggested above. Like you, I also include QQQ and MTUM in most of the non-Dual Momentum portfolios.

      To all readers, keep the security suggestions coming.

      Hope you are enjoying the air cleaning rains as much as we are in Portland. Our lawn is even greening up after a long spell without moisture.

      Lowell

      Log in to Reply
  3. Richard Dougherty says

    September 27, 2020 at 8:47 AM

    Lowell,

    I have to agree with Lee Schamp that having an inflation protected bond fund makes a lot of sense. The Federal Reserve seems to be doing there best to increase inflation. It puts me in mind of Wayne Gretzky’s famous quote, “I skate to where the puck is going.”

    Richard

    Log in to Reply
    • Lowell Herr says

      September 27, 2020 at 9:21 AM

      Richard et al.,

      Gretzky’s quote is one of my favorites from the sports world.

      The coming week will be a busy one for portfolio updates and HedgeHunter will be active with month-end updates as I will be as well. If nothing changes on Monday, readers will see some movement from equities into what I call “off ramp” securities such as bonds and treasuries.

      The three Carson portfolios are scheduled for review on Wednesday (September 30) and I expect to see some rotations among the ETFs. The recent market correction is roiling equities.

      Time to make sure your stop loss orders are in position.

      Lowell

      Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Recent Posts

  • Schrodinger Portfolio Review: 14 January 2021 January 14, 2021
  • Euclid Portfolio Update: 13 January 2021 January 13, 2021
  • Huygens Portfolio Review: 12 January 2021 January 12, 2021
  • Franklin Portfolio Review: 11 January 2021 January 11, 2021
  • Rutherford Portfolio Review (Tranche 1) – 8 January 2021 January 9, 2021
  • Aristotle Portfolio: 8 January 2021 Dual Momentum Analysis January 8, 2021
  • Kepler Portfolio Review: 7 January 2021 January 7, 2021

Recent Comments

  • HedgeHunter on Options Corner – 2 December 2020
  • HedgeHunter on GLD Options Inflation Play – 16 October 2020 Update
  • Steven Lefley on Huygens Portfolio Review: 12 January 2021
  • HedgeHunter on Huygens Portfolio Review: 12 January 2021
  • Lowell Herr on Huygens Portfolio Review: 12 January 2021
  • Steven Lefley on Huygens Portfolio Review: 12 January 2021
  • Lowell Herr on Franklin Portfolio Review: 11 January 2021
  • John Shelton on Franklin Portfolio Review: 11 January 2021
  • Lowell Herr on Rutherford Portfolio Review (Tranche 1) – 8 January 2021
  • Lowell Herr on Kepler Portfolio Review: 7 January 2021
  • Lowell Herr on Dirac Portfolio Review – 31 December 2020
  • HedgeHunter on Dirac Portfolio Review – 31 December 2020
  • Lowell Herr on Dirac Portfolio Review – 31 December 2020
  • LiftLock on Kepler Portfolio Review: 7 January 2021
  • Richard Dougherty on Dirac Portfolio Review – 31 December 2020

Tag Cloud

Aristotle Portfolio (79) Asset Allocation (21) Beginning Investors (86) Bethe Portfolio (62) Bohr Portfolio (101) Bullish Percent Indicators (314) Carson Portfolios (23) Copernicus Portfolio (35) Critical Material (141) Curie Portfolio (21) Dual Momentum (86) Einstein Portfolio (94) Euclid Portfolio (78) Feynman Study (25) Franklin Portfolio (23) Galileo Portfolio (89) Gauss Portfolio (107) Hawking Portfolio (207) Huygens Portfolio (92) ITA Portfolios (17) Kahneman-Tversky Portfolio (27) Kepler Portfolio (103) Maxwell Portfolio (33) McClintock Portfolio (21) Millikan Portfolio (46) Miscellaneous (49) Momentum (186) Music (40) Options (92) Pasteur Portfolio (25) Pauling Portfolio (54) Portfolio Construction (186) Portfolio Management (582) Portfolio Performance (651) Retirement Planning (21) Risk Management (62) Rutherford Portfolio (228) Schrodinger Portfolio (80) Short-Term Analysis (54) Spreadsheets (19) Stocks (40) Technical Indicators (21) Tranche Investing (70) Uncategorized (30) Weisskopf Portfolio (18)

Users Online

11 Users Online
Users: Tom Pulaski, HedgeHunter, 3 Guests, 6 Bots

Most Popular Posts

  • Dirac Portfolio Review – 31 December 2020 (251)
  • Understanding The New Kipling Spreadsheet (211)
  • Toward A More Just Society: Part I (177)
  • Portfolio Construction For 2021 (158)
  • Asset Allocation Feature of the Kipling Spreadsheet (143)
  • What Is A Good Sortino Ratio? (140)
  • Sample Carson IRR Comparisons (112)
  • Is The Dual Momentum System Broken? (108)
  • Kepler ETF Rankings (107)
  • Toward A More Just Society: Part II (90)

General Investment News

Portfolios coming up for review are:  Schrodinger, Galileo, Einstein, and Pauling.  Non-scheduled portfolios may be reviewed.  If you are a new user, check the posts you missed. Links to Random Posts are found in the lower right-hand footer or just to the right of what you are now reading.  Most popular posts are found in the lower left-hand footer.

Contact me at itawealth@comcast.net if interested in a Lifetime Membership.  Current Platinum members will be grandfathered into a Lifetime Membership in the summer of 2021.

Random Posts

  • Login Problems
  • Hawking “Derby” – Around the Final Turn for the 9th Time (Week 44)
  • Bullish Percent Indicators: 20 January 2018
  • Rutherford Portfolio Review (Tranche 3) – 17 April 2020
  • Gauss Portfolio Review: 22 July 2020
  • Bethe Portfolio Review: Passive Approach to Portfolio Management
  • Kipling Workbook Projections In February and Early March
  • Preparing For The Bohr Portfolio Review
  • Kepler Portfolio Review: How To Prepare For Market Decline
  • Shrinking Number of Better Performing ETFs

Log in | Website Design by BOING