Tactical Allocations

Monthly Portfolio Update: The new tactical allocation for December will be:   Large Cap Equity:   100%   Small Cap Equity:     0%   High Yield Debt:        0%    Inv. Grade Debt:        0%   Look for a re-cap of performance on January 2nd. The Equal portfolio:  There will be no trades in this account in December. The cash balance at month end is $734.94.  Total market value of this fund is $106,899.35. I will only rebalance when weightings get off by 5% or more (i.e. one of the asset classes has less than a 20% or more than a 30% weighting) or the cash balance is over $1000. The TA portfolio:  There is no change from the previous month so no trade is needed for this portfolio. The cash balance at month end is $613.89. The total market value of this portfolio at month end is $112,438.13. The Enhanced portfolio:  There is no change in allocation for this portfolio however there is $3,643.69 in cash which will be invested into JXI. The total market value of

"Lack of Clarity gives Birth to Disappointment" ~ Dan Rockwell Bitcoin's meteoric rise What Is Bitcoin? Everyone is talking about it, but what is it? At the most basic level it is an electronic voucher that says you own it (sounds redundant, no?). It is an electronic record stating who owns how many "bitcoin". There is no physical thing that is a Bitcoin, no one has ever seen, or touched, or tasted one. Its power comes from something called the "blockchain" which makes it (to date) impossible to hack or replicate. So although it is nothing, it is not (currently) replicable or hackable and it is transferable (kind of like money without the paper and metal). The blockchain allows for the exchange and creation of more Bitcoin without a third party middleman. No bank is needed to verify the transactions or to store the Bitcoin or validate their authenticity. No one but the blockchain "system" can validate exchanges or create new vo

MORNINGSTAR PEER RANKS: Often the most difficult test is to look at a fund against its peers. How does performance stack up against the other active managers who are trying to run a similar strategy? I went out to Morningstar and found a Tactical Allocation Peer group ( you can see it here ). These numbers will be more meaningful as my strategy gets a longer history and I can compare 1, 3 and eventually 5 year numbers. As of November 30, 2017: 1 Mo 3 Mo 1 Yr 3 Yrs 5 Yrs Equal   68%   67%   -na-   -na-   -na- TA   91%   98%   -na-   -na-   -na- Enhanced   43%   33%   -na-   -na-   -na- # of Funds    307   307   295    245    192 Max  4.15%  8.98% 27.99%  11.49% 12.38% Min -1.26% -2.27% -2.36% -11.42%   -6.36% COMMENTARY: The TA fund has had a very good three months. It is interesting to note that last quarter, the Enhanced fund's 3 month rank was 99% and now it is 33%. It is also interesting that the even allocation (Equal Fund) has beaten almost 70% of tac

TRADES  (performed on November 1st) : Equal Weight Portfolio: Beginning cash $200.88 No trades for this fund TA Portfolio: Beginning cash $49.52 Sold 76 shares of VTWO at $121.75 per share, $7 commission, total proceeds $9,246.00 Purchased 76 shares of VONE at $121.06 per share, $7 commission, total cost $9,207.56 Cash left over $87.96 Enhanced TA Portfolio: Beginning cash $163.62 Sold 169 shares of IEMG at $55.515 per share, $7 commission, total proceeds $9,375.04 Purchased 587.2862 shares of DSEEX at $16.23 per share, $7 commission, total cost $9,538.66 Cash left over $0.00 DISCLAIMER: Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.  This strategy is presented for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities.  October is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in.  The others are July, January, September, April, November, May , March, June, December, August and February. ~ Mark Twain

PERFORMANCE: Cumulative returns of each of the strategies as though you had invested $100,000 in them at the beginning of the blog. In November the  Equal weighted portfolio  returned   1.4%. This portfolio is my version of a buy and hold portfolio and I use it as my benchmark for the two portfolio's below.  The  TA portfolio  was the best performing portfolio and returned 2.8%. This portfolio invests in the same securities as the Equal weighted portfolio but actively allocates by adjusting how much is invested in each asset class. The  Enhanced portfolio  returned 0.9%. This portfolio uses the allocation of the TA portfolio and seeks to enhance those returns by buying funds that access the asset class in a different way. COMMENTARY: Equal Portfolio:   This portfolio is invested about 25% in each of four asset classes ( investment grade debt , high yield debt , large cap equity and small cap equity ). It is the baseline or benchmark against which I j