Tactical Allocations

Trades on March 2nd. Finally there is something interesting happening in the markets, unfortunately it is not good for society. Last week fear took over and markets went into free-fall.  While these movements are scary they are also the times when fortunes are made, and lost. Coronavirus is the main thing people were talking about last month but there was also the rise of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries that also had an impact. Typically you want to buy when markets are down but it is too early for that. The earnings impact of quarantines and the markets worry about the election will continue throughout this year. It is time to take a bit more risk off the table. If this continues to play out we will be adding risk again soon. There is also a good amount of cash built up in the portfolio's and so that will be included in the trades and used to rebalance the equal portfolio. The Equal portfolio:   Beginning Cash $1,566.63 Buy as much VTWO as possible...

In 2019, the markets rebounded after a large selloff in Q4 of 2018.  Market strength has continued despite many concerned voices about high valuations. In the  TA portfolio , the decision to focus on large cap stocks was very beneficial in 2019.  Of the four options,  VONE  was the top performer gaining 31.12%. The small cap  VTWO  was next advancing 25.81%. Lower quality bonds  JNK  were up 14.88% and investment grade bonds AGG returned 8.46%. In the  Enhanced portfolio , we replaced AGG with  GOVT  which returned 7.36% and underperformed AGG  by 1.1%. A small portion of  VONE  was replaced with   DVY  and  IEMG  both of which detracted from returns.   DVY  returned 22.62% and  IEMG  returned 17.79%.  Both great returns but far behind  VONE . The earlier inversion of the yield curve, the high levels of corporate debt, and the euphoric rise and fal...

No Trades on Feb 3rd. Markets continue to move.  This is the time when you do not want to get out too early and so I continue to hold the portfolio's where they are. The Equal portfolio:   No trades. The TA portfolio:  No Trades. The Enhanced portfolio:   No Trades. Current Allocation: Large Cap Equity (VONE):     67%   Small Cap Equity (VTWO):      0%   High Yield Debt (JNK):              0%    Inv. Grade Debt (AGG):           33%   Equal Weight Portfolio:   VONE  = 225 Shares VTWO  = 234 Shares AGG  = 248 Shares JNK  = 264 Shares TA Portfolio: VONE   = 622 Shares AGG  = 372 Shares Enhanced TA Portfolio: VONE  = 378 Shares IEMG  = 158 Shares DVY  = 172 Shares AGG  = 96 Shares GOVT  =  1055 Shares Disclaimer: Pas...