Tactical Allocations

My signals are saying  Large Cap Equity  again. Although it is very close to going more conservative again. I bought  IEMG  a year ago and I want to keep that allocation so there will be no trades in the enhanced account this month. I will be doing rebalancing trades in both of the other accounts as they have good sized cash balances now. Updated Allocations: Large Cap Equity (VONE):     83%   Small Cap Equity (VTWO):      0%   High Yield Debt (JNK):              0%    Inv. Grade Debt (AGG):           17%   Trades on July 1st. The Equal portfolio:   Has $1,405.83 and will buy about $800 of JNK and the rest of AGG. The TA portfolio:  Has $1,163.14 and will buy AGG.  The Enhanced portfolio:   No trades. Disclaimer: Past performance is not a guarantee of future performa...

There are certain attributes that a person can develop to help them succeed in any activity.  To use a sports analogy there are certain muscles or body systems that are key for certain sports. You don't need great endurance for weightlifting and you don't need incredible power for long distance running. So what are the skills or attributes needed to be a good investor?  I will list a number of them and will try to talk about one each month going forward. In my opinion the following attributes are key to becoming a successful investor. Curiosity, Patience, Humility, Conviction, and Discipline Curiosity: All great investors are curious by nature. They want to know how things work. They often enjoy puzzles and riddles. They love to learn about new companies and industries. They are also curious about what could go wrong and what could go right. They research and analyze and ponder upon their investments and the mentality of the markets. They are open to n...

Allocation: My signals are saying  Large Cap Equity  again. Although it is very close to going more conservative again. I bought  VONE  a year ago so there will be no trades this month. Updated Allocations: Large Cap Equity (VONE):     83%   Small Cap Equity (VTWO):      0%   High Yield Debt (JNK):              0%    Inv. Grade Debt (AGG):           17%   Trades on June 3rd. The Equal portfolio:   No trades. The TA portfolio:  No trades.  The Enhanced portfolio:  No Trades.  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. I own all of the securities suggested in all three portfolio's.    October is one of the pec...

Trades made within the portfolio's on May 1st followed by a listing of the current holdings in each portfolio. Equal Weight Portfolio: Cash balance on May 1st = $753.36 No Trades TA Portfolio: Cash balance on May 1st = $617.46 No Trades Enhanced TA Portfolio: Cash balance on March 1st = $392.31 Sold 165 shares of KXI at $52.53, with $7 commission = $8,660.45 Bought 89 shares of DVY at $100.76, with $7 commission = $8,974.64 Cash after transaction = $78.12 The Portfolios as of 5/1/2019: Equal Weight Portfolio:   Cash = $753.36 VONE  = 225 Shares VTWO  = 234 Shares AGG  = 244 Shares JNK  = 737 Shares TA Portfolio: Cash = $617.46 VONE   = 775 Shares AGG  = 179 Shares Enhanced TA Portfolio: Cash = $78.12 VONE  = 454 Shares IEMG  = 158 Shares JXI  = 184 Shares DVY  = 172 Shares GOVT  =  659 Shares DISCLAIMER: Past performance is no...

Allocation: My signals are saying  Large Cap Equity  again. Although I still believe this is a lull before a storm. I bought  KXI  a year ago, and am going to sell that (all that is left) and buy DVY. These trades will take place on May 1st. Updated Allocations: Large Cap Equity (VONE):     83%   Small Cap Equity (VTWO):      0%   High Yield Debt (JNK):              0%    Inv. Grade Debt (AGG):           17%   Trades on May 1st. The Equal portfolio:   No trades. The TA portfolio:  No trades.  The Enhanced portfolio:  Sell all 165 shares of KXI and buy DVY with the proceeds.  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....

April Allocation: Markets continued to rebound but seem to be slowing. Earnings growth concerns and corporate debt levels are both weights on the market right now.  I am also hearing a bit of talk about "Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)". One of the scary tenants of MMT is that the Government can spend as much as it wants (no debt limit on governments) because they can print money.  We have many examples that show that this leads to hyper inflation. I have talked with people who have lived through hyper inflation and it is not something we want to experience. MMT sounds a lot like the classic "Its different this time" argument that almost always signals that we are close to a market peak. It is never different this time and those who get sucked into believing that it is always pay a dear price. My signals are saying  Large Cap Equity  again. Although I still believe this is a lull before a storm. Because we bought  VONE  a year ago, I will maintain t...

Dollar cost averaging simply means that you buy the same dollar amount of a security at regular intervals. Example: You buy $1000 of Tesla stock every Friday for a year. Why do it?   This is easiest to highlight with a real life example. You buy $1000 of Tesla stock every Friday for 52 weeks. You start on January 5, 2018 when the price was 316.58 You end on January 4, 2019 when the price was 316.13 Was this a profitable investment strategy?   If you had bought on 1/5/18 and sold on 1/4/19 you would have had a small loss because the price was slightly lower.  However because of Dollar Cost Averaging we actually made $560 and had an internal rate of return (IRR) of 2.2%. How is this possible? By holding the dollar amount invested constant we bought more shares when the price was low and less shares when it was high. Example: On February 2nd, when the stock price was $343.75 we only bought 2.91 shares of stock but on October 12th, when the price was $258....