Thoughts on this 10 fund equally weighted portfolio?

[BeL0wMe]

Alright, for the new year I'm thinking of trying something fairly new with my asset allocation, I'm going to allot 10% each to the following funds

10 % VTSMX (Total Stock Market)
10 % VPCCX (Primecap Core) (Large Growth)
10 % PWV (Powershares Dynamic Large Value)
10 % FAIRX (Fairholme)
10 % DODFX (Dodge and Cox International)
10 % RYVPX (Royce Value Plus) (Small Growth)
10 % ARTKX (Artisan International) (Small Value)
10% JAOSX (Janus Overseas) (Large Growth
10 % FBRVX ( FBR Small Cap) (Mid Cap Growth)
10 % STSCX (Stratton Small Cap) (Small Value)

For an M Star x ray of

18 18 18
7 7 8
5 6 5

Look good? Seems pretty diversified. Any merit in dropping some of my funds / weighting heavier in certain funds?

[hawk59]

i think you are making it too complicated and would be better off with vanguard funds, most of the actively managed stuff on your list is going to be an underdog to the s&p 500

[BeL0wMe]

guffawww [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] have you looked at any of the funds on this list? They've all handily whooped the S&P 500 for the past 3 years for the newer funds, and 10 for the more established ones. There is an investing world outside indexing you know...

[brendanb438]

Just bet it all on the Michigan moneyline.

Oh wait you already did.

I hope USC doesn't make you cry too much. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

-Brendan

[kimchi]

future performance of a fund portfolio is more dependent upon asset allocation than the particular funds you choose.

You seem to have just split your money evenly between all the funds. This is ok, but you can improve performance and reduce risk with better asset allocation try www.fundadvice.com

Oh, and I'd concentrate on index funds with maybe a few specialist managed funds on the side.

[ayamaguc]

[ QUOTE ]

10 % VTSMX (Total Stock Market)
10 % VPCCX (Primecap Core) (Large Growth)
10 % PWV (Powershares Dynamic Large Value)
10 % FAIRX (Fairholme)
10 % DODFX (Dodge and Cox International)
10 % RYVPX (Royce Value Plus) (Small Growth)
10 % ARTKX (Artisan International) (Small Value)
10% JAOSX (Janus Overseas) (Large Growth
10 % FBRVX ( FBR Small Cap) (Mid Cap Growth)
10 % STSCX (Stratton Small Cap) (Small Value)


[/ QUOTE ]

Don't buy the total market if you're doing the allocation. That doesn't make any sense. If you're doing it, or if you prefer a non-market cap based approach, throw it out.

Or put everything in it and walk away. Or put a big chunk in it and tweak you exposure in certain areas with sectors or active funds.

Your choices of funds are good (didn't check them all, but many I know). You've got some duplication though. Simplify and get it down to 1 small value fund, 1 large groth fund, etc. Pick the best. Or lump them together in your allocation and give them each 5% while you watch them and see which you prefer over time.


You need to decide first on how you want to allocate though.

Is there a place for bonds? Real estate? Energy? Commodities/metals?

[Messiahkid]

Wow, strong differing of opinions in this thread.

[gull]

[ QUOTE ]
guffawww [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] have you looked at any of the funds on this list? They've all handily whooped the S&P 500 for the past 3 years for the newer funds, and 10 for the more established ones. There is an investing world outside indexing you know...

[/ QUOTE ]

Most indexes handily whoop the S&P 500. It's all large cap stocks.

[ayamaguc]

[ QUOTE ]

10 % VTSMX (Total Stock Market)
10 % VPCCX (Primecap Core) (Large Growth)
10 % PWV (Powershares Dynamic Large Value)
10 % FAIRX (Fairholme)
10 % DODFX (Dodge and Cox International)
10 % RYVPX (Royce Value Plus) (Small Growth)
10 % ARTKX (Artisan International) (Small Value)
10% JAOSX (Janus Overseas) (Large Growth
10 % FBRVX ( FBR Small Cap) (Mid Cap Growth)
10 % STSCX (Stratton Small Cap) (Small Value)


[/ QUOTE ]

I reread my post and thought I did a lousy job, so let me clarify..

1. VTSMX is a broad market index. When I was commenting on it, I was actually thinking about the VTI, or the Wilshire 5000 (which is actually a bit less than 7000 companies today). I think substantively they're approximately equal enough. Anyways, the point I was trying to make was, that this is one way to buy the whole market more or less, across all of the sectors you are working (Large, Mid, Small cap, Growth, Value).

One approach then is to just buy that and walk away.

Another is to buy that and add some of the missing parts, like international, or commodity, or RE.

But it doesn't make sense to buy that and then buy funds that overlap coverage, especially allocating dollars hodgepodge.

If you don't like market cap based purchase of the market, then you have no choice. Dump the total market fund and allocate the percentages yourself.

2. Duplicate coverage will only complicate your life. Try to pick the best fund for you in an sector. If you absolutely must, then pick two and split your allocation (eg., you decide 15% international, so 7.5% each by dollars) until you get comfy with the funds and then decide the best.

Funds aren't baseball cards. You're not collecting to get all of the best. If you knew which one fund would perform the best over XX period, you'd just put all your money there and walk away.

3. You seem do to good things researching good funds. Back up now, look at your pile of cash, and figure out your allocation.

You're pretty levered to the US right now, and very much stock based. Bonds, RE, metals, commodities (energy mainly) all have a place, albeit small. A microcap fund probably has a small place too.

Maybe that's clearer.

[BeL0wMe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

10 % VTSMX (Total Stock Market)
10 % VPCCX (Primecap Core) (Large Growth)
10 % PWV (Powershares Dynamic Large Value)
10 % FAIRX (Fairholme)
10 % DODFX (Dodge and Cox International)
10 % RYVPX (Royce Value Plus) (Small Growth)
10 % ARTKX (Artisan International) (Small Value)
10% JAOSX (Janus Overseas) (Large Growth
10 % FBRVX ( FBR Small Cap) (Mid Cap Growth)
10 % STSCX (Stratton Small Cap) (Small Value)


[/ QUOTE ]

Don't buy the total market if you're doing the allocation. That doesn't make any sense. If you're doing it, or if you prefer a non-market cap based approach, throw it out.

Or put everything in it and walk away. Or put a big chunk in it and tweak you exposure in certain areas with sectors or active funds.

Your choices of funds are good (didn't check them all, but many I know). You've got some duplication though. Simplify and get it down to 1 small value fund, 1 large groth fund, etc. Pick the best. Or lump them together in your allocation and give them each 5% while you watch them and see which you prefer over time.


You need to decide first on how you want to allocate though.

Is there a place for bonds? Real estate? Energy? Commodities/metals?

[/ QUOTE ]

Aya, thanks for the points. And I think the point that everyone is making about owning VTSMX and other funds is valid, but I'm just not going to sell it, there is a bit of overlap with VTSMX and the other funds, obviously, but that's fine by me. My Morningstar box came out to a nice even distribution b/t small large mid cap, value blend, and growth.

Also, Artisan is an International small cap value, so I only own 1 domestic small cap value, and 1 foreign small cap value. Dodge and Cox, is mainly large value, and I think Artisan nicely complements it. And I am planning on buying an Energy fund, probably VGENX, Vanguard Energy, sometime over the next 3 years, but the min to buy it is 25k, which would overweight me waaay too much in that sector. Real Estate I'm not going to pick up, because I fear the crash, and will chekc back in 3 years. And bonds, not in a taxable account. For my Roth I own VTIVX, Vanguard Target Retirement 2045, which has 10 % bonds so I do have a little exposure there.