Taking Stock: Jan 2013

First month of 2013 is done - and what a month it was! Stocks did pretty well. My stocks did pretty well and I feel good about my investment decisions. Here is where things stand at the end of Jan - in the usual Taking Stock format:

Total Portfolio Value: 48.4 Units

Van Gogh: 12 Units. My largest account is currently sporting a 15% Bonds and 85% Stocks asset allocation. I have reduced my bonds holdings in anticipation of the coming bond crash. Bond holdings are equally distributed between long term treasuries, long term investment grade bonds and developing countries bonds. The 85% Stock allocation is divided between developed countries (25%), emerging markets (25%) and US market (35%). US market is further divided into NASDAQ Index (10%), S&P 500 Index (10%) and mid-caps and small caps (15%). This allocation is my stock-heavy allocation since I anticipate stocks to outperform bonds in next 3 months. I will adjust allocation in next rebalancing if I expect the relative performance expectations to change.

Bernini: 11 Units. Hope the professional folks are taking care of this. I am currently budgeting a 3% growth rate in this account. I hope they will prove me wrong.

El Greco: 11 Units. This account is my bet on professional money managers. Currently in a stock-heavy allocation of 10% long term investment grade bonds and 90% stocks. Fidelity Contrafund, Vanguard Wellington and American Euro-Pacific Growth each gets 20%, 20% to Developed Ex-US to bring some geographical diversity and 10% to S&P 500 to absorb the reduction on bond allocation.

Klimt: 4 Units. My safest account - a fixed rate fund that is currently paying close to 5.5%. The bad news is that this yield is going down every month. I will think about shifting this out once (and if) the yield goes below 5%.

Durer: 3 Units. Target Retirement Fund with 2050 target. It is currently 90% Stock (67% US, 23% International) and 10% Bonds. I have an IRA ready to absorb this old 401K account - will do the transition as soon as the current bull run in stocks seem like done. Right now this fund is just tracking stocks and doing quite well.

Bruegel: 3 Units. I have EPI, FXI and INTC here. All are long term holdings for me - all good so far. INTC is a little weak - but with 4.5% dividends - I have no complaints.

Monet: 2 Units. I am holding EWP and F here. Both are on a nice upswing. F took a bit of hit after the numbers last quarter - but is still fine. They are again long term holdings - so who cares - let them mature.

Da Vinci: 2 Units. JNK is showing some weakness along with the rest of the bonds world. This, however, I am going to hold steady. The plan is to just put back the monthly dividend (currently a healthy 6.78%) into JNK and increase the number of shares I have. I am not going to worry about the share price - it will get dollar averaged every month anyways.

Renoir and Turner: 1 Unit each in DEO and VZ. Both doing fine. In addition, I am holding various amounts of DVY in different accounts to hold small sums accumulated through dividends.

Growth Since Last Taking Stock

The Dec 2012 Taking Stock had the total account value at 46.6 Units - so we are looking at a growth of 1.8 Units - 3.86% in a month. A part of the growth is because if new contributions of course. It is likely that we will reach 50 Units of total portfolio value next month - that will be something to celebrate.

Artwork of the day - not really one artwork - but the place that holds Bernini's masterpiece - Santa Maria Della Vittoria Church in Rome. This is of special significance - since I will be visiting Rome soon and will be staying at a hotel right next to this magnificent building.

Taking Stock: Dec 2012

Closing the year with the last Taking Stock post of the year. It is coming a little late because of my year end vacation. Much of my investments were in auto-pilot past few weeks - so not much to report except year end larger contributions and usual market fluctuations. I also converted an non-deductible IRA into a ROTH IRA - actually combined with an existing ROTH IRA.

Total Investment Portfolio: 46.6 Units

VanGogh: 11 Units in an aggressive asset allocation model - 70% Stock (30% US, 20% Developed Non-US, 20% Emerging Markets), 30% Bonds. I am waiting for the next rebalancing opportunity to reduce my bond exposure - especially with long term treasuries.

Bernini: 11 Units, in a conservative asset allocation model - 53% Stock (28% US, 25% International), 33% Bonds, 14% Real Estate and Others. It is on auto-pilot - it will go where it will go. I am assuming a nominal 3% growth rate for this account.

ElGreco: 10 Units in an aggressive asset allocation model - 70% Stock (40% US, 30% International), 30% Bonds. I will be moving these to a selection of actively managed mutual funds pretty soon.

Klimt: 2 Units in a fixed rate bond fund.Currently yielding 5.67%. Ahhh... the satisfaction of getting perfectly predictable yields. I will think about moving this when the yield goes below 5% - right now I am happy with flat 5.67% yield with no principal fluctuations.

Durer: 3 Units in a Target Retirement Fund with 2050 target. It is currently 90% Stock (67% US, 23% International) and 10% Bonds. I am looking to move these out to an IRA so that I can have more control over this account.

Bruegel: 3 Units, current holdings EPI, FXI and INTC. INTC is struggling to break free but has a decent dividend return. EPI and FXI are looking rather good recently.

Monet: 2 Units, I am holding EWP and F here - and they are both going gangbusters.

DaVinci: 2 Units in JNK for steady returns.Currently yielding 6.89%. There has been some principal appreciation there too - but I am sure that is not going to last for long.

Renoir and Turner: 1 Unit each in DEO, VZ.

Growth Since Last Taking Stock

Last Taking Stock had total portfolio value of 41.6 Units. End of Dec 2012, we stand at 46.6 Units. This shows a pretty solid 12.02% growth in a little more than a month. Of course, similar to last time, much of the growth is because of year end contributions to tax saving accounts.

Taking Stock: Nov 2012

This is the first of the hopefully-regular, end of each month, Taking Stock post. It is essentially a recap of the changes in my investment portfolio over the past month. So, lets get to it:

Total Investment Portfolio: 41.7 Units

 

Bernini: 10 Units, in a conservative asset allocation model - 53% Stock (28% US, 25% International), 33% Bonds, 14% Real Estate and Others.

VanGogh: 10 Units in an aggressive asset allocation model - 70% Stock (30% US, 20% Developed Non-US, 20% Emerging Markets), 30% Bonds. Will be moving to a 80-20 model at the next re-balancing.

ElGreco: 8 Units in an aggressive asset allocation model - 70% Stock (40% US, 30% International), 30% Bonds. Will be moving to 80-20 model at the next re-balancing.

Durer: 3 Units in a Target Retirement Fund with 2050 target. It is currently 90% Stock (67% US, 23% International) and 10% Bonds.

Klimt: 2 Units in a fixed rate bond fund.Currently yielding 5.67%.

DaVinci: 2 Units in JNK for steady returns.Currently yielding 6.89%.

Monet: 2 Units, 1 kept in cash and 1 in EWP.

Dali: 2 Units, currently kept all in cash.

Bruegel, Renoir and Turner: 1 Unit each in DEO, VZ and INTC.

Growth Since Last Taking Stock

Last Taking Stock had total portfolio value of 37.1 Units. End of Nov 2012, we stand at 41.6 Units. This shows a pretty solid 12.13% growth in less than a month. Of course, my portfolio did not return that much. Much of the growth is from additional contributions made in tax saving accounts as the end of the year is closing in. The End of Nov figure (41.6 Units), the first end of month figure, will be taken as the base value for all growth and return calculations going forward.

Renoir, Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881; the pride and joy of the Art Institute of Chicago

Investment Strategies: Buy and Forget

This is the simplest of Investment Strategies that I use - buy something good and forget about it for a long time. Let the market do its magic. Ideally, one would want to buy a growth stock and hold for the growth to materialize. However, it is difficult to pick a good growth stock that will maintain its momentum. So, I am have been a little conservative with my stock selection for Buy and Forget - I have gone for high dividend picks that are market leaders in their industry.

Current I have the following Buy and Forget selections:

• Durer: a 2050 Target Date Retirement Fund
• Klimt: a Fixed Rate Bond Fund, the account is Current
• Bruegel: DEO
• Turner: INTC
• Renoir: VZ

A total of 7 Units. 

It is good to have a part of the portfolio in a position where I don't have to stress over how to manage them. I am looking to transfer over more of my unused cash towards Buy and Forget opportunities - perhaps a more growth oriented choice next time.

Van Gogh, The Potato Eaters

 

Renoir

A small 1 Unit account. It has one simple holding - VZ. It is a buy-and-forget kind of account for me. Unless something terrible happens at VZ, I will continue to hold it.

I selected VZ especially for its high dividend - 5.00% currently. Even if I do not get any price increase, the dividend itself is worth it.

Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party

Taking Stock: Starting Point

Here is where things stand (all values rounded to the nearest integer Unit, except for the total). I am giving code names to all my accounts to maintain some level of confidentiality.

Total Investment Portfolio: 37.1 Units

VanGogh: 9 Units
Bernini: 8 Units
ElGreco: 7 Units
Durer: 2 Units
DaVinci: 2 Units
Monet: 2 Units
Dali: 2 Units
Klimt: 2 Units
Bruegel: 1 Unit
Renoir: 1 Unit
Turner: 1 Unit

Details of how I am managing each of the accounts will follow in subsequent posts.

In the first week of each month, I will post a Taking Stock post and update the numbers above.