Cash & Savings: $76,817 => $81,046 (5.51%)
Foreign Currency: $34,773 => $34,884 (0.32%)
Domestic Brokerage: $176,878 => $176,400 (-0.27%)
International Brokerage: $174,629 => $176,044 (0.81%)
401(k): $90,297 => $91,400 (1.22%)
IRA: $97,381 => $97,752 (0.38%)
Roth IRA: $12,707 => $13,047 (2.68%)
Total Assets: $663,482 => $670,573 (1.07%)
November is simply a repeat of October where I'm throwing money to water. Last month I commented on with the election over the market should be at ease somehow but obviously I underestimated how the ability of this country's politicians to play brinksmanship. Not sure if they learned that from North Korea if they did they Kim Jung-Il should be proud of himself.
Coming into December I'm considering a new approach proposed by a CFA - move almost all my domestic assets under one roof. The idea is that I have one point of contact who advises me on the grand strategy and work with a back office to pull all the numbers together to see how I should adjust my weighting in various sectors such as large cap, mid cap, bonds, and so on. The total management fee would be 1.25% annually so it's 0.25% higher than I'd prefer but let's say it frees me up from checking on my portfolio all the time. The real challenge here is that I have to liquidate most of my current domestic holdings so I can move cash into this other account and buy their funds. They have their own funds so it's different from some advisors who tell you to choose from bigger fund family, think of Kiplinger 25.
Regardless, this is not a simple decision to make and it will keep me busy this holiday season….
November 2012 - more of the same
December 9th, 2012 at 01:28 am
December 9th, 2012 at 04:21 am 1355026894
2nd, how much are the MERs of your current holdings? These are waived in Planner's group of funds.
3rd if you like to have some control over holdings, you can easily open a discount brokerage account with one of the big firms like Rowe or Scott or Ameritrade for example and move all your existing holdings into one or two accounts depending on type.
4th Why did you buy the funds you hold? Are those reasons still valid? Is there some reason to sell current funds like poor performance in a good sector, management changed, focus changed, overweighted in fixed income & underweighted in equity based on age or whatever you use as a criteria.
December 9th, 2012 at 02:42 pm 1355064162
December 10th, 2012 at 10:28 am 1355135329
Jerry
January 12th, 2013 at 07:52 pm 1358020379
MER = Management Expense Ratio?