Welcome to Part Two of the Money Question series where we are going through some very revealing information by some of your favorite personal finance bloggers and which comes in the heels of Part One, which was brought to you yesterday.
As there are money bloggers who are oriented towards investing, there are also those who don’t usually discuss their personal portfolios and investing strategies often. So I was happy to have been given the chance to pick their brains on this subject. Today we have three more portfolios for you to enjoy sifting through.
Again, the customary disclaimer (that these should not serve as financial recommendations) strongly applies!
Finance Bloggers and Their Investment Portfolios
The Automatic Dollar Portfolio
Binary Dollar is actually written by two hardworking, net savvy, witty and charming guys in their mid-twenties, one of whom graciously served us with his financial picture:
I frequently contribute to a target retirement fund made up of a bunch of index funds. I do have a grand in the Bruce Fund but I mostly stick to low-cost index funds. I’m saving up for a house so that’s why I have a larger than usual cash position.
My assets should be mostly stocks since I’m fairly young and my risk tolerance is higher. My ideal portfolio would be 90% stocks (small cap, mid cap, large cap, and international index funds) and the rest short-term cash reserves.
Sun’s Come Rain Or Shine Portfolio
Behind The Sun’s Financial Diary is a married father and half millionaire in his mid-thirties who moved to the United States from China. One thing so awesome about Sun is that he achieved his net worth in less than 7 years through prudent saving and investing practices.
As of now, here’s what I have in mutual funds/ETFs (which are considered as mutual funds instead of stocks):
Asset allocation
Cash: 3.29%
US Stocks: 54.75%
Foreign Stocks: 38.14%
Bonds: 2.96%
Other: 0.87%
Valuation:
Large-Cap: 46%
Med-Cap: 21%
Small-Cap : 24%
Not-Classified: 9%
Expense
Average expense ratio: 0.80%
Expense ratio of similarly weighted hypothetical portfolio: 1.15%
Top 10 holdings:
1. Dodge & Cox International Fund: 12.37%
2. Dodge & Cox Stock Fund: 10.58%
3. CGM Focus Fund: 9.65%
4. Buffalo Small Cap Fund: 8.79%
5. PowerShares Golden Dragon Halter USX China: 8.67%
6. Oakmark Equity & Income Fund: 8.00%
7. T. Row Price Small Cap Value Fund: 6.90%
8. PowerShares Water Resources: 6.31%
9. Tocqueville Gold Fund: 5.95%
10. PowerShares High Yield Dividend Achievers: 5.89%
In addition, I also have some individual stocks
- Bank of America
- Altria
- Microsoft
- Nortel
- Procter & Gamble
- Progress Energy
- Xinhua Finance Media
- China GrenTech
- China Life Insurance
- Taiwan Semiconductor
Performance
Top 3 mutual fund gainers
1. Dodge & Cox International Fund
2. Dodge & Cox Stock Fund
3. Tocqueville Gold Fund
Top 3 stock gainers
1. China Life Insurance
2. PowerShares Golden Dragon Halter USX China
3. Taiwan Semiconductor
Top 3 losers
1. China GrenTech
2. Nortel
3. Bank of America
Summary:
I recently adjusted my mutual fund holdings a little bit to shift a little more toward small and mid-caps. Right now the weights on large-cap and mid/small-cap are about the same at 45%. I prefer small-cap funds over large-cap funds because historical performance shows small-cap generally outperforms large-cap. In addition, I am also a big fan of international equity funds, especially China funds. My investments in Dodge & Cox International Fund have almost doubled in value since I started investing in it in 2003. Also, I feel lucky that I started investing in gold (Tocqueville Gold Fund) in early 2002 when the gold price as a little above $300 per ounce. Now it’s about $670 an ounce.
I don’t have any bond fund in taxable accounts, though I buy I-bonds every month (I-bonds account about 5% in total investments). I feel that at my age, I can be a little aggressive with stocks. I do, however, have bonds in my IRA account.
The Blog Guru’s “Think Before You Act” Portfolio
The guru responsible for Money, Matter and More Musings is a married twenty-something graduate student with an extremely powerful knack for writing uniquely analytical and oftentimes quirky financial articles.
My current portfolio will make some investing enthusiasts sick to the gut. Here is how it looks like:
Cash: 98%
Stocks (ETFs): 2%
There are various reasons why it’s that way. The main reason is – I am not very *educated* when it comes to the stock market. Right now, I am in the process of learning more about how and where to invest so that my tax/fees burden is minimized and returns are maximized – but not yet quite there. In my opinion, people like me should not throw money in the stock market unless they know what they are doing (it’s like trying to win at poker without understanding how to play). So, as long as I am not comfortable with other investment options, the portfolio will sort of maintain its status quo. Also – for reasons that I will not elaborate – the cash is earning tax exempt interest at present, so it’s not that bad.
The other thing that has encouraged us to keep more cash is some anticipated uncertainty in our personal lives in near future. We foresee some specific events, in the coming year or two, which may require urgent and drastic financial actions on our part. Stock market presents too much risk (in our personal situation) in this short time span.
However, as we reduce the uncertainties in time to come, I am planning for a portfolio that may roughly look like this:
Gold (this might happen very soon): 5%
Cash: 15%
US Stocks (mostly in the form of ETFs): 40%
Foreign Stocks: 30%
Bonds: 10%
My primary concern would be to get decent after-tax returns with sufficient stability and minimum headache (continuous market research). I don’t think I will be in it to “beat the market” – I just want to be as wealthy as I need to be. 
Now, these thoughts are my *current* thoughts – when I am still a graduate student with no real *job*. I am sure my outlook will change after I graduate and start on a real job (possibly with a good salary). For now, I am just happy to have zero student loans and some positive net worth.
That wraps it up for now. I honestly have to say that I learned a good deal from the analysis that these guys have made about their fund allocations. My next job is to put up my own investment information, check its status and see where I can make improvements. That should be coming soon as I write about how we’re reorganizing our financial matters going forward.
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I went to all cash about 2 months ago, and am currently waiting till the time is right to get back in. Had I not gone to all cash, well I’d rather not think about that.
Jane
I think you all need to give up any idea of making money in today’s world unless you consider making it with gold and silver. There is a revolution coming and it will be here before you know it.
Chuck Madere
I have a question. A friend of mine presented the following scenario as to his investment returns. It doesn’t make sense to me. Am I wrong? This is what he said:
My stocks were up 28% last year, but my 401(k) went down 30%. My stocks were up between 10-60% per year for the 5 years previous. My company’s stock more about tripled….twice, and when my 401k got to be too much of 1 stock (single stock fund in this case), I pulled out. It’s heavily tanked recently with pretty much everyone else in the country. I’m still trying to find the bottom to jump back in. Plus, I invested in energy (oil) up to last spring (should have waited until summer) and have done international heavily for the past 5 years (net importing isn’t favorable for a country’s currency, so international stocks do well even if they go down due to currency fluctuations). The past few years, I’ve expected something like this pullback in the market (though admittedly not nearly to this degree).
My 401k is a subset of my stocks. It went down 30% last year. Second, when I pulled out of my company stock (though not completely) in the 401k, a good chunk of that went to cash. Some of it went into other investments (bond funds, international, etc), so those dropped as has the entire market (including my company stock, which went down more than the market). So it has dropped significantly.