How many funds? Hi Golub 1, Hi Guys,
You are perfectly correct in stating that today’s conventional wisdom recommends that 20 to 30 stock positions provide sufficient diversification for the equity portion of a portfolio. Note that conclusion is strictly limited to equity holdings for the US marketplace. In essence, it evolves from the diversification requirement to touch all 10 major investment industries with 2 to 3 core holdings in each to reduce individual entity risk.
A much expanded base is needed to adequately diversify worldwide equities, and fixed income products would further expand the total portfolio.
That’s a huge screening, choosing, and monitoring work load. Not many of us have the time, the patience, or the resources to sort through this likely mess. That’s precisely why mutual funds/ETFs make such sense.
But why 20 to 30 mutual fund holdings?
The popularity and disparity of the replies testifies to the complex nature of individual circumstances, preferences, and biases. I trust that each individual responder truly believes he has made the proper choices given his specific set of circumstances and constraints.
MFO participants are well versed and experienced in financial and investment matters. I would never doubt their thoughtful decisions. But expert knowledge and forecasting are imperfect, especially in the marketplace.
So I listen and learn from this wide expert opinion base, but I always reserve the prerogative to interpret it for my own special purposes. After the infamous Bay of Pigs fiasco, John F. Kennedy remarked: “How could I have been so mistaken as to have trusted the experts”.
In the investment universe, the expert advice and forecasting record from the professional cohort is little better than what an informed amateur can provide. With that cautionary warning, I offer my dollars worth (reflects inflation).
My simple answer is that 20 to 30 fund positions is an unnecessary extravagance in most instances. Rare exceptions do exist. At no time are over 30 funds mandatory, especially for full diversification.
The MFO mob has covered many bases with earlier considerate replies. I agree with most; I disagree with a few. I’ll focus attention on three dimensions, two of which have been partially addressed. The three dimensions are: diversification, wealth, and geography. Yes, geography.
Using only fund products, adequate diversification for an equity/fixed income mixed portfolio can be reasonably secured with 3 fund positions: a US total equity Index fund, a total International Index fund, and a total bond Index fund. The percentages in each category mostly should depend on age and risk tolerance profile. This 3 fund portfolio usually provides about 90 % of all anticipated diversification benefits.
If the portfolio is large enough (the wealth aspects of the problem discussed earlier by John Chisum), the additional 10 % diversification free lunch can be captured by adding REITs, precious metals, small cap, value oriented, and emerging market units to the basic portfolio. These additional 5 elements closely maximize any diversity benefits easily achievable.
The portfolio has now expanded to 8 holdings. Note how this number is very representative of the positions frequently recommended in Lazy-Man portfolio constructions. The Lazy-Man portfolios have proven their mettle and resiliency over long timeframes. An investor could experience, and most do, far poorer performance than that delivered by these accessible standard-bearers.
Now allow me to introduce geography into the discussion. I have long believed that folks on the East coast differ in many ways from those on the West coast and everywhere between the two bookends. Those disparities also penetrate investment perspectives, preferences, and attitudes.
What is true for the general population is equally true for financial and investment professionals alike. Harvard trained economists are not the same as Chicago trained economists are not the same as Stanford graduates. That geographic induced phenomena persists in the investment community. Just visit Fidelity and Dodge and Cox to feel it. I did. It is real.
Even If you somewhat disagree with my geography readings, you might consider doubling down in each of the 8 fund categories already identified to gain some novel or inspired thinking and philosophy benefits. The total number of funds in a portfolio has now escaladed to 16. That’s my top number.
Of course, the 16 individual units are only required if you pursue an active fund investment program. A passive philosophy reverts the total number to the basic 8 holdings.
One closing comment is offered to those investors who hold both funds and individual stocks in their portfolios. You might be inclined to juice annual returns with a few carefully selected stocks. Nothing wrong with that goal, but the behavioral researchers conclude that your odds are bad because of overconfidence, anchoring effects, recentcy bias and a host of other behavioral characteristics that work against you. There were reasons why you abandoned individual holdings.
My thumbs-down to that approach is that you now expose yourself to the same heavy work load that likely prompted you to go the mutual fund/ETF route in the first place. For me, the tradeoffs are not attractive enough and the risk factor is nudged higher.
I hope this helps.
I often am a day late, but I am never a word short.
Best Wishes.
As interest rates rise, what are your "Turtle Shell" funds? Hi bee. I think FPNIX makes a good turtle...it's also a great owl =).
Here's how it handled recent interest-rate hikes:
Here's how it handled 2008 financial collapse:
Here are the performance/risk numbers:
And, Steven Goldberg likes it! Here's recent thread:
A Great Place to Stash Your Cash
Morningstar survey: "you're not a financial professional? Oh, then go away." David,
Perhaps they are trying to be more useful for Financial advisors etc. or perhaps they have collected enough feedback from average Joe user.
Kiplinger: Mutual Fund Rankings, 2013: 1-3-5-10-20 Years Reply to
@Charles: Read this article last night. I don't know, if it's being read by someone who doesn't spend nearly as much time on this subject as we do, I'm kind of impressed with Kiplinger's list. It's much different when giving financial advice to a wide audience regarding an individual's life savings so kind of expect them to be a tad more conservative. However, they do have more information if one wants to dig, and have recommended newer funds from proven managers in the past such as AKREX & DBLTX when it came out.
Morningstar survey: "you're not a financial professional? Oh, then go away." I'm sorry David. I don't know why we still believe M* and the like actually have the interests of individual investors in mind or actually care about what they think. The other day I was thinking why suddenly Tom Marsico is in Videos on M* after such a long time. I can't help but wonder there is a marketing arrangement and Tom Marsico really needs some "good press". M* didn't have him on the videos to help any investor. It was only to help the fund manager.
What is more jarring to me, to use your words, is when we will finally realize, "clients" whether of M* or Goldman Sachs are "lemmings" and this view is endorsed by the collective interpretation of the financial industry of "capitalism". Or dare I say "objectivism", because that's what I think this is. The view that "what is good for ME is good for others".
As "clients", all we should expect and receive are services for the money we pay and then WE decide whether what we receive is good, bad and use as we deem fit. I don't need to see M* rating to tell me a fund is "good". i can see it easily based on criteria important to ME. M* criteria were not invented to help me. They were invented to help fund industry market their wares. The "Great Owl Rating" is for ME. And let me tell you, this is going to eat into M* revenues big time.
I never opt-in for "help us improve our software" notices from Firefox and Microsoft either because the cynical old bastard I have been developing into over the years, I just KNOW nothing about it is actually going to benefit ME in any way, but will ONLY benefit Firefox or Microsoft. Let's be like them. Ask "WTF is there in it for me" for once.
Morningstar survey: "you're not a financial professional? Oh, then go away." I got an electronic survey from Morningstar in my inbox this morning:
We are continually looking for ways to improve Morningstar.com. To help us do that, please complete this online survey by Friday, August 16th. The survey should take about 25 to 30 minutes to complete, and is completely confidential. Your insight and feedback are very important to us. Thank you for your help!
Being agreeable, I began working my way through it. I was 11% done, according to the built-in monitor, when I reached a question on the order of "are you an investment advisor or other financial services professional?" When I clicked "no," I was suddenly 100% done.
That's pretty consistent with the results of Nina Eisenman's survey of fund companies about their websites: the vast majority say that financial planners are their audience, and the rest of us are well to peer in as long as we don't get in the way. That makes excellent business sense, but the occasional reminders are still a bit jarring.
As ever,
David
In the long run, we'll all be dead - but our children might not be. Hi STB65,
Once you have crossed the happy threshold of reasonable portfolio security and survival for your lifetime, you are now free to invest like an institution instead of as a private investor.
Given that comfortable circumstance, your investment time horizon expands from something like 30 years to a more forgiving 60 years and beyond. That change in time scale gives you a longer financial lever = time. And time is critical in the compounding interest and wealth accumulation equation. As Albert Einstein noted “ Compound interest is man’s greatest invention”.
Asset allocation can be adjusted to reflect the very extended time horizon. Since stocks have historically delivered the best rewards over the long haul, you might consider increasing the equity holding percentages in your portfolio. I did. For example, if you normally favor a 60/40 equity/fixed income split, you might want to modify that to a 80/20 mix. The odds are that the more aggressive positioning will substantially increase the end wealth number after a 6 decade holding period.
By the way, I take issue with your forecast that foreign markets will produce superior rewards in the future. Yes we have problems, but we have always faced challenges, and as a nation, we have overcome these hurdles successfully. We respond well to adversity. There is precious little evidence that the world in general does as well as we do. I would certainly take international equity positions, but not to the high degree that you have proposed.
In most instances, your kids will be the beneficiaries of your largess. I would emphasize a continuing financial education for them. I would make sure they became very familiar with the works of the likes of John Bogle, Rick Ferri, and Burton Malkiel. Discuss their investment concepts with your progeny. Our guys are married now, but the education continues. We give each one a subscription to the Wall Street Journal annually. With a continuing financial education, your team can be very knowledgeable and skilled investors when the transition takes place.
Frugality has always been the watchword in our household. I hope it is in your household also. In particular, my wife has been a leader in this dimension. We managed to save even when inflation hit double digits. My wife was a tough financial disciplinary sergeant who demanded that our guys stay within their earnings and allowances at all times. They now practice what she preached. For most folks, being frugal, with an ability to delay satisfaction, leads to success in life and in portfolio management.
I’m sure you are familiar with the behavioral study that tested long term outcomes for children who were exposed to a choice at a young age. One sweet was placed on a table before each subject. The child was told he was welcomed to the one treat immediately. But if he waited until the test conductor returned, he/she would be rewarded with a second treat as well as the original one. Some did; some didn’t. Fifteen years later, the test subjects were assembled and were interviewed to measure their life progression and happiness. Those who delayed satisfaction were far more successful compared to those who demanded immediate satisfaction.
I concur with you and the many contributors to this thread who recognize fund management issues over a six decade timeframe. Team management should do better than an individual star philosophy. The 800-pound gorilla firms (Fidelity, Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, American) should do well since they have training and succession plans in place.
However, overall, if your gang is well versed in the investment arena, you can rest easy. They will handle any of your portfolio shortcomings soon after the transition date. Keeping your family fully apprised of the investment game is the essential key.
Best Regards.
The MFO Fund Rating Tables Hi David, Hi Charles,
Thank you for your informative responses, your tolerance, and your patience. Your carefully crafted replies clarified the issues and made the exchange worthwhile, at least for me and likely for many other MFO members.
As you clearly identified in this exchange, the “David’s Take” column in the fund rating tables is NOT a buy/sell or direct comparison of expectations relative to a benchmark assessment. I had presumed it was; I was wrong.
David’s focused reply removed my cloudy interpretation. I drew three significant takeaways from his succinct posting: he does a pre-screening, his main criterion is concept attractiveness, and other criteria are conservative in mostly adopting the findings of academic research.
The pre-screening eliminates bad concepts immediately according to David’s judgment and never make the listing. Hence the statistics are truncated and don’t represent the entire new fund universe.
In no way does the assessment attempt to measure a fund’s odds of success. It reflects novel or intriguing concepts that have some chance of success, especially when bolstered by grounded, experienced management and an efficient backroom. He is not predicting success, just the chance for it. It is not a buy recommendation, just a heads-up that the fund warrants further consideration.
Academic research findings are a large part of David’s evaluations. Costs matter, experience matters, Fama-French matters. In many ways, David is echoing John Bogle. I take no exception to these criteria.
There are very few absolutes in the financial wars. Controversy and divergent opinions make the marketplace, and enhance the value and attractiveness of this fine website. I know you expect this, maybe even want it.
On a personal level, thanks for your kindness to me.
My Very Best Wishes.
The MFO Fund Rating Tables Cool. I actually think your influence on me about lack of fund performance persistence is one reason I added the return since inception column. I remember at one point suggesting to M* that it should maintain a historical track record of its Picks/Pans. But being M*, of course, the suggestion was never acknowledged and to my knowledge such a compilation has never been published.
I think David's profiles reflect his views on whether a fund's strategy is intriguing, whether the strategy is applied consistently, manager's experience and track-record, manager's financial stake in fund, integrity of fund house, etc. Then, in his eyes, whether it's worthy of our consideration or not. I could be wrong, but suspect he's not calculating, explicitly anyway, probability of outcome.
I suppose we could add an "MJG's Take" column, or a kind of "2nd Opinion" column, but then I think that's what the board is for...and, I find few are bashful about expressing their opinions on the board, fortunately.
Absolutely, your comments and shared experiences on fund performance and selection are always helpful and often profound. Like many of us have noted, your posts are good enough for WSJ.
Take care, Charles
A Gold fund trough.......... How to use it. Reply to
@Pangolin: For new investor PRPFX gives you a 25% position in metals and gold backed currencies blended with other assets creating a conservative allocation all in one fund. It might be a good place to start. What seems interesting to me is the historical chart of PM funds like USAGX. It seems pretty oversold to me. If it breaks below this trend line than I'll back away, but so far it hasn't.

Going "out on the limb" doesn't need to mean taking a 50% stake in one investment. I agree that if you have a small portfolio slicing and dicing isn't really neccessary or productive. But if say 2-5% of your portfolio equates to thousands of dollars that become a significant number of dollars. For example, a $10,000 investment would equate to 10% of a $100K portfolio. If you invested in USAGX in June, a month later in July you would have gain $2,000 on that $10,000 investment. That's a 20% gain on the investment and impacts your overall portfolio positively by 2%. I would say that is significant. Also, your initial 10% PM allocation is now 12% of your overall portfolio. Rebalancing might be in order.
Successful investing is a process of buying low, dollar cost averaging over time, taking profits, rebalancing long term investments, reducing costs, along with hundreds of other good financial habits. No one thing willl make you wealthy...incorporating most of these habits into your busy life will.
Can It Get Any Better Than This ? Reply to
@Investor:
Thanks...here's the most recent Barclays sector CAPE evaluation paper I could find:
barclaysAlso, here is the ETN that Barclay manages using this methodology and the four secrors it holds at the prent time:
etnplus.com/US/7/en/details.app?instrumentId=174066As of April 2013:
Sector 1 Industrial
Sector 2 Financial
Sector 3 Energy
Sector 4 Health Care