"As senior columnist Jeff Benjamin wrote in last week's issue, any portfolio that earned a return equal to the Standard & Poor's 500 return was assuming too much risk. A diversified portfolio in stocks and bonds should have returned less than 5%"
Lets hope Jeff is not also a financial adviser (wizard), because if HE couldn't get more than 5% out of the market the last 6-7 years, he would be writing investment articles for a living......OH he is...sorry

FYI: Investors are assuming too much risk in their portfolios, according to a Vanguard Group Inc. analysis of data from Morningstar Inc. The questions are: Who is responsible, and what can be done about it?
RegardsTed
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150208/REG/302089999?template=printart

FYI: It all comes down to this.
I wrote for the first edition of The Wall Street Journal Sunday. It seems fitting I should help bring down the curtain with this column that will appear in its final edition.
Parting thoughts? With my final words, here are five notions that—I believe—are indispensable to a happier financial life.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-ways-to-a-happier-financial-life-2015-02-07/print

FYI: When investing in low-cost index funds, it still can pay to look for lower fees.
There are more than 50 U.S. mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that try to mimic the returns of the S&P 500—one of the most closely watched stock-market benchmarks in the world—according to Morningstar, the Chicago-based investment research firm. Together, the funds held well over $900 billion at year-end.
Yet investors who put the same amount into two different S&P 500 index funds could end up with results that vary significantly over time.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.wsj.com/articles/s-p-500-funds-arent-all-the-same-1423255809

Hi Tampabay,
Thanks for the reply. I am not sure if you looked at Doug Short's link. If so ... Did you notice that December 2014 TTM earnings for the S&P 500 Index were reported at $104.50 while January's 2015 TTM earnings came in at $104.01? Seems forward earning estimates keep getting revised downward while TTM earnings are now starting to stall out since September of 2014 where they peaked at $105.96. This is not good. It will be interesting to see if investors keep paying more and more for earnings. I am of the camp most want. Does this mean a crash? Prehaps not; but, I do think the upside is now more limited and perhaps we have, or about to, top out. There are indeed headwinds blowing centering around a strong US$ and it is showing up in corporate earnings.
Just in case you missed reading this report I have linked it below again ...
http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/PE-Ratios-and-Market-Valuation.php
I know you stated sometime ago and something to the effect that your assets had to work because you don't. Let's hope they keep on keeping on. I am thinking that your wife's portfolio being more conseratively invested with steady earners will out perform your portfolio of high flyers this year.
And, yes I still plan to reduce my holdings, over time, to domestic equities and raise my allocation to other assets by a like amount within my portfolio as I feel it is the prudent thing to do under current light. Hey, if the wind is blowing and clouds are moving in and you hear thunder in the background ... take shelter ... most likely a storm is coming. Let us hope it is a blow by and stays off shore or better yet let's change course and fly around it.
Old_Skeet

Direct link: http://online.barrons.com/article/fund_of_information.html. Annuities? No, thanks. The death of defined-benefit retirement plans is a piece of the bigger picture of society's race to the bottom, when it comes to the welfare of the worker. In other words: screw the worker. Give the CEO an obscene bonus. And increase the pay-out for shareholders. And needless to say, that dividend is for shares in a company the average worker can't afford to buy-into.

@Bitzer: Althought this is a little dated, I believe Jason Zweig explains the difference in the two fund. If you look at a M* Snapshot of both funds you will see some difference in sector weighting, and percentage in top ten holdings.
Regards,
Ted
(Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=Upstart+Fund+Beats+its+Daddy,”+&oq=Upstart+Fund+Beats+its+Daddy,”+&gs_l=hp.3..0i22i30.7308.7308.0.10138.1.1.0.0.0.0.155.155.0j1.1.0.msedr...0...1c..61.hp..0.1.154.tIbzVN5VMn8
M* BOND Portfolio:
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=BOND&region=usa&culture=en-US
M* PTTDX Portfolio;
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=PTTDX&region=usa&culture=en-US

Hi Tampabay, Ted, JohnChisum and others,
If you are of the camp that domestic equities are cheap you might wish to visit the links that I have provided below.
The first one is Morningstar’s Market Valuation Graph. It is showing that stocks in general are currently, as of Friday’s market close, four percent overvalued.
http://www.morningstar.com/market-valuation/market-fair-value-graph.aspx
The second one appears in the WSJ and is titled P/E’s & Yields on the Major Indexes. It reflects that the S&P 500 Index is selling on a TTM of 20 where as a year ago it was selling at 17. So from a TTM P/E Ratio S&P 500 stocks have gotten more expensive over the past year by better than fifteen percent.
http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3021-peyield.html?mod=wsj_mdc_additional_ustocks
And, another link that might be of interest is by Doug Short. It is titled … Is the Stock Market Cheap? Mr. Short's findings are that it is expensive with TTM earnings stalling out since September of 2014.
http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/PE-Ratios-and-Market-Valuation.php
I believe that I will stay with my thoughts to reconfigure my asset allocation by reducing domestic equities by about ten percent and raising my other asset area within my portfolio by a like amount. When done my asset allocation will bubble somewhere around 20% cash, 20% income, 20% domestic equity, 20% foreign equity and 20% other assets. To me, domestic stocks are expensive and bonds are not a bargin either.
Have a grand weekend … and, most of all … I wish all … “Good Investing.”
Old_Skeet

FYI; The trend of money flowing towards robo-advisers and passive asset allocators is one that is likely to continue in the current market environment. Amid the more recent backdrop of low volatility capital appreciation in stocks and bonds, it seems that the natural evolution is to put your portfolio on auto-pilot or give it to someone who is just going to rebalance it quarterly.
Regards,
Ted
http://investorplace.com/2015/02/vti-vxus-bond-gaa-4-etfs-can-hold-forever/print

FYI: (Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
The U.S. Treasury wants money managers to offer plans that mimic the defined-benefit programs of yesteryear.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=fund+of+information+barron's&oq=fund+of+information+barron's&gs_l=hp.3..0i22i10i30.1743.12240.0.12506.28.28.0.0.0.0.135.1882.27j1.28.0.msedr...0...1c.1.61.hp..0.28.1879.eOY7HH5pl18

Why is there only one share class? Do they market the fund to any 401k plans or pensions or 529 administrators?

15 days up and 1.35% gain?
hmmm....
1.35% gain every 15 tradings days...
that is pretty good.
at 252 trading days per year, that's eye-watering!
me?
today i watched one long-term holding go up 3% and two others down 3%.
a different world.
c

Markets are perverse and anticipatory. There was something more than meets the eye going on this week in the Treasuries/munis and the junk corporates. And it was all bad for the former and all good for the later.

the undoing of the deflation trade: oil up/treasuries (and other investment grade) are down, all interest rate related stocks (utes and reits) down and risk is up - equities higher, junk spreads are tighter. goldman's short basket is up 5.4% - called short squeeze. i wonder if this persists.

Spot on and a very crowded trade. The 1% yield scenario suddenly became a little too embraced. And as you said "I wonder if this persists"

And keep on reading:
"For the next few quarters, I think overall corporate profit growth will be low but positive. Think 2% to 5%. Of course, some companies will manage themselves better than others during a flat environment. In fact, we’re starting to notice that with the results of our Buy List stocks." CWS
stick with the "some companies" He does...

Markets are perverse and anticipatory. There was something more than meets the eye going on this week in the Treasuries/munis and the junk corporates. And it was all bad for the former and all good for the later.

the undoing of the deflation trade: oil up/treasuries (and other investment grade) are down, all interest rate related stocks (utes and reits) down and risk is up - equities higher, junk spreads are tighter. goldman's short basket is up 5.4% - called short squeeze. i wonder if this persists.

>> Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators is the #1 Global Multi-Cap Growth Fund across all time periods (1,3,5,& 10 years) this quarter ending 12/31/14 based on fund total returns. They are ranked 1 of 500 for 1 year, 1 of 466 for 3 years, 1 of 399 for 5 years and 1 of 278 for 10 years in the Lipper category Global Multi-Cap Growth.

Interesting they lean on that, both the global category and the legacy timespan.Their US / non-US ratio in M*'s terms is higher than, say, the almost multicap FLPSX, and, as you note, the Brits (physicists) have been involved for the last 5 or 4 good years (the latter did join the firm 9y ago). More pertinent, since everyone loves (successful) innovation, yay, or comes to do so at least when it results in profitable sales --- the appeal as self-evident as motherhood and pie --- the second bullet is key to quantify: How, specifically, do they decide? What do they do that others do not do, macro trends or deep diligence or otherwise? Everybody wants to own winning innovators.
Should be an intriguing conversation.

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
WSJ Slant:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-flat-ahead-of-jobs-data-1423228518
Bloomberg Slant:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-06/u-s-index-futures-little-changed-before-payrolls-twitter-gains
Reuters Slant:
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USKBN0LA1BK20150206
MarketWatch Slant:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-investors-on-edge-ahead-of-key-jobs-report-2015-02-06
WSJ Markets At A Glance:
http://markets.wsj.com/us
Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
Current Futures:
http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

Some of the REITs got way too overbought. O trading down 5%. Still probably more to go, but as I've noted, I think you're going to get another "taper tantrum"-ish discussion on rates and that will likely prove to be another opportunity re: REITs.

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000352537

Yes - most everything is up. The U.S. economy is smoking. Wage pressures are building too from the Dock Workers' slowdown on west coast and GM bumping some laborers into a much higher pay zone due to ramped up production. Than, Ford's adding workers. Brent crude's around $58 today after bottoming around $45 few weeks ago.
Maybe this will put an end to the global deflation fear mongering.
I bailed from junk way too early. But don't dislike them and you've done well. When I think of bonds, it's usually in the context of interest rate sensitive varieties (like govt. backed). As you know, junk reacts more to the health of the economy than it does to interest rates. The lower the tier of junk, the more this is true.
Interested in Lockhert's speech today. Got a bit overweight in the oil sensitive equities as it was bottoming. (poor record-keeping on my part). So, using this week to lighten up a bit. Maybe another good day to off-load a little more. Still like the NR sensitive stuff going foreward. Just a matter of keeping the exposure reasonable for age, situation, etc.
Thanks for all your contributions Junkster - which I always enjoy reading.
---
Edit: Fed Gov. Lockhart threw cold water on the markets in today's speech in Naples, Fla as I rather expected. Sees possible rate increase in June. Ha. Not to be taken too seriously, but did turn around the markets in the PM. Gold in particular doesn't appear to like the prospect of higher rates. Having rough day.