Joe,

Yeah I did pick these funds in hindsight. Mostly recommendations from
friends and some of my own personal reading and research.


joetaxpayer wrote:
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I would first think on how much of your total assets you may need to
cash in the short and medium term, i.e, 5 years or less. If you think
that you may need to use -say- 25 percent of your total assets, I would
keep this money in a FDIC-insured money market account, like E-loan's
(a yield of 5.5 percent per year with zero risk, and you may cash the
money whenever you want). The rest -75 percent, in this example- I
would keep ONLY in value stocks, i.e, stocks of firms that are trading
below their fair market or intrinsic value. These stocks have the
highest long-term yield of all -see
http://www.moneychimp.com/articles/i...portfolios.htm -.
Within this category, I personally prefer micro or small cap value
stocks since they are the ones with the highest long-term rate of
return. You should select funds with at least 5 to 10 year investment
record, and with a superior performance (finance.yahoo.com provides a
good free fund screener).

thamsenman wrote:
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<woolco2000[at]yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1164352185.738840.153150[at]h54g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
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You've already got 2 international funds that are proximately 2/7 or 28% of
your portfolio. I don't believe you really need to have MORE international
funds for the reasons Al says.

So one market is performing better than another. Should you overweight in
one to take advantage of an expecteded better perfromance?

No. That's market timing and it never works. Don't chase performance. You'll
never know which asset class will out-perform each year, so you should
develop a well-balanced asset allocation plan that invests across the board.

[Something I read in a prospectus once was "Past performance is no guarantee
of future results". Maybe you've heard the expression? ]

Also, if you're 21 years old, single, with no children, you probably don't
need to be thinking about life insurance yet.

Make sure you've got a Roth IRA (if you're eligible) and max it out each
year. Take advantage of your employer's 401k (if available).

One more thing, take everything you read on the net with a grain of salt and
back it up with your own research.


======================================= MODERATOR'S COMMENT:
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Hello,
You are young and are able to withstand some ups and downs. I would
recommend some more aggressive international growth funds as the growth
here is not as great. You may also look into insurance for yourself and
family.

Al
Thelifeinsurancesite.net

thamsenman wrote:
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"J M" <getmeoutt[at]here.com> wrote
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I like this, except I'd add ".., after reviewing the
historical pros and cons of stocks, bonds, maybe real
estate, and cash under a mattress." A person needs some
awareness that she has plumbed all the options available in
order to sleep soundly. Case in point: Yesterday Taddie
suggested investigating master limited partnerships (traded
as stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, for one) for
income etc., and as a kind of electric utility version of
REITs. After googling and looking at a few dozen specific
ones, for a few strong reasons they do not currently seem a
good choice. But in 20 years, they are something I might
want to revisit, and I'll know they are out there. I believe
I'm doing the best I can to ensure my income keeps up with
inflation and then some, and with IMO little risk. I sleep
well.

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The important issue is what are you saving for (hopefully retirement is
the answer?). If saving for retirement in ~30-40 years, then "what
makes sense" is probably AT LEAST 75% in equities. I am 33 and have
90% in equities. I own some funds which have convertables and own one
foreign bond fund... but other than that, I take on the risks of
equities expecting greater returns. There is no guarantee the
additional risk will pay off, but conventional wisdom suggests this is
the way to grow money.


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It appears you chose 7 funds and contribute "equally" to each. Why?

It appears to me there are 3 large cap funds which more or less overlap
and 3 international funds which more or less overlap. Consider some
small cap, mid cap, large cap, domestic and international to find ~5-8
fund which make sense.

For example- Domestic Large Value fund X, Domestic Large Growth fund Y,
Domestic Mid Cap fund Z, Domestic Small Cap fund AA, International
Large Cap fund BB, International small cap fund CC. After choosing one
fund in each of these 6 categories, possibly consider a technology fund
(like QQQQ) or other ETF to use for around 2-5% of the overall
portfolio.

"thamsenman" <KRamanujam[at]gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1164235346.295873.100510[at]b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

Check here:

http://www.geocities.com/finplan825/...lios-Data.html


It's been said that the best portfolio allocation is the one that allows you
to sleep most comfortably at night.

thamsenman wrote:

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There is no 'optimum', unfortunately. Regular poster here, Elle, has a
good set of links on her blog
http://home.earthlink.net/~elle_navorski/id8.html
which can help you decide for yourself.

I do have a question for you - did you pick these in hindsight? When I
looked at these funds, I believe every one beat the S&P over the last
five years, and a couple were +100% vs S&P 20% or so. Just an
observation. Past performance no guarantee, etc.

JOE

Hi there,

What is an optimal portfolio allocation strategy for a 21 year old?
Different websites have markedly different strategies, but I'm looking
for something that is mostly value oriented and makes sense. Also does
anyone know of some great funds that meet each sort of allocation
sector? I'm interested mostly in mutual funds and ETFs.

Here's what I have so far:

DODFX - 1/7 of portfolio (Dodge and Cox International)
FAIRX - 1/7 of portfolio (Fairholme Fund)
MFOCX - 1/7 of portfolio (Marsico Focus Fund)
MGRIX - 1/7 (Marsico Growth Fund)
MIOFX - 1/7 (Marsico International Opportunities Fund)
MXXIX - 1/7 (Marsico 21st Century Fund)
PGVFX - 1/7 (Polaris Global Value Fund)

Also I own a bit of the QQQQ fund as well.

Thanks