On Nov 16, 11:10 am, "Elle" <honda.lion...[at]nospam.earthlink.netwrote:
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73% large and mega cap
19% mid cap
8% small and micro cap

If you think you want more small cap or mid cap, maybe look at
extended market index (wilshire 4500 index) as opposed to total market
index (wilshire 5000 index).

Wilshire 4500 is the same as wilshire 5000, except the wilshire 4500
excluded the 500 companies in the S&P 500.

"pallav" <pallavgupta[at]gmail.com> wrote
snip for brevity personal allocation choices
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Go to www.morningstar.com . In the "Quotes" window, type in
VTSMX (or VTI). On the left, click on "Portfolio." The
market cap breakdown of the fund(s) will appear. It's about
8% small and micro cap.

Thank you all very much for the advice, the list of the funds, and the
links to the websites. They have been very useful. After doing more
analysis and reading upon those links, and looking into Vanguard's vs
DFA funds (the list was very helpful), I have come up with the
following plan.

401k - tax-deferred (with Vanguard so low-cost mutual funds)
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX)
Vanguard Small Cap Fund (is it necessary one has VTSMX?)
Vanguard REIT (VGSIX)
Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX)
Vanguard TIPS (VIPSX)

Roth - tax-free (with Fidelity so go for ETFs)
Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO)
Vanguard FTSE All World -ex US Index Fund (VFWIX/VEU)

Taxable (with Fidelity)
Stick with the funds listed in my previous post or sell some of the
volatile ones (i.e. gas) and put it in FIGRX or health care.

I think this would be quite manageable for me unless somebody has
ideas to reduce it further.

Finally, one last question i have is about the 'total market index'.
Since it comprises of entire stock market, is there any way to figure
out the asset allocations? i.e. how much is large-cap, mid-cap, small-
cap? I've been looking at their website but it just gives the sector
breakdowns.

Thank you again.

kind regards

pallav wrote:

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Good for you to be able and willing to do this now.

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A tool that I found interesting was the IFA assessment quiz:

<http://ifa.com/
That walks you through a bunch of questions, then recommends one of
their portfolios. You can also just go look at the portfolios.

Now, their implementation is almost entirely Dimensional Funds, which
individuals can't buy (and you usually need a pretty large portfolio to
work with one of their registered advisors). However, you can review
the asset allocations they recommend to get ideas on sector weighting.

Another useful site for me was the Altruista one (another that would
like to manage your money for a fee). They compare options in many of
the asset categories. Again DFA funds aren't an option for the
individual investors, but they also discuss many other ETFs and mutual
funds.

<http://www.altruistfa.com/dfavanguard.htm


Brian

"pallav" <pallavgupta[at]gmail.com> wrote
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Some weekend experiment with the free online asset
allocation tools at
http://home.earthlink.net/~elle_navorski/id8.html . Which is
best? It's a case of "five will get you ten" and luck. The
more important point is to diversify. You seem to understand
the value of diversifying already.

In your shoes, I would hold only funds (mutual funds or
ETFs; in your taxable account or any account) that are index
funds with low expense ratios. Vanguard is the place to be.
I am a two-decade plus Fidelity customer but every time I
check their funds I just find so little (a handful of index
mutual funds; no Fidelity ETFs) with low expense ratios. I
bought my first Vanguard ETF (specifically, its small cap
value ETF, VBR) a week or so ago, after comparing VBR
carefully with the half-dozen or so other small cap value
ETFs now available. VBR does not have all I'd like (it's 37%
medium caps, the highest of any "small cap" value fund), but
the expense ratio, the relatively small turnover (pretty
much irrelevant for an IRA position), and the long,
outstanding reputation of Vanguard sold me on it.

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Vanguard's REIT fund VNQ is one of two funds I currently am
considering. In your shoes, I would buy now. Since you will
have a Vanguard account, you should consider Vanguard mutual
funds, too. Just watch the required minimums with Vanguard's
mutual funds.

Do not try to "time the market." Should the market dive,
bear in mind this means little for the long run in the big
picture yada, and your reinvested dividends will pick up
shares at bargain prices. The compounding effect of
reinvesting dividends is staggering.

Keep in mind you may want to buy a house at some point in
the next ten years. You may want to stash away some dough in
a conservative vehicle (CD ladder; money market funds) for a
home down payment.

pallav wrote:
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see http://www.diehards.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8217

also http://www.diehards.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8254

I am 26, fairly new to investing and have some questions. I have been
spending some time reading the basics of investing. I started my first
job and I have a Roth IRA, a taxable account with Fidelity. I have an
SRA (supplemental retirement annuity) with TIAA-CREF and will open up
401K with Vanguard in 2008 as that is when I'll be eligible to
contribute. I will be maxing out Roth/401k contributions. Plus, I will
be investing about 10-15K per year in my taxable account per year.

Given my timeframe and doing some reading, I came with the following
asset allocation:

75 % stocks
50 % US - 25% small-cap, 30% large growth, 40% large value
50 % foreign (ex US) - 60% developed, 40% emerging markets
10 % REITs
15 % US govt. bonds - 50% intermediate grade, 30% short term, 20% TIPS

1. Is this a reasonable asset allocation given my time frame (30+
years)? Or is something way off and I should correct?

2. The next question is about which funds to invest in. I am looking
at purchasing mostly ETFs as they are low-expense ratio index funds. I
know which funds to get for some asset classes, but need some
recommendations of mutual funds/ETFs I can research for others.

Foreign:
Developed: Vanguad Total Market ex-US Index Fund (VEU is the ETF)
Emerging: Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO)

US:
Vanguard Total Index Fund (VTI)
I'm not sure about small-cap ETFs

REITs:
Any ideas of funds for this category? Since real-estate is very
down right, is this a good opportunity to buy or should I wait 6 more
months or so?

Bond:
iShares Lehman 1 to 3 Year Treasury Bond Fund (SHY)
iShares Lehman TIPS Bond Fund (TIP)
Any ideas for intermediate grade bond fund?

Also should I put the bond/REIT ETFs in the tax-deferred accounts if
they are tax-inefficient (i.e., high dividends?).

My current portfolio is the following (somewhat in a disarray) and
clearly it needs some work to get it to the above, desired form

Taxable account:
Fidelity International Growth Discovery (FIGRX)
Fidelity Blue chip value fund (FBVCX)
Fidelity Select Medical Equipment (FSMEX)
Fidelity Natural Gas (FSNGX)
Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO)
Wachovia Corp (WB)

Roth
Fidelity Freedom Fund 2040

I appreciate any pointers/advice you can offer. Thanks for your time.