Portfolio Risk: Is It Worth Taking a Chance?

By Lowell Herr: Market volatility over the last several years is pushing me toward reconsidering a buy-and-hold strategy. In an effort to lower portfolio volatility, I am testing a "risk reduction" model and part of this experiment is to better understand when particular asset classes are fairly valued.

By Lowell Herr: Finding low correlated investments is becoming increasingly difficult as the global markets tend to be in step with the U.S. market. Even selecting ETFs that focus on emerging markets or international REITs does not decouple one from the U.S. Equities market.

By Lowell Herr: We are trying to answer the assertion that the stock to bond ratio does not make a significant difference when it comes to retirement planning. Yesterday, I posted two blog entries that dealt with the beginning arguments.

Lowell Herr submits: Fifteen stocks and ETFs make up this revised portfolio. This revision of the original "Holy Grail" portfolio places more emphasis on international and commodity ETFs.

By Lowell Herr: Looking over a sample portfolio from a recent Seeking Alpha interview, a reader requested an asset allocation plan for someone who has 30 to 35 working years before retirement. What might a portfolio look like and will the assumptions used in this analysis be sufficient to carry the person through retirement years?

Gold stocks have historically ranked among some of the most volatile asset classes. Over any given one-year period, it is a non-event for gold stocks to move plus or minus 38 percent. This DNA of volatility is about three times that of gold bullion, which carries an annual volatility around 13 percent. Despite this volatility, our research shows that investors can use gold stocks to enhance returns without adding risk to the portfolio.

Lowell Herr submits: Several days ago I published an article on a 5-ETF portfolio.

Lowell Herr submits: Over a month ago I wrote an article on the "Holy Grail" portfolio that can be found at this site. The following combination of 11 ETFs and four individual stocks meet several requirements when using the Quantext Portfolio Planner analysis tool developed by Geoff Considine.