Interesting. I had been thinking that the risk level wouldn't matter that much, because the amount of money we will ever need for real estate development is very hard to pin down. I.e. if my $600,000 goes to $800,000 then great, all the more we can invest in development at high returns, and if it goes to $400,000 then that just means oh well, we have less to put into development and might have to turn down a development.

What do you think about investing across 8 or 10 Vanguard funds?

I can provide more information if necessary.

I have 100k to invest over the next 6 months.

Country you live in - USA
Income - not applicable to the situation
Risk Tolerance - I'm OK with losing upto 10k
Timeframe for investment - 5-6 months ending in Mid to End of May '11.
Debt - not applicable to the situation
Any other information you might have that would help us - need the money to be fully liquid in Mid to end of May '11.

I am going to invest 8k this week and am looking at about a 5 year time frame.

This is what I am thinking...

Mostly ETFs and some pure equities.

$2000 in ZQQ which indexes the NASDAQ
$2000 in XEM which indexes the MSCI Emerging markets
$2000 in XSU which indexes the Russell 2000
$2000 in some other pure equities probably mostly in the energy and mining sectors

Seem reasonable?

First of all, could you explain why you want to buy the (probably less liquid, higher management fee) CAD hedged variants instead of a more common ETF?

Second, the NASDAQ has a high exposure to a few big shares. For example, Apple makes up 20% of the common QQQQ ETF. Now you also want to put $2000 in some specific equities, probably mining or energy. This combined means that like 50% of your exposure will be in highly specific sectors and 35% of your exposure will be in 4 or 5 different shares.

Your portfolio is volatile. Depending on what you want to achieve (and can stomach) you might take a less risky simple approach like:

50% msci world
30% russell 2000
20% emerging markets

I cant get all US ETFs because we have rule in Canada that only a certain portion of our retirement funds (RRSPs) can be US equities.

I have actually changed my ratios some:


My plan right now looks something like this:

-32% in XIU an ETF that tracks the TSX 60

-22% in ZQQ an ETF that tracks the NASDAQ

-18% in XEM an ETF that tracks the MSCI emerging markets

-14% in XSU an ETF that tracks the Russell 2000

-remainder 11% in Canadian mining and energy equities (not ETFs).

You need to look at very short term investments and something that is completely liquid. Any kind of stock, mutual fund, and most fixed income will not work for such a short period of time. If you really do need to have all 100K available in 6 months look at bank options or money market funds. There is not much that makes sense for that short of a time horizon.

Hopefully its ok to post this in here, didnt seem like it merited a thread...

Is there any reason to not invest in Vanguards ETFs instead of their regular index funds? I am just looking to buy and hold

As long as you understand your risk tolerance, time horizon, and what the money will be used for. The are a few other factors, but those are the big ones. Vanguard has great funds but I wouldn't recco them for large investors or those who don't understand everything.

im currently a business student and investing 100k+ of a poker friend's ( name will remain confidential) money, and XXXXX of my own $. My recommendation to Canadians investing long term- Obv max out ur TFSA ( if u havent done so already ). Also If u haven't set up a TFSA I WOULD RECOMMEND TO DO SO IMMEDIATELY. This is because if u set up an account before December 31,2010 instead of in 2011, you will have an addition $5000 of contribution room!!! Not paying income tax on capital gains is awesome. Also use Questrade to TRADE STOCK. Don't pick out 3-5 stocks that u like its just way to high variance. Invest minimum of 1000$ / stock so that the fees dont eat at u ( questrade had 5-10$ trades depending on the number of shares traded). I currently have 30 different shares in my portfolio of companies that I've done a decent amount of research on. Use Google finance to help you research stocks and keep up to date with current news. Diversify your portfolio in terms of risk level for your stocks and the sectors that you invest in. My personal strategy is to invest slightly lower amount into stocks that i would consider risky, and invest more into stocks that are low variance/ dividend paying stocks to lower variance. If you put the time into it, it isn't very tough to make solid returns. It is my personal opinion that mutual funds are a rip off for the fees that you have to pay + the low returns that they've proven to give.

If you plan on using Dollar Cost Averaging realize that you cannot buy fractional shares of stocks/ETFs. So when you buy realize you can't just put $5000 into an ETF and get 140.3582 shares - you can with mutual funds though.

I have just started a career after years of playing poker and studying. I am moving to Singapore to start a new job and will become a non-resident of Australia for tax purposes (two or more years overseas). After working in Singapore I will probably move to Canada where I am also a citizen, however I may return to Australia.

As I may end up moving to Canada, or may end up elsewhere in the world I'd rather not take /too much/ AUD currency risk with my investments. However this comes with some additional worries.

I currently have two thirds of my portfolio in an Vanguard Australia index fund structured as so:

Income assets 10%
• Australian fixed interest 4%
• International fixed interest (hedged) 6%
Growth assets 90%
• Australian shares 44%
• International shares 29%
• Australian property securities 5%
• International property securities (hedged) 5%
• International small companies (hedged) 4%
• Emerging markets shares 3%

And one third of my portfolio in term deposits (CDs) denominated in AUD that are about to expire.

I would like to restructure my investments into a more diversified world portfolio comprising something like:

32% Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT)
48% Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF (VEU)
20% Bonds or term deposits (to be decided in the future)

For the time that I am a non-resident of Australia my tax situation isn't too much of a problem. I won't pay taxes on overseas dividends or on capital gains. However, I have some concerns if I choose to return to Australia as I would like to retain any new portfolio that I create. Most Australian shares are franked meaning that I receive tax credits for the tax that the company already paid. Is this worth considering? I know that you can receive foreign income tax offsets on overseas income, however I'm unsure about any limitations on these offsets.

How does capital gains tax usually work on overseas investments denominated in foreign currencies? I've had some trouble finding a straight answer. For example, if I convert $10,000 AUD into USD and use it to buy an ETF listed in the US. Some time goes by and I sell the ETF and convert the result back to USD. The ETF has gained 20% denominated in USD, however during the same time AUDUSD has gained 20% thus erasing the overall gain in AUD. In this case, do I owe capital gains tax from the base cost in USD or do I measure it from the cost base in AUD? I know if I buy an AUD denominated ETF for overseas stocks on the ASX it'll act like the latter.

Any other general advice for someone who is uncertain of their place of future residence would be much appreciated. I especially anything related to tax concerns.

In the above post I meant the Vanguard Total Stock ETF (VTI), rather than the Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT). I am trying to replicate something similar to VT using VTI and VEU to reduce the MER I pay.

Your best option is to use http://portfolio.morningstar.com/New...y&dt=0.7055475 to figure out the best ratio.

Thanks. That is very helpful. It looks like VT + VEU is pretty close to VTI, but I will see if I can reduce costs further from there.

I hope that I'm posting this in the correct thread...

I'm a 26 year old beginning investor. Below is a screen shot of my portfolio. I'd like some feedback on my picks or any tips on where to go next.

Thanks.

No-one is going to give you a usefull answer to the question you are asking. But maybe someone can give you some feedback on your investing strategy if you provide some details.

I've found an answer to my foreign currency/asset capital gains question. It appears that the foreign currency transactions can be combined with any capital gains and losses in the asset bought from the transaction as long as they occur within a reasonable time frame.

Can any Australians (ArturiusX?) please recommend a US brokerage for use as an Australian. I'm not very concerned about brokerage costs because I will be buying and holding. I require convenience, good customer service for overseas customers, and especially safety as I don't want to deal with the brokerage going out of business.

Hookers and Blow.

just had windfall $450k. I currently have $200k invested mostly in miners. wut do i do. btw just got the intelligent investor by graham in the mail today

I am young. From what I understand, I could be making $50k+ in dividends with the right picks (MFA, NLY). thoughts?

That seems optimistic. Would suggest that you read the intelligent investor before making any decisions.

I have several million dollars to invest (sale of a business)
Age- 60
Country you live in - USA
Income - zero
Risk Tolerance - Low to Moderate
Timeframe for investment - none
Debt - none
Any other information you might have that would help us - I need the money to throw off as much post-tax income as possible, this will be what I will live on

Ideas from all of you experts will be much appreciated, thanks.

MisterEx

I'd look into a professional for this. Managing several million dollars is a full time job.

For that amount of money I would recommend Vanguard, you would qualify for their flagship services. I'm sure you could convince them to provide an in-depth initial consultation, they offer a free one every year (for flagship). The advantage of Vanguard provides access to funds with very low fees, which should help you keep more of your money. Your goals seem to align well with a "capital and income" fund. Those kind of funds strive to preserve capital and generate income.

The usual rules apply. Don't put it all in one place (hint Vanguard is one place, a single fund is definitely one place). If it is too good to be true, it is.

I think as part of your diversification you could buy some art or jewelery, but with the emphasis on income, not too much. Have some fun looking over a sotheby's catalog.

If i were in your position I would take 10% and go physical gold

I second each of the two other quotes, with that much money going a professional services route like Dave says is likely the best route to go...but then again, several million from ANY of the big names (T Rowe, Fidelty, American Funds etc) will qualify you for lower fees, no loads and personal service, so its up to personal preference.

I'd think of something like:
30% Vanguard Total Bond Market
30% Vanguard High Yield Corporate
15% Vanguard Total Stock Market
10% Vanguard FTSE All World ex-US
10% Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities
5% Vanguard Utilities Index

Giving you around 4.3% yield, which on $3m equates to around $100k/year after 20% tax.

I stick utilities in there because they are pretty darn consistent in throwing off dividends, so any fall in the others is likely to not occur with the utilities.

To decrease risk (and lower income) in this case would be to actually lower the high yield corporate exposure and increase total bond and/or inflation protected. You don't want to ignore stock funds entirely, but allocation to them isn't as important since they are not really income producing unless you pick individual stocks. Plus you are looking for income and capital preservation first, growth secondary, if not tiertiary.