ITA Wealth Management

Seven portfolios are currently available for viewing and study on the Premium Content side of this blog. Oldest is the Passive Portfolio (PP), now closing in on its 8th birthday.  The remaining six portfolios, listed below, are still under construction, even though “Colter” has been operational for many months.  The AEM portfolio is established in that the asset classes are fixed as are the target percentages.  Either of these will only change if the board of directors makes any changes.

• AA-Mosaic
• Mosaic2
• GLW
• Scrappy
• Colter
• AEM

As mentioned before, all these portfolios are built around the concept of asset allocation.  Not all portfolios contain the same body of asset classes, nor are the target percentages identical.  These seven portfolios are set up for different individuals and/or non-profit organizations.  The portfolios vary in size and they were launched at different times providing a variety of “experiences” one might expect to find if one were able to peek into the portfolios of seven different individuals.

The variety of portfolios provides a better test of the asset allocation principles than one could obtain from a single portfolio.  As you look at the different portfolios, you will note that most, but not all, are outperforming their VTSMX benchmark.  For the very new portfolios, this is not significant.  Those that are not performing as well as expected are taking it on the chin due to the poor performing international and emerging market ETFs.

Over the next several months, efforts will be made to populate asset classes that are under target.  In some cases this will happen with new cash.  With the more mature portfolios, we will need to rely on dividends to provide cash to upgrade those asset classes that are below target.  Limit orders are in place for several portfolios.  When those are triggered, I will report on the shares purchased.

Lowell Herr

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Photograph: Chinese dancers