http://www.lherr.org/blog Dedicated to portfolio construction and management. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:00:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When the market opened this morning, two ETFs in the AA-Mosaic Portfolio hit the limit order I set weeks ago thinking the price was so low they would never be struck.  This morning they were hit and I picked up blocks in emerging markets and large-cap growth.  The details will ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/20/capitulation/ The link in this blog entry contains some of the most informative reading you will find in the investment world.  Read a few articles and then see if you do not agree with me that this is a launching point for many hours of reading. Geoff Considine provides a tremendous service ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/20/a-wealth-of-reading/ By the end of the week all the tax selling will take place in the taxable accounts and the restructuring of these portfolios will begin.  The asset allocation plan will require looking for assets that have low correlation, better than average projected return, and low historical R^2 values as measured ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/19/restructuring-portfolios/ Most investors are holding bond or equity investments that are well below the purchase price.  Now is the time to look over those losses and sell to take advantage of tax losses.  If one is holding an ETF such as Vanguard's Large-Cap Value VTV, one could wait 31 days to ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/18/tax-selling/ Premium Content readers will find new information on the Value vs. Growth debate in an entry posted this morning.  The evidence to tilt a portfolio toward value is anything but clear cut and I needed to change my prior position where I favored value ETFs over growth ETFs. New evidence, at ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/17/value-vs-growth-debate/ This week I am recommending a Philips recording of Mozart's Great Piano Concertos.  These include Nos. 19, 20, 21, 23, 24 and 2 Concert Rondos.  Alfred Brendel is the pianist and Sir Nevelle Marriner conducts the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.  This is a 2 CD package. Photograph: Mozart ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/16/mozart-the-great-piano-concertos/ In the November issue of the American Association of Individual Investors Journal (AAII) James B. Cloonan provides an interesting portfolio built around the follow ETFs.  They are: FDM (16%), PRF (16%), RFV (16%), RZV (16%), ICF (16%), GWX (5%), RWX (5%), VEU (5%), and VWO (5%). I'm very familiar with ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/15/aaii-portfolio-analysis/ November 13th may be the date the bear market ended.  Let's hope so as the last year has been a painful period.  The S&P hit a 52-week low so we need to see if this level will be retested over the next few weeks.  The NASDAQ is approximately 150 points ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/14/did-we-reach-bottom/ Michael Lewis, author of Liar's Poker, has written a most interesting article on the sub-prime mess and and some of the reasons for the current market decline.  The End is a must read. Lowell Herr Photograph: Temporary location for statue. http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/14/michael-lewis-recent-article/ Yesterday's 411.3 point decline was further evidence investors are coming to the conclusion - nobody is in charge.  This president has showered, zipped up his gym bag and is about to board the bus.  Unfortunately, it is still 68 days before the bus heads for Crawford, Texas.  What remains is ... http://www.lherr.org/blog/2008/11/13/nobody-in-charge/