As 2020 winds to a close, I am five full years into early retirement.  I would like to simplify the fund ‘count’, but so far I’ve only trimmed the bond choice down to a single entity.  Part of the desire to simplify is I want to teach my wife to manage this stuff in case I’m not able.  Sharon is a retired CPA, so can handle most anything I throw at her, but she would not enjoy the process as much as I seem to have done. 

The other realization is that for the last 10 years or so, I have been managing the traditional IRA portfolio and the Roth IRA Portfolio with the same risk profiles (though I balance them separately). 

With five years of experience, I’m finding that we are living on ‘draws’ solely from the traditional, with the Roths being allowed to grow untouched.  At this writing, the Roth is about 25% of the total of the portfolio.  Similar to how I allowed the presence of a pension to ‘boost’ allowable risk in the investments, I’m now making that call on the Roths.

Since I’m using Schwab as a brokerage, I am primarily using their ETFs.  These funds are low expense, and as a bonus they trade for free in the Schwab universe.

Here is what I’m considering for Traditional IRAs:

 

Category

FundName

Ticker

Percent

Expense Ratio

US Equities 43%

US Large Cap Growth Stocks

Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF (SCHG)

SCHG

8.00%

0.04%

US Large Cap Value Stocks

Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Value ETF (SCHV)

SCHV

9.00%

0.04%

US Small Cap Growth

SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Growth ETF

SLYG

8.00%

0.15%

US Small Cap Value

SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF

SLYV

9.00%

0.15%

ETF – REIT

Vanguard REIT

VNQ

9.00%

0.12%

Bonds 15%

US Bonds

Schwab US Aggregate Bond ETF

SCHZ

15.00%

0.04%

International Equities 28%

Intl Equity

Schwab International Equity ETF

SCHF

7.00%

0.06%

Intl Large Cap Value

SPDR S&P International Dividend

DWX

7.00%

0.45%

ETF - Int'l Small Cap

WisdomTree International SmallCap Div

DLS

7.00%

0.58%

Intl Diversified Emerging Markets

Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF

SCHE

7.00%

0.11%

Gold, Cash 14%

Gold

ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares

SGOL

4.00%

0.17%

Cash

 

$$$

10.00%

0

100.00%

0.14%

The result is very low expense with decent diversification and free trades.  I hung on to the Vanguard REIT in lieu of Schwab’s SCHH, as the Vanguard just seems to perform much better, at least on a trailing basis. 

And here is where I’m going with the Roth portfolio:

 

Category

FundName

Ticker

Percent

Expense Ratio

US Equities 50%

US Large Cap Growth Stocks

Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF (SCHG)

SCHG

10.00%

0.04%

US Large Cap Value Stocks

Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Value ETF (SCHV)

SCHV

10.00%

0.04%

US Small Cap Growth

SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Growth ETF

SLYG

10.00%

0.15%

US Small Cap Value

SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF

SLYV

10.00%

0.15%

ETF – REIT

Vanguard REIT

VNQ

10.00%

0.12%

Bonds 6%

US Bonds

Schwab US Aggregate Bond ETF

SCHZ

6.00%

0.04%

International Equities 40%

Intl Equity

Schwab International Equity ETF

SCHF

10.00%

0.06%

Intl Large Cap Value

SPDR S&P International Dividend

DWX

10.00%

0.45%

ETF - Int'l Small Cap

WisdomTree International SmallCap Div

DLS

10.00%

0.58%

Intl Diversified Emerging Markets

Schwab Emerging Markets Equity ETF

SCHE

10.00%

0.11%

Gold 4%

Gold

ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares

SGOL

4.00%

0.17%

Cash

 

$$$

0.00%

0

100.00%

0.18%

 

Wish me luck!


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