@@rob_berger Definitely. You never know what will have happen in the next 10 years. Diversification guarantees you get a piece of each pie, regardless of what the market is doing.
@@starmorpheus Can do that with 3 to 4 funds and some money in GICs or bonds etc for more security. Good for small portfolios (under $50-100K), beginners and or DIYers who want to keep it simple. Very few on YT do good videos on this.
Thank you for sharing this valuable educational information. In 2021 had as many as 35 tech related stocks. I spend too much time researching, trading stocks, and my year end results were terrible. This week I am consolidating to an index fund, a bond fund, international fund, and 6 stocks. Thank you again!
Great return. My portfolio is nearly identical to VTWAX / VT and returned 20.4%. I use the Boglehead's return spreadsheet which helps calculate the returns over time.
Thanks for sharing! The crazy thing I can’t wrap my head around is that if one were to be a “coffeehouse investor” in the sense that if I simply invest in the S&P500 index and rebalance stock and bond annually without diving into any individual stocks or mutual funds, I would’ve done just as well (average) and have a lot more time for other hobbies and maybe even entrepreneurship that may increase my net worth. That’s my struggle with personal finance. I keep wanting to discover more secrets but once you get the basics down, it seems like the rest is more for the academicians than the average joes
And underperforming the simple lazy portfolio by just 1-2% can cost you a lot of money when you compound it over time. A lot of people will try to sell these "secrets," but there are none.
Couldn't agree more. However, you have to be prepared for the years when the S&P 500 underperforms a more diversified portfolio. It has happened and it will happen again. And in fact, historically a tilt toward value and small cap has outperformed the S&P 500. But again, just sticking with the S&P 500 has worked well for a very long time.
don't forget the SP500 isn't just an index, its a cap weighted system / strategy , in the sense that the market cap laggards get replaced , so there is inbuilt bias to the upside which should suit the coffee houses
@@rob_berger thanks. Would love to see a video of the the upside of value + small cap tilt on a year to year basis or decade to decade basis. I’m sure it’s one of those things that require Monte carlos simulation 😂 but that’s my issue with Paul Merrimen’s ultimate portfolio as well. Once a portfolio gets to a certain complexity, then It’s no different than managing individual stocks. You’re just replacing stocking picking with “basket of stocks” (mutual fund/ETF) picking. That’s fine if minimal time is required to managed the portfolio. But “underperforming” 1-2% by the market by taking a hands off approach doesn’t take into account the “cost” of time to research and stay up to date with the latest financial fads.
@@rob_berger What about investing a portion of the equities, like 10-20%, in a small cap index fund, and the majority of everything else in an S&P 500 index? Is this what you mean by diversifying? I have no confidence in myself to pick individual stocks.
Right On dude! Great videos, just found you and subscribed a few days ago. I’m a 64 year old retired dentist, have studied investing for decades and always will. You are very sharp and practical….mostly reinforcing what I’m already doing yet still providing astute input. Please keep it up!
After watching your videos I finally realized it’s time for a change. The return on my IRA, managed by a professional charging the 1% fee, was 10.9% for 2021. Twice a year my wife and I get a 45 minute chat session and free coffee. Portfolio is a mix of 28 mutual funds and ETFs. Enough said.
Definitely make the change, you can do this yourself. I knew nothing a year ago & learned just by reading, watching financial news, & watching RUclips’s. I love being my own financial advisor. Sold all my mutual funds with high expense ratios, bought VTI & some terrific stocks (both Growth & Value). Buying my 2022 iBond this week.
That's nuts.. he's giving you 45 chat and $5 coffee a year and you're paying for his surf and turf for the whole family each day, couple of vacations a year and part of the mortgage... Self manage with 4 fund strategy and call it a day!
Great video. Thanks for sharing your ‘21 results. I’ve tracked my portfolio over the past 7 years and this year came up short like you but have outperformed 5 of 7 years. Results were 2 points short of S&P 500. Currently , I’m too exposed to U.S. tech sector so need some major rebalancing to reduce portfolio risks. Your insights are very helpful to start the planning!
Very nice summary of what we all want to know. I’m 80/20. 15% of my stock portfolio is individual positions.. My total return was 17% accounting for my fixed income barely treading water. I sense a huge correction
Hey Rob, are you considering doing one of these videos for 2022? Comparing your portfolio to the S&P 500 for 2022? That would be interesting and also interesting to see if you still have the same stock and fund investments. I enjoy your videos. Thanks!
Congrats, Rob, for your 2001 investment year and for your transparency for us your viewers. Too bad you didn't pick up on Tesla's again this year for out sized agains. It is not too late. Next year expect a double again. Best and Happy New Year.
Thanks and congratulatations! Can you tell us percentage of specific assets, eg. individual stocks are at 31%, emerging markets, you said at 10%. How about other segments of your portfolio, REIT, VTI,...
Hi Rob, Our philosophy for investing is similar. My overall equity portion return was also less than the S&P 500 at around 23% as I too had 14% in International Index Fund returning 8% and 10% in small cap ETF. But, like you, I'm satisfied with the results for all the reasons you stated. My 5 % fun money stock allocation didn't do as well as yours coming in around 25%.
My 401k is 80/20 500 index and small cap index. Another account carries an REIT, MLP and muni bonds. Roth carries VTSAX total stock market index and VIGAX growth index. "Well covered" for stock or bond fluxuation as well as inflation. I agree with diversification but certainly don't see the need for more than 1 of each in any asset class. You could easily go VTSAX, VBTLX, VGSLX or their ETF equivalent and do very well. 80/10/10.
One thing to add, most channels and all investments talk about beating the S&P or a specific benchmark. I will tell you it can happen by accident and does not mean you have a solid portfolio. Your exposure and risk MATTER, especially when you're talking an investment horizon of 25-30 years. Lost money can't make money. Protecting your downside with notoriously safe funds during downturns help your portfolio remain on task. Expense ratios also matter when you're looking at 30+ years. A lot of money being left on the table. VIG & SCHD deserve a look for a lot of Roth IRAs to supplement the high volatility of an S&P 500 index overall.
Rob, thank you so much for sharing your time and knowledge with us. While watching this video a doubt came to mind. The expense ratio of mutual funds, most of the time, is higher than ETFs. In addition, the minimum investment for mutual funds like VTSAX is $3000. Considering this, what is the advantage to invest in mutual funds instead of their ETFs pairs.
Damn I did 21.75% on 2021, unfortunately in my country I don't have access to all US market so my portfolio is approximately 50% US (mostly ETFs) and 50% Mexican stock market.
Excellent video! I always try to remind myself of a quote from a guest on Consuelo Mack's show and that was, and I'm paraphrasing, you're not really diversified unless you have at least one asset selection that you're not comfortable with.
Thanks for sharing your performance. I am retired and my portfolio is about 75-25 including about 11-12% in individual stocks. My total return was 17.2%. Not as good as previous 2 years, but I have been slowly moving some money to investments I believe will weather a downturn better. After three years of investing during retirement, I am 1 for 3 at beating the S&P 500. Top funds were FBGRX, FOCPX, DODGX, FNCMX and FXAIX. Top stocks were RECAF 180% (speculative, but I expect bigger gains this year), PFE 55%, and MSFT 49% (Not including dividends).
Congrats. I use an advisor and not done as well. TBF our guy is good and comes on ref from far wealthier friend. DIY can be done with 3 to 4 funds incl some GICs or bonds etc for security/bal. Good for sml accts (
8% from your international is great. It’s in line with historical returns unlike the US market, which may mislead investors into thinking 20%+ years are a regular regular return.
My final answer after hearing all your data is that your final outcome is the same as the SP500 but you get a more diversified profolia so in a bad market , you actually is safer than SP500. Congrats
Hi Rob. Great channel!!! You have some great insights and I thank you for sharing them. Out of curiosity, How did your portfolio perform over the last 5 years compared to the sp500? I suspect it was far less volatile due to the diversification. Thanks.
Thanks for the video. Did I miss you mention the two Bond Indexes you are invested in? I wrote down VTSAX, VFWAX, VSMAX, VGSLX and VEMAX. Also do you have a recommended % for each Index Fund in a Balanced Portfolio? I have been concerned about a significant Market Crash for sometime but have missed out on substantial gains and at 55 am running out of time to get to where I want to be.
@RobBerger: I enjoy your approach very much. I both listen to your approach and follow it. I do have the question, if you are comparing your results to the S&P, why not just purchase the S&P Index Fund (or ETF)?
Why couldn’t one consider the sos sec income the fixed income investment of one’s portfolio? If you want a 70/30 split, count soc sec in the 30% part, forget investing in bonds.
i check my networth frequently(retirement and taxable accts , no house equity and no college fund included). i retired last August 1. 12/31/20-12/31/21. i don't have anything in bonds (buffet would be horrified but i consider brk-b as my bondlike holding) but plan on getting exposure this year. my individual stocks are 37.9% of my networth. largest position is berkshire hathaway with rest, nvidia(second largest), google, waste managment, pfizer , pepsi , amzn, bank of america, jp morgan, costco and royal dutch shell. rest of portfolio is in various index funds, no reits at this point.. networth is up 31.36% for the year.( would have been about 4.5 times my income if still working-love compounding) not included is my son's college fund is up 17.9%.- he will start using it next year.
Your channel has provided me the clarity that I was looking for. Thanks! I am fairly new to investing and currently own in my Roth IRA: 60% VTSAX, 25% VTIAX, and %15 VGT. I was considering to add some small cap and REITS however, I would like to keep everything as simple as possible. I also have a brokerage account as well with those same funds to meet the %15 of your salary yearly for retirement. I really wanted to buy some VNQ but I don't like the tax implications that it would have in my brokerage account, since I want to keep the same investments inside both my brokerage and Roth IRA. Any input on my current holdings?
Not really a sensible sentiment to feel the need to keep same investments inside both your taxable brokerage and Roth IRA. VNQ is fine in Roth IRA but not for taxable brokerage.
Couch potato portfolio website also has good info. Can use 3 or 4 funds with some money in GICs or bonds etc for more security/bal. Good for sml portfolios (under $50-100K), beginners and or DIYers who want to keep it simple. Very few on YT do good videos on this. Good luck. PS: keep eyes on EMs (emerging markets) now to 2030. Many good sources and indications to say East will rise esp Africa and India.
You're right. I misspoke on the individual stock returns. The annualized return was 44.82%. I read the wrong number from the stock tracking tool I was using. And keep in mind those numbers don't include dividends.
Great recap of the year. If you had a large purchase to save and invest for like a second home or better home what index fund would you park the money in for a 5 plus year timeline?
Hi Rob, thanks for the video. Just a question, why not use small cap value instead of blend? It has better long term performance and also decrease volatility of portfolio with the total stock market.
Good video. Do you recommend using an investment manager or going with Vanguard and doing it yourself? I am 51. Not sure what would be best at this age. Thanks
REITs are in the US total stock market index and probably in the S&P 500, so no need to have a separate REITs etf is there? Aren’t the underlying costs in a REIT high?
That’s my conundrum too. Most readings I’ve done seems to suggest REITs and stock market performance correlate with each other so I don’t know how much diversification really exists there.
Need? No. You'll find about 2%+ of REITs in the S&P 500. The separate REIT fund gives me more exposure. Whether that will turn out to be good or bad only time can tell.
@@rob_berger in the early 2000s i had reit index as 10-15% of my portfolio as it supposedly does not correlate with the stock market. i only placed reits in me and my wife's roths and nondeductible ira, since then converted to roth. with the contribution limits, after 20yrs, their percentage of the portfolio declined. i finally got out of them completely in early 2020 and worse i put a significant portion in royal dutch shell which at that time had a high yield and never cut the dividend since WW2(ha ha) and vanguard all world ftse ex us and vtsax. since i can't harvest the tax loss on rds-b and loss aversion, i am letting rds-b ride for now. it is a small portion of my portfolio anyway and i do expect it will go up as we clear the pandemic. will see how it goes in 1 to 2 yrs. i may then put it in vtsax. my main reason for getting rid of it was that if my roths are going to be my last assets to spend down why am i limiting their growth with reits. i was only 53 y/o then and would still not be touching them for 20 yrs or more. even retiring at 55 i am still not planning on touching my roths early. over 20 yrs though they did follow the general stock market except for the first few years post tech crash.
Good information!! Suggestion/idea: Increase your equity holdings from 84% to 100% in 2022. If your 2021 fixed investments returned about 1%, then that pulls your overall return of about 29%, down to about 24%. If you have cash not included in the fixed income portion, then that would pull your overall return down further (cash drag). In case of a stock crash in 2022, then take out a personal loan to pay bills and do a rollover from your tax deferred accounts to a Roth IRA, so you don't miss out on the lower tax brackets in 2022. Thoughts? Too risky? p.s. My portfolio is essentially 100% S&P500, 0% bonds & minimal cash. My age is 60, retired.
I made 6 figures last year in profit from index funds and ETFs alone. It’s simple people, stop over thinking it: buy and hold good index funds/ETFs with low fees and stay consistent. Millionaire I’m no time 💰💰🙌🚀
Wondering why you don't have the ETF versions of your Vanguard mutual funds, with typically a slightly lower ER and able to pick your buy/sell prices.? Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year Rob! I am getting all cashed up for '22 with regards to HSA, 401k, Roth/IRA's.
With mutual funds I don't have to concern myself with premiums/discounts. I always buy and sell an NAV. Many of Vanguard's funds have minimal premiums/discounts given their volume, so also a reasonable choice.
Hello Rob, I'd like to hear your thoughts on going all in on VIGAX vs VTSAX (one mutual fund for retirement). On portfolio advisor, the former outperforms the latter by nearly $15 million. I understand that you won't be as diversified as VTSAX, but I wonder if the risk/ROI is worth it from your perspective.
Hi Rob, what are you going to do with these individual stocks this year? Hold them for another year? Sell some of them gradually to rebalance? Or swap in other stocks?
Jack Bogle on International stocks: *_“Everyone tells me I’m wrong. In my book, ‘Bogle on Investing,’ I said, for a lot of reasons, you don’t need to own international stock. The reality is that we do better than the rest of the world. You don’t need currency risk, but if you want, don’t go over 20% in international...."I've been right. Since “Bogle on Investing” was published in 1993, the S&P 500 has gained 779% cumulative vs. 309% for the Europe, Australasia and Far East index. Does that mean I’ll be right in the future? I could be wrong. But when you buy the S&P 500, you buy a portfolio where roughly half the earnings and revenue comes from abroad."_* *_“What are you buying in non-US-stocks? The largest country in EAFE is Britain; the second-highest, Japan; and the third is that soul of hard work, France. I can’t see that I’d make more money in Britain, with Brexit; or Japan, a very structured, aging economy - or France, where they couldn’t pass a law saying you had to work 35 hours a week. And if you look at the last 10 years, the correlation between EAFE and the U.S. has been something like 92. That doesn’t seem to change your risk.”_*
@@rob_berger The Japan argument is a double edge sword. Americans who held a portion of Japanese stocks in their internationally diversified portfolios in the 1980s certainly regretted doing so for the very reason you mention. And I remember in the 80s there was every reason to think Japan would be the economic lion of the future. Americans were worried about Japan taking over the US at the time, especially with them buying up our real estate, fine artworks etc. But the Japanese market was and is much more insular and not nearly as internationalized as the American market. Globalization has converted the USA into an international business region. Large corporations started here can hardly be considered "US corporations" tied only or largely to the American market. All the biggees - Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Tesla etc make more money overseas, conduct their manufacturing and have more business activities outside of the US compared to within. The US is more of an administrative and legal home base - an international hub of commerce. With that said, the risk is increasing that the "administrative and legal home base" may be starting to crumble due to internal conflict. Balkanization is seeming much more likely as time goes forward. The future of our global reserve currency status seems strained as well. So maybe Jack Bogle will finally be wrong? Good thing he didn't live to see it.
Well done! After u do this for 10 yrs or so, ur diversification will make more sense to the doubters. Still no gold? When I look at the models, it says it’s a good diversification point
I'm a bit confused by how you get your final total return. You say that individual stocks return about 31-32% with dividends, and individual stocks make up about 31% of your equity portfolio. You then say that equity index funds returned about 17-18% with dividends. Lets be generous and say 1/3 individual stocks and 2/3 index funds. This would come out to (32% * 1/3)+(18% * 2/3) = 22.6% (including dividends). How do you come up with 28% return? I think I must be missing something with your math.
Rob, Just retired and spendibg more investing. Currently use M1 to buy stock. I am now looking to add I bonds therefore how is the best tool to track everything.
Great job Considering moving my money to the 500 index fund from the 2040 jh multi manager portfolio? The performance has been better (S&P 500 is not an option in my 401k)
"Considering moving my money to the 500 index fund from the 2040 jh multi manager portfolio?" Are you asking if you should move away from John Hancock?
@@wolverine9079 You generally want to stay away from mutual fund companies that sell LOAD funds (A B C ... shares) and have high expense ratios. J Hancock has several "2040" target date funds but unless you provide the 5 letter ticker it's not possible to comment on yours directly. JAVCX JHBAX JRRRX JETWX have expense ratios from 0.32% to 0.87% JHBAX charges *5%* load (commission) which comes out of your pocket. If you hold it in IRA it's a painless sell and purchase of S&P 500. Hopefully you don't own in taxable brokerage as it holds bonds and kicks out taxable dividends and CG. Are John Hancock investments the only option in your 401(k)?
rob, i would like your insight on portfolio, and if you can consult for fee ect. not sure how to reach out to you, definately would like to know about consultation, thank you.
I desperately need l help l have annuity .where my finacial advisor did not tell me the truth..it will s a 8 yrs annuity..l been in it for 3 yrs ..but l am not making any money. So l want to put it in the stock market...so should l use vanguard vti and voo.....l am so confused...how should invest going forward.
the local Wells Fargo bank in my retiree populated town doesn't get high marks from retirees for customer service, etc ----I wonder what it is doing right for its stock to do so well.....
Great discussion. I consider myself a moderately aggressive investor. I am looking at managing my own portfolio as I go forward. Given my leaning towards say an 85-15 stocks/bonds ratio, what would you recommend percentage wise for individual stocks?
I think they can have a place for some retirees, even though they are not for me. The question is figuring out whether they make sense for you, and if so, at what amount. I suggest talking to a financial advisor who does not sell annuities.
They are freaking great for the rep who sells it to you. Huge commission. Read all the fine print in the contract…scary. Better idea... Create your own annuity based on VTI or VTSAX, SCHD as a start. Not financial advice.
@@artkarp That is not the type I am talking about. No commission. If you are 70 years old, investing in mutual funds is a big gamble. The fund could lose half its value and stay that way for a decade, while I am at the same time drawing it down to live off of the meantime. That is the problem with investing at my age. A lifetime payout annuity pays you a guaranteed amount till you die. I estimated that after 10 years at my age it is a good trade off.
Apple stock may have saved me. Also, you have to factor in timing. I made contributions each year, particularly 2018, which has a significant effect on returns.
The reason I’m asking is to gauge the cost of decreasing risk through diversification. Thanks again, I have gained much knowledge watching your videos.
@@rob_berger is this the reason why you don’t reinvest your individual stock dividends? I don’t reinvest the dividends from my individual stocks that are in my taxable account, however I do reinvest my dividends from my individual stocks in my IRA.
Nice job, I noted there was no income from puts and calls, and covered calls? I made a few dollars with them playing with common sense. Am I wrong , a low risk in a retirement account?? What is your opinion?
I know that you are a smart man so I have to wonder why you selected VTSAX which has transaction fees and an expense ratio of .04%. FSKAX has no transaction fees and an expense ratio of .015%. Otherwise both funds are very similar.
The portfolio you reported is NOT diversified - All stocks. Stocks of different flavors, but all stocks none the less. What were the Returns on Bonds? Cash? Gold? Actual real estate (not real estate stocks) ? If this portfolio is still in effect - Jan 2023 it will be quite revealing if you manage to stick by the 75/25 mix you have and if those wonderful returns ARE returned. “Well Mr Investor, what would you like do? Another Spin?” “Let it Ride! Let it Ride!” As Will Rogers quipped: “Don’t promise me a return on my money. Promise me a return OF my money” Congratulations on your stock mix matching the index.
@Rob Berger It seems like most portfolios I've seen (including your 4-fund) go for small cap value rather than small cap. You said you have both. Which way would you recommend going for someone just getting into the market in 2022?
21.6% return. 60% large cap / 20% mid/sm cap and 20% international. 0 bonds. I have a pension which I consider my fixed income portion. Great channel!
Moral of the story don’t waste your time and invest in s&p 500
I can't argue with that, although I'm much more comfortable with my diversification.
@@rob_berger Definitely. You never know what will have happen in the next 10 years. Diversification guarantees you get a piece of each pie, regardless of what the market is doing.
@@starmorpheus
Can do that with 3 to 4 funds and some money in GICs or bonds etc for more security. Good for small portfolios (under $50-100K), beginners and or DIYers who want to keep it simple. Very few on YT do good videos on this.
Thank you for sharing this valuable educational information. In 2021 had as many as 35 tech related stocks. I spend too much time researching, trading stocks, and my year end results were terrible. This week I am consolidating to an index fund, a bond fund, international fund, and 6 stocks. Thank you again!
You will sleep better.
Great return. My portfolio is nearly identical to VTWAX / VT and returned 20.4%. I use the Boglehead's return spreadsheet which helps calculate the returns over time.
Love his no-nonsense videos - very informative and great knowledge
Thanks for sharing! The crazy thing I can’t wrap my head around is that if one were to be a “coffeehouse investor” in the sense that if I simply invest in the S&P500 index and rebalance stock and bond annually without diving into any individual stocks or mutual funds, I would’ve done just as well (average) and have a lot more time for other hobbies and maybe even entrepreneurship that may increase my net worth. That’s my struggle with personal finance. I keep wanting to discover more secrets but once you get the basics down, it seems like the rest is more for the academicians than the average joes
And underperforming the simple lazy portfolio by just 1-2% can cost you a lot of money when you compound it over time. A lot of people will try to sell these "secrets," but there are none.
Couldn't agree more. However, you have to be prepared for the years when the S&P 500 underperforms a more diversified portfolio. It has happened and it will happen again. And in fact, historically a tilt toward value and small cap has outperformed the S&P 500. But again, just sticking with the S&P 500 has worked well for a very long time.
don't forget the SP500 isn't just an index, its a cap weighted system / strategy , in the sense that the market cap laggards get replaced , so there is inbuilt bias to the upside which should suit the coffee houses
@@rob_berger thanks. Would love to see a video of the the upside of value + small cap tilt on a year to year basis or decade to decade basis. I’m sure it’s one of those things that require Monte carlos simulation 😂 but that’s my issue with Paul Merrimen’s ultimate portfolio as well. Once a portfolio gets to a certain complexity, then It’s no different than managing individual stocks. You’re just replacing stocking picking with “basket of stocks” (mutual fund/ETF) picking. That’s fine if minimal time is required to managed the portfolio. But “underperforming” 1-2% by the market by taking a hands off approach doesn’t take into account the “cost” of time to research and stay up to date with the latest financial fads.
@@rob_berger What about investing a portion of the equities, like 10-20%, in a small cap index fund, and the majority of everything else in an S&P 500 index? Is this what you mean by diversifying? I have no confidence in myself to pick individual stocks.
Right On dude! Great videos, just found you and subscribed a few days ago.
I’m a 64 year old retired dentist, have studied investing for decades and always will. You are very sharp and practical….mostly reinforcing what I’m already doing yet still providing astute input.
Please keep it up!
If you don't mind me asking, what has worked best for you, mutual funds or indexing?
@@stevetop9118 indexing
Plus individual stocks (made a killing off Apple)
But honestly if I did it over it’d be almost all indexing
After watching your videos I finally realized it’s time for a change. The return on my IRA, managed by a professional charging the 1% fee, was 10.9% for 2021. Twice a year my wife and I get a 45 minute chat session and free coffee. Portfolio is a mix of 28 mutual funds and ETFs. Enough said.
Wow. That's crazy. I've yet to find an advisory worth 1% of my net worth each and every year.
Definitely make the change, you can do this yourself. I knew nothing a year ago & learned just by reading, watching financial news, & watching RUclips’s. I love being my own financial advisor. Sold all my mutual funds with high expense ratios, bought VTI & some terrific stocks (both Growth & Value). Buying my 2022 iBond this week.
That's nuts.. he's giving you 45 chat and $5 coffee a year and you're paying for his surf and turf for the whole family each day, couple of vacations a year and part of the mortgage... Self manage with 4 fund strategy and call it a day!
28 mutual funds is insane! They probably have 1-1.50% MER already, why another 1% professional fee?!!
Save the 1% and invest in Starbucks.
Great video. Thanks for sharing your ‘21 results. I’ve tracked my portfolio over the past 7 years and this year came up short like you but have outperformed 5 of 7 years. Results were 2 points short of S&P 500. Currently , I’m too exposed to U.S. tech sector so need some major rebalancing to reduce portfolio risks. Your insights are very helpful to start the planning!
My portfolio perform 22% I would like to congratulate you on an outstanding portfolio diversification
Thank you for sharing Rob. My return was 17%
60% IVV, 15% slyv, 15% QQQ, 10% value stock purchases and options sales.
Very nice summary of what we all want to know. I’m 80/20. 15% of my stock portfolio is individual positions.. My total return was 17% accounting for my fixed income barely treading water. I sense a huge correction
Hey Rob, are you considering doing one of these videos for 2022? Comparing your portfolio to the S&P 500 for 2022? That would be interesting and also interesting to see if you still have the same stock and fund investments. I enjoy your videos. Thanks!
Congrats, Rob, for your 2001 investment year and for your transparency for us your viewers. Too bad you didn't pick up on Tesla's again this year for out sized agains. It is not too late. Next year expect a double again. Best and Happy New Year.
Why should I expect a "double gain"?
@@rob_berger hello Mr Rob new fan want to ask you 1 question if it's cool
Thanks and congratulatations! Can you tell us percentage of specific assets, eg. individual stocks are at 31%, emerging markets, you said at 10%. How about other segments of your portfolio, REIT, VTI,...
Congratulations Rob! Thank you for sharing. I’ve learned so very much from watching your channel.
Hi Rob, Our philosophy for investing is similar. My overall equity portion return was also less than the S&P 500 at around 23% as I too had 14% in International Index Fund returning 8% and 10% in small cap ETF. But, like you, I'm satisfied with the results for all the reasons you stated. My 5 % fun money stock allocation didn't do as well as yours coming in around 25%.
Please model your portfolio vs S&P in Portfolio Analyzer. I am interested to see how it would have performed during the previous rough patches.
Your wisdom is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Yes. We humans tend to complicate things that should have been kept simple.
Thanks for your education in 2021! Looking forward to 2022👍🏽🇺🇸
Happy New Year!! My return was 16.5%. I didn’t include what I put in my portfolio.
My 401k is 80/20 500 index and small cap index. Another account carries an REIT, MLP and muni bonds. Roth carries VTSAX total stock market index and VIGAX growth index. "Well covered" for stock or bond fluxuation as well as inflation.
I agree with diversification but certainly don't see the need for more than 1 of each in any asset class. You could easily go VTSAX, VBTLX, VGSLX or their ETF equivalent and do very well. 80/10/10.
@Rob Berger - can you please do a video on how you selected your individual stock holdings?
Happy New Year Rob - Thanks for ALL the great videos!
High quality content, thanks Rob. This is the way to retire safely.
This is very useful, and very consistent with your recommendations. Thank you for sharing.
I need to do this too just to see, but my portfolio in 2021 was basically just two funds: approx 80% VTI & 20% VXUS! A lot easier to compare lol
Very interesting video, Rob. And Happy New Year.
One thing to add, most channels and all investments talk about beating the S&P or a specific benchmark. I will tell you it can happen by accident and does not mean you have a solid portfolio. Your exposure and risk MATTER, especially when you're talking an investment horizon of 25-30 years. Lost money can't make money. Protecting your downside with notoriously safe funds during downturns help your portfolio remain on task. Expense ratios also matter when you're looking at 30+ years. A lot of money being left on the table. VIG & SCHD deserve a look for a lot of Roth IRAs to supplement the high volatility of an S&P 500 index overall.
My portfolio that mainly consists of individual stocks, edged out the S&P by one-half percent. Thanks for sharing, great information.
Hi Rob! Great vídeo, can you expand on the percentage allocation you have for each of your funds? Thank you!
Rob, thank you so much for sharing your time and knowledge with us. While watching this video a doubt came to mind. The expense ratio of mutual funds, most of the time, is higher than ETFs. In addition, the minimum investment for mutual funds like VTSAX is $3000. Considering this, what is the advantage to invest in mutual funds instead of their ETFs pairs.
Damn I did 21.75% on 2021, unfortunately in my country I don't have access to all US market so my portfolio is approximately 50% US (mostly ETFs) and 50% Mexican stock market.
It's good you're diversified.
HYN Rob. Interesting breakdown. Loving it!
Thanks for a great year of information. Happy new year.
I had similar results for the year. I am diversified and ended up at 25.8% overall.
Excellent video! I always try to remind myself of a quote from a guest on Consuelo Mack's show and that was, and I'm paraphrasing, you're not really diversified unless you have at least one asset selection that you're not comfortable with.
Thanks for sharing your performance. I am retired and my portfolio is about 75-25 including about 11-12% in individual stocks. My total return was 17.2%. Not as good as previous 2 years, but I have been slowly moving some money to investments I believe will weather a downturn better. After three years of investing during retirement, I am 1 for 3 at beating the S&P 500. Top funds were FBGRX, FOCPX, DODGX, FNCMX and FXAIX. Top stocks were RECAF 180% (speculative, but I expect bigger gains this year), PFE 55%, and MSFT 49% (Not including dividends).
Congrats. I use an advisor and not done as well. TBF our guy is good and comes on ref from far wealthier friend. DIY can be done with 3 to 4 funds incl some GICs or bonds etc for security/bal. Good for sml accts (
55% myself. RWT, ZIM and INMD carried my portfolio this year (SSL also but sold in the summer)
Was a good year for me i Invested a large amount in a swedish index :)
Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year!
Happy new year!
8% from your international is great. It’s in line with historical returns unlike the US market, which may mislead investors into thinking 20%+ years are a regular regular return.
Look at the snps peformane every year theres a lot of close to 15% years
thanks for sharing greetings from brazil...
My final answer after hearing all your data is that your final outcome is the same as the SP500 but you get a more diversified profolia so in a bad market , you actually is safer than SP500. Congrats
Totally agree with this comment. Good job Rob 👏👏👏
Hi Rob. Great channel!!! You have some great insights and I thank you for sharing them.
Out of curiosity, How did your portfolio perform over the last 5 years compared to the sp500? I suspect it was far less volatile due to the diversification. Thanks.
Thanks for the video. Did I miss you mention the two Bond Indexes you are invested in? I wrote down VTSAX, VFWAX, VSMAX, VGSLX and VEMAX. Also do you have a recommended % for each Index Fund in a Balanced Portfolio? I have been concerned about a significant Market Crash for sometime but have missed out on substantial gains and at 55 am running out of time to get to where I want to be.
@RobBerger: I enjoy your approach very much. I both listen to your approach and follow it. I do have the question, if you are comparing your results to the S&P, why not just purchase the S&P Index Fund (or ETF)?
You beat VTI
Good evening! May you please do an analysis on ticker: MDIV.
Thank you in advance. Look forward to it.
I never thought I would see a time when we're somewhat disappointed in 8.1pct. Lol
Why couldn’t one consider the sos sec income the fixed income investment of one’s portfolio? If you want a 70/30 split, count soc sec in the 30% part, forget investing in bonds.
i check my networth frequently(retirement and taxable accts , no house equity and no college fund included). i retired last August 1.
12/31/20-12/31/21. i don't have anything in bonds (buffet would be horrified but i consider brk-b as my bondlike holding) but plan on getting exposure this year. my individual stocks are 37.9% of my networth. largest position is berkshire hathaway with rest, nvidia(second largest), google, waste managment, pfizer , pepsi , amzn, bank of america, jp morgan, costco and royal dutch shell. rest of portfolio is in various index funds, no reits at this point.. networth is up 31.36% for the year.( would have been about 4.5 times my income if still working-love compounding)
not included is my son's college fund is up 17.9%.- he will start using it next year.
Your channel has provided me the clarity that I was looking for. Thanks! I am fairly new to investing and currently own in my Roth IRA: 60% VTSAX, 25% VTIAX, and %15 VGT. I was considering to add some small cap and REITS however, I would like to keep everything as simple as possible. I also have a brokerage account as well with those same funds to meet the %15 of your salary yearly for retirement. I really wanted to buy some VNQ but I don't like the tax implications that it would have in my brokerage account, since I want to keep the same investments inside both my brokerage and Roth IRA. Any input on my current holdings?
Not really a sensible sentiment to feel the need to keep same investments inside both your taxable brokerage and Roth IRA. VNQ is fine in Roth IRA but not for taxable brokerage.
Couch potato portfolio website also has good info. Can use 3 or 4 funds with some money in GICs or bonds etc for more security/bal. Good for sml portfolios (under $50-100K), beginners and or DIYers who want to keep it simple. Very few on YT do good videos on this. Good luck. PS: keep eyes on EMs (emerging markets) now to 2030. Many good sources and indications to say East will rise esp Africa and India.
18% return on 70% of your portfolio (etfs) and 31% on 30% of your portfolio individual stocks) doesn’t equate to a 26% return? More like 22%
You're right. I misspoke on the individual stock returns. The annualized return was 44.82%. I read the wrong number from the stock tracking tool I was using. And keep in mind those numbers don't include dividends.
Great recap of the year. If you had a large purchase to save and invest for like a second home or better home what index fund would you park the money in for a 5 plus year timeline?
Hi Rob, thanks for the video. Just a question, why not use small cap value instead of blend? It has better long term performance and also decrease volatility of portfolio with the total stock market.
Go Bucks!
Good video. Do you recommend using an investment manager or going with Vanguard and doing it yourself? I am 51. Not sure what would be best at this age. Thanks
How would your portfolio look when you back test that and the s&p 500 over 25 years?
REITs are in the US total stock market index and probably in the S&P 500, so no need to have a separate REITs etf is there? Aren’t the underlying costs in a REIT high?
vgslx/ reit index is only 0.12% expense ratio.
That’s my conundrum too. Most readings I’ve done seems to suggest REITs and stock market performance correlate with each other so I don’t know how much diversification really exists there.
Need? No. You'll find about 2%+ of REITs in the S&P 500. The separate REIT fund gives me more exposure. Whether that will turn out to be good or bad only time can tell.
@@rob_berger in the early 2000s i had reit index as 10-15% of my portfolio as it supposedly does not correlate with the stock market. i only placed reits in me and my wife's roths and nondeductible ira, since then converted to roth. with the contribution limits, after 20yrs, their percentage of the portfolio declined. i finally got out of them completely in early 2020 and worse i put a significant portion in royal dutch shell which at that time had a high yield and never cut the dividend since WW2(ha ha) and vanguard all world ftse ex us and vtsax. since i can't harvest the tax loss on rds-b and loss aversion, i am letting rds-b ride for now. it is a small portion of my portfolio anyway and i do expect it will go up as we clear the pandemic. will see how it goes in 1 to 2 yrs. i may then put it in vtsax.
my main reason for getting rid of it was that if my roths are going to be my last assets to spend down why am i limiting their growth with reits. i was only 53 y/o then and would still not be touching them for 20 yrs or more. even retiring at 55 i am still not planning on touching my roths early. over 20 yrs though they did follow the general stock market except for the first few years post tech crash.
Good information!! Suggestion/idea: Increase your equity holdings from 84% to 100% in 2022. If your 2021 fixed investments returned about 1%, then that pulls your overall return of about 29%, down to about 24%. If you have cash not included in the fixed income portion, then that would pull your overall return down further (cash drag). In case of a stock crash in 2022, then take out a personal loan to pay bills and do a rollover from your tax deferred accounts to a Roth IRA, so you don't miss out on the lower tax brackets in 2022. Thoughts? Too risky? p.s. My portfolio is essentially 100% S&P500, 0% bonds & minimal cash. My age is 60, retired.
I made 6 figures last year in profit from index funds and ETFs alone. It’s simple people, stop over thinking it: buy and hold good index funds/ETFs with low fees and stay consistent. Millionaire I’m no time 💰💰🙌🚀
Wondering why you don't have the ETF versions of your Vanguard mutual funds, with typically a slightly lower ER and able to pick your buy/sell prices.? Thanks for sharing and Happy New Year Rob! I am getting all cashed up for '22 with regards to HSA, 401k, Roth/IRA's.
With mutual funds I don't have to concern myself with premiums/discounts. I always buy and sell an NAV. Many of Vanguard's funds have minimal premiums/discounts given their volume, so also a reasonable choice.
Hello Rob, I'd like to hear your thoughts on going all in on VIGAX vs VTSAX (one mutual fund for retirement). On portfolio advisor, the former outperforms the latter by nearly $15 million. I understand that you won't be as diversified as VTSAX, but I wonder if the risk/ROI is worth it from your perspective.
Hi Rob, what are you going to do with these individual stocks this year? Hold them for another year? Sell some of them gradually to rebalance? Or swap in other stocks?
I plan to hold. My goal is to rebalance via retirement accounts, taxable interest/dividends, and new contributions.
Thanks for the video and happy new year. Do you plan to alter your index funds selection or keep them as is ? Thank you.
I have no plans to make any changes.
@@rob_berger A million thanks for the response.
Jack Bogle on International stocks: *_“Everyone tells me I’m wrong. In my book, ‘Bogle on Investing,’ I said, for a lot of reasons, you don’t need to own international stock. The reality is that we do better than the rest of the world. You don’t need currency risk, but if you want, don’t go over 20% in international...."I've been right. Since “Bogle on Investing” was published in 1993, the S&P 500 has gained 779% cumulative vs. 309% for the Europe, Australasia and Far East index. Does that mean I’ll be right in the future? I could be wrong. But when you buy the S&P 500, you buy a portfolio where roughly half the earnings and revenue comes from abroad."_*
*_“What are you buying in non-US-stocks? The largest country in EAFE is Britain; the second-highest, Japan; and the third is that soul of hard work, France. I can’t see that I’d make more money in Britain, with Brexit; or Japan, a very structured, aging economy - or France, where they couldn’t pass a law saying you had to work 35 hours a week. And if you look at the last 10 years, the correlation between EAFE and the U.S. has been something like 92. That doesn’t seem to change your risk.”_*
All true, and yet at the same time I think back to Japan in the 1980s. The U.S. has had a remarkable run since WWII. Will that repeat itself? IDK.
@@rob_berger The Japan argument is a double edge sword. Americans who held a portion of Japanese stocks in their internationally diversified portfolios in the 1980s certainly regretted doing so for the very reason you mention. And I remember in the 80s there was every reason to think Japan would be the economic lion of the future. Americans were worried about Japan taking over the US at the time, especially with them buying up our real estate, fine artworks etc.
But the Japanese market was and is much more insular and not nearly as internationalized as the American market. Globalization has converted the USA into an international business region. Large corporations started here can hardly be considered "US corporations" tied only or largely to the American market. All the biggees - Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Tesla etc make more money overseas, conduct their manufacturing and have more business activities outside of the US compared to within. The US is more of an administrative and legal home base - an international hub of commerce.
With that said, the risk is increasing that the "administrative and legal home base" may be starting to crumble due to internal conflict. Balkanization is seeming much more likely as time goes forward. The future of our global reserve currency status seems strained as well. So maybe Jack Bogle will finally be wrong? Good thing he didn't live to see it.
Well done! After u do this for 10 yrs or so, ur diversification will make more sense to the doubters.
Still no gold? When I look at the models, it says it’s a good diversification point
@rob_berger you mentioned bond funds ... which ones are those?
FYI your screens are blurry again
I'm a bit confused by how you get your final total return. You say that individual stocks return about 31-32% with dividends, and individual stocks make up about 31% of your equity portfolio. You then say that equity index funds returned about 17-18% with dividends. Lets be generous and say 1/3 individual stocks and 2/3 index funds. This would come out to (32% * 1/3)+(18% * 2/3) = 22.6% (including dividends). How do you come up with 28% return? I think I must be missing something with your math.
He mostly mentions rate of return of investments but his personal rate of return may differ if he buys (sell) shares during the year.
In reply to *Krispy Kernels* he explains he misspoke individual stock returns ...
Cost basis
Rob,
Just retired and spendibg more investing. Currently use M1 to buy stock. I am now looking to add I bonds therefore how is the best tool to track everything.
I bonds have to be tracked manually. But if you use Personal Capital, which I do, you add them manually.
I am not sure why you own shares of individual aapl stock and VTSAX.
Great job
Considering moving my money to the 500 index fund from the 2040 jh multi manager portfolio? The performance has been better
(S&P 500 is not an option in my 401k)
"Considering moving my money to the 500 index fund from the 2040 jh multi manager portfolio?" Are you asking if you should move away from John Hancock?
@@alrocky
Yes
@@wolverine9079 You generally want to stay away from mutual fund companies that sell LOAD funds (A B C ... shares) and have high expense ratios. J Hancock has several "2040" target date funds but unless you provide the 5 letter ticker it's not possible to comment on yours directly. JAVCX JHBAX JRRRX JETWX have expense ratios from 0.32% to 0.87% JHBAX charges *5%* load (commission) which comes out of your pocket. If you hold it in IRA it's a painless sell and purchase of S&P 500. Hopefully you don't own in taxable brokerage as it holds bonds and kicks out taxable dividends and CG.
Are John Hancock investments the only option in your 401(k)?
You mentioned a 6 fund portfolio. Why no mid cap exposure? you include small cap, so why not include some mid cap?
Hi, if you compare with return of S&P 500 like this mean you exactly invest on 4th Jan 2021 and not no any DCA in between ?
Rob, what is your asset allocation (stock/cash/bond)?
rob, i would like your insight on portfolio, and if you can consult for fee ect. not sure how to reach out to you, definately would like to know about consultation, thank you.
I desperately need l help l have annuity .where my finacial advisor did not tell me the truth..it will s a 8 yrs annuity..l been in it for 3 yrs ..but l am not making any money. So l want to put it in the stock market...so should l use vanguard vti and voo.....l am so confused...how should invest going forward.
50% voo 50%vug returns 25%
How do you invest your bonds and cash, and how did you determine your personal asset allocation?
Great questions. I plan to have a video out today that discusses that very topic.
the local Wells Fargo bank in my retiree populated town doesn't get high marks from retirees for customer service, etc ----I wonder what it is doing right for its stock to do so well.....
It was more a question of valuation. Banks were undervalued, IMO, a year ago.
Rob you so ever have an opinion on interest rates?
Happy new year.
Change your thumbnail man. Lol
I thought it was funny!
@@rob_berger It was. Lol
Great discussion. I consider myself a moderately aggressive investor. I am looking at managing my own portfolio as I go forward. Given my leaning towards say an 85-15 stocks/bonds ratio, what would you recommend percentage wise for individual stocks?
Would you recommend buying apple this year?
I've always purchased it when it was much cheaper relative to its earnings. I'm not comfortable buying it at its current price.
Why not have the equity portion all individual stocks. They outperform the index funds.
Hey Rob, what do you think about lifetime annuities that pay out a fixed amount for life for a senior?
I think they can have a place for some retirees, even though they are not for me. The question is figuring out whether they make sense for you, and if so, at what amount. I suggest talking to a financial advisor who does not sell annuities.
They are freaking great for the rep who sells it to you. Huge commission. Read all the fine print in the contract…scary. Better idea... Create your own annuity based on VTI or VTSAX, SCHD as a start.
Not financial advice.
@@artkarp That is not the type I am talking about. No commission. If you are 70 years old, investing in mutual funds is a big gamble. The fund could lose half its value and stay that way for a decade, while I am at the same time drawing it down to live off of the meantime. That is the problem with investing at my age. A lifetime payout annuity pays you a guaranteed amount till you die. I estimated that after 10 years at my age it is a good trade off.
@@sanekabc Of course if you're 70 years old, and you've done your due diligence in researching, yeah.
Great video. Am interested in your portfolio performance vs S&P overall a longer period, 10 years?
Underpreformed obviously bc he invests abroad
I'll see if I can pull that together.
Apple stock may have saved me. Also, you have to factor in timing. I made contributions each year, particularly 2018, which has a significant effect on returns.
The reason I’m asking is to gauge the cost of decreasing risk through diversification. Thanks again, I have gained much knowledge watching your videos.
Are your individual stocks in a taxable account?
Most of them, although I own some BAC/WFC in retirement accounts.
@@rob_berger is this the reason why you don’t reinvest your individual stock dividends? I don’t reinvest the dividends from my individual stocks that are in my taxable account, however I do reinvest my dividends from my individual stocks in my IRA.
Nice job, I noted there was no income from puts and calls, and covered calls? I made a few dollars with them playing with common sense. Am I wrong , a low risk in a retirement account??
What is your opinion?
I've never figured out how to consistently make money selling calls. I don't think most options traders have, either.
I know that you are a smart man so I have to wonder why you selected VTSAX which has transaction fees and an expense ratio of .04%.
FSKAX has no transaction fees and an expense ratio of .015%.
Otherwise both funds are very similar.
VTSAX doesn't have transaction fees. It's also more tax efficient if it's in a taxable account.
It has a transaction fee if you buy it in Fidelity. You should buy the ETF VTI instead the mutual fund VTSAX if your broker is fidelity.
The portfolio you reported is NOT diversified - All stocks. Stocks of different flavors, but all stocks none the less.
What were the Returns on Bonds?
Cash?
Gold?
Actual real estate (not real estate stocks) ?
If this portfolio is still in effect - Jan 2023 it will be quite revealing if you manage to stick by the 75/25 mix you have and if those wonderful returns ARE returned.
“Well Mr Investor, what would you like do? Another Spin?”
“Let it Ride! Let it Ride!”
As Will Rogers quipped: “Don’t promise me a return on my money. Promise me a return OF my money”
Congratulations on your stock mix matching the index.
Congratulations on Ohio State's victory at the Rose Bowl.
Sad sad loss for Utah☹️
It was a tough loss for them. They played very well.
@@emphyrio There is nothing to be ashamed about GETTING TO the Rose Bowl. Utah has a lot to be proud of.
@@mruback3 l know, l only watched the first half and l really thought we (we) would win, bummer when l saw the end result🥺.
@Rob Berger It seems like most portfolios I've seen (including your 4-fund) go for small cap value rather than small cap. You said you have both. Which way would you recommend going for someone just getting into the market in 2022?