JohnL77,

<<40% of your portfolio means you are confident the US will recover? >>

1) USA is in a crash now. So, how does it feels?? 10+% unemployment and the country is still functioning..

2) You are confusing economy with stock market again. Corporate American is doing extremely well even though the economy is doing badly.

<<I'm really on the fence on whether Malaysia will crash.>>

3) What will prevent Malaysia from crashing?? Nothing..

4) BN / UMNO had won GE13. Nothing will improve over the next 5 years. It will get worse in exponential pace.

<<But not recover? That's very pessimistic.>>

Burma and Philippine were the richest countries in South East Asia during the 1960s. They NEVER recovered from their crash. It is NORMAL for the countries to NEVER recover from their crash.

Dreamer

JohnL77,

Their economies.

Dreamer

JohnL77,

There is no DIVERSIFICATION in KLSE. 50+% of KLSE is owned by GLC and GLIC. So, the government directly or indirectly owned 50+% of KLSE. Even if somebody come up a good ETF for Malaysia, I will not buy it.

There is NOTHING to prevent Malaysian investor to buy Vanguard ETF. So, why wait for Malaysia to do something when you can do it yourself.

Dreamer

xuzen,

Public Mutual is highly profitable. This is one of the reasons that I buy Public Bank stock. The only stock that I buy for Malaysia.

Dreamer

rjb123,

All ETFs have annual maintenance fee. You pay for those fee as long as you hold the ETF. So, check their annual maintenance fee before buying certain ETF.

Dreamer

rjb123,

Yes. $9.99 would be too much.. The commission should less than 1%. If the commission is $9.99, each purchase should be $1,000 or more..

Dreamer

rjb123,

But, comparing how much you will be paying for UT in Malaysia, this is a bargain.

Dreamer

MNet,

You are GAMBLING!! You have to watch your ETF closely. Is that what you want to do??

Dreamer

http://www.capitalspectator.com/major-asse...view/#more-3303



Folks,

In order to make money, you have to buy something at LOW PRICE and SELL it at HIGHER PRICE. Aka, BUY LOW and SELL HIGH..

At any point in time, there will be some asset class that do well and some don't. See above. If you keep a FIXED RATIO between multiple asset classes, you BUY what ever asset class that is below allocation percentage. Usually, that means you will buy asset class that is not doing well now. Aka, you BUY LOW.

Conversely, when you SELL, you SELL asset class that is more than you allocated percentage. Normally, that is the asset class that is doing well now. Aka, you SELL HIGH.

If you BUY LOW and SELL HIGH, you make money.

You are judging the LOW and HIGH by the RELATIVE PRICING between ASSET CLASSES. All you need to do that is to keep a FIXED RATIO between asset classes.

It is VERY SIMPLE. This is TOO SIMPLE. Hence, most people will not teach this to you because if you know, you DO NOT NEED them. And, they cannot make money out of you.

Dreamer

MNet,

Read carefully:

The GOAL is Risk Adjusted Return. Not just return

<<Why not u keep ur money at saving account?>>

This is STUPID. It is like saying you have only 2 choices: Genting Casino or Saving A/C.

With my approach, I get 6% to 8% return per year over the long run with minimal work and risk. I can "sleep for 5 years" and do nothing.

Now, what do you get in return for all those ADDITIONAL risks and efforts?? Is it worth it??

Risk Adjusted Return

By investing on individual share, you take on additional risk. Are you getting a hell lot more return??

I have some "play money" to gamble on stock. They are very small amount. For those money, I will not gamble on any stock that may return 20X to 30X. Or else, it is not worthwhile to take the risk.

Dreamer

oneeleven,

Yes..

<< With everything so high now, is it a bad time to get into more Vanguards, or what is reasonable value now?>>

I guess you DO NOT UNDERSTAND asset allocation at all. In any point of time, not all asset classes will be high at the same time. If you follow asset allocation, you will always buy LOW aka the asset class that is relatively cheap at the moment.

At this moment, bond index fund / ETF is relatively cheap. Hence, I am buying bond as per my asset allocation.

You do not need to look at the market or time the market at all with this strategy. You will always BUY LOW and SELL HIGH.

http://www.capitalspectator.com/major-asse...view/#more-3303



It is VERY SIMPLE but HARD.

It is a VERY SIMPLE and EFFECTIVE strategy. You just need to follow your asset allocation ratio.

It is HARD because it requires DISCIPLINE to follow the rule: buy LOW and sell HIGH.

Dreamer

This post has been edited by dreamer101: Jun 18 2014, 11:44 PM

oneeleven,

You should START by reading this thread from beginning to end.

<< I should set up asset allocation charting and study for some time before even buying the first set?>>

You are not even close to what asset allocation mean to begin with.

Dreamer

oneeleven,

http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Category:Asset_allocation

The next step is to pick asset allocation that make sense for you. Above URL has a lot more materials.

Dreamer

Go with 60/40 to start.

Dreamer

Folks,

The easiest way to start is

60% VT and 40% BND

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snap...&FundIntExt=INT

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snap...&FundIntExt=INT

Then, you can tune and adjust your ratio or add VNQ as you know more.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snap...&FundIntExt=INT

Dreamer

rjb123,

If you won't mind, could you please let us know your stock versus bond ratio and how you arrive at the number?? Or, how you decide to allocate X% to each ETF??

Thanks.

Dreamer

zstormhere,

No. Why do you ask??

Dreamer

wodenus,

You are WRONG!!!

1) There is no lot size with US ETF. You can buy as little as one share. So, the minimum for VOO is USD $180.44 and VT is USD $62.73..

2) You either trade for free or pay USD $10 per trade. Normally recommended to buy around USD $1,000 per trade.

3) No sales charges of 5% to 7% like Malaysia UT..

4) Annual maintenance fee of less than 1% for both ETF..

<< This is very unlikely, but then no one would have guessed Lehman Bros. would file either.>>

5) This is a STUPID statement. VT invest on all 4,000 largest public listed companies in the WHOLE WORLD. If VT crash, the WHOLE WORLD is going to hell.

<<Aberdeen's Islamic World Fund>>

6) Why would somebody want to pay more to get less??

A) 5% to 7% upfront sales charge versus USD $10 per trade

B) 1% to 3% annual maintenance fee versus less than 1%

C) 4,000 largest public listed companies around the world versus how many in that UT??

Dreamer

This post has been edited by dreamer101: Jun 23 2014, 10:30 PM

wodenus,

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/FundsAllHo...&sortOrder=desc

The full 6,227 holding.

Vanguard ETF and mutual report their FULL HOLDING every quarter. It was on the URL that I posted.

Dreamer

This post has been edited by dreamer101: Jun 23 2014, 11:43 PM

wodenus,

If the chart is the same, that means Vanguard win.

A) AWF's chart is based on amount invested less the front load (sales charge). That means AWF's performance is 1% to 2% lower than the chart shown.

B) AWF do not invest on 6,227 companies across the whole world. It is more risky.

C) VT is a passive index fund. No active management risk.

Why pay more to get less??

Dreamer