Mad Money Machine

by Paul Douglas Boyer

Spotting the Other Lazy Portfolios a Few Points

One-twelfth of 2011 is already behind us and it appears that the Permanent Portfolios have decided to give the other Lazy Portfolios a head start on the year. Said another way: The Permanent Portfolios are ON SALE! Here is the table of returns through January. ID# Portfolio Name YTD Return P16 Vanguard Windsor 3.1% P21 […]

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Tue, February 1 2011 » Analysis, Blog » Comments Off on Spotting the Other Lazy Portfolios a Few Points

Simba’s Spreadsheet is Updated for 2010

For those of us who love to back-test different lazy portfolios, today we can spend our snow day using Simba’s spreadsheet, newly updated with 2010 returns. I forgot that his comparison page only goes back to 1985 and that I was the one who modified the page to go back to 1972. Guess I’ve got […]

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Wed, January 26 2011 » Analysis, Blog » Comments Off on Simba’s Spreadsheet is Updated for 2010

Comparing Gold ETFs

In the FWIW category, here is a chart comparing the annual performance of select Gold ETFs. What’s up with GTU?     The fund expense ratios (according to morningstar.com except GTU* ) are as follows: GLD: 0.40% IAU: 0.25% GTU: 0.38%* SGOL: 0.39% DGL: .75% UBG: 0.30%

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Tue, January 4 2011 » Analysis, Blog, Gold » Comments Off on Comparing Gold ETFs

Lazy Portfolios 2010 Year-End Wrap-Up

As we flip our calendars over to 2011 (or reuse our 1994 calendars), it is time to reflect upon how the various Lazy Portfolios performed for calendar year 2010. See the chart below that shows the cumulative monthly returns and the summary table of 2010 returns. The lazy portfolio that had the highest returns for […]

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Sun, January 2 2011 » Analysis, Blog » Comments Off on Lazy Portfolios 2010 Year-End Wrap-Up

Lazy Portfolios Through November 2010

The lazy portfolios did not all move in lock step during November — some went up and some went down. The PRPFX mutual fund took the lead with a monthly gain of 1.4% while the Paul Boyer PP and Harry Browne PP stayed relatively flat for the month. IFA Index Portfolio 100 gained over 1% […]

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Wed, December 1 2010 » Analysis, Blog » Comments Off on Lazy Portfolios Through November 2010

Upton Sinclair’s Advice for Improving Your 401(k) Returns

Here’s a video I put together quickly around IFA’s Quote of the Week 79. Upton Sinclair’s quote is, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” The quote applies to your 401(k) plan and those who make their salary upon recommending actively-managed funds.

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Thu, November 4 2010 » Blog, Video » Comments Off on Upton Sinclair’s Advice for Improving Your 401(k) Returns

Lazy Portfolios Through October 2010

Just a quick update on the performance of the Lazy Portfolios through Halloween. What a move they have had since August. Is it a repeat of the move that we saw from Feb – Apr? I’ll update you in a couple of months and we will find out. In the meantime, I don’t really care […]

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Mon, November 1 2010 » Analysis, Blog » Comments Off on Lazy Portfolios Through October 2010

Subscribe to the Crawling Road Money Show Podcast

Craig at Crawlingroad.com/blog has just released episode one of a new podcast that talks about the Harry Browne Permanent Portfolio. I encourage you to subscribe to it in iTunes and listen to every episode he puts forward in the future. It is going to be great. Use this link to subscribe in iTunes (copy and […]

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Tue, October 26 2010 » Announcements, Blog » Comments Off on Subscribe to the Crawling Road Money Show Podcast

Max Drawdown in Lazy Portfolios 2001 – 2009

Instead of using Standard Deviation as the measure of a portfolio’s risk, I have been looking at using Max Drawdown which I believed could be more user-friendly. Standard Deviation involves complicated statistical computations. Could you explain Standard Deviation to your grandmother? Max Drawdown would be easier to explain. It is the largest peak to trough […]

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Fri, October 22 2010 » Analysis, Blog » Comments Off on Max Drawdown in Lazy Portfolios 2001 – 2009

Bernstein Views Bernstein

At the Bogleheads 9 Reunion in Philly this past week, I had the opportunity to show Dr. Bill Bernstein the first part of the video we put together that featured Dr. Bill Bernstein’s quote.  He laughed and laughed. And he signed my copy of his book. And here is the video:

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Sat, October 16 2010 » Blog, Video » Comments Off on Bernstein Views Bernstein

Some Observations From Bogleheads 9 and From Jack Bogle Himself

I have the rare privilege of attending the Bogleheads 9 reunion in Philly this year. I wanted to attend the one much closer to my home a couple of years ago, but was way too late in registering. They only let 120 or so folks attend these things. So I registered early enough this year […]

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Thu, October 14 2010 » Analysis, Blog » Comments Off on Some Observations From Bogleheads 9 and From Jack Bogle Himself