Steel_Magnolia's Account Talk

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In his January 21 newsletter post, Carl Swenlin (maybe my favorite market guru) says, "Rather than explaining why the market is wrong, we should be asking, "What is the market doing?", and acting appropriately. I am, of course, talking about a trend-following discipline. This approach is never perfect, but it is always rational because we respond to what prices are actually doing, not what we think they ought to be doing."

I think that's excellent advice!


 
david.alan.williams and akpackfan have been mentioning the book "The Ivy Portfolio" and since I wrote a book report for the book on another MB (www.etftalk.com) I thought I'd share the report with anyone who is interested.

Since book reports can be dry, I've brought in treats to share. Please help yourself to one of these big crusty cinnamon rolls stuffed with walnut halves and golden raisins and topped with cream cheese frosting.

“The Ivy Portfolio” – the book so good I bought it twice

First of all, this book actually has three different ideas for making money in the markets. It describes how you can diversify by asset classes, it describes how to deploy a timing model, and it describes in detail how you can find out what the top fund managers are buying so you can buy it too.

Mebane Faber, the book’s author, describes different models, some with as few as 5 major asset classes, some breaking those down into as many as 20 sector classes. He gives you the ETF for each of the classes, and gives data point after data point to describe how the models have performed in back-tests.

If you are curious about his work but don’t want to spring for the book and your library doesn’t have it yet, Faber’s ideas are available in a white paper called “A Quantitative Approach to Tactical Asset Allocation” which can be downloaded at

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c...ract_id=962461

which is where I first read Faber’s ideas. The white paper is a bit pedantic. However, I found the book to be well-written and his ideas to be fleshed out well and easily grasped. The book starts a little slowly, but I think it is because Faber is meticulous about building the foundation of the ideas he presents. He fills the book with information to back up his assertions.


And that brings up a postscript to this book review. If you have a Kindle (which I do, and love it) do NOT buy the Kindle edition of this book. The book is filled with excellent charts and graphs and I couldn’t read any of them until I bought my second copy, a hardbound. A Kindle is a totally awesome electronic medium for reading, but not for reference books or technical books like The Ivy Portfolio. If you purchase this one, get a hard copy.

 
What are you seeing? I just logged in as you and made your IFT without any problem.

I did work on the login part of the AT today. Can you try deleting your temporary internet files, open a new browser, and try again? Thanks!
 
Steel_Magnolia said:
Can't get to my IFT records for some reason, but I'm going to 100% G until things sort themselves out a bit.
Click to expand...


So if you put into your TSP account at least 5% so you get the full matching, after 25 years this is what you can do:

View attachment 10578

I'm pulling everything out of my TSP account to buy the home, will be able to pay cash and not owe a penny. My heartfelt thanks to Tom for the site because I learned enough the last four years to move my money where it counted so that I can do this.

My thanks also to folks like Coolhand for keeping us apprised of the SS system, to Jason for his mad skills at charting, to Birch for his sticky pants when I needed them, to Allie for helping me to figure out esoteric technical charting issues, and to many more folks on the MB for knowledge and for entertainment.

Life is good.
Maggie
​
 
That's a beautiful home, looks like you won't have to mow the front yard ever! That wide driveway is perfect for parking your Fv102 Striker, plus the front brick/rock work looks like it will deflect most small caliper bullets. When the feds come to take our money, you'll be ready for them. :D

View attachment 10580
 
Steel_Magnolia - Please accept my delayed condolences for the loss of your brother, Kent. I am so sorry. I do understand the loss for the kids, my sis was 35 when she died, with 3 children. My personal experience show many times the kids' grief is overlooked by friends and acquaintances; the closeness of your family is undoubtedly keeping that covered.
And I do want to say that was a tremendous move to use your TSP for such a wonderful looking home! May God keep you blessed!
 
maybe you could leave like $100 dollars in your TSP that way you could still post your investment insight and play the tracker game.
 
Congrats Maggie on the new place! Looks like a great place to bake cookies! Please drop by to visit on occasion!:)
 
Scout, thanks, it has a bigger kitchen than current home so bigger batches of cookies with grandkids helping is definitely on the agenda.

BC, it took every account we had to do this, except a very small Roth IRA. That will be enough to keep me looking at the markets, but won't be enough to make me worry constantly about my decisions. I'm probably not going away but I probably won't be glued to the computer anymore either. The new home has a Craft room! I'll still enjoy the evening chats that you, I and others have. <big smile>

Nasa, thanks for the wish of luck, M_ my friend! Maybe I won't need quite so much of it anymore, but I so appreciate the thought.

grandma, thank you for your words of condolence and for your encouragement. I appreciate your visit very much!

Tom, thanks for the congratulations. I love the stone too, it's the first thing that made me look at the place.

Jason, not sure the field unit can fit in the garage with the Volvo and the pickup but we'd make room for it behind the house with the garden and orchard!

Norm, thanks for the words of encouragement, buddy. It will be great to hold that mortgage myself instead of renting from the bank. <wink>

Thank you all. Taking care of your TSP account can really pay off.
Ann
 
And, something I learned in this process, for you to remember when/if you pull all funds from your TSP account. Long and his cohorts got me one last time.

The conventional wisdom posted on the TSP federal site is for you to put your funds into G so that they will be protected against a downturn. So that's what I did. I should have remembered that advice was from the FRTIB and treated it accordingly. If I had to do it over again I would NOT move my funds to G.

I've completed the paperwork but my account hasn't closed yet. If I had just stuck to my current allocation, the one I studied and chose very carefully after looking at hours of financial information, I would be $4,000 ahead. So far. Without today's gains. <grinding teeth>

For what it's worth,
Ann
 
Ann,
I had the most beautiful weekend of my entire life - and still am finding the greatest contentment and fulfillment I ever dreamed could be possible.

My life had been melted from the CORE and that has never had a chance to happen until recently - so it feels like LIFE is largely just starting. I really do have the deepest happiness and don't have words to describe the contentment that spreads everywhere.

Well I thought about you over the weekend -- about the celebration of a bunch of us getting together -- that Frixxxx talked about. And I thought about how messed up things had gotten - and how wrong that was.

We are supposed to fly to Korea and spend sometime with Sarah towards the end of May - beginning of June. My mother may pass about that time and that may keep me from going to CA for this event. Lastly it's highly possible that I will have a new job and living a new life far beyond what is just starting.

Soooo if -- we would be able to make the 'big event' I don't want any awkwardness or hang ups -- or whatever -- between us. I have totally found everything I've always believed in and hope we can be friends and remember only the good.

Rick
 
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