justbizness45
Member
Steve here my <1% (2 cents). I did some back testing of the <1% strategy and posted it on SB's and my own thread on 1/16. It may answer some of your questions on strategy. In my mind the goal for any <1% strategy is to make enough to beat the G fund. SB/Nasa, I think a <1% thread is a awesome idea. 
Here's what was in the post:
I ran several 2 week scenarios for performing <1% IFTs from different periods throughout the year and the following are my findings. Most of this has already been posted by SB on his page. All my calcs were done using C fund data for stock trends.
Disclaimer: Remember folks I picked the periods from past history so the market did what I wanted. I am not a financial consultant or broker or any other financial professional. These are my interpretations of the results provided to you should you decide to experiment at your own risk!!
Downward trend market: I used initial allocations of 50% C, 15%C and 5%C. In all 3 senarios I performed <1% IFTs on down days to maintain allocation percentage which DCAs increasing shares. Up days no IFT was performed. The goal was to attempt to dollar cost average intial purchase price to break even sooner on the rebound.
The 50% and 15% scenarios did not reduce dollar cost significantly to warrant the moves. If you are expecting the market to go down G or F ruled in the past year. The 5% scenario did reduce the DCA significantly but I can’t come up with a real chain of events to make it useful. Going to G makes more sense to me.
I also ran some scenarios selling profits back to G on up days back to the initial contribution. While it did reduce to loss amount it was not significant enough to warrant staying in stocks. JMO folks.
Bottom line <1% IFTs into stocks is not real useful during a downward trend market.
<1% IFTs into F fund was 70% positive results. So in the future of this bear market, my first IFT of the month is going to have a 5 percent into F. What worked best was a combination. Down days IFT back to the previous percentage . Up days hold and the following day go up to the next percentage. Last day of the month sell back down to the original percentage or all so you pocket the profits in G. Lady has already had some success in this area but I’m not sure what her strategy was.
Upward trend market:
I used similar strategy as with the F fund. Accumulating shares on down days and moving up percentage following up days which also accululates shares. You would only use this if you found yourself in a rally period and no IFTs left. If you are stuck, <1% IFTs can help you beat the G fund. My scenarios beat G about 60% of the time and F about 40% with 5% in C. Any less than that and the dollar value for % change wasn't enough to beat G consistently. That being said I was running these models using past performance so I knew the numbers would go up. In real life you will have to risk a downtrend and possible loss.
Here's what was in the post:
I ran several 2 week scenarios for performing <1% IFTs from different periods throughout the year and the following are my findings. Most of this has already been posted by SB on his page. All my calcs were done using C fund data for stock trends.
Disclaimer: Remember folks I picked the periods from past history so the market did what I wanted. I am not a financial consultant or broker or any other financial professional. These are my interpretations of the results provided to you should you decide to experiment at your own risk!!
Downward trend market: I used initial allocations of 50% C, 15%C and 5%C. In all 3 senarios I performed <1% IFTs on down days to maintain allocation percentage which DCAs increasing shares. Up days no IFT was performed. The goal was to attempt to dollar cost average intial purchase price to break even sooner on the rebound.
The 50% and 15% scenarios did not reduce dollar cost significantly to warrant the moves. If you are expecting the market to go down G or F ruled in the past year. The 5% scenario did reduce the DCA significantly but I can’t come up with a real chain of events to make it useful. Going to G makes more sense to me.
I also ran some scenarios selling profits back to G on up days back to the initial contribution. While it did reduce to loss amount it was not significant enough to warrant staying in stocks. JMO folks.
Bottom line <1% IFTs into stocks is not real useful during a downward trend market.
<1% IFTs into F fund was 70% positive results. So in the future of this bear market, my first IFT of the month is going to have a 5 percent into F. What worked best was a combination. Down days IFT back to the previous percentage . Up days hold and the following day go up to the next percentage. Last day of the month sell back down to the original percentage or all so you pocket the profits in G. Lady has already had some success in this area but I’m not sure what her strategy was.
Upward trend market:
I used similar strategy as with the F fund. Accumulating shares on down days and moving up percentage following up days which also accululates shares. You would only use this if you found yourself in a rally period and no IFTs left. If you are stuck, <1% IFTs can help you beat the G fund. My scenarios beat G about 60% of the time and F about 40% with 5% in C. Any less than that and the dollar value for % change wasn't enough to beat G consistently. That being said I was running these models using past performance so I knew the numbers would go up. In real life you will have to risk a downtrend and possible loss.
