Thank-You For Your Service!

First things first. Thank-you to all you Veterans out there.

While it is great to see our country largely behind our troops today, that has not always been the case in the past. I especially want to recognize our Veterans who served in unpopular wars. Your service to our country was no less noble than any other. I pray this country never again forgets its heroes.

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In the beginning of a change, the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot. ~Mark Twain, Notebook, 1935

Here's tonight's charts:

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NAMO and NYMO are on buys.

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NAHL and NYHL are also on buys.

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TRIN and TRINQ are also in buy conditions, but TRIN is suggesting a moderately overbought market.

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BPCOMPQ ebbed just a tad higher, remains in a sell condition.

So the Seven Sentinels are mixed, but officially remain in a buy condition.

I am not comfortable with this market, which is why I remain in the G fund. That and the fact that I have few options in managing my account in such volatility.

This remains a bear market in my opinion and I feel that this bull run is getting long in the tooth. But we're now approaching the holiday season so it's certainly possible prices run higher in the coming weeks. But after two unconfirmed sell signals in the past two trading weeks I am suspicious of this market. The one signal that bothers me is BPCOMPQ. It has been on a sell since the beginning of the month and has tracked sideways since triggering that sell condition. The bollinger bands are now collapsing around that signal.

We are either going to break out to the upside or downside fairly soon. If we break out to the upside, 1300 on the S&P will probably come. How far it runs I'm not sure. But if that happens, I'd not be complacent about it.

We could also break out to the downside first before launching into an end-of-year rally. But either way I suspect we'll see higher prices before years end. I tend to favor a breakout lower first, followed by another run to the upside based on the unconfirmed sell signals that have recently been triggered by the Seven Sentinels. This holiday rally has largely retraced Wednesday's losses and it feels overdone. We'll see how next week plays out. I'm wondering how the market is going to set-up prior to Thanksgiving.
 
That's why I recommend folks be diversified. For the benefit of everyone reading my blogs, here's my view on diversification:

I've been realizing for some months now that while this board is primarily about TSP, we should all consider the benefits of risk management outside of our TSP accounts. I have mentioned in the past that I manage two ROTH IRAs, which are largely buy and hold, but offer many more options in terms of diversification that does TSP.

To say TSP is diversified because it invests in the entire market is somewhat misleading. Our accounts rise and fall as the broader market does. We have no sectors we can target. We can't target dividend options. We don't have ETFs or mutual fund options. On top of that, TSP is taxable once we begin withdrawals. I won't go so far as to say TSP isn't a good plan, but it's much more limited than many folks realize.

I opened up my ROTH IRAs back in the 90s, but didn't realize how big a role they could play in my total portfolio until I began trying to manage my own financial future a few years back. The ROTHs are tax free accounts since contributions are made after-tax. That helps ensure my taxable income won't be too high when I finally retire. But more than that I really appreciate being able to pick and choose what to buy and hold. In one of my ROTHs I have ten mutual funds in which I target the following areas of the market: financials, floating rate bank loans, domestic large-cap dividend stocks, small and mid caps, multi-sector bond fund, treasury inflation-protected securities, emerging markets, consumer staples, International Large Blend fund, and an International large cap growth fund. My other ROTH account holds another multi-sector bond fund, high yield corporate bonds, utilities, and an International REIT fund.

Many of these funds pay dividends, which is a big part of my overall market strategy. And I target different sectors at different times depending on risk and fundamentals. This past year I've been primarily investing in financials, REITs, and bonds funds. But when this market eventually turns south, I'll be looking to move back in to some of the other funds again.

Aside from my ROTHs, I also manage a Scottrade account in which I do much the same thing, although I do not consider it a retirement account.

So in summary, consider the tax implications associated with your total portfolio going into retirement as well as how true diversification can play a role in longer term financial objectives.




Steel_Magnolia;bt4356 said:
I can tell it's November. This market is a turkey.
 
coolhand;bt4358 said:
That's why I recommend folks be diversified. For the benefit of everyone reading my blogs, here's my view on diversification:

In one of my ROTHs I have ten mutual funds in which I target the following areas of the market: financials, floating rate bank loans, domestic large-cap dividend stocks, small and mid caps, multi-sector bond fund, treasury inflation-protected securities, emerging markets, consumer staples, International Large Blend fund, and an International large cap growth fund. My other ROTH account holds another multi-sector bond fund, high yield corporate bonds, utilities, and an International REIT fund.

I also have IRAs and Roth IRAs in mine and my wife's names, outside of TSP. One more that you didn't mention that has been a real good diversification for me....Precious Metals Fund. That one gyrates around a lot, but has been a real lifesaver during stock doldrums!
 
uscfanhawaii;bt4369 said:
I also have IRAs and Roth IRAs in mine and my wife's names, outside of TSP. One more that you didn't mention that has been a real good diversification for me....Precious Metals Fund. That one gyrates around a lot, but has been a real lifesaver during stock doldrums!

I've considered that one in the past, but didn't select it. I may yet add that one to my portfolio though. Maybe sometime next year.
 
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