Everything you need to know about your Target Retirement Fund

Target Retirement Funds are a popular investment option in many workplace retirement plans such as 401k, 403b, 457, and TSP. They offer a relatively simple and straightforward way to invest your retirement savings as their investment approach is based on the individual target retirement dates.

Nowadays, almost all employers and 401k providers offer target retirement funds – from Fidelity to Vanguard, American Funds, Blackrock, and Schwab. Although employers and advisors have a choice amongst several fund families, they will typically select one of them for their plan. Multiple target fund families are readily available in individual brokerage accounts or self-directed IRAs.

Workplace plan participants typically have to choose one fund from a single family with target retirement dates in 5-year increments – 2025, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2045, and 2050. Often, plans with auto-enrollment features will automatically assign a target retirement fund based on the estimated year of retirement. Manual enrollment programs will have the fund series in their fund line-up, which could consist of a mix of index, actively managed and target retirement funds.

The base assumption of the target retirement funds is that younger investors have a long investment horizon and higher risk tolerance, therefore, they should have their target retirement assets in more risky investments such as stocks. Inversely, older investors will have a shorter investment horizon and lower risk tolerance. Therefore, the majority of their target retirement money will be in more low-risk investments such as bonds.

Despite their growing popularity, target retirement funds have some limitations and are not identical. They have substantial differences that may not always appeal to everybody. In this post, I would like to explain some of those nuances.

Style

Target funds utilize two main investment styles – passive indexing and active management. Passive Target Retirement Funds like Vanguard and BlackRock LifePath primarily invest in a mix of index funds. The second groups including T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, American Century, and American Funds pursue an active strategy where investments are allocated in a mix of active mutual funds typically managed by the same firm.

Fees

The fund investment style will often impact the management fees charged by each fund. Passive funds tend to charge lower fees, usually around 0.15% – 0.20%. On the other hand, active funds typically range between 0.40% – 1%.

Name	Ticker	Morningstar Rating	Morningstar Analyst Rating	AUM	Expense
Vanguard Target Retirement 2045	VTIVX	4-star	Gold	$18.1 bil	0.16%
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2045	TRRKX	5-Star	Silver	$10.2 bil	0.76%
American Funds 2045 Trgt Date Retire R6	RFHTX	5-Star	Silver	$4.8 bil	0.43%
Fidelity Freedom® 2045	FFFGX	3-Star	Silver	$3.5 bil	0.77%
American Century One Choice 2045	AROIX	4-star	Bronze	$1.7 bil	0.97%

If you have any doubts about how much you pay for your fund, double-check with your plan administrator or Human Resource. Not to sound alarming but I recently read about a case where a 401k plan contained a fund listed as “Vngd Tgt Retrmt 2045 Fund.” whose sole investment was Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund. However, instead of charging an expense ratio of 0.16%, the fund was taking a whopping 0.92%. The only purpose of this sham is to deceive participants into believing they are investing in the real Vanguard fund and marking up the expense ratio exponentially.

Asset allocation

The asset allocation is the most critical factor for investment performance. According to numerous studies, it contributes to more than 90% of the portfolio return. As a factor of such significance, it is essential to understand the asset allocation of your target retirement fund.

While comparing five of the largest target retirement families, we see some considerable variations between them. Vanguard has the highest allocation to Foreign Equity, while T. Rowe has the largest investment in US Equity. Fidelity has the highest allocation to Cash and Cash Equivalents while American Century has the biggest exposure to Bonds. And lastly, American Funds has the largest distribution to Other, which includes Preferred Stocks and Convertible Bonds.

2045 Series

Name	Ticker	Cash	US Stock	Non-US Stock	Bond	Other
Vanguard Target Retirement 2045	VTIVX	1.11	52.98	34.91	9.77	1.23
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2045	TRRKX	2.87	58.98	28.48	9.05	0.62
American Funds 2045 Trgt Date Retire R6	RFHTX	3.66	53.21	29.02	9.77	4.34
Fidelity Freedom® 2045	FFFGX	5.79	57.58	32.07	3.93	0.63
American Century One Choice 2045	AROIX	2.04	55.38	20.32	21.36	0.90

It is also important to understand how the target asset allocation changes over time as investors approach retirement. This change is known as the glide path. In the below table you can see the asset allocation of the 2025 target fund series. All of them have a higher allocation to Bonds, Cash and Cash Equivalents, and a lower allocation of US and Foreign Equity.

2025 Series


Name	Ticker	Cash	US Stock	Non-US Stock	Bond	Other
Vanguard Target Retirement 2025	VTIVX	1.44	38.05	25.09	34.30	1.12
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2025 Fund	TRRHX	3.35	45.64	22.06	28.23	0.72
American Funds 2025 Trgt Date Retire R6	RFDTX	4.12	39.60	19.36	33.65	3.27
Fidelity Freedom® 2025	FFTWX	8.99	41.70	24.31	24.46	0.54
American Century One Choice 2025	ARWIX	7.18	40.01	11.88	40.01	0.92

Keep in mind that the target Asset Allocation is not static. Moreover, the fund managers can change the fund allocation according to their view of the market and economic conditions.

Performance

After all said and done, the performance is what matters for most investors and retirees. However, comparing performance between different target funds can be a little tricky. As you saw in the previous paragraph, they are not the same.

So let’s first look at a comparison between different target-date funds from the same family. The return figures represent a net-of-fees performance for 3, 5 and 10 years. Standard Deviation (St. Dev) measures the volatility (risk) of returns. As expected, the long-dated funds posted higher returns over the near-dated funds. However, the long-dated funds come with higher volatility due to their higher allocation to equities.

Target Date Performance Comparison by Target Year

			Return			Standard Deviation
Name	Ticker	3-Year	5-Year	10-Year	3-Year	5-Year	10-Year
American Funds 2025 Trgt Date Retire R6	RFDTX	5.71	9.36	5.88	6.78	7.48	12.83
American Funds 2035 Trgt Date Retire R6	RFFTX	6.73	10.43	6.44	8.70	8.84	13.81
American Funds 2045 Trgt Date Retire R6	RFHTX	6.99	10.67	6.56	9.09	9.10	13.96
American Funds 2055 Trgt Date Retire R6	RFKTX	7.33	11.32		9.13	9.15

The comparison between different fund families also reveals significant variations in performance. The majority of these differences can be attributed to their asset allocation, investment selection, and management fees.

Target Date Performance Comparison by Fund Family

			Return			Standard Deviation
Name	Ticker	3-Year	5-Year	10-Year	3-Year	5-Year	10-Year
Vanguard Target Retirement 2045	VTIVX	6.24	9.50	5.70	9.42	9.51	14.63
T. Rowe Price Retirement 2045	TRRKX	6.54	9.92	6.20	9.68	9.80	15.80
American Funds 2045 Trgt Date Retire R6	RFHTX	6.99	10.67	6.56	9.09	9.10	13.96
Fidelity Freedom® 2045	FFFGX	6.50	8.95	4.82	9.83	9.64	15.25
American Century One Choice 2045	AROIX	5.79	8.63	5.73	8.38	8.41	13.50

How they fit with your financial goals

How the target retirement fund fit within your financial goals is an important nuance that often gets underestimated by many. Target retirement funds assume the investors’ risk tolerance based on their age and the estimated year of retirement. Older investors will automatically be assigned as conservative while they could be quite aggressive if this is a part of their inter-generational estate planning. Further, young investors default to an aggressive allocation while they could be more conservative due to significant short-term financial goals. So keep in mind that the extra layer of personal financial planning is not a factor in target retirement funds.

Final words

Target retirement funds come with many benefits. They offer an easy way to invest for retirement without the need for in-depth financial knowledge. Target funds come in different shapes and forms and bring certain caveats which may appeal to some investors and not to others. If you plan to invest in a target retirements fund, the five questions above will help you decide if this is the right investment for you.

April 12, 2017January 10, 2020

6 Essential steps to diversify your portfolio

Diversification is often considered the only free lunch in investing. In one of my earlier blog posts, I talked about the practical benefits of diversification. I explained the concept of investing in uncorrelated asset classes and how it reduces the overall risk of the investments. In this article, I will walk you through 6 essential steps to diversify your portfolio.

1. Know your risk tolerance

Risk tolerance is a measure of your emotional appetite to take on risk. It is the ability to endure volatility in the marketplace without making any emotional and spur of the moment investment decisions. Individual risk tolerance is often influenced by factors like age, investment experience, and various life circumstances.

Undoubtedly, your risk tolerance can change over time. Certain life events can affect your ability to bear market volatility. You should promptly reflect these changes in your portfolio risk profile as they happen.

2. Understand your risk capacity

Often your willingness and actual capacity to take on risk can be in conflict with each other. You may want to take more risk than you can afford. And inversely, you could be away too conservative while you need to be a bit more aggressive.

Factors like the size of savings and investment assets, investment horizon, and financial goals will determine the individual risk capacity

3. Set a target asset allocation

Achieving the right balance between your financial goals and risk tolerance will determine the target investment mix of your portfolio. Typically, investors with higher risk tolerance will invest in assets with a higher risk-return profile.

These asset classes often include small-cap, deep value, and emerging market stocks, high-yield bonds, REITs, commodities and various hedge fund and private equity strategies. Investors will lower risk tolerance will look for safer investments like government and corporate bonds, dividends and low volatility stocks.

In order to achieve the highest benefit from diversification, investors must allocate a portion of their portfolio to uncorrelated asset classes. These investments have a historical low dependence on each other’s returns.

The US Large Cap stocks and US Treasury Bonds are the classic examples of uncorrelated assets. Historically, they have a negative correlation of -0.21. Therefore, the pairs tend to move in opposite direction over time. US Treasuries are considered a safe haven during bear markets, while large cap stocks are the investors’ favorite during strong bull markets.

See the table below for correlation examples between various asset classes.

Asset Correlation Chart — Source: Portfoliovisualizer.com

4. Reduce your concentrated positions

There is a high chance that you already have an established investment portfolio, either in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, self-directed IRA or a brokerage account.

If you own a security that represents more than 5% of your entire portfolio, then you have a concentrated position. Regularly, individuals and families may acquire these positions through employer 401k plan matching, stock awards, stock options, inheritance, gifts or just personal investing.

The risk of having a concentrated position is that it can drag your portfolio down significantly if the investment has a bad year or the company has a broken business model. Consequently, you can lose a substantial portion of your investments and retirement savings.

Managing concentrated positions can be complicated. Often, they have restrictions on insider trading. And other times, they sit on significant capital gains that can trigger large tax dues to IRS if sold.

5. Rebalance regularly

Portfolio rebalancing is the process of bringing your portfolio back to the original target allocation. As your investments grow at a different rate, they will start to deviate from their original target allocation. This is very normal. Sometimes certain investments can have a long run until they become significantly overweight in your portfolio. Other times an asset class might have a bad year, lose a lot of its value and become underweight.

Adjusting to your target mix will ensure that your portfolio fits your risk tolerance, investment horizon, and financial goals. Not adjusting it may lead to increasing the overall investment risk and exposure to certain asset classes.

6. Focus on your long-term goals

When managing a client portfolio, I apply a balanced, disciplined, long-term approach that focuses on the client’s long-term financial goals.

Sometimes we all get tempted to invest in the newest “hot” stock or the “best” investment strategy ignoring the fact that they may not fit with our financial goals and risk tolerance.

If you are about to retire, you probably don’t want to put all your investments in a new biotech company or tech startup. While these stocks offer great potential returns, they come with an extra level of volatility that your portfolio may not bear. And so regularly, taking a risk outside of your comfort zone is a recipe for disaster. Even if you are right the first time, there is no guarantee you will be right the second time.

Keeping your portfolio well diversified will let you endure through turbulent times and help your investments grow over time by reducing the overall risk of your investments.

About the author: Stoyan Panayotov, CFA is a fee-only financial advisor based in Walnut Creek, CA. His firm Babylon Wealth Management offers fiduciary investment management and financial planning services to individuals and families.

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future performance. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation or offer, or recommendation, to buy or sell any security. The content of this article is a sole opinion of the author and Babylon Wealth Management. The opinion and information provided are only valid at the time of publishing this article. Investing in these asset classes may not be appropriate for your investment portfolio. If you decide to invest in any of the instruments discussed in the posting, you have to consider your risk tolerance, investment objectives, asset allocation and overall financial situation. Different investors have different financial circumstances, and not all recommendations apply to everybody. Seek advice from your investment advisor before proceeding with any investment decisions. Various sources may provide different figures due to variations in methodology and timing, Copyright: www.123rf.com

March 2, 2017May 16, 2020

Top 5 Strategies to Protect Your Portfolio from Inflation

Protecting Your Portfolio from Inflation

The 2016 election revived the hopes of some market participants for higher interest rates and higher inflation. Indeed, the 10-year Treasury rate went from 1.45% in July to 2.5% in December before settling at around 2.35-2.40% at the end of February 2017. Simultaneously, the Consumer Price Index, which is one of the leading inflation indicators, hit a five-year high level at 2.5% in January 2017. As many investors are becoming more concerned, we will discuss our top 5 strategies to protect your portfolio from inflation.

Higher interest and inflation rates can hurt the ability of fixed income investors to finance their retirement. Bonds and other fixed-income instruments lose value when interest rates go up and gain value when interest rate come down.

There were numerous articles in popular media about the “great rotation” and how investors will switch from fixed to equity investments in search for higher return. None of that has happened yet, and the related news has seemed to disappear.

However, the prospects for higher inflation are still present. So, in this article, I would like to discuss several asset classes that are popular among individual investors. I will explain see how they perform in the environment of rising inflation.

Cash

Cash is by far one of the worst vehicles to offer protection against inflation. Money automatically loses purchasing power with the rise of inflation. Roughly speaking, if this year’s inflation is 3%, $100 worth of goods and services will be worth $103 in a year from now. Therefore, someone who kept cash in the checking account or at home will need extra $3 to buy the same goods and services he could buy for $100 a year ago.

A better way to protect from inflation, while not ideal, is using saving accounts and CDs. Some online banks and credit unions offer rates above 1%. This rate is still less than the CPI but at least preserves some of the purchasing power.

Equities

Stocks are often considered protection tools against inflation. They offer a tangible claim over company’s assets, which will rise in value with inflation. However, historical data has shown that equities perform better only when inflation rates are around 2-3%. To understand this relationship, we have to look at both Real and Nominal Inflation-Adjusted Returns. As you can see from the chart below, both real and nominal stock returns have suffered during periods of inflation that is over 5% annually. Moreover, stocks performed very well in real and nominal terms when inflation rates were between 0% and 3%.

High inflation deteriorates firms’ earnings by increasing the cost of goods and services, labor and overhead expenses. Elevated levels of inflation have the function to suppress demand as consumers are adjusting to the new price levels.

While it might look tempting to think that certain sectors can cope with inflation better than others, the success rate will come down to the individual companies’ business model. As such, firms with strong price power and inelastic product demand can pass the higher cost to their customers. Additionally, companies with strong balance sheet, low debt, high-profit margins and steady cash flows tend to perform better in high inflation environment.

Real estate

Real Estate very often comes up as a popular inflation protection vehicle. However, historical data and research performed the Nobel laureate Robert Shiller show otherwise.

According to Shiller “Housing traditionally is not viewed as a great investment. It takes maintenance, it depreciates, it goes out of style. All of those are problems. And there’s technical progress in housing. So, the new ones are better….So, why was it considered an investment? That was a fad. That was an idea that took hold in the early 2000’s. And I don’t expect it to come back. Not with the same force. So people might just decide, ‘yeah, I’ll diversify my portfolio. I’ll live in a rental.’ That is a very sensible thing for many people to do”.

Shiller continues “…From 1890 to 1990 the appreciation in US housing was just about zero. That amazes people, but it shouldn’t be so amazing because the cost of construction and labor has been going down.” Rising inflation will lead to higher overhead and maintenance costs, potential renter’s delinquency and high vacancy rates.

To continue Shiller’s argument, investors seeking an inflation protection with Real Estate must consider their liquidity needs. Real Estate is not a liquid asset class. It takes a longer time to sell it. “Every transaction involves paying fees to banks, lawyers, and real-estate agents. There are also maintenance costs and property taxes. The price of a single house also can be quite volatile.” Just ask the people who bought their homes in 2007, just before the housing bubble.

Commodities

Commodities and particularly gold tend to provide some short-term protection against inflation. However, this is a very volatile asset class. Gold’s volatility measured by its 42-year standard deviation is 33% higher than that of stocks and 3.5 times greater the volatility of the 10-year treasury. Short-term inflation protection benefits are often overshadowed by other market-related events and speculative trading.

Not to mention the fact that the gold and other commodities are not easily available to retail investors outside the form of ETFs, ETNs, and futures. Buying actual commodities can incur significant transaction and storage cost which makes it almost prohibitive for individuals to physically own them.

Bonds

According to a many industry “experts” bonds are a terrible tool to protect for inflation. The last several years after the great recession were very good to bonds since rates gradually went down and the 10-year treasury rate reached 1.47% in July 2017. The low rates were supported by quantitate easing at home and abroad and higher demand from foreign entities due to near zero or negative rates in several developed economies. As the rates went up in the second half of 2016, bonds, bonds ETFs and mutual funds lost value. While bonds may have some short-term volatility with rising inflation, they have shown a strong long-term resilience. The 42-year annualized return of the 10-year Treasury is 7.21% versus 10.11% for large Cap Stocks. The Inflation adjusted rate of return narrows the gap between two asset groups, 3.07% for bonds and 5.85% for stocks.

For bond investors seeking inflation protection, there are several tools available in the arsenal. As seen in the first chart, corporate bonds due to their stronger correlation to the equities market have reported much higher real returns compared to treasuries. Moving to short-term duration bonds, inflation-protected bonds (TIPS), floating rate bonds, are banks loan are some of the other sub-classes to consider

February 1, 2017September 16, 2021

Municipal Bond Investing

What is a Municipal Bond?

Municipal bond investing is a popular income choice for many Americans. The muni bonds are debt securities issued by municipal authorities like States, Counties, Cities, and related businesses. Municipal bonds or “munis” are issued to fund general activities or capital projects like building schools, roads, hospitals, and sewer systems. The size of the muni bond market has reached 3.7 trillion dollars. There are about $350 billion of Muni bond issuance available every year.

To encourage Americans to invest in Municipal Bonds, US authorities had exempted the muni bonds’ interest (coupon income) from Federal taxes. In some cases, when the bondholders reside in the same state where the bond was issued, they can also be exempted from state taxes.

Types of Municipal Bonds

Municipal entities issue general obligation bonds to finance various public projects like roads, bridges, and parks. General obligation bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the issuing municipality. Usually, they do not have a dedicated revenue source. The local authorities commit their abundant resources to pay off the bonds. Municipals rely on their unlimited power to tax residents to pay back bondholders.

Revenue bonds are backed by income from a particular project or source. There is a wide diversity of types of revenue bonds, each with unique credit characteristics. Municipal entities frequently issue securities on behalf of borrowers such as water and sewer services, toll bridges, non-profit colleges, or hospitals. These underlying borrowers typically agree to repay the issuer, who pays the interest and principal on the securities solely from the revenue provided by the conduit borrower.

Taxable Bonds. There is a smaller but growing niche of taxable municipal bonds. These bonds exist because the federal government will not subsidize the financing of certain activities, which do not significantly benefit the general public. Investor-led housing, local sports facilities, refunding of a refunded issue, and borrowing to replenish a municipality’s underfunded pension plan, Build America Bonds (BABs) are types of bond issues that are federally taxable. Taxable municipals offer higher yields than those of other taxable sectors, such as corporate or government agency bonds.

Investment and Tax Considerations

Tax-Exempt Status

With their tax-exempt status, muni bonds are a powerful tool to optimize your portfolio return on an after-tax basis.

Muni Tax Adjusted Yield

So why are certain investors flocking into buying muni bonds? Let’s have an example:

An individual investor with a 35% tax rate is considering an AA-rated corporate bond offering a 4% annual yield and an AA-rated municipal bond offering a 3% annual yield. All else equal, which investment will be more financially attractive?

Since the investors pays 35% on the received interest from the corporate bonds she will pay 1.4% of the 4% yield to taxes (4% x 0.35% = 1.4%) having an effective after-tax interest of 2.6% (4% – 1.4% = 2.6%). In other words, the investor will only be able to take 2.6% of the 4% as the remaining 1.4% will go for taxes. With the muni bond at 3% and no federal taxes, the investor will be better off buying the muni bond.

Another way to make the comparison is by adjusting the muni yield by the tax rate. Here is the formula.

Muni Tax Adjusted Yield = Muni Yield / (1 – tax rate) = 4% / (1 – 0.35%) = 4.615%

The result provides the tax-adjusted interest of the muni bond as if it was a regular taxable bond. In this case, the muni bond has 4.615% tax-adjusted interest, which is higher than the 4% offered by the corporate bond.

The effective state tax rate

Another consideration for municipal bond investors is the state tax rate. Most in-state municipal bonds are exempt from state taxes, while out-of-state bonds are taxable at the state tax level. Investors from states with higher state tax rates will be interested in comparing the yields of both in and out-of-state bonds to achieve the highest after-tax net return. Since under federal tax law, taxes paid at the state level are deductible on a federal income tax return, investors should, in fact, consider their effective state tax rate instead of their actual tax rate. The formula is:

Effective state tax rate = State Income Tax rate x (1 – Federal Income Tax Rate)

Example, if an investor resides in a state with 9% state tax and has 35% federal tax rate, what is the effective tax rate:

Effective state tax rate = 9% x (1 – .35) = 5.85%

If that same investor is comparing two in- and out-of-state bonds, all else equal, she is more likely to pick the bond with the highest yield on net tax bases.

AMT status

One important consideration when purchasing muni bonds is their Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) status. The most municipal bond will be AMT-free. However, the interest from private activity bonds, which are issued to fund stadiums, hospitals, and housing projects, is included in the AMT calculation. If an investor is subject to AMT, the bond interest income could be taxable at a rate of 28%.

Social Security Benefits

If investors receive Medicare and Social Security benefits, their municipal bond tax-free interest could be taxable. The IRS considers the muni bond interest as part of the “modified adjusted gross income” for determining how much of their Social Security benefits, if any, are taxable. For instance, if a couple earns half of their Social Security benefits plus other income, including tax-exempt muni bond interest, above $44,000 ($34,000 for single filers), up to 85% of their Social Security benefits are taxable.

Diversification

Muni bonds are a good choice to boost diversification to the investment portfolio. Historically they have a very low correlation with the other asset classes. Therefore, municipal bonds returns have observed a smaller impact by developments in the broader stock and bond markets.

For example, municipal bonds’ correlation to the stock market is at 0.03%. Their correlation to the 10-year Treasury is at 0.37%.

Interest Rate Risk

Municipal bonds are sensitive to interest rate fluctuations. There is an inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rates. As the rate goes up, muni bond prices will go down. And reversely, as the interest rates decline, the bond prices will rise. When you invest in muni bonds, you have to consider your overall interest rate sensitivity and risk tolerance.

Credit Risk

Like the corporate world, municipal bonds and bond issuers receive a credit rating from major credit agencies like Moody’s, S&P 500, and Fitch. The credit rating shows the ability of the municipality to pay off the issued debt. The bonds receive a rating between AAA and C, with AAA being the highest possible and C the lowest. BBB is the lowest investment-grade rating, while all issuance under BBB is known as high-yield or “junk” bonds. The major credit agencies have different methodologies to determine the credit rating of each issuance. However, historically the ratings tend to be similar.

Unlike corporations, which can go bankrupt and disappear, municipals cannot go away. They have to continue serving their constituents. Therefore, many defaults end up with debt restructuring followed by continued debt service. Between 1970 and 2014, there were 95 municipal defaults. The vast majority of them belong to housing and health care projects.

In general, many investors consider municipal debt to be less risky. The historical default rates among municipal issuances are a lot smaller than those for comparable corporate bonds.

Limited secondary market

The secondary market for municipal bonds sets a lot of limitations for the individual investor. While institutional investors dominate the primary market, the secondary market for municipal bonds offers limited investment inventory and real-time pricing. Municipal bonds are less liquid than Treasury and corporate bonds. Municipal bond investing tends to be part of a buy-and-hold strategy as most investors seek their tax-exempt coupon.

Fragmentation

The municipal bond market is very fragmented due to issuances by different states and local authorities. MUB, the largest Municipal ETF, holds 2,852 muni bonds with the highest individual bond weight at.45%. The top 5% holdings of the ETF make 1.84% of the total assets under management. For comparison, TLT, a 20-year old Treasury ETF, has 32 holdings with the largest individual weight at 8.88%. The top 5% make up 38.14% of the assets under management.

November 21, 2016November 20, 2020

11 Effective financial strategies for business owners

Eleven ways to boost and protect your wealth

Small and mid-size businesses are the backbone of the US economy. Entrepreneurship and creativity have been moving the American economy for centuries. In fact, the US has one of the best grooming environments for start-ups and small businesses. Many flagship consumer brands like McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Apple started very small with one restaurant, a coffee shop, and a garage workshop to become international leaders in their industry.

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Digital Strategies for Busines Owners During and Post Coronavirus

Business owners spend several years building up their business. They invest a significant amount of personal time and capital to grow their companies. Almost always these entrepreneurs will have their family fortune locked in their business. Those who succeed can go public or pass their wealth to the next generation.

Entrepreneurs are a special breed. Many have a vision or a single idea that that drives their pursuit for success. Others have unique skills or talent that make them stand out from their competitors. They are independent, self-driven, and bold.

Focused on their business, more often than not entrepreneurs ignore or delay their personal financial planning. In this post, I would like to discuss several practical steps that business owners can follow to establish their successful financial plan.

Balance your business and personal goals

The first and most crucial step in the personal financial planning process is setting your short and long-term financial goals. In many cases, the business goals can interfere and clash over personal financial goals. Business goals to expand into a new market or purchase a new factory can negatively interfere with your personal goals such as saving for retirement or college education for your children. Striking the right balance between your business and personal goals is key to achieving them. Prioritizing one over the other may hurt your long-term financial success.

Explore different financing alternatives

Every new business idea requires capital to start. The success of the venture depends on the owner’s ability to secure financing. Sometimes, the funding comes from personal savings or the sale of a property. Other times, the owner needs to look for external funding within his or her social circle or even approach a financial institution. The external financing can be in the form of a loan or equity stake.

Both debt and equity financing come with embedded costs. The cost can vary depending on the company’s size, industry, history, economic conditions, etc. One of the main advantages of debt financing is that the interest on the loan is tax deductible. One the other hand equity financing may allow for more flexibility.

Another great way of financing your idea is your customers. Indeed, your clients are one of the best and inexpensive sources of financing. If your customers love your product, they will be willing to give you an advance payment, subscribe to your platform or consider a product/service exchange.

In any case, the entrepreneurs should seek to minimize the overall cost of capital of its business by exploring multiple financing channels.

Control cost

Even the best idea can fail if it doesn’t generate profit. In simple numerical terms, the company revenue should be higher than its expenses. Many ventures do not succeed because the company cannot generate enough revenue to cover all costs. Clearly, the first answer will be to generate more revenue. However, many successful companies are notorious with their focus on cost control. Business owners must stay on top of their expenses. They must track and analyze your cost. Owners should look for operational deficiencies and overlaps, result-based compensation, economies of scale and ways to increase productivity.

Manage liquidity

Businesses need cash to maintain healthy growth. Not surprisingly, the prominent investor Warrant Buffet prefers to invest in companies generating significant cash flows. The capacity to produce cash from its operations will determine the company’s ability to pay its employees, creditors, and vendors. Building a disciplined system of managing receivables and payables and maintaining a cash buffer for emergencies are keys for effective cash flow management.

Manage your taxes

Filing and paying taxes is a long and painful process. Tax law is very complex. Many hidden threats can trigger tax events for you. There are also many opportunities to save on taxes. Often, your tax bill depends on your company’s legal status. Sole proprietors have different taxation rules from c-corporation. Speak to an accountant or tax lawyer to find out what legal status works best for you. To avoid missed opportunities and last-minute mistakes, you have to prepare for the filing process in advance. Start early. Keep a clean record of all your expenses. Track all tax filing dates. Remember to pay all federal and state taxes, social security, Medicare, local permits, and fees. Consider using professional bookkeeping software and working with a CPA.

Manage risk

Risk comes in all shapes and forms – business risk, operational risk, financial risk, disability risk and so on. Managing the risk from different sources is a mandatory skill for any successful business owner and executive. External threats can impose significant obstacles to profitability and expansion but if managed successfully can create substantial opportunities for long-term growth.

Business threats can come from new competitors, new technology, changes in consumer demand, new regulatory requirements, and so on. Business owners have to be on top of these changes and often even drive the change.

Operational risk impacts the companies’ ability to serve their customers.

Financial risk can come from interest rates, volatile stock markets, and liquidity crunches. Macroeconomic factors can affect your clients’ ability to pay off their debt. Having a solid financial strategy, building buffers and managing cash will allow the business to withstand unexpected financial turbulence.

Short-term and long-term disability will prohibit the owners and key employees to perform their duties. Injuries and sickness of key personnel can significantly hurt any business. Prolonged disability can limit owners’ ability to make a living, support their families, and grow their business. Having disability insurance can help bridge the financial gap during a time of recovery. Moreover, having a disaster plan can save your business at times of emergencies and unforeseen circumstances.

Establish a retirement plan

Having a company retirement plan is an excellent way to save money in the long run. A pension plan contributions could reduce current taxes and boost employee’s loyalty.

While there are few alternatives – 401k, SEP IRA, and SIMPLE IRA. I am a big supporter of 401k plans. Although they are a little more expensive to establish and run, they provide the highest contribution allowance over all other options.

The maximum employee contribution for 2016 is $18,000. The employer can match up to $35,000 for a total of $53,000. Individuals over 50 can add a catch-up contribution of $6,000 for a total of $59,000 annual contribution.

Self-employed individuals can also take advantage of this option by setting up a solo 401k plan. Moreover, they can contribute up to $53,000, $18,000 as an employee of your company, and $35,000 as an employer.

Build a safety net

Creating a safety net is a critical step to protecting your wealth. Many business owners hold a substantial amount of their assets tied up to their personal business. By doing it, they expose themselves to a concentrated risk in one company or industry. Any economic developments that can adversely impact that particular sector can also hurt their personal wealth.

The best way to build a strong safety net is asset diversification. Owners can significantly decrease the overall risk of their portfolio when investing in a broad and uncorrelated range of assets, sectors, and regions.

Start your estate planning

Estate planning is the process of arranging the disposal of your assets after your passing. It further involves your family members, other individuals, and charitable organizations. Estate planning starts with setting up a family trust and personal will and can also affect financial, tax, medical and business planning. Additionally, you can use estate planning to eliminate uncertainties over the administration of a probate and to maximize the value of the estate by reducing taxes and other expenses. The ultimate goal of estate planning can be determined by your specific goals and may be as simple or complex as your needs dictate.

Plan for business succession

A successful business can impact various parties such as owners, employees, contractors, vendors, clients, landlords, and suppliers. Therefore, creating a business succession plan will ensure that all parties’ interests are met in the event you decide to discontinue your business or pass it to another person. Moreover, a robust plan will address numerous tax and financial issues that will result from the succession. The complexity of the succession plan will depend on the size, industry, and legal status of your business.

October 5, 2016August 3, 2020

How to find and choose the best financial advisor near me?

Last update, August 2020……….Seeking a financial advisor near you is a significant step in achieving your personal and financial goals. Financial advisors have been instrumental in helping clients maintain well balanced, disciplined, long-term focused approach towards their personal finances and retirement planning. Finding the right financial advisor near you is like finding a personal doctor. There are very high chances that you will stick with that person for a long time. In this article, we will give you several suggestions on how to find and choose the best financial advisor near me?.

What is a financial advisor?

A financial advisor is a professional who provides financial guidance regarding a broad range of topics, including investment management, risk management, financial, retirement, college, tax, estate, and legacy planning.

Furthermore, they will make recommendations and provide services based on your specific financial needs and long-term financial goals. Your financial advisors will help you resolve specific financial circumstances —such a taking a comprehensive view of your finances, preparing for retirement, buying a house, and managing your investments.

So how to pick your financial advisor near you?

The financial industry has done a great job confusing the public with various job titles and certificates. Financial advisors can call themselves financial planners, investment advisors, wealth advisors, financial coaches, wealth managers, and brokers. Additionally, insurance agents, accountants, and lawyers provide some type of financial advice to their clients.

So let’s breakdown several questions you need to ask when you are looking for a financial advisor near you.

Are you fiduciary?

There are two main models under which financial advisors offer their services – Registered investment advisor (RIA) and broker-dealers.

RIAs are independent fee-only investment companies that often provide both financial planning and investment management services. They charge a flat fee or a percentage of the client’s assets under management. RIAs are usually boutique companies with one founder and a few employees. Moreover, independent advisors have a fiduciary duty to work in their customers’ best interests. Most RIAs provide holistic goal-based financial advice based on their clients’ particular economic circumstances, lifestyle, and risk tolerance. If you prefer to receive personalized fiduciary financial services, then the RIA model is probably the best fit for you.

Brokers offer commission-based financial services. They receive compensation based on the number of trades placed in their client accounts. The agents often belong to large banking institutions like Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase. Other times they are independent houses offering a broad range of services, including insurance, accounting, tax, and estate planning. Brokers and sales agents do not always have a legal fiduciary duty to work in their clients’ best interests. Fortunately, they face certain standards regarding suitability and best interest.

What is your education

What is your financial advisor’s education? Make sure that you are comfortable with your new advisor’s credentials and educational background. Many financial professionals hold at least a bachelor’s or master’s degrees in Finance or Accounting. For those that lack the financial education or work experience, regulators require passing series 65 for RIAs and series 7 and 63 for brokers. Additionally, there are three popular financial certificates – CFA, CFP, and CPA, Advisors that hold any of the certificates that have gone through a significant training and learning process.

Chartered Financial Analyst

CFA is a professional designation given by the CFA Institute. The exam measures the competence and integrity of financial analysts. Candidates have to pass three levels of exams covering areas such as accounting, economics, ethics, money management, and security analysis.

CFA is considered the highest-ranked financial certificate and widely recognized across the globe. CFA program takes at least three years and requires passing the three-level exam. Level 1 exam is offered twice a year in June and December. Level 2 and 3 are offered only once a year in June. Candidates also need to pass strict work requirements regarding their work experience in the investment decision-making process.

Certified Financial Planner

CFP refers to the certification owned and awarded by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. The CFP designation is awarded to individuals who complete the CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements. Individuals desiring to become a CFP professional must take extensive exams in the areas of financial planning, taxes, insurance, estate planning, and retirement. The exam is computer-based taken over three days. Attaining the CFP designation takes experience and a substantial amount of work. CFP professionals must also complete continuing education programs each year to maintain their certification status.

Certified Public Accountant

CPA is a designation given by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to those who pass an exam and meet work experience requirements. CPA designation ensures that professional standards for the industry are enforced. CPAs are required to get a bachelor’s degree in business administration, finance or accounting. They are also required to complete 150 hours of education and have no less than two years of public accounting experience. CPAs must pass a certification exam, and certification requirements vary by state. Additionally, they must complete a specific number of continuing hours of education yearly.

Why is education important?

While receiving a degree in Finance, Accounting, or Economics or passing a test doesn’t always guarantee that the person has the right set of skills to be an advisor, the lack of any of these credentials should be a warning sign for you.

What is your work experience

If you are planning to give your retirement savings in the hands of a financial advisor, make sure that this person has prior financial experience. Some of you may remember the commercial with the DJ who was imposing as a financial advisor. Would you want to work with this guy? He might be a great person, but it’s your money, after all. Do your due diligence before you meet them for the first time? LinkedIn is a great place to start your search.

Do you provide personalized service?

You are looking for a financial advisor because you have specific needs and financial circumstances. Find out if your financial advisor is willing to listen and learn about your objectives. Does he or she have a gameplan that you will help you achieve your financial goals, preserve your wealth, and allow you to be financially independent?

Can you describe your Investment Management Style?

Do you know your advisor’s investment style? Does your advisor regularly trade in your account or is more conservative and rebalance once or twice a year? It is essential to understand your advisor’s investment style. Frequent trading can increase your trading cost substantially. On the other hand, not trading at all will bring your portfolio away from your target allocation and risk tolerance.

Some advisors prefer to work only with ETFs. Others like using actively managed mutual funds. A third group favors trading single stocks and bonds. All strategies have their benefits and shortcomings. ETFs come with lower fees and broad diversification. Active mutual funds seek to beat their benchmark with lower risk. However, they may lack tax-efficiency if sitting in investment accounts. Finally, trading single stocks provides a high upside but offer less diversification.

What is your custodian

Who is your advisor’s custodian? Custodians are the financial companies that actually hold your assets. Most RIAs will use a custodian like Pershing, Fidelity, TD, Schwab, or Interactive Brokers. Your advisor’s custodian, to a large extent, will determine (or limit) the selection of ETFs and funds available for investing. Additionally, custodians may have different rules, document requirements, technology platforms, and transaction fees.

How big is your firm?

How large is the company that your advisor works for? Some advisors are one-man-shop. They consist of their founder and potentially one or two assistants or paraplanners. Other advisors, including RIAs, could be a part of a much larger regional or national network. Smaller companies have more flexibility but less capacity. Bigger companies have more bureaucracy but may have more resources.

Do you coach your clients?

What have you learned from your advisor in the past few years or even at the last meeting?

Advisor’s role is not only to manage investments but also to coach and educate clients about best financial practices, tax changes, market developments, estate planning, college savings, and such.

Additionally, many advisors offer workshops to clients and prospects where they talk about the economy, retirement planning, tax strategies, and other financial topics.

How are you going to communicate with me?

How is your financial advisor communicating with you? Is your advisor responsive? Communication is an essential part of the advisor-client relationship. The best financial advisors always stay in touch with their clients. Remember what I said earlier, advisors are like doctors. You need to meet at least once a year. So during your meeting, talk to them about your progress in achieving your goals. Also, get updates on your portfolio performance. And finally, update them regarding any changes in your life.

Also, financial advisors have to protect their clients’ privacy. Make sure your advisor uses secured channels to send and receive sensitive information.

How is your advisor handling client queries? Can you speak to your advisor personally if you have an urgent question or unexpected life event? Or do you need to call 1-800 number and wait for your turn in line?

What technology do you use?

Is your financial advisor tech-savvy or old school? The current environment of constant tech innovations provides a broad range of tools and services to financial advisors and their clients.

New sophisticated financial planning software lets advisors change plan inputs just with one click of the mouse. This software allows clients to have access to their personal financial plans to amend their financial goals and personal information. Therefore, clients can see in real-time the progress of their financial plans and make better financial decisions.

Account aggregation tools allow clients to pull different accounts from various financial providers under one view. The aggregated view helps both advisors and customers to see a comprehensive picture of the client’s finances with only one login.

September 23, 2016August 21, 2020

Financial planning for physicians

Introduction to Financial planning for physicians

Being married to a physician has allowed me to obtain an understanding of the unique challenges of financial planning for physicians. In this post, I will discuss several practices that can help physicians and other healthcare professionals achieve financial prosperity.

What sets financial planning for physicians apart?

Doctors begin their careers and start earning an income much later than the average person. If a physician is accepted to a medical school immediately following completion of an undergraduate degree, she will be in her mid-20s when she graduates from medical school. After medical school, physicians must continue clinical training in their chosen specialty. The residency training period ranges from 3 to 7 years depending on the specialty. During this time, new doctors make a modest salary, work long hours, and cover overnight on-call shifts in exchange for clinical training.

Once launching their career, doctors receive above-average compensation and have almost zero risks of unemployment. These privileges, however, come with some serious caveats.

As of 2015, graduating physicians start their careers with an average student loan of $183,000. This is equal to $1,897 of monthly payments over ten years or $927 over thirty years, at 4.5% interest. If I remove the lowest 20% of the medical students that come out of school with zero or small loan amounts, the average debt figure jumps to $230,000. Which is a total of $286,000 due on principal and interest on a 10-year loan and 420,000 on a 30-year one. Student loans become repayable after medical school graduation.

1. Start saving for retirement early.

Doctors have a shorter working life than the average person. They start their careers ten years after most people. During these ten years, doctors don’t earn a significant salary and accumulate a large amount of education-related debt.

It is critical that young doctors start saving for retirement while they are in residency. During residency, the new doctors receive a salary between $40,000 and $70,000. Many employers offer both tax-deferred 401k and Roth 401k accounts. Depending on your financial situation you should consider maximizing both plans with priority on your Roth over tax-deferred contributions.

2. Maximize your retirement contributions.

You have to maximize their retirement contributions to compensate for the extra ten years of school and residency.

Physicians working in hospitals and large healthcare systems will very likely have the option to open a tax-deferred 401k plan. As of 2020, these programs allow their participants to contribute up to $19,500 a year. Most employers offer matching contributions for up to a certain amount.

Some health systems offer pension plans, which guarantee a pension after certain years of service. These plans are a great addition to your retirement savings if you are willing to commit to your employer for 10 or 20 years.

Additionally, some government and state-run hospitals even offer 457 plans in conjunction with a 401k plan, allowing participants to super save and defer a double

Doctors who run a private practice should consider investing in solo 401k plans. These plans allow for the maximum pretax contributions, once as an employee and once as an employer.

Doctors earning significant cash flow in private practice should also consider adding a defined benefit plan to their 401k. This combination is a powerful saving tool. However, it requires the help of an accredited actuary. Contact your financial advisor if you want to learn about this option.

In addition to contributing to employer-sponsored retirement plans, doctors should consider setting aside a portion of their earnings to taxable (brokerage or saving) accounts. The contributions to these accounts are made on an after taxes basis. Taxes are due on all dividends, interest, and capital gains. The most significant benefit of these funds will be their liquidity and flexibility with no income restrictions.

3. Manage your taxes.

High earning doctors need to consider managing their tax bill as one of their top priorities. Tax implication can vary depending on income level, family size, and property ownership. Hiring a CPA, a tax attorney or a financial planner may help you reduce or optimize some of your tax dues.

A successful tax planning strategy will include a combination of retirement savings, asset allocation, tax deductions, and estate planning.

4. Balance your budget.

After ten years of vigorous study, sleepless nights, and no personal life, doctors are thrown back in the normal life where they can enjoy the perks of freedom and money. As much you are excited about your new life, do not start it with buying a Lamborghini or an expensive condo on South Beach. In other words, do not overspend. Even if you got a great job with an excellent salary and benefits, you need to remain disciplined in your spending habits. Stay focused on your long-term financial goals. Leave enough money aside for retirement savings, rent or mortgage payments, loan payments, living expenses, college savings for your children and an emergency fund.

5. Manage your student loans

The cost of a medical degree is one of the highest amonsgt other professions. For that reason many dpctors graduate with massive student loans. 0How to best manage your student debt depends on a combination of factors including your credit score, federal or private loan, loan maturity, interest rates, monthly payments, and current income. Stay on top of your student debt. Do not lose track of due dates and interest rates.

For those looking for help reducing their debt, here are some options:

Loan repayment options from employers. Many private, federal, state and city health care organizations offer loan repayment options as an incentive to retain their doctors. Those options are frequently dependent on years of service and commitment to work for a certain number of years. These programs vary from employer to employer.

Loan forgiveness. Under the Public service loan forgiveness program (PSLF) launched in 2007, full-time employees at federal, state or local government agencies, as well as nonprofit workers at an organization with a 501(c)(3) designation, are eligible for loan forgiveness after paying 120 monthly payments. The first applicants will be able to benefit from this program in 2017.

Working in underserved areas. Some states offer loans forgiveness for doctors working in underserved areas. The conditions and benefits vary state by state but in essence, works similar to the PLSF program.

Loan consolidation and refinancing. If you have two or more private student loans, you may want to consider loan consolidation. If you pay high interest on your current loans, think about refinancing it at a lower rate. Your new loan availability depends on your credit history, income, and general macroeconomic factors.

Under the current tax law, all forgiven loans are subject to taxes as ordinary income. Take it into consideration when applying for loan forgiveness.

6. Watch your credit score.

Physicians need to monitor and understand their credit score. Known also as the FICO score, it is a measure that goes between 300 and 850 points. Higher scores indicate lower credit risk. Each of the three national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, has a proprietary database, methodology, and scoring system. It is not uncommon to find small or even substantial differences in credit scores issued by three agencies. Many times, creditors will use the average of the three value to assess your creditworthiness.

Your FICO score is a sum of 64 different measurements. And each agency calculates it slightly differently. As a general rule, your FICO score depends mostly on the actual dollar amount of your debt, the debt to credit ratio and your payment history. Being late on or missing your loan payments and maximizing your credit limits can negatively impact your credit score.

You can get your score for free from each one of the bureaus once a year. Additionally, many credit cards provide it for free. Keep in mind that their FICO score will come from one of these three agencies. Don’t be surprised if your second credit card shows a different value. Your other bank is probably using a different credit agency.

7. Take calculated risks.

Doctors are notorious for their high-risk tolerance and attitude toward investing in very uncertain endeavors. While this is not always a bad thing, make sure that your investments fit into your overall long-term financial plan. Do not bet all your savings on one risky venture. Use your best judgment in evaluating any risky investments presented to you. High returns always come with high risk for a loss.

8. Get insurance.

Having insurance should be your top priority to take care of yourself and your family in case of unforeseen events. There is an extensive list of risks you have to consider, for instance – health, disability, life, unemployment, personal umbrella, and malpractice insurance.

Fortunately, some of them might be covered by your employer. A lot of organizations offer a basic package at no cost and premium package at added subsidized price. Take advantage of these insurance packages to buy yourself protection in times of emergency.

For instance, if you are a surgeon or dentist and get a hand injury, you may not be able to work for a long time. Having disability insurance can help you have an additional income while you recover.

If you run your practice, having malpractice insurance will help cover the cost if you get sued by your patients.

Final words

If you have any questions about your existing investment portfolio or how to start investing for retirement and other financial goals, reach out to me at [email protected] or +925-448-9880.

You can also visit our Insights page where you can find helpful articles and resources on how to make better financial and investment decisions.

September 7, 2016May 21, 2020

4 Steps to determine your target asset allocation

One of the financial advisors’ primary responsibilities is to determine and document their clients’ target asset allocation. The target allocation serves as a starting point and guideline in diversifying the client portfolio and building future wealth. Clients’ unique financial goals, lifestyle, investment horizon, current and expected income, and emotional tolerance to market turbulence will impact their future asset allocation.

The target investment mix is not constant. It can shift from more aggressive to more conservative or vice versa with substantial changes in lifestyle, family status, personal wealth, employment, and age.

Assess your risk tolerance

Most advisors use questionnaires to evaluate their client’s risk tolerance. The length of these surveys varies from advisor to advisor. Furthermore, some assessments are available online for free. The idea behind all of them is to determine the investor’s tolerance to market volatility, and unpredictable macroeconomic and life events.

Individuals with high-risk tolerance have the emotional capacity to take on more risk. They can endure significant market swings in order to achieve a higher future return.

On the opposite side, investors with low-risk tolerance are willing to sacrifice higher returns for safer, low volatility assets which will have smaller swings during turbulent markets.

A free risk tolerance test is available here:

https://www.calcxml.com/calculators/inv01?skn=#top

Regardless of which test you take, if you answer all questions consistently, you should expect to get similar results.

Advisors, of course, should not rely solely on test results. They need to know and understand their clients. Advisors must have a holistic view of all aspects of client’s life and investment portfolio.

Set your financial goals

Your financial goals are another critical input to determine your target investment mix. Your goals can stretch anywhere from a couple of months to several decades. They can be anything from paying off your debt, buying a house, planning for a college fund, saving for a wedding, a trip or retirement, making a large charitable donation, and so on.

Each one of your goals will require a different amount of money for completion.

Having your goals in place will define how much money you need to save in order to reach them. The range of your goals versus your current wealth and saving habits will determine your target asset allocation.

More aggressive goals will require more aggressive investment mix.

More balanced goals will call for more balanced investment portfolio.

Sometimes, investors can have a conflict between their financial goals and risk tolerance. An investor may have low to moderate risk tolerance but very aggressive financial goals. Such conflict will ultimately require certain sacrifices – either revising down the investor’s financial goals or adjusting his or her willingness to take on more risk.

Define your investment horizon

Your investment horizon and the time remaining to your next milestone will significantly impact your investment mix.

529 college fund plan is an excellent example of how the investment horizon changes the future asset mix. Traditional 529 plans offer age-based investment allocation. The fund is initially invested in a higher percentage of equity securities. This original investment relies on the equities’ higher expected return, which can potentially bring higher growth to the portfolio. Over time, as the primary beneficiary (the future student), approaches the first year in college, the money in the 529 plan will gradually be re-allocated to a broadly diversified portfolio with a large allocation to fixed income investments. The new target mix can provide more safety and predictable returns as the completion of the goal approaches.

The same example can apply for retirement and home purchase savings or any other time-sensitive goal. The further away in time is your goal; the stronger will be your ability to take on more risk. You will also have enough time to recover your losses in case of market turmoil. In that case, your portfolio will focus on capital growth.

As the completion time of your goal approaches, your affinity to risk will decrease substantially. You also won’t have enough time to recover your losses if the market goes down considerably. In this situation, you will need a broadly diversified portfolio with refocusing on capital preservation.

Know your tax bracket

The investors’ tax bracket is sometimes a secondary but often crucial factor in determining asset allocation. The US Federal tax rate ranges from 10% to 39.6% depending on income level and filing status. In addition to Federal taxes, individuals may have to pay state and city taxes.

Investors can aim to build a tax-efficient asset allocation. They can take advantage of the preferential tax treatment of different financial securities among various investment account types – taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-exempt accounts.

For instance, they may want to allocate tax-efficient investments like Municipal bonds, MLPs, ETFs and Index funds to taxable accounts and higher tax bearing investments like Gold, Bonds, and REITs into tax-advantaged accounts.

In any case, investors should attempt to achieve the highest possible return on an after-tax basis. Building a tax-efficient investment portfolio can add up to 1% or more in performance over an extended period.

August 24, 2016November 20, 2020

A Guide to Investing in REITs

On August 31, 2016, S&P 500 will introduce a new sector – Real Estate. Up until now real estate companies, also known as REITs, belonged to the Financial sector. They were in the company of large financial and insurance corporations. The new category will have 27 stocks, $567 billion of market capitalization and an approximate weight of 3% of the total S&P 500 market value.

With the addition of Real Estate as a separate sector in S&P indices, many active managers will have to aline their current portfolios with the new sector structure.

What is a REIT?

A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns and manages income-producing real estate. It represents a pool of properties and mortgages bundled together and offered as a security in the form of unit investment trusts.

REITs invest in all the main property types with approximately two-thirds of the properties in offices, apartments, shopping centers, regional malls, and industrial facilities. The remaining one-third is divided among hotels, self-storage facilities, health-care properties, prisons, theaters, golf courses and timber.

The total market capitalization of all publicly-traded REITs is equal to $993 billion. The majority of it, $933 billion belongs to Equity REITs and the remainder to Mortgage and other financing REITs.

There are 219 REITs in the FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index. 193 of them trade on the New York Stock Exchange

Legal Status

REITs are subject to several regulations. To qualify as a REIT, a real estate firm must pay out 90% of its taxable income to shareholders as dividends. The REIT can deduct the dividends paid to shareholders from its taxable income. Thus their income is exempt from corporate-level taxation and passes directly to investors. Other important regulations include:

Asset requirements: at least 75% of assets must be real estate, cash, and government securities.
Income requirements: at least 75% of gross income must come from rents, interest from mortgages, or other real estate investments.
Stock ownership requirements: shares in the REIT must be held by a minimum of 100 shareholders. Five or fewer individuals cannot (directly or indirectly) own more than 50% of the value of the REIT’s stock during the last half of the REIT’s taxable year.

Distributions

Dividend distributions for tax purposes are allocated to ordinary income, capital gains, and return on capital, each of them having different tax treatment. REITs must provide shareholders with guidance on how to treat their dividends for tax purposes. The average distribution breakdown for 2015 was approximately 66% ordinary income, 12% return on capital, and 22% capital gains.

REITs distributions have grown substantially in the past 15 years. The total REIT distributions in 2000 were under $8 billion dollar. Just between 2012 and 2015, REITs distribution rose up from $28.8 billion to $44.9 billion, or 44%.

Tax implicationsThe majority of REIT dividends are considered non-qualified dividends and taxed as ordinary income, up to the maximum rate of 39.6 percent, plus a separate 3.8 percent Medicare surtax on investment income.

Capital gains distributions are taxable at either 0, 15 or 20 percent tax rate, plus the 3.8 percent surtax.

Return-on-capital distributions are tax-deferred. They reduce the cost basis of the REIT investment.

When a REIT distributes dividends received from a taxable REIT subsidiary or other corporation, those distributions are taxed at the qualified dividend rate of 0, 15, or 20 percent, plus the 3.8 percent surtax.

Timber REITs

One REIT sector makes an exception from the above rule. Timber REITs have a favorable tax treatment from the IRS. Distributions from timber REITs such as RYN, PCL, PCN & WY are considered long-term capital gains and therefore are taxable at the lower capital gain rate (0, 15% or 20% plus 3.8% Medicare surcharge).

Economic Cycle

Individual REIT sectors have different sensitivity to cyclical factors. Industrial, hotel, and retail REITs have the biggest exposure to economics cycles. Their occupancy and rental rates are extremely sensitive to economic conditions. Cyclical downturns in the economy, recession, and weak consumer spending, can significantly hurt the revenue stream of these REITs.

On the other hand, health care REITs tend to have long-term rental agreements and are more sheltered from market volatility.

Interest Rates

Since many REITs use bank loans and other external financings to expand their business, they have benefitted significantly from the current low-interest-rate environment. Furthermore, many yield-seeking investors turned to REITs for higher income. If low-interest rates remain, REITs will likely expand their base to a broader range of market participants.

Interest rates can impact REIT’s performance differently depending on two main factors – debt and lease duration.

Loan maturities

As a result of the current low rates, many REITs have increased their leverage and therefore have high sensitivity to interest changes. If interest rates rise, REITs with near-term loan maturities will need to refinance at higher rates. Thus their interest payments will go up, which will lead to less cash available for dividends. Therefore, REITs with higher levels of debt and short-term maturities will perform worse than REITs with less debt and long-dated maturity schedules.

At the same time, REITs with lower debt levels relative to their cash flows, all else equal, will perform better in a rising-rate environment.

Lease duration

While higher interest rates would affect all REITs, industry subsectors would be affected differently, depending on lease durations. REITs with shorter lease durations will perform relatively better in a rising-rate environment because they can seek higher rents from tenants as rates rise than could REITs with longer lease durations. The higher rents can offset the negative impact of higher interest expense. Hotel REITs usually have the shortest lease durations, followed by multifamily properties and self-storage.

Healthcare, office, and retail REITs usually sign long-term leases. Therefore rising interest rates will potentially hurt these REITs due to their inability to adjust rental contracts to offset rising costs.

Risk and return

Real Estate Investment Trusts historically have been more volatile than S&P 500. The 40-year standard deviation of the REIT’s sector is 17.16% versus 16.62% for the S&P 500 and 10.07% for the 10-year Treasury. During this 40-year period, REITs achieved a 13.66% cumulative annual return versus 11.66% for S&P 500 and 7.39% for the 10-year Treasury. (www.portfoliovisualizer.com)

Furthermore, the 10-year (2006-15) standard deviation of the REIT sector is 22.01% versus 18.02% for the S&P 500 and 9.54% for 10-year Treasury. For the same period, REITs reported 7.83% cumulative annual return versus 6.96% for S&P 500 and 4.57% for 10-year Treasury. (www.portfoliovisualizer.com)

Among the best five-year REIT sector performers were Retail, Self-Storage, and Industrial. For the same period, worst performers were Mortgage, Hotel and Office RETS.

Valuations

With respect to pricing, REITs are reaching high valuations levels. The current Price to Fund to Operations ratio is hovering around 18, which is slightly above the historical average of 16. While the P/FFO ratio remain reasonable compared to historical figures, further price rally in REITs not supported by the increase in cash flows may impose a significant risk for sector overheating.

Diversification

Even though REITs are publicly traded companies, very often they are considered an alternative asset due to their weak relationship with the other asset classes – equities and fixed income. US REITs have a relatively low correlation with the broader stock market. The 40-year correlation is equal to 0.51, while the 10-year correlation is 0.73. The correlation between REITs and 10-year Treasury is equal to -0.06, while that with Gold is 0.09.

This low correlation with other asset classes makes the REITs a solid candidate for a broadly diversified investment portfolio.

Investing Strategies

Directly

There are 219 publicly-traded REITs. 27 of them are included in the S&P 500 index. If you decide to invest in a single REIT or basket of REITs, you need to consider company-specific risk, management, sub-sector, regional or national market exposure, leverage, lease duration, history, and distribution payments.

Real Estate ETFs

VNQ

VNQ dominates the REITs ETF space as the largest and second-cheapest ETF. It includes a broad basket of 150 securities. The ETF tracks the MSCI US REIT Index, which includes all domestic REITs from the MSCI US Investable Market 2500 Index. This ETF doesn’t include any mortgage, timber, and tower REITs. It has an expense ratio of 0.12% (second lowest to SCHH). It has $32.4 billion of assets under management and Morningstar rating of 4. The fund holds a diversified portfolio across all property sectors. Retail REITs are the largest holding, at 25% of assets, Specialized REITs make up 16.50%, office, 12.6% residential, 15.7%, healthcare, 12.3%, diversified, 8%, hotel and resort, 5.3%, and industrial, 4.7% REITs.

IYR

IYR tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index. It is the most diversified REIT ETF. Unlike other ETFs which hold only equity REITs, IYR holds mortgage, timber, prison and tower REITs including companies like American Tower, Weyerhaeuser Co, Annaly Capital Management NLY and Crown Castle International Corp. IYR has three stars by Morningstar and has an expense ratio of 0.45%. IYR’s holdings are broken by Specialized REITs, (27.09%), Retail, 19.74%, Residential, 12.70%, Office, 10.00%, Health Care, 9.88%, Mortgage REITs, 4.90%, Industrial, 4.56%, Diversified, 4.51%, Hotel & Resort, 3.56%, Real Estate Services, 2.06%

ICF

ICF tracks an index of the 30 largest publicly traded REITs excluding mortgage and tower REITs. The design of this index capitalizes on the relative strength of the largest real estate firms and the conviction for consolidation in the real estate market. The ETF includes Retail REITs, 24.84%, Specialized REITs, 18.71%, Residential, 18.08%, Office, 15.23%, Health Care, 14.41%, Industrial, 5.79%, Hotel & Resort REITs, 2.56%.

RWR / SCHH

RWR / SCHH are the smallest of the five funds. They track Dow Jones US Select REIT Index. The index tracks US REITs with a minimum market cap of $200 million. The index also excludes mortgage REITs, timber REITs, net-lease REITs, real estate finance companies, mortgage brokers and bankers, commercial and residential real estate brokers and real estate agents, homebuilders, hybrid REITs, and large landowners of unimproved land. The funds’ portfolio holds a diversified range of REITs across property sectors similar to other ETFs.

SCHH has the lowest expense ratio of 0.07% all REITs ETFs while RWR has an expense ratio of 0.25%.

Performance

Comparing the performance of the top ETFs in the past ten years, we can see a clear winner. VNQ is leading by price return, total return, and Sharpe Ratio. Next in line are RWR and ICF. IYR takes the last spot.

Having the largest number of holdings, VNQ overweights small size REITs relative to the industry average. Hence it benefited from the smaller REITs outpacing the growth of their bigger competitors.

IYR did not benefit from being the most diversified REIT ETF. The mortgage and specialized REITs have lagged behind the performance of the traditional equity REITs.

Mutual Funds

Mutual funds are actively managed investment vehicles. They typically use an index as their benchmark. The goal of the fund manager is to outperform their benchmark either on a risk adjusted or absolute return basis. The fund manager can decide to overweight a particular REIT if he or she believes the company will outperform the benchmark. Many times the managers will look for mispricing opportunities of individual REITs.

Active funds usually charge higher fees than passively managed ETFs due to higher research, management, administrative and trading costs. However, many investors believe that after subtracting their fees, active managers cannot beat the market in the long run.

In my analysis, I selected a pool of five actively managed funds which are open to new investors and have an expense ratio less than 1% – VGSLX, DFREX, TRREX, CSRSX and FRESX.

All five funds have high ratings from Morningstar and robust historical performance.

VGSLX and DFREX have the largest number of holdings, 150 and 149 respectively, and maintain the lowest expense ratio. Both funds lean more towards small and micro-cap REITs relative to the average in the category.

The other three funds, TRREX, CSRSX and FRESX manage smaller pools of REITs. CSRSX and FRESX have the highest turnover: 58% and 34% respectively.

Performance

While the 1-year returns are quite variable, the long-term performance among the five funds is relatively consistent. Vanguard REIT Index Fund, VGSLX, has the lowest fee and the highest 10-year return of 7.6%. Cohen & Steers Realty Shares Fund, CSRSX, is second with 7.5% annual return. CSRSX has the lowest 10-year standard deviation of 25.2%. VGSLX edges slightly ahead with the highest Sharpe Ratio of 0.39. Vanguard and DFA funds benefitted from low expense ratio and larger exposure to mid and small size REITs, which had better 10-year performance than larger REITs.

It is worth noting that the 10-year Sharpe Ratio for all REITs sector is lower than the Sharpe Ratio of S&P 500. The Sharpe Ratio calculated the risk-adjusted returns of a particular investment. In this case, the risk-adjusted returns of REIT lag behind the overall equity market.

When you consider investing in REITs mutual funds, pay attention to management style, expense ratio, turnover, dividends, the number of holdings, and their benchmark.

Where to allocate REITs investments?

REITs are often attractive for their high dividend income. As I mentioned earlier, the majority of the REITs distributions are treated as ordinary income and therefore taxed at the investors’ tax rate. Investors in high tax brackets can pay up to 39.6% rate plus 3.8% Medicare surplus tax on the investment income.

Because of their unfavorable tax status, most REITs may not be suitable for taxable investment accounts. Tax-sensitive investors may want to consider placing REITs in Tax Advantage accounts like Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, and 401k.

Since timber REITs receive favorable tax treatment, they are an exception from the above rule. Investors may choose to hold them in taxable investment accounts.

There are two scenarios under which REITs could be an appropriate fit for a taxable account.

First, investors in the lower tax bracket will be less impacted by the tax treatment of the REITs income.

Second, investing in REITs with a history of making significant capital gain and return on capital distributions. These types of payments have more favorable tax treatment at the lower long-term capital gains tax rate.

August 8, 2016August 21, 2020

Introduction to portfolio diversification

Introduction

Portfolio diversification is one of the main pillars of retirement planning. The old proverb “Never put all your eggs in one basket” applies in full strength to investing.

Even the Bible talks about diversification. Ecclesiastes 11:2 says “Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.”

Wealth and asset managers use diversification as a tool to reduce overall portfolio risk. Diversification of investments with little correlation to one another allows the portfolio to grow at various stages of the economic cycle as the performance of the assets moves in different directions.

What is portfolio diversification?

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): “The Magic of Diversification. The practice of spreading money among different investments to reduce risk is known as diversification. By picking the right group of investments, you may be able to limit your losses and reduce the fluctuations of investment returns without sacrificing too much potential gain.” – https://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm

By combining low correlated and uncorrelated assets in a portfolio and being disciplined over an extended period, you aim to achieve the highest return per certain level of risk.

Diversification reduces your exposure to a single company or an asset class. As assets move up and down each year, a diversified portfolio will allow you to build a cushion for losses and avoid being dependent on one security in case it loses its value or has a rocky year.

The financial history remembers many examples of fallen stocks, such as Enron and Lehman Brothers. The employees of these companies who invested heavily in their employer’s stock without diversifying lost a significant amount of their retirement savings.

Correlated Investments

Correlated investments move in similar fashion driven by related factors. Owning two or more securities from the same industry or with similar risk profile does not contribute to your portfolio diversification. Hence, these securities will concentrate your exposure to the same market factors.

These three pairs are an example for correlated stocks – Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Target and Costco, Verizon and AT&T. While there are some differences in their business model and historical performance, the pairs are exposed to the same economic factors, industry drivers, and consumer sentiments.

Uncorrelated Investments

The combination of uncorrelated investments decreases the overall portfolio risk

The classic example of uncorrelated investments is stocks, bonds, and gold. Historically these large asset categories have moved independently from each other. Their returns were influenced by different events and economic drivers.

Even within the equity space alone, investors can significantly improve their portfolio diversification by looking at companies in various industries and exposure to regional and international markets.

The pair – Amazon and PG&E is a model for uncorrelated companies. Amazon is a global online marketplace that sells discretionary consumer items. Amazon business is dependent on the economic cycle and consumer spending sentiments. PG&E is a California-based utility company that provides electricity and gas to its customers. PG&E customers (being one of them) have a limited choice for service providers. Amazon competes with many large and small-size, local and foreign companies. PG&E has virtually no competition apart from renewable sources. Amazon has expansive market potential. PG&E growth is constrained to its local market. Therefore the difference between their core business models reflects on their historical price performance and risk profile. Their shares’ price depends on different factors and hence fluctuates independently.

Sharpe Ratio

Before we continue, I want to introduce a key performance metric in asset management called Sharpe Ratio. The ratio got its name from its creator the Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe.

The Sharpe ratio measures the excess return per unit of risk of an investment asset or a portfolio. It is also known as the risk-adjusted return.

This is the formula:

Where:

Rp is the Return of your security or portfolio.

Rf is the risk-free return of a US Treasury bond

σp is the standard deviation of your portfolio. Standard deviation measures the volatility of your portfolio returns.

The Sharpe ratio allows performance comparison between separate portfolios and asset classes with different return and risk. As a rule of thumb, the Sharp metric penalizes portfolios with higher volatility.

Take a very simplified example; portfolio ‘A’ has 5% return and standard deviation of 10%. Portfolio ‘B’ has 6% return and standard deviation of 15%. The risk-free rate is 1%

‘A’ portfolio: Sharpe Ratio is equal to (5% – 1%)/10% = 0.4

‘B’ portfolio: Sharpe Ratio is equal to (6% – 1%)/15% = 0.33

Portfolio ‘A’ has the higher Sharpe ratio and therefore the higher risk-adjusted return. Despite its lower return, it benefited from its lower volatility.

Even though ‘B’ had a higher return, it was penalized for having a higher risk.

Test 1

We will continue the explanation of the benefits of diversification with an example with real securities.

We will use two ETFs – SPY which tracks the US Large Cap S&P 500 Index and IEF, which follows the performance of the 10-year US Government bond. Let’s create three portfolios – one invested 100% in SPY, second invested 100% in IEF and third with 50%/50% split between both funds. Each portfolio starts with hypothetical $1 million. We track the performance for ten years (January 1, 2006, to December 31. 2015).

One key assumption is that at the end of each year we will rebalance the 50/50 portfolio back to the original target. We will sell off the excess amount over 50% for the overweight ETF, and we will buy enough shares from the underweight ETF so we can bring it back to 50%.

Results

Ticker	Initial Balance	Final Balance	Average Return	Standard Deviation	Best Year	Worst Year	Max. Drawdown	Sharpe Ratio	US Market Correlation
IEF	$1,000,000	$1,698,866	5.44%	6.46%	17.91%	-6.59%	-7.60%	0.68	-0.30
50/50	$1,000,000	$2,002,079	7.19%	7.11%	13.11%	-9.45%	-20.14%	0.86	0.87
SPY	$1,000,000	$2,010,149	7.23%	15.23%	32.31%	-36.81%	-50.80%	0.47	1.00

The 100% SPY portfolio has the highest return of 7.23% and best overall final balance ($2.01m). The SPY portfolio has the largest gain in a single year, 32.3% but also the biggest yearly loss of -36.8%. It also has the highest measure of risk. Its standard deviation is 15.2%. Its risk-adjusted return (Sharpe ratio) has the lowest value of 0.47.

IEF has the lowest return of the three portfolios, 5.44% but also has the “best” worst year, -6.6% and the lowest risk, 6.5%. Sharpe ratio is 0.68, higher than that of SPY.

The 50/50 portfolio has an average return of 7.19%, only 0.03% less than SPY alone. It has a standard deviation of 7.1%, only 0.65% higher than that of the 100% EIF. its market correlation is 0.87. Most importantly, the 50/50 portfolio has the highest risk-adjusted return, equal to 0.86.

The 50/50 portfolio illustrates the benefits of diversification. It provides almost the same return as the 100% large-cap portfolio with much lower risk and better returns consistency.

Test 2

In the second example, we will introduce two more portfolios.

Portfolio #4 holds 100% GLD. GLD is the largest and most liquid ETF in the gold market.

In portfolio #5, we will split SPY and IEF into 45% each and will add 10% in Gold ETF. Same rules apply. Once a year we rebalance the portfolio to the original target allocation 45/45/10.

Results

Ticker	Initial Balance	Final Balance	Average Return	Standard Deviation	Best Year	Worst Year	Max. Drawdown	Sharpe Ratio	US Market Correlation
IEF	$1,000,000	$1,698,866	5.44%	6.46%	17.91%	-6.59%	-7.60%	0.68	-0.30
50/50	$1,000,000	$2,002,079	7.19%	7.11%	13.11%	-9.45%	-20.14%	0.86	0.87
SPY	$1,000,000	$2,010,149	7.23%	15.23%	32.31%	-36.81%	-50.80%	0.47	1.00
GLD	$1,000,000	$1,967,041	7.00%	19.20%	30.45%	-28.33%	-42.91%	0.39	0.07
45/45/10	$1,000,000	$2,028,238	7.33%	7.05%	13.92%	-8.01%	-16.75%	0.88	0.81

The GLD portfolio has the highest volatility. Its standard deviation is 19.20%. It has the lowest risk-adjusted return of 0.39 and a second-lowest return of 7%.

Let’s look at our fifth portfolio – 45% SPY, 45% IEF and 10% GLD. The new portfolio has the highest return of 7.33%, the highest final balance of $2.28m, second lowest standard deviation of 7.05% and the highest risk-adjusted return of 0.88. It also has a lower correlation to the US market, 0.81.

Recap

Portfolio #5 is the clear winner of this contest. Why? We build a portfolio of uncorrelated assets, in this case, gold, 10-year Treasury, and large-cap stocks. Subsequently, we not only received an above average annual return, but we also achieved it by decreasing the risk and minimizing the volatility of our portfolio.

These hypothetical examples illustrate the benefits of diversification. Among them are portfolio risk mitigation, reduced volatility, higher risk-adjusted return, and more efficient capital preservation.

Asset correlation

So how do you determine the relationship between assets? Any financial software can provide you with this data.

If you are good at math and statistics, you can do parallel performance series for your securities and find the correlation between them.

There are a couple of free online tools, which you can use as well.

Beta

One easy way to get a sense of the correlation of your securities to the general stock market is Beta. Most financial websites like Google Finance and Yahoo Finance will give you this metric. Beta shows you the stock volatility compared to S&P 500. That said, the beta of S&P 500 is always 1. So for instance, if the beta of your stock is 2, you should expect twice as much volatility of your stock as compared to S&P 500. If the beta is 0.5, you would expect half of the volatility. If the beta is -0.5, then your stock and S&P will be negatively correlated. When one goes up, the other one will go down.

A quick search in Good Finance brought me these results for the securities we discussed earlier.

Beta for IEF is -0.20, SPY is 1, GLD is 0.07, Coca Cola, 0.51, Pepsi, 0.44, Target, 0.63, Costco, 0.55, Verizon, 0.22, AT&T, 0.29, Amazon, 1.1 and PG&E, 0.17,

Few other companies and ETFs of interest are: TLT, 20-year T-bond Index, -0.59, VNQ, REIT Index, 0.81, VYM, Vanguard High Dividend ETF, 0.81, USMV, iShares Low Volatility ETF, 0.68, Google, 1.03, Facebook, 0.76, Wal-Mart, 0.19, Starbucks, 0.80, McDonalds, 0.51. Walt Disney, 1.32, Bank of America, 1.74.

The beta of the stocks can vary depending on market conditions, economic and business cycles. I recommend using in combination with other metrics like standard deviation, R-square, and Sharpe Ratio. This approach will help you gauge the expected volatility of your stock.

How many assets should you ideally keep in your portfolio?

Some theories call for 7-10 broad asset classes. This method is ideal for smaller-size portfolios. It will help control trading and rebalancing costs.

Other theories call for 20-25 asset classes. This approach is best suitable for large-size portfolios with more complex structure.

A regular portfolio should include these three groups with their subclasses.

Equity includes Large Cap, Mid Cap, Small Cap, Micro Cap, International Developed and Emerging Markets. In addition to that, you can add growth, value, dividend, low volatility, and momentum strategies.

Fixed Income includes US Treasuries, Municipal Bonds, Investment Grade Corporate Bonds, High Yield, Preferred Stock, International, and Emerging Market Bonds

Alternative Investments include Real Estate, Precious Metals, Commodities, Infrastructure, Private Equity, Hedge Funds.

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future performance. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation or offer, or recommendation, to buy or sell any security. The content of this article is a sole opinion of the author and Babylon Wealth Management. The opinion and information provided are only valid at the time of publishing this article. Investing in these asset classes may not be appropriate for your investment portfolio. If you decide to invest in any of the instruments discussed in the posting, you have to consider your risk tolerance, investment objectives, asset allocation, and overall financial situation. Different investors have different financial circumstances, and not all recommendations apply to everybody. Seek advice from your investment advisor before proceeding with any investment decisions. Various sources may provide different figures due to variations in methodology and timing. Image copyright: 123RF.com

August 1, 2016January 10, 2020

How to build your 401k plan

401k plans are a powerful savings tool for retirement

With total assets reaching $4.8 trillion dollars 401k plans are the most popular retirement vehicle and are increasingly used by employers to recruit and retain key talent. 401k accounts allow employees to build their retirement savings by investing a portion of their salary. Contributions to the plan are tax-deductible, thus reducing your taxable income, and the money allocated grows tax-free. Taxes are due upon withdrawal of funds during retirement years. In this article, I will discuss how to build your 401k plan.

Does your employer offer a 401k plan?

If you recently joined a new company, find out whether they offer a 401k plan. Some employers offer automatic enrollment, and others require individual registration.

Many companies offer a matching contribution up to a set dollar amount or percentage.

Contributions are usually deducted from each paycheck, but employees can also opt to contribute a lump sum. The 2016 limit is $18,000 plus a $6,000 “catch-up” contribution for people age 50 and above.

How to decide on your investment choices

Employers must provide ongoing education and training materials about retirement savings plans.

401k plans can offer anywhere between 5 and 20 different mutual funds which invest in various asset classes and strategies. Your choice will be limited to the funds in your plan. Hence you can not invest in stocks or other financial instruments.

The fundamental goal is to build a diversified and disciplined portfolio with your investment choices. Markets will go up and down, but your diversified portfolio will moderate your risk in times of market turmoil.

Index Funds

Index Funds are passively managed mutual funds. They track a particular index by mirroring its performance. The index funds hold the same proportion of underlying stocks as the index they follow. Many indexes are tracking large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, international and bond indices. One of the most popular categories is the S&P 500 Index funds.

Due to their passive nature index funds are usually offered at a lower cost compared to actively managed funds. They provide broad diversification with low portfolio turnover. Index funds do not actively trade in and out of their positions and only replace stocks when their benchmark changes. Index funds are easy to buy, sell and rebalance.

Actively Managed Mutual Funds

Actively managed mutual funds are the complete opposite of index funds. A management team usually runs each fund. The mutual funds have a designated benchmark, such as the S & P 500, Russell 2000, and MSI World. Often the management team aims to beat the benchmark either by a greater absolute or risk-adjusted return. Overall active funds trade more often than index funds. Their portfolio turnover (frequency of trading) is bigger because managers take an active approach and invest in companies or bonds with the goal of beating their benchmark.

There is a broad range of funds with different strategies and asset classes. Some funds trade more actively than others. Even funds that follow the same benchmark can gravitate towards a particular sector, country or niche. For instance, a total bond fund might be more concentrated into government bonds, while another fund may invest heavily in corporate bonds.

Active funds charge higher fees than comparable index funds. These fees cover salaries, management, administrative, research, marketing, and trading costs. Funds investing in niche markets like small-cap and emerging market will have higher costs. Fees are also dependent on the size of the fund and its turnover strategy.

It’s critical to do at least a basic research before you decide which fund to purchase. Morningstar.com is a great website for mutual fund information and stats.

Target Retirement funds

These are mutual funds that invest your retirement assets according to a target allocation based on your expected year of retirement. The further away you are from retirement, the more your target fund asset allocation will lean toward equity investments. As you get closer to retirement, the portion of equity will go down and will be replaced by fixed income investments. The reason behind target retirement funds is to maintain a disciplined investment approach over time without being impacted by market trends.

One significant drawback of the retirement funds is that they assume your risk tolerance is based on your age. If you are a risk taker or risk averse, these funds may not represent your actual financial goals and willingness to take the risk.

In addition to that, investors also need to consider how target retirement funds fit within their overall investment portfolio in both taxable and tax-advantaged accounts.

Most large fund managers offer target retirement funds. However, there are some large differences between fund families. Some of the discrepancies come from the choice of active versus passive investment strategies and fees.

Without endorsing any of the two providers below I will illustrate some of the fundamental differences between Vanguard and T. Rowe Price Target Retirement funds.

Vanguard Target Retirement funds

Vanguard Target Retirement funds offer low-cost retirement fund at an expense ratio of 0.15%. All funds allocate holdings into five passively managed broadly diversified Vanguard index fund.

Vanguard Target Retirement	2015	2025	2035	2045

Total Stock Market Index	28.44	39.86	48.75	54.07
Total Intl Stock Index	19.01	26.56	32.45	35.9
Total Bond Market II Index	30.32	23.66	13.23	7.05
Total Intl Bond Index	13.37	9.92	5.57	2.98
Short-Term Infl-Protected Sec Index	8.86
% Assets	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00

By asset class
Equity	47.45	66.42	81.2	89.97
Fixed Income	52.55	33.58	18.8	10.03

T. Rowe Target Retirement funds

On the other spectrum are T. Rowe retirement funds. Their funds have a higher expense ratio. They charge between 0.65% and 0.75%. All target funds invest in active T. Rowe mutual funds in 18 different categories. T. Rowe target funds are a bit more aggressive. They have a higher allocation to equity and offer a wider range of investment strategies.

T. Rowe Target Retirement Fund	2015	2025	2035	2045

New Income	24.38	17.34	10.64	6.74
Equity Index 500	22.15	14.85	9.31	7.41
Ltd Dur Infl Focus Bd	11.01	3.53	0.54	0.53
International Gr & Inc	5.04	6.68	7.85	8.35
Overseas Stock	5.01	6.64	7.82	8.3
International Stock	4.42	5.78	6.8	7.26
Emerging Markets Bond	3.55	2.47	1.43	1.01
Growth Stock	3.43	11.74	17.84	20.26
International Bond	3.42	2.44	1.51	0.98
High Yield	3.26	2.32	1.42	0.91
Value	3.1	11.31	17.36	19.75
Emerging Markets Stock	2.88	3.87	4.49	4.71
Real Assets	2.1	2.78	3.28	3.5
Mid-Cap Value	1.85	2.46	2.95	3.12
Mid-Cap Growth	1.78	2.35	2.73	2.9
Small-Cap Value	0.93	1.23	1.48	1.55
Small-Cap Stock	0.88	1.15	1.41	1.53
New Horizons	0.72	0.94	1.1	1.12
% Assets	100	100	100	100

By Asset Class
Equity	54.29	71.78	84.42	89.76
Fixed Income	45.62	28.1	15.54	10.17

Which approach is better? There is no distinctive winner. It depends on your risk tolerance.

Vanguard funds have lower expense ratio and a lower 10-year return. However, they have a lower risk.

T. Rowe funds have higher absolute and risk-adjusted return but also carry more risk.

10-year Performance Analysis, 2045 Target Retirement Fund

		Standard	10-year	Sharpe
Fund	Name	Deviation	Return	Ratio

VTIVX	Vanguard Target 2045	14.65	5.48	0.36

TRRKX	T. Rowe Target 2045	15.82	5.89	0.38

*** Data provided by Morningstar

Most 401k plans will offer only one family of target funds, so you don’t have to decide between Vanguard, T. Rowe or another manager. You will have to decide whether to invest in any of them at all or put your money in the index or active funds. For further information, check out our dedicated article on target date funds

ETFs

ETFs are a great alternative to index and active mutual funds. They are liquid and actively trade on the exchange throughout the day.

As of now, very few plans offer ETFs. One of the main concerns for adding them to retirement plans is the timeliness of trade execution. Right now this problem is shifted to the fund managers who only issue end of day price once all trades are complete.

I expect that ETFs will become a more common choice as they grow in popularity and liquidity. Many small and mid-size companies that look for low-cost solutions can use them for them as an alternative to their for their workplace retirement plans.

Company stock

Many companies offer their stock as a matching contribution or profit sharing incentive in their employee 401k plan. Doing so aligns employees’ objectives with the company’s success. While this may have positive intentions, current or former employees run the risk of having a large concentrated position in their portfolios. Even if your company has a record of high returns, holding significant amounts of company stock creates substantial financial risk during periods of crisis because one is both employee and shareholder. Enron and Lehman Brothers are great examples of this danger. Being overinvested in your company shares can lead to simultaneous unemployment and depletion of retirement savings if the business fails.

Allocation mix

You will most likely have a choice between a family of target retirement funds and a group of large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, international developed, emerging markets stocks, a REIT, US government, corporate, high yield and international bond funds.

Your final selection should reflect your risk tolerance and financial goals. You should consider your age, family size, years to retirement, risk sensitivity, total wealth, saving and spending habits, significant future spending and so on.

You can use the table below as a high-level guidance.

Data source: Ibbotson Associates, 2016, (1926-2015). Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Returns include the reinvestment of dividends and other earnings. This chart is for illustrative purposes only. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. For information on the indexes used to construct this table, see footnote 1. The purpose of the target asset mixes is to show how target asset mixes may be created with different risk and return characteristics to help meet an investor’s goals. You should choose your investments based on your particular objectives and situation. Be sure to review your decisions periodically to make sure they are still consistent with your goals.

Source: https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/ira-portfolio?ccsource=email_monthly

Final recommendations

Here are some finals ideas how to make the best out of your 401k savings:

At a minimum, you should set aside enough money in your 401k plan to take advantage of your employer’s matching contribution. It’s free money after all. However, the vesting usually comes with certain conditions. So definitely pay attention to these rules. They can be tricky.
2016 maximum contribution to 401k is $18,000 plus $6,000 for individuals over 50. If you can afford to set aside this amount, you will maximize the full potential of retirement savings.
If your 401k plan is your only retirement saving, you need to have a broad diversification of your assets. Invest in a target retirement fund or mix of individual mutual funds to avoid concentration of your investments in one asset class or security.
If your 401k plan is one of many retirement saving options – taxable account, real estate, saving accounts, annuity, Roth IRA, SEP-IRA, Rollover IRA or a prior employer’s 401k plan, you will need to have a holistic view of your assets in order to achieve a comprehensive and tax optimized asset allocation.
Beware of hidden trading costs in your plan choices. Most no-load mutual funds will charge anywhere between 0.15% and 1.5% to manage your money. This fee will cover their management, administrative, research and trading costs. Some funds also charge upfront and backload fees. As you invest in those funds your purchase cost will be higher compared to no-load funds.
If you hold large concentrated positions of your current or former employer’s stock, you need to mitigate your risk by diversifying the remainder of your portfolio.

If you have any questions about your existing investment portfolio or how to start investing for retirement and other financial goals, reach out to me at [email protected] or +925-448-9880.

You can also visit our Insights page where you can find helpful articles and resources on how to make better financial and investment decisions.

About the author:

Stoyan Panayotov, CFA is the founder and CEO of Babylon Wealth Management, a fee-only investment advisory firm based in Walnut Creek, CA. Babylon Wealth Management offers personalized wealth management and financial planning services to individuals and families. To learn more visit our Private Client Services page here. Additionally, we offer Outsourced Chief Investment Officer services to professional advisors (RIAs), family offices, endowments, defined benefit plans, and other institutional clients. To find out more visit our OCIO page here.

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future performance. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation or offer, or recommendation, to buy or sell any security. The content of this article is a sole opinion of the author and Babylon Wealth Management. The opinion and information provided are only valid at the time of publishing this article. Investing in these asset classes may not be appropriate for your investment portfolio. If you decide to invest in any of the instruments discussed in the posting, you have to consider your risk tolerance, investment objectives, asset allocation and overall financial situation. Different investors have different financial circumstances, and not all recommendations apply to everybody. Seek advice from your investment advisor before proceeding with any investment decisions. Various sources may provide different figures due to variations in methodology and timing,

July 26, 2016August 21, 2020

A beginner’s guide to retirement planning

Many professionals feel overwhelmed by the prospect of managing their finances. Often, this results in avoidance and procrastination– it is easy to prioritize career or family obligations over money management. Doing so puts off decision making until retirement looms. While it is never too late to start saving for retirement, the earlier you start, the more time your retirement assets have to grow. There are several things you can do to start maximizing your retirement benefits. In this posting, I will present my beginner’s guide to retirement planning.

Start Early

It is critical to start saving early for retirement. An early start will lay the foundation for a healthy savings growth.

With 7% average annual stock return, $100,000 invested today can turn into almost $1.5m in 40 years. The power of compounding allows your investments to grow over time.

The table below shows you how the initial saving of $100,000 increases over 40 years:

Year 0	100,000
Year 10	196,715
Year 20	386,968
Year 30	761,226
Year 40	1,497,446

Not all of us have $100k to put away now. However, every little bit counts. Building a disciplined long-term approach towards saving and investing is the first and most essential requirement for stable retirement.

Know your tax rate

Knowing your tax bracket is crucial to setting your financial goals. Your tax rate is based on your gross annual income subtracted by allowable deductions (ex: primary residence mortgage deductions, charitable donations, and more).

See below table for 2016 tax brackets.

Jumping from a lower to a higher tax bracket while certainly helpful for your budget will increase your tax liabilities to IRS.

Why is important? Understanding your tax bracket will help you optimize your savings for retirement.

Knowing your tax bracket will help you make better financial decisions in the future. Income tax brackets impact many aspects of retirement planning including choice of an investment plan, asset allocation mix, risk tolerance, tax level on capital gains and dividends.

As you can see in the above table, taxpayers in the 10% and 15% bracket (individuals making up to 37,650k and married couples filing jointly making up to $75,300) are exempt from paying taxes on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends.

Example: You are single. Your total income is $35,000 per year. You sold a stock that generated $4,000 long-term capital gain. You don’t owe taxes for the first $2,650 of your gain and only pay 15% of the remaining balance of $1,350 or $202.5

Conversely, taxpayers in the 39.6% tax bracket will pay 20% on their long-term capital gains and qualified dividends. A long-term capital gain or qualified dividend of $4,000 will create $800 tax liability to IRS.

Tax bracket becomes even more important when it comes to short-term capital gains. If you buy and sell securities within the same year, you will owe taxes at your ordinary income tax rate according to the chart above.

Example: You make $100,000 a year. You just sold company shares and made a short-term capital gain of $2,000. In this case, your tax bracket is 28%, and you will owe $560 to IRS. On the other hand, if you waited a little longer and sold your shares after one year you will pay only $300 to IRS.

Know your State and City Income Tax

If you live in the following nine states, you are exempt from paying state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming, New Hampshire and Tennessee.

For those living in other states, the state income tax rates vary by state and income level. I’ve listed state income tax rates for California and New York for comparison.

California income tax rates for 2016:

1% on the first $7,850 of taxable income.

2% on taxable income between $7,851 and $18,610.

4% on taxable income between $18,611 and $29,372.

6% on taxable income between $29,373 and $40,773.

8% on taxable income between $40,774 and $51,530.

9.3% on taxable income between $51,531 and $263,222.

10.3% on taxable income between $263,223 and 315,866.

11.3% on taxable income between $315,867 and $526,443.

12.3% on taxable income of $526,444 and above.

New York State tax rates for 2016:

4% on the first $8,400 of taxable income.

4.5% on taxable income between $8,401 and $11,600.

5.25% on taxable income between $11,601 and $13,750.

5.9% on taxable income between $13,751 and $21,150.

6.45% on taxable income between $21,151 and $79,600.

6.65% on taxable income between $79,601 and $212,500.

6.85% on taxable income between $212,501 and $1,062,650.

8.82% on taxable income of more than $1,062,651.

City Tax

Although New York state income tax rates are lower than California, those who live in NYC will pay an additional city tax. As of this writing, the cities that maintain city taxes include New York City, Baltimore, Detroit, Kansas City, St. Louis, Portland, OR, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. If you live in one of these cities, your paycheck will be lower as a result of this added tax. The city tax rate varies from 1% and 3.65%.

Create an emergency fund

I recommend setting up an emergency fund that will cover six to 12 months of unexpected expenses. You can build your “rainy day” fund overtime by setting up automatic monthly withdrawals from your checking account. Unfortunately, in the current interest environment, most brick and mortar banks offer 0.1% to 0.2% interest on saving accounts.

Some of the other options to consider are saving account in FDIC-accredited online banks like Discover or Allied Bank, money market account, short term CD, short-term treasuries and municipal bonds.

Maximize your 401k contributions

Many companies now offer 401k plans to their employees as a means to boost employee satisfaction and retention rate. They also provide a matching contribution for up to a certain amount or percentage.

The 401k account contributions are tax deductible and thus decrease your taxable income. Investments grow tax-free. Taxes are due during retirement when money is withdrawn from the account.

Hence, the 401k plan is an excellent platform to set aside money for retirement. The maximum employee contribution for 2016 is $18,000. Your employer can potentially match up to $35,000 for a total joint contribution of $53,000. Companies usually match up to 3% to 5% of your salary.

401K withdrawals

Under certain circumstances, you can take a loan against your 401k or even withdraw the entire amount. Plan participants may decide to take a loan to finance their first home purchase. You can use the funds as last resort income during economic hardship.

In general, I advise against liquidating your 401k unless all other financial options are exhausted. If you withdraw money from your 401k, you will likely pay a penalty. Even if you don’t pay a penalty, you miss out on potential growth through compounded returns.

Read the fine print

Most 401k plans will give you the option to rollover your investments to a tax-deferred IRA account once you leave your employer. You will probably have the opportunity to keep your investments in the current plan. While there are more good reasons to rollover your old 401k to IRA than keep it (a topic worth a separate article), knowing that you have options is half the battle.

Always read the fine print of your employer 401k package. The fact that your company promises to match up to a certain amount of money every year does not mean that the entire match is entirely vested to you. The actual amount that you will take may depend on the number of years of service. For example, some employers will only allow their matching contribution to be fully vested after up to 5 years of service. If you don’t know these details, ask your manager or call HR. It’s a good idea to understand your 401k vesting policy, particularly if you just joined or if you are planning to leave your employer.

In summary, having a 401k is a great way to save for retirement even if your employer doesn’t match or imposes restrictions on the matching contributions. Whatever amount you decide to invest, it is yours to keep. Your money will grow tax-free.

Maximize your Roth IRA

Often neglected, a Roth IRA is another great way to save money for retirement. Roth IRA contributions are made after taxes. The main benefit is that investments inside the account grow tax-free. Therefore there are no taxes due after retirement withdrawals. The Roth IRA does not have any age restrictions, minimum contributions or withdrawal requirements.

The only catch is that you can only invest $5,500 each year and only if your modified adjusted gross income is under $117,000 for single and $184,000 for a couple filing jointly. If you make between $117,000 and $132,000 for an individual or $184,000 and $194,000 for a family filing jointly, the contribution to Roth IRA is possible at a reduced amount.

How to decide between Roth IRA and 401k

Ideally, you want to maximize contributions to both plans.

As a rule of thumb, if you expect to be in a higher tax bracket when you retire then prioritizing Roth IRA contributions is a good move. This allows you to pay taxes on retirement savings now (at your lower taxable income) rather than later.

If you expect to retire at a lower rate (make less money), then invest more in a 401k plan.

Nobody can predict with absolute certainty their income and tax bracket in 20 or 40 years. Life sometimes takes unexpected turns. Therefore the safe approach is to utilize all saving channels. Having a diverse stream of retirement income will help achieve higher security, lower risk and balanced after tax income.

I suggest prioritizing retirement contributions in the following order:

Contribute in your 401k up to the maximum matching contribution by your employer. The match is free money.
Gradually build your emergency fund by setting up an automatic withdrawal plan
Maximize Roth IRA contributions every year, $5,500
Any additional money that you want to save can go into your 401k plan. You can contribute up to $ 18,000 annually plus $6,000 for individuals over 50.
Invest all extra residual income in your saving and taxable investment account

Disclaimer: Past performance does not guarantee future performance. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation or offer, or recommendation, to buy or sell any security. The content of this article is a sole opinion of the author and Babylon Wealth Management. The opinion and information provided are only valid at the time of publishing this article. Investing in these asset classes may not be appropriate for your investment portfolio. If you decide to invest in any of the instruments discussed in the posting, you have to consider your risk tolerance, investment objectives, asset allocation and overall financial situation. Different investors have different financial circumstances, and not all recommendations apply to everybody. Seek advice from your investment advisor before proceeding with any investment decisions. Various sources may provide different figures due to variations in methodology and timing.