Scott’s Investments submits:
I previously detailed some basic portfolios as well as trading ideas. In an effort to be more user friendly, I track the portfolios monthly on my blog using Google Docs. One portfolio consists of 5 basic ETFs: BND (Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF), DBC (Powershares Commodity Index), VEU (Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF), VNQ (Vanguard REIT Index ETF), VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF).
Despite only being 5 ETFs, one could take multiple approaches to the portfolio, from buying and holding to actively managing it; or an investor could use a combination of
different approaches or
trading strategies. Listed below are the month end results for February of the 5 ETFs listed above. One could purchase the top 1,2, or 3 performing ETFs based on momentum as judged by the 3-6-12 returns or just the 6 month returns. In this case, that would indicate a purchase of VEU, VNQ, and VTI (3-6-12 strategy), or DBC, VNQ, and VTI (based on 6 month returns). This combination of ETFs has been little changed over the past several months in the basic ETF portfolio as the equity markets rebounded significantly in 2009.
Another twist an investor could add would be to purchase the underlying securities based on momentum only if they are also trading above their 200 day moving average. At the end of February, all of the securities listed were above their 200 day simple moving average.
Many of the strategies listed here were inspired in part by Mebane Faber, author of The Ivy Portfolio: How to Invest Like the Top Endowments and Avoid Bear Markets
. For an even better explanation of some of the strategies, I recommend the book. Also, he has a new project which allows users to replicate the best performing hedge funds, AlphaClone.
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