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Read more about the article A study of risk parity portfolios against S&P 500 since 1927

A study of risk parity portfolios against S&P 500 since 1927

Earlier this week, I received a very good comment to the monthly portfolio update article which I published last month. In that article, I discussed how the stock market seems greatly overvalued based on several widely different indicators, measuring both listed stock’s earnings and assets, as well as market cap in relation to GDP.

Based on the indicators CAPE (Shiller's PE), Q Ratio, and the Buffett Indicator (market cap to GDP), future potential returns of the stock market over the next decade appear limited.

In the light of this, the question arises whether the All Seasons Portfolio would be a better choice, and how it has performed under similar conditions in the past when compared with the S&P 500. The comment reads as quoted here below and this is what I have set out to answer in this month's article.

We can anticipate that future returns of the stock market will be below what we have become used to in recent years based on these metrics, and the fact that returns 1) usually are clustered in a way that good years are followed by further good years and bad years are followed by further bad years, and 2) always regress to the mean (between 7-10% annually) and that the last decade has seen annual returns far above this level.

When acknowledging the current worrying state of the equity markets, it becomes relevant to further understand how the All Seasons Portfolio has performed versus the stock market under similar market conditions.

Instead, it is relevant to compare against 1) long-term performance over several decades, and 2) periods with similar conditions as where we are currently. To me, these are two extremely central questions to clarify, and that I wanted to have answers to as well.

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Read more about the article Why The 60/40 Portfolio Is Not Balanced

Why The 60/40 Portfolio Is Not Balanced

When it comes to the All Seasons Portfolio strategy, or any other risk parity strategy for that matter, one of the fundamental ingredients is how to allocate the capital between assets in the portfolio based on risk rather than capital.

Why this is important, or even why bother doing it at all, is a question I get quite often. I think therefore it is time to have a closer look at risk parity portfolio allocation principles. Here I mean the reason for why the allocation to the assets is based on their risk (volatility) rather than equal weight based on capital.

In this article, for a comprehensible description, we will be examining a simple two-asset portfolio to illustrate the importance of weighting assets based on risk rather than capital. For this example, I will be using a 60/40 Portfolio consisting of 60% stocks and 40% bonds, as this is popularly (and erroneously) considered as a “balanced portfolio”, and as this is a portfolio allocation strategy among both retail and institutional investors.

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Read more about the article Retail Investors’ Irrational Expectations of Risk Parity

Retail Investors’ Irrational Expectations of Risk Parity

What I have observed from discussions with retail investors who are not yet aware of the benefits of risk parity, is that there is a great misunderstand of the goals of risk parity, and incorrect expectations of what such strategies should provide.

When explaining what risk parity is, being a strategy that pieces together risk premiums and returns from a wider array of asset classes, but where the timing of the earned positive returns from each asset are spread out in such a fashion that during all economic regimes, some of the assets will see negative returns, but the positive returns of other assets will offset losses and provide your portfolio with an overall profit.

This means that through proper diversification, on a portfolio level you cancel out much of the volatility inherit in each of the individual asset classes, so that you get a much smoother ride with lower portfolio volatility, but can still expect equity-like returns over time. You should expect rolling hills and valleys rather than mountains and canyons.

But as I have alluded to in recent posts, even though the All Seasons Portfolio strategy and other similar strategies (Golden Butterfly, etc. for example) are rationally the best fit for most investors, during times when the stock market outperforms, it becomes difficult to see your neighbor get richer on the stock market while your safe portfolio lags.

This kind of underperformance fatigue sets you up for a great risk if you abandon the safe strategy for a high-risk strategy when the market crash (the one that you were protected against) occurs.

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Read more about the article Implementing a Strategic Rebalancing Framework to Your Portfolio

Implementing a Strategic Rebalancing Framework to Your Portfolio

It is December, and this is a period when most investors usually end up overseeing their portfolio allocations to start fresh in the coming year, and preforming periodical rebalancing.

While most just rebalance mechanically back to the original asset weights, we will be looking at whether rebalancing can be carried out in a way that improves returns and minimizes drawdowns when compared to both buy-and-hold strategies, as well as periodical rebalancing.

Many investors – both retail investors investing their personal wealth, and asset managers with millions in AUM – usually employ calendar rebalancing of a portfolio. This could be the quarterly rebalancing of a mutual fund, or that the retail investor sits down annually for a few hours during the Christmas holidays ahead of the new year to rebalance the portfolio.

Such periodical rebalancing is built on the fundament of mean reversion. It essentially sells the winners of the past period, and buys the losers. Over time, this is from where a rebalancing premium is captured when your portfolio consists of several uncorrelated assets. All Seasons Portfolios are a typical such portfolio that benefits from the rebalancing premium.

However, Man Group has researched strategic rebalancing techniques that could mitigate drawdowns through more bespoke methods for rebalancing. Their discussed techniques cover both the periodical rebalancings, as well as mid-period rebalancing when assets’ weights in portfolios deviate by more than a predetermined amount (rebalancing spans).

The retail investor should therefore consider the implications of trend and momentum both for periodical rebalancing and ad hoc rebalancing when using rebalancing spans, and implement a strategic rebalancing approach to further improve risk-adjusted return by minimizing drawdowns and thus the overall portfolio volatility, and potentially capture additional percentage points of return from trend.

In this post, we will be looking at a few ways of how to implement strategic rebalancing for your portfolio. I will also especially highlight the ways I have taken strategic rebalancing to heart in my All Seasons Portfolio.

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Read more about the article There Impact of Interest Rate Risk When Investing

There Impact of Interest Rate Risk When Investing

2022 was a shaky year for capital market.

Interest rate risk is an important type of risk to be aware of as an investor, as it affects stocks and bonds indiscriminately. That is especially harmful for investors only investing in stocks or using a "balanced" stock-bond portfolio.

We will therefore be taking a closer look at what it is and whether there is anything we can do as investors to protect our wealth and portfolios against it.

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Read more about the article eToro Post – Adding US Dollar Index (DXY) Exposure to an All Seasons Portfolio

eToro Post – Adding US Dollar Index (DXY) Exposure to an All Seasons Portfolio

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Interest rate risk and sentiment risk (periods of risk off behaviour) are two risks that are typically difficult to hedge. These risks have characterized the first nine months of 2022, so if we could find some asset that could help offset losses in stocks and bonds during these periods, that would be great.

Therefore, with this post, we look at an alternative investment that could provide at least some protection against rising rates, and one of them could be to go long the United States Dollar. In this article, we will be looking at an index giving broad exposure to the dollar, what benefits it adds to a diversified portfolio, and how a retail investor can add this exposure to a portfolio.

We review the UUP ETF (Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund) and its underlying exposure to the US Dollar Index ("DXY"), what it is, and why it might be a good diversifier.

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