Comments on: Simplified Investing http://lawsofsimplicity.com/2007/07/14/simplified-investing/ simplicity resources for design, business, technology, and life Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:38:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Gonzalo http://lawsofsimplicity.com/2007/07/14/simplified-investing/#comment-7509 Thu, 02 Aug 2007 05:14:37 +0000 http://lawsofsimplicity.com/2007/07/14/simplified-investing/#comment-7509 It is really simple and elegant and...flawed! As a principle the older you are, the less risk to take but, unfortunately, there are many other factors to consider: are you "wealthy"? do you have family? are you healthy? what is your experience as an investor? will you need the money back quickly? what other investments do you have? have you invested also in real state? will you take care of your investments personally? It is really simple and elegant and…flawed! As a principle the older you are, the less risk to take but, unfortunately, there are many other factors to consider: are you “wealthy”? do you have family? are you healthy? what is your experience as an investor? will you need the money back quickly? what other investments do you have? have you invested also in real state? will you take care of your investments personally?

]]> by: patrick http://lawsofsimplicity.com/2007/07/14/simplified-investing/#comment-7386 Mon, 16 Jul 2007 16:08:26 +0000 http://lawsofsimplicity.com/2007/07/14/simplified-investing/#comment-7386 ING administers the 401k plan at my employer and they take the concept a step further for customers who actually use their services. In a standard program, once one determines the ratio of high/low risk investments there is still the unpleasant task of selecting which individual funds to make up your portfolio. As an alternative to this option, ING offers something called solution portfolios which are engineered and named by the year in which you expect to retire (a proxy for age in your formula above). The investments for each portfolio are selected and managed by a professional financial planner, sticking to the composition of high/low risk stuff based on the projected retirement date (10 yr intervals) and selecting individual investments based on performance and other factors. The result is simplicity in both the strategic (risk ratio) and tactical (portfolio selection) basis for an investment plan. To boot, the solution portfolios have performed better in the year since they were launched than most of the invidivual funds that are offered ala carte. ING administers the 401k plan at my employer and they take the concept a step further for customers who actually use their services. In a standard program, once one determines the ratio of high/low risk investments there is still the unpleasant task of selecting which individual funds to make up your portfolio. As an alternative to this option, ING offers something called solution portfolios which are engineered and named by the year in which you expect to retire (a proxy for age in your formula above). The investments for each portfolio are selected and managed by a professional financial planner, sticking to the composition of high/low risk stuff based on the projected retirement date (10 yr intervals) and selecting individual investments based on performance and other factors.

The result is simplicity in both the strategic (risk ratio) and tactical (portfolio selection) basis for an investment plan.

To boot, the solution portfolios have performed better in the year since they were launched than most of the invidivual funds that are offered ala carte.

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