ETF Monkey

I’m an average guy. When I travel to New York City, I stay at the Affinia Shelburne in Murray Hill. I usually pick up breakfast at the bagel shop just down the street, or the Pret A Manger at 41 st and Lex. Maybe I’ll grab a little lunch at the original Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. And the last time I visited, I had a great $12 bowl of Tokyo Chicken at Momosan Ramen & Sake, Chef Morimoto’s cool ramen bar at 342 Lexington. I’ve never been able to stay at the Plaza Hotel, nor dine at Per Se or Masa. As I say, I’m an average guy. Not poor, by any means. But not wealthy enough to engage in pursuits where money is no object. Perhaps that is why a particular point that Warren Buffett made in his 2016 Shareholder Letter , and the way he explained it, really caught my attention. You see, for about two years now, I have been writing on the topic of ETFs. As I have done so, I have focused on the issue of cost; of keeping your expenses low and putting as much as possible of ...

Earlier today, President Trump signed an executive order delaying the implementation of the fiduciary rule, an Obama-era Labor Department rule that requires brokers to act in a client’s best interest, rather than seek the highest profits for themselves, when providing retirement advice. While the merits of this rule are a subject of fierce debate , anyone interested in saving and investing towards their retirement has a vested interest in this topic. What does all of this have to do with me? For a little over a year-and-a-half, I have been writing using the pseudonym ETF Monkey. In this blog post I wrote for WhoTrades.com, I offer a few thoughts regarding my own work, and what I believe to be the benefits I offer readers whichever way things shake out with respect to future implementation of the fiduciary rule. I hope you enjoy it.

A quick thought for today. Regular readers will know that, in general, I am in favor of relatively simple portfolios, constructed with low-cost, quality ETFs. I just completed building The ETF Monkey Millennial Model Portfolio for Seeking Alpha. This portfolio is comprised of 7 ETFs, covering U.S. stocks, foreign stocks, REITS and bonds. I received this comment from a reader: The proposed portfolio is overly complicated. Why don't you simplify the above to 90% VT + 10% AGG or 90% VTI + 10% AGG? Slicing and dicing may look cool. But it promotes more rebalancing which creates more trading and thus more costs. While I am in favor of simple portfolios, there are on occasions valid reasons to use two (or three) ETFs when it could be argued that one would do. Let me give a simple example from this portfolio. Instead of using the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF (VEU) for the portion of the portfolio dedicated to foreign stocks, I used a combination of the Vanguard FTSE Deve...

Personal finance site NerdWallet recently released the results of their study on 2016 American Household Credit Card Debt . Among other figures, they note that average household credit card debt is up to roughly $16,000, and that it is costing households who carry this debt roughly $1,300 per year in interest. The article is worth a look. For millennials, it is an opportunity to learn from others and to be proactive with respect to your own circumstances. Yes, it may mean saying "no" to yourself once in a while, and getting the Grande instead of the Venti. But, in the long run, you'll be way ahead of the game.

I recently wrote an article for Seeking Alpha suggesting a specific ETF-based portfolio for millennials to consider as their New Year's resolution going into 2017. In the comments section, I received the following question from a 25-year old reader. If this has already been answered, I apologize, but why would someone invest in this portfolio rather than increase their IRA contributions or save up to contribute to their Roth? The reason I am asking is that I have been thinking about investing outside of my IRA, but to me, it does not make sense to use that extra money in a taxable account, where I could use it in a nontaxable instead . . . I ended up writing a fairly long response to this young man. As I reviewed it afterward, it occurred to me that this might form a nice article in and of itself. So, here it is:

Millennials, hasn't 2016 just seemed to fly by? It's hard to believe that 2017 is almost here. This offers a great chance to reflect on the concept that time, and life, moves very quickly. This means that important things, including working towards financial goals, can get past us almost before we know it. In my work as an author for Seeking Alpha, I just finished an article especially for you. Here is how I summarize its intent: Certainly, your 20s is a time to have fun, explore life, and enjoy a wide variety of enjoyable experiences. It is not my goal to change that. At the same time, you can take small, meaningful steps to ensure your financial future, and you are wise to do so. In the article, I outline a step-by-step plan that you can take, right now, to make 2017 the year that you begin to invest in your future. Have a look . ----------- Authors Note: If you like my work, I would be profoundly grateful if you would take a minute to follow me on Twitter , Fa...