The Voluntary Life just did an interview with me. We talk for an hour about investing, the pp, the crisis in Europe, why I also speculate, the real rate of inflation, my criticism on goldbugs, ... .
Check it out: http://thevoluntarylife.com/
To listen click 'Podcast Episode' right below the article (published 13 februari 2012):
Crisis in Europe is not really effecting a lot of investment.
ReplyDeleteHi Marc, I'm from the Basque Country, in Spain, and planning on investing some money in an European permanent portfolio. I'd go with Germany, Spain or both (don't know yet) for the SHORT TERM BONDS and LONG TERM BONDS; Germany with ishares 1.5-2.5 and 10.5+ and Spain directly with the treasury 1.5 year and 30 years. The cost and average maturity of the Spain treasury would be better, but maybe a bit more risky, we'll see. For equity in both cases I'd go with ishares EURO STOXX, and maybe throw in some ishares STOXX EUROPE 600 to include UK and Switzerland also. For the GOLD part I'm thinking of using ZGLDEU (it's in euros) and maybe some ishares IAU for rebalancing purposes. One thing I don't have crystal clear is this: what's better for an european pp, a regular gold etf (or physical gold for that matter) or an euro hedged gold etf? What's your take on this? Also, I'd like to ask you if I'm missing something or doing something wrong in my approach to an european pp. I'm also considering a US pp for currency and country diversification, because it's so easy to implement: VTI+SHY+TLT+IAU; does it make any sense, or you think it's worthless and it's better to stick just to an euro pp.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting.
I would change the following:
Bonds, only German or Netherlands as you need the strongest ones from the eurozone, otherwise they don't go up as much as stocks in eurozone tumble.
Stocks only Eurozone so there is no currency risk, I have Euro Stoxx 50 (20%) and some DAX ETF (5%) as there are otherwise too few german companies, and I do have german bonds.
Gold, no etf but Bullionvault or goldmoney, is more safe and Bullionvault even equally cheap.
USD PP belongs in your variable portfolio as it is a speculation on the USD. I think you have better speculations than that. I have gold.
Good investing,
Marc