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iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

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  • iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen


    iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years

    Reallocating our year 2000 ``Holy crap! Our political economy is broken!’’ portfolio

    Why did I build a portfolio composed only of gold and Treasury bonds ten years ago, why did it outperform moderate risk benchmark portfolio allocations since then, and why won’t it work for the next ten years?

    This is the story of how I traded my own account since 1998 and shared the positions and my reasons for taking them with my friends here at iTulip. I don't offer investment advice, just my opinions on the markets and economy. Some of you may have adopted all of, part of, or none of my arguments over the years, depending on your take on my analysis. Some of you are 100% gold. Some of you have no gold at all. Some of you think Treasury bonds are a bubble about to pop and own stocks instead.

    What follows is an analysis of a hypothetical portfolio that paralleled the one discussed here since 2000. For those of you who have the same allocations as I have had all these years, here’s your chance to see how the portfolio performed. If you didn't and your portfolio mirrored a standard "moderate risk" portfolio allocation, well, read 'em and weep.

    The Hypothetical iTulip Portfolio (HIP)

    Below we compare the performance of a mythical iTulip portfolio manager running a hypothetical iTulip investment portfolio, or HIP, allocated as follows:
    • From 2000 to 2001, 25% cash, 75% 10-year Treasury bonds
    • From 2001 to Aug. 2010, 10% cash, 15% gold, 75% 10-year Treasury bonds

    As you can see from the above, the fictitious manager is exceedingly lazy. He’s only made one trade in ten years. He saved a bundle in taxes and fees that way, not to mention hours wasted looking for other things to buy.

    My friends at Twin Focus Capital Partners, who are not lazy, plugged this portfolio into a modeling tool called Zephyr StyleADVISOR and compared it to two benchmarks, the Morningstar Moderate Allocation and the Balanced Fund Index composed of 60% S&P 500 Index and 40% Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index.

    We tell the story of the HIP's relative performance to the benchmark portfolios through a conversation over beers at the Wallstreet Pub between a fictitious iTulip portfolio manager named Fred, of course, and a benchmark portfolio manager we’ll call Franky. Any resemblance between our fictitious portfolio manager characters and real humans is purely coincidental.

    Franky the benchmark portfolio manager: The market’s kicking my ass again.

    Fred the HIP manager: Sorry to hear that. We just had our ninth up year out of the past ten relative to you. Last year was the only year you beat us.

    Franky:
    No kidding. Show me.

    Fred: You got it!


    I killed both benchmarks over the past ten years.

    Franky: Very nice. Those are great relative returns, but what about return on risk? Gold is risky. No way those returns came without a lot of risk.

    Fred: Not so, Franky. Take a look.


    The big blue dot on this Risk/Return chart is the HIP.

    Franky: Okay, maybe the HIP produced great returns and wasn’t risky, but what about consistency? How well did you perform relative to the market?

    Fred: Glad you asked. The best way to measure that is batting average.

    According to investopedia.com:
    “The batting average measures the manager's ability to meet or beat the market consistently. It is calculated by diving the number of quarters (or months) in which the manager beats or matches the index by the total number of quarters (or months) in the period. A manager who outperforms the market one-half of the time will have a statistical batting average of 50. The longer the time period analyzed, the more statistically significant the measure becomes.”
    Franky: Yeh, yeh. I know what portfolio manager “batting average” is. Get on with it.

    Fred: You might want another beer before you see this one.


    I had a batting average of 52% versus you who beat it less than 46% of the time. Not only that, but I produced a 6.4% excess return versus your -1% excess return. You did a lot of work for less than nothing. I did nothing and kicked ass.

    Frank: Okay, wiseguy. But I bet your drawdowns were deep. Gold was all over the place the past ten years.

    Fred: Well, then you’re in for a surprise!


    Franky: Aw, crap! Are you kidding me? You got those returns and your drawdown never exceeded 5%? Get me a shot of Cutty Sark.

    Fred: When did you start drinking that stuff.

    Franky: Since I stopped be able to afford single malt.

    We have nine more charts to go that we go over next in Section 1, Part II where we go into how we developed the HIP. Next month, in iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 2, Part I: The Next Ten Years, we explore various options for moving out of Treasury bonds while holding a gold position.

    iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part II: The Devil’s in the Details

    How did I know to sell stocks in early 2000, go 75% into ten year Treasury bonds at 6.4% and 25% cash, then move 15% out of cash into gold in 2001 at $270? And then, the even harder part, how did I stick with it for ten years without trading in and out of the position? How will our learnings from the past decade help us prepare for the next but this time in a very different kind of macro environment, one not driven by the cycle of asset inflations, deflations, and reflations but the complex set of monetary, political, and economic dynamics described in The Postcatastrophe Economy: Rebuilding America and Avoiding the Next Bubble?

    Let's start with the reasoning behind the Hypothetical iTulip Portfolio HIP. Digging back into the iTulip archives, here’s a summary of my reasoning.

    First of all, you have to remember the times. It’s the year 2000. Everyone in the stock market is a genius and Alan Greenspan is the hero. After all, everyone was getting rich. I said he was destined for the goat rodeo. Six years later in my 2006 April Fool’s joke posting “Greenspan Apologizes for Wrecking World Economy” I used humor to lay out events I foresaw happening two years later. Reading it today, it’s not all that funny. In fact, it’s eerily similar to the events that followed.

    iTulip Select: The Investment Thesis for the Next Cycle™
    __________________________________________________

    For a concise, readable summary of iTulip concepts read Eric Janszen's September 2010 book The Postcatastrophe Economy: Rebuilding America and Avoiding the Next Bubble.

    To receive the iTulip Newsletter/Alerts, Join our FREE Email Mailing List

    To join iTulip forum community FREE, click here for how to register.

    Copyright © iTulip, Inc. 1998 - 2010 All Rights Reserved

    All information provided "as is" for informational purposes only, not intended for trading purposes or advice. Nothing appearing on this website should be considered a recommendation to buy or to sell any security or related financial instrument. iTulip, Inc. is not liable for any informational errors, incompleteness, or delays, or for any actions taken in reliance on information contained herein. Full Disclaimer
    Last edited by FRED; October 03, 2010, 07:47 PM.

  • #2
    Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

    The real question to be asked is this: What has EJ and "Fred" learned about the underlying philosophy of the FIRE economy that led to the collapse? We also need a debate about philosophy.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

      EJ -

      It just dawned on me on looking at the top of page graphic - nice wine label parody. I hope the next years vintage is a great as the last 10!

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

        ho, hum. so itulip beat 90% of the portfolio mgrs out there over the past 10 yrs. yawn.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

          OMG could Metal or should I say EJs wife remind us of the prediction of S&P 400 18 months ago???

          EJ is one smart guy but please!!!!!!!!!!!! I remember Metal saying that Max (whom I always liked) was a retard and don’t listen to him!!!!!!!!! Now he thinks EJs book is great – wow Max is cool per Metal (or EJs wife)

          ho, hum



          Comment


          • #6
            Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

            "Why did I built a portfolio composed only of gold and Treasury bonds ten years ago, why did it outperformed moderate"

            change built to build and outperformed to outperform

            Question - can you add another portfolio, comprised of 100% gold over that timeframe?

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

              Originally posted by brent217 View Post
              "Why did I built a portfolio composed only of gold and Treasury bonds ten years ago, why did it outperformed moderate"

              change built to build and outperformed to outperform

              Question - can you add another portfolio, comprised of 100% gold over that timeframe?
              If you did, the risk and volatility are very high. You get a higher return than the gold an Treasuries portfolio but at much, much higher risk. No professional portfolio manager could ever hang on through the volatility of a 100% gold portfolio for 10 years.

              Thanks for the spelling fixes. I swear, I must be losing my mind.
              Ed.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

                Originally posted by rabot10 View Post
                OMG could Metal or should I say EJs wife remind us of the prediction of S&P 400 18 months ago???

                EJ is one smart guy but please!!!!!!!!!!!! I remember Metal saying that Max (whom I always liked) was a retard and don’t listen to him!!!!!!!!! Now he thinks EJs book is great – wow Max is cool per Metal (or EJs wife)

                ho, hum



                Has rabot10 perhaps had a few too many tonight?

                I am saying this, because even the fonts posted do not make any sense, let alone the groundless, confused and out-of-line arguments.
                Last edited by LargoWinch; October 04, 2010, 09:02 PM.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

                  Originally posted by FRED View Post
                  Thanks for the spelling fixes. I swear, I must be losing my mind.
                  The answer is both very simple and easily implimented;
                  http://www.iespell.com/
                  Last edited by Chris Coles; October 04, 2010, 04:07 AM. Reason: Narrowed down the quote

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

                    Originally posted by Chris Coles View Post
                    The answer is both very simple and easily implimented;
                    LOL - Freudian?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

                      Originally posted by Chris Coles View Post
                      The answer is both very simple and easily implimented;
                      http://www.iespell.com/
                      Does iespell correct grammar? Both built and outperformed are correctly spelled, they are just the wrong tense for the sentence. Most spellcheckers won't find that type of error.


                      Back to the topic at hand: I especially like the comment about the iTulip manager being "lazy". I would love to know what the transactional costs would have been to have a typical "professional" manage your portfolio for 10 years.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

                        Originally posted by Fiat Currency View Post
                        LOL - Freudian?
                        A quip is not a sentence! And what is wrong with a little idle banter?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

                          Originally posted by Chris Coles View Post
                          A quip is not a sentence! And what is wrong with a little idle banter?
                          I think Fiat Currency was teasing you for misspelling "implemented", in a post advising on how to avoid misspellings.

                          I am unsure of the meaning of your response thereto, but as best as I can guess, you had yet to notice the misspelling (unless perhaps that misspelling was intentional, and your humor was two degrees more subtle than either Fiat or I realized.)
                          Last edited by ThePythonicCow; October 04, 2010, 09:47 PM.
                          Most folks are good; a few aren't.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

                            The laugh is indeed at my expense. What is worse, every other following word in the dictionary is spelt impli, rather than imple.... Bah!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: iTulip Portfolio Strategy – Section 1, Part I: The Past Ten Years - Eric Janszen

                              It's next month.

                              Comment

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