I am rebalancing my portfolio for new year and have several questions.?

Question

I currently have 100% stocks. How much % of portfolia is recommended in bonds for an aggresive investor? How do you choose between long term and intermediate term bonds? which is better in retirement accounts? Also, I have heard several poeple talking about REIT funds. Is it a good idea to include REIT to diversify the portfolio just like including bonds? With real estate going down, is it a good idea to include REIT at this time?

Answer 1

I think you should always have some percentage in REITs. How about 15%? If you want to find some good REIT investments, check out this portfolio:

http://www.top10traders.com/ViewPortfolio.aspx?userID=565

Your bond percentage should match your age. If you are 35 years old, you should have 35% of your portfolio in bonds. Some of your REIT investments can be counted toward the 35%.

The rest should be in stocks. If you enjoy studying stocks and the market, then invest in individual stocks, otherwise go with indexed, low-fee, mutual funds.

If you want to find great investment ideas, you need to see what the best investors are buying and selling. You can find this information at http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money. Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors.

Good luck.

Answer 2

It sounds like you need to talk to the professionals, including a good CPA and financial advisor.

Many of the investors that we work with are using Self Directed IRAs and "cutting out the middle man" in transactions. We work with a number of private lenders who directly fund real estate transactions through their SDIRAs rather than or in addition to including a REIT in their portfolio. They are in the same position that a bank would be in that the private lender has a security interest in the property.

One of our lenders put $500,000 each into stocks and into his SDIRA. The SDIRA funds were used exclusively for private lending. As of our last conversation the funds in his SDIRA were at $895,000 and the funds invested in stocks were below the original $500,000 investment.

Real estate can be a good investment at any time, regardless of pricing and/or time on market fluctuations. Just be sure that you do your homework and know that your investment is within your comfort level of risk. Typically the greater the risk, the higher the return. It's all a matter of what you are trying to accomplish within a given time frame and what you are comfortable with.

Answer 3

I think you need advice from professional. Too many too complex questions for one post.