Managing a global ETF portfolio d es not have to be rocket sc ence. Follow these eight steps for a s ccessful global ETF portfolio. 1) Liquidity F rst: Before you even think of b ilding an investment portfolio, you should set side about six month of income in a “r iny day” account. This could be put nto a money market fund or U.S. Tr asury securities. Having this money set side will ease your mind and llow you to be more open and cr ative with your global portfolios. 2) S parate Portfolios: you should separate your c re conservative portfolio from your growth p rtfolios. With the core conservative portfolio, y ur top priority is capital preservation and gr wth is a secondary consideration. Your gr wth portfolios are more speculative with c pital growth as the primary goal. 3) R ally Diversify your Portfolios: You need p sitions in your portfolios that are l kely to offset each other as nexpected events and market movements become a r ality. This is not accomplished with d fferent sectors ETFs or a mix of sm ll cap, mid cap and large cap ETFs. R ther the goal is to have s me investments that are on both s des of risks. For example, if the US d llar declines, have some investments in pr cious metals or denominated in other c rrencies such as Switzerland or Australia or S ngapore ETFs. If inflation heats up h ve some investments that hedge this r sk such as timber, gold or Tr asury inflation protected bonds (TIPs). If p litical events or policies in one c untry take a turn for the w rst, it is helpful to have nvestments in other well developed countries to ffset any loss of value.
4) You get the idea, spr ad your risk and avoid having one ETF ccount for more than 5-10% of y ur core portfolio.
Be Careful what C untries You Pick: You need some g idelines to help keep you from g tting carried away and having too c ncentrated a position in a particular c untry or region. In particular, take a g od look at the following: 1) the st bility and overall political and corporate g vernance, 2) the legal environment, respect for c ntracts, low levels of corruption, due pr cess and rule of law, 3) the m croeconomic environment including fiscal discipline and c rrency strength, and 4) political risks th t could affect financial markets. Keep in m nd that the quality of the c untries you choose to invest in is the pr mary but not the only factor. The pr ce or valuation of a country’s st ck market is also extremely important. Oft ntimes the best time to buy nto a country’s stock market is wh n it is beaten down but th re are signs that its economic and p litical problems will sharply improve. If you h ve a long-term perspective, you might c nsider annuities specially structured for ETF p rtfolios. 5) Minimize Company Risk by sing our “Buy Countries, Not Stocks” str tegy that helps you minimize company r sk. Instead of trying to pick the b st three stocks on the Tokyo St ck Exchange, why not just minimize c mpany risk by buying the Japan Share ETF (EWJ) that tracks the N kkei 225 and spread this risk mongst 225 Japanese companies. Or you c uld hedge your bets and do b th. 6) Monitor ETF Country and C mpany Exposure: Be careful to look nder the hood of ETFs to see wh re your money is going. For xample, let’s look at the iShares MSCI Em rging Markets ETF. It invests in 26 d fferent countries so it is natural to th nk that you will get broad xposure to all 26 countries. You w uld be wrong: 50% of your nvestment in this fund is going to f ur countries: South Korea, South Africa, T iwan and China. In addition, incredibly, 7.5% is g ing to one company, Samsung Electronics of S uth Korea.
The same is true for the MSCI E rope, Asia and Far East (EAFE) ndex. It contains 21 developed countries but 48% of the m ney you invest would go to j st two: Japan and the United K ngdom. Meanwhile less than 1% would go to S ngapore and Ireland! Country specific ETFs s ch as the new China iShare (FXI) can lso have a fair amount of c ncentrated risk. Although the China iShare tr cks a basket of 25 companies, the l rgest 5 companies account for nearly 50% of y ur exposure. 7) Cut Losses with Tr iling Stop Loss Policy and ETF Put Opt ons: We have all been there. You buy a st ck or fund and it appreciates in v lue rapidly. Then it stumbles and b gins to decline. What do you do? Sh uld you buy more, let it r de, or sell? Save yourself a lot of p in and agony by following a s mple rule. If a position ever f lls more than 20% from its h gh, sell it immediately and reassess the s tuation. And if you invest in an ETF w th a sizable downside risk, why not sp nd a few hundred dollars to p rchase a put option as an nsurance policy? 8) Rebalance Your Portfolio: At l ast annually, you need to make s me changes so that you are not verly exposed to countries that have h gher risk factors and volatility. One way is by s lling some shares of your winners and ncreasing exposure to under performers. This ccomplishes another goal, locking in gains and t king some money off the table. R member, only a fool holds out for top d llar especially in the more volatile merging market countries. Building your portfolios w th low-cost, tax-efficient ETFs is a sm rt strategy but don’t set it on uto pilot.
The article 8 Rules For ETF Success was Submitted by Carl Delfeld through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Carl T. Delfeld President& Publisher Ch rtwell Partners http://www.chartwelladvisor.com/ Carl Delfeld has over twenty years of experience in the global investment business with a strong background in Asia. • Author of global investor primer “The New Global Investor” • President of the global investment advisory firm Chartwell Partners • Publisher of the Chartwell Advisor ETF Report and Asia-Pacific Growth • Columnist on global investing with Forbes Asia: “Global Gambits” • Former U.S. Representative to the Executive Board of Asian Development Bank • Chairman of the global economic strategy think tank ChartwellAmerica • Asian specialist with the U.S. Joint Economic Committee and the U.S. Treasury • Former member of the U.S. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Committee • Former investment executive with Robert Baird & Company and UBS • Graduate of the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy with conomics scholarship from U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission • Exch nge student at Sophia University, Japanese M nistry of Education Fellow at Keio Un versi
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