Getting Started

How to make the best of whats here

Portfolio APR 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year
Sectors 21.87% 19.27% 20.75% 21.61%
Stories 54.71% 146.47% 69.80% 79.49%
Plays 130.98% 161.90% 177.01% 167.76%
SleepWell 13.85% 26.69% 19.06% 14.65%
Insomniac 21.53% 52.88% 28.02% 19.70%

These portfolios attempt to achieve different objectives.

Sectors invests in the various economic sectors using .

Stories invests in the various economic sectors using .

Plays is the more aggressive of these portfolios and takes on more risk. It mitigates that risk by engaging a few sub-strategies that only enter the market for relatively short periods of time.

SleepWell behaves in a more sedate manner but stays 100% committed to the market at all times. This portfolio only uses 7 assets in all, allocating different amounts to only four in any one week. The use of UUP is basically a neutral position.

Insomniac is much the same as SleepWell but uses some leverage funds to enhance returns. It is a little more volatile because of this.

As a starting point, allocating some money to SleepWell would be reasonable. As portfolios go, this simmers in the background, quietly making progress at a relatively slow pace. Over its history, it has yielded about 12% per year. That equates to about 1% per month.

This will require, checking the allocations and adjusting the positions over the weekend. There have been occasions where stops get hit, this is rare but it does happen. The daily email will indicate this change.

Next Steps

With the above in place, maybe then consider the Stories and what it is doing. One could reserve a portion of the SleepWell allocation and use it for the Stories trades. The daily email or changes on this site need to be followed and trades placed to execute at the market open.

A Consideration

Usually, the Stories portfolio is not fully committed, leaving a portion in cash. Instead of cash, this could be apportioned to the SleepWell portfolio while it is not needed. This of coarse places more emphasis on proper management but it is effective. This is basically true of all the daily portfolios.

A Spreadsheet to help manage things

This Google Sheets Document may be useful in managing the day to day changes needed. Make a copy and change to your needs.


Why

The desire to have more control over one's financial future

Choosing self-directed investing, helps fill the desire to control one’s financial future. Many feel somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of a portfolio manager or fiduciary having significant control over their financial assets. This discomfort stems from the perception that external managers may not fully align with their personal financial goals and risk tolerance.

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Portfolio - SleepWell

Weekly Sleepy Stuff

Description

This portfolio employs a strategic approach to buying and selling positions, aiming to outperform a conventional buy-and-hold strategy for the general market with reduced volatility. It presents a viable alternative and complement for long-term position investors who may have idle cash and are willing to provde active management.

The portfolio maintains a fully invested position in the market at all times, but it selectively adjusts its allocations on a weekly basis.

The underlying strategy involves utilizing a momentum indicator to categorize assets and then implementing a minimum variance allocation for determining asset positions. A 6% stop loss is employed on the portfolio, but it will re-enter at the subsequent signal or the commencement of week trading.

The following ETFs are utilized, with the majority being un-leveraged:

ETF Ticker Leverage
SPDR Gold Shares GLD 1x
Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ 1x
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY 1x
iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF EEM 1x
Invesco DB US Dollar Bullish UUP 1x
ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury UBT 2x
iShares Micro-Cap ETF IWC 1x

The use of UUP is mostly done to allow the strategy to find a neutral stance. Cash could be used here but over history UUP is better.

The graph above represents the equity from following the portfolio in the past.

In the Details section below, the Assets tab shows the range that each asset’s allocation can achieve.

Total position allocation is set to 95.00% of account

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