Comment by tminima

3 days ago

I want to learn more about how to rebalance my portfolio. I started with ETFs and MFs and then bought some good stocks when they were low. But I have never rebalanced it. Would you be able to share some resources about it? Also, if possible, some pointers about your script.

Rebalancing is just selling the high performers and buying the low performers. In his example, you'd keep your "safe asset" allocation at say 15% - if your other stocks did well one year, you'd sell some and buy more "safe assets" so they again constitute 15% of your total value. If stocks tanked, you'd instead sell some "safe assets" and buy more stocks, again until your "safe assets" are back at 15% of total value.

  • > Rebalancing is just selling the high performers and buying the low performers.

    Guaranteeing mediocre performance. Not my cup a tea.

    • Not at all -- it uses volatility in one's favour, by cashing out on temporary peaks and buying in on temporary lows.

      What you describe sounds like a kind of momentum/market cap investing, which is favourable in the short term, but suffers a lot when things go bad.

      (This is assuming one cannot predict future returns better than the rest of the market. If you do that all the better!)

      Seems like there's a lot of confusion on this. I'll see if I can get a fuller article up.

    • Mediocre performance is better than your top performers dropping 30% or 60%.

      I can point couple companies that suddenly dropped from $90 a share to below $10 and then they never got up “Just eat takeaway.com” between 2018 and 2022 it was looking like they would go to the moon. In 2022 you can see hell of a drop and it is not going back.

      If you would sell parts of it before 2022 you would lock at least some of the gains.

      But I think you know better when to switch companies ;)

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