401K Contributions

General Discussion on the Permanent Portfolio Strategy

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Pkg Man
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401K Contributions

Post by Pkg Man » Fri Apr 30, 2010 10:24 pm

I am in the process of setting up a PP mostly within a 401K.  I have sold off all but the 25% portion for stocks that will remain in a combination of very low cost S&P500, S&P400, Russell 2000, and EAFE Index funds.  I placed the proceeds in a Short Term Bond Index fund (that approximates the performance of the Barclay’s Capital U.S. 1-3 Year Government Bond Index Fund) until my self-managed account is set up.  As soon as that is in place I will purchase the LT Bond portion, either directly or with TLT.  Gold will mostly be physically held.

My question is what should I do with my monthly 401K contributions?  Invest in each portion of the PP or just let it accumulate in the ST Bond Index fund until I hit the re-balancing bands?  I think I know the answer, but it just seems counter-intuitive to keep so much money in a fund with such a low yield.  After all, the average return to the PP is higher than the average return to cash, so it would seem that more frequent investing would, on average, boost the returns.

As a PP newcomer I would be grateful for any advice.

Thanks
"Machines are gonna fail...and the system's gonna fail"
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6 Iron
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Re: 401K Contributions

Post by 6 Iron » Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:34 pm

Pkg Man wrote:
My question is what should I do with my monthly 401K contributions? 
Pkg Man, Harry Browne advocated in his book, Fail-Safe Investing, putting it into cash, and then rebalancing when you hit your selected rebalancing band (he recommended 10%).

With new contributions in my tax deferred plan (a 401k with a self managed brokerage account), I accumulate cash to purchase whatever asset is lagging the most, but wait until I reach a cash balance that results in the brokerage fee being well under 0.5% of the invested amount. For all I know, I may very well be better off waiting in cash until I reach a rebalancing band, but I enjoy buying things on sale, as our host likes to say.
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