Gyroscopic Investing

PRPFX is predominantly featured.....

https://news.fidelity.com/news/article. ... tual-funds

But I was wondering about this....

In the case of the Permanent Portfolio (PRPFX | Get Prospectus), the fund’s allocations don’t vary greatly, regardless of the market. Rather, it keeps a relatively constant weighting of six asset classes, including stocks, bonds and gold. While some investors may question the wisdom of holding, say, gold or Treasuries at current prices, Cuggino believes it works in the long run.


So there are now 6 asset classes, instead of 4? I know about the three mentioned and assume cash is a fourth, but what are other two?

That fund holds stocks, bonds, cash, gold, silver, and swiss francs.

A little over a year ago we had a good discusssion at the forum about PRPFX vs. HB PP.

I remember I dug into PRPFX prospectus and posted some numbers showing the internals of PRPFX's bond holdings. The numbers might have changed since, but hardly much.

foglifter wrote: A little over a year ago we had a good discusssion at the forum about PRPFX vs. HB PP.

I remember I dug into PRPFX prospectus and posted some numbers showing the internals of PRPFX's bond holdings. The numbers might have changed since, but hardly much.

PRPFX's 35% bond allocation is about like holding 35% of the portfolio in 5-10 year bonds.

Not nearly enough long term bond exposure.

Pending some data over time showing how PERM is going to work out I would say PRPFX is the best in breed for those seeking one stop shopping. The asset allocation represents an earlier version of what would eventually evolve into HB's 4x25 PP.  It is weighted with inflation in mind but is still radically diversified to the extent that I think your risk level is fairly low, especially over the intermediate term. I agree with MT's observation that it is light Long Term Bonds. But it's the best that's out there right now for those who need to be invested and don't want to bother with even the minimal work involved in a normal PP. And if you are someone who has a strong conviction that inflation is the main threat, perhaps to the point that your VP is oriented on that basis, you could do a lot worse than PRPFX. You get a portfolio weighted for inflation, but without betting the farm on it.

PRPFX is a great mutual fund, in spite of its faults (Swiss Francs, silver, and bond duration).  It has a long history (relatively speaking) of steady gains without any monkey business. 

Add 10 or 20% EDV or TLT, and I think it works just fine. 

AdamA wrote: PRPFX is a great mutual fund, in spite of its faults (Swiss Francs, silver, and bond duration).  It has a long history (relatively speaking) of steady gains without any monkey business. 

Add 10 or 20% EDV or TLT, and I think it works just fine. 

I concur. My only real heartburn with PRPFX are its F&E. Paying 3x the fees you would for a PP bothers me.

Ad Orientem wrote: I concur. My only real heartburn with PRPFX are its F&E. Paying 3x the fees you would for a PP bothers me.

Coming here from Bogleheads, I feel that fee is a very large bother indeed. It's painful enough to pay the spread on gold. Feels like thefront-end load on a mutual fund. No complaints about the overall D.I.Y. HBPP though.