Voices [0:01]

A foolish consistency, is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

Mostly Queen Mary [0:17]

A different drummer and now, coming to you from dead center on your dial, welcome to Risk Parity Radio, where we explore alternatives and asset allocations for the do-it-yourself investor, Broadcasting to you now from the comfort of his easy chair. Here is your host, Frank Vasquez.

Mostly Uncle Frank [0:37]

Thank you, Mary, and welcome to Risk Parity Radio. If you are new here and wonder what we are talking about, you may wish to go back and listen to some of the foundational episodes for this program.

Voices [0:50]

Yeah, baby, yeah.

Mostly Uncle Frank [0:52]

And the basic foundational episodes are episodes 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. Some of our listeners, including Karen and Chris, have identified additional episodes that you may consider foundational, and those are episodes 12, 14, 16, 19, 21, 56, 82, and 184. Whoa, and you probably should check those out too, because we have the finest podcast audience available.

Mostly Queen Mary [1:26]

Top drawer, really top drawer.

Mostly Uncle Frank [1:31]

Along with a host named after a hot dog.

Voices [1:34]

Lighten up Francis.

Mostly Uncle Frank [1:37]

But now onward, episode 430. Today on Risk, parity Radio. It's time for the grand unveiling of money which means we'll be doing our weekly portfolio reviews of the eight sample portfolios you can find at wwwriskparityradiocom on the portfolios page.

Voices [1:57]

Boring. But before we get to that, here I go once again with the email.

Mostly Uncle Frank [2:04]

And first off. First off, we have an email from I have no name.

Voices [2:12]

I have no name.

Mostly Uncle Frank [2:16]

I have no email at thisisnotadomaincom.

Voices [2:21]

Well, that right there may be the reason you've had difficulty finding gainful employment.

Mostly Uncle Frank [2:25]

And I have no name rights.

Mostly Queen Mary [2:28]

Hi, I think they cut a check so it will take a while, but I submitted a $15,000 donation from my Vanguard donor advised fund to the Father McKenna Center. I hope it helps.

Voices [2:39]

You seek a great fortune. You three who are now in shame, you will find great fortune. You three who are now in shame, you will find a fortune, though it would not be the fortune you seek.

Mostly Uncle Frank [2:52]

Well, when I first received your message, I thought that perhaps somebody is trying to pull my leg, because it seemed too good to be true.

Voices [3:00]

You can't handle the truth.

Mostly Uncle Frank [3:03]

But I checked with our crack team at the Father McKenna Center and found out it was true.

Voices [3:09]

Surely you can't be serious.

Mostly Uncle Frank [3:10]

I am serious and don't call me Shirley. $15,000 had come in from an anonymous Vanguard donor-advised fund and I can't tell you how much this means, both to me and to the people who work at the Father McKenna Center.

Voices [3:28]

The spirits must have done everything in one night. Of course they can do anything, can't they? Of course they can. I don't know what to do. I'm as light as a feather. I'm as happy as an angel. I'm as merry as a feather. I'm as happy as an angel. I'm as merry as a schoolboy. I'm as giddy as a drunken man. I never did know anything, but now I know that I don't know anything. I didn't know anything. I never did know anything, but now I know that I do know All in the Christmas morning. I must stand on my head. I must stand on my head.

Mostly Uncle Frank [4:13]

Just to reorient everyone as to what we're doing here if you haven't been listening to this podcast for the past couple of weeks. As you know, we do not have any sponsors on this podcast. We do support a charity. It's called the Father McKenna Center and it supports hungry and homeless people in Washington DC. And full disclosure. I am on the board of the charity and am the current treasurer.

Mostly Uncle Frank [4:35]

But about a month ago, or maybe a little more than a month ago, one of our listeners an anonymous listener who we've christened Matthew63, an anonymous listener who we've christened Matthew 63 said he would put up $15,000 in a matching campaign for the Father McKenna Center, and so I began the campaign a couple of weeks ago, calling it the top of the t-shirt campaign, because we want to get the Risk Parity logo up to the top of the t-shirt when we do our Walk for McKenna, which is our major fundraiser.

Mostly Uncle Frank [5:04]

That occurs in September and when I started the campaign I figured it'd probably take a couple of months to raise that kind of money with a campaign like this. Boy, was I wrong? You listeners out there have donated over $22,000 in the past two weeks. There have donated over $22,000 in the past two weeks, including this $15,000 donation that we're talking about here, and so this is already one of the most successful fundraising operations we've had this year and will have this year, because that does not include the $15,000 that's coming from Matthew 63, who is extremely enthused by this outpouring of support that he started, and I should also tell you how uplifting this is for the staff who works at the Father McKenna Center. We really only have about six people on the payroll and it's kind of like a little fire station down there.

Voices [6:11]

It just seems a little pricey for a unique fixer-upper opportunity that's all, what do you think, egon?

Voices [6:18]

I think this building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load-bearing members, the wiring is substandard, it's completely inadequate for our power needs and the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone.

Voices [6:30]

Hey, does this pole still work?

Voices [6:36]

Wow, this place is great. When can we move in? You've got to try this pole, I'm gonna get my stuff. You've got to try this pole, I'm going to get my stuff. Hey, we should stay here tonight. Sleep here.

Voices [6:52]

You know to try it out.

Mostly Uncle Frank [6:53]

Everybody has three or four different jobs and a lot of times it's just kind of all hands on deck when something needs to get done. We had had some outside help with fundraising in the past, but we decided to cut that from the budget this year to provide more services and we weren't sure how the fundraising was going to go, and so almost all of this has fallen in the lap of our developmental associate. His name is Ben. Oh, I get it, let me try. He graduated from Gonzaga High School there in 2016 and was inspired by volunteering there during high school to go into nonprofit work, and when he sees these donations just appearing from people all over the country, and even in different countries, it really does feel like manna from heaven.

Voices [7:53]

Look, daddy. Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.

Mostly Uncle Frank [7:59]

That's right. That's right. Ben's also responsible for our social media operation, if you could call it that. But the Father McKenna Center does have an active Instagram and Facebook pages and if you're like me, you do some Facebook stuff. But Instagram is kind of just something you look at. I have an account, but it's mostly to follow our younger relatives to see what they're doing, because that's where they like to be. So you can follow the Father McKenna Center on Instagram and if you have an Instagram account, I suggest you do that, because it's also a way for you to share with other people. When they ask you about your charitable giving, you can show them pictures of the Father McKenna Center from Instagram and they're really nice pictures. They're pictures of a lot of people volunteering, a lot of people being served, and it's a lot more comforting and inspirational to see that in your feed than a lot of the other nonsense that goes through social media these days, and Ben is the one who's taking the pictures and putting them up on Instagram.

Voices [9:04]

Good morning, Squidward. I'd love to stop and chat right now, but it's picture day.

Mostly Uncle Frank [9:11]

And so, even if you aren't able to donate, I do urge you to follow the Father McKenna Center on Instagram and on Facebook the pictures will go there too and encourage other people to do so. So we are going to continue to run our Top of the T-Shirt campaign. Give everyone a chance to participate, and we'll do that, I think, through around the end of July Although I'll try to go easier on your ears as far as the promotions are concerned and I'll go ahead and make sure you get another copy of that memo, okay, I'll go ahead and make sure you get another copy of that memo, okay. And then maybe I can record a little message or messages from Dennis and Ben down there in gratitude and bring that into the podcast at some point. At least, that's my current idea, and let me just say again how grateful I am to all of you, because I never expected this to be so successful Great success. But maybe I should have, because we do have the finest podcast audience available here.

Mostly Queen Mary [10:12]

Top drawer, really top drawer.

Mostly Uncle Frank [10:17]

I'll put that link back in the show notes for the donations. But thank you again. I have no name and thank you for your email but first.

Voices [10:30]

First, you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. You shall see things wonderful to tell, mm-hmm. You shall see Thay Wonderful to tell. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fear has vouchsafed your reward. Do the road me wise. Ye. You harsh road, weary still shall ye follow the way, even unto your salvation.

Mostly Uncle Frank [11:29]

Second off, Second off. We have an email from Deep.

Voices [11:35]

Drums, drums and the Deep.

Mostly Uncle Frank [11:42]

And Deep writes.

Mostly Queen Mary [11:44]

Hello Uncle Frank and Queen Mary. We are dual physician partners in our mid-30s, just out of fellowship and starting our first real jobs. Over the past six months I've done a deep dive into personal finance, drawing inspiration from the Money Guys 25% savings rate, paul Merriman's small cap value tilt and ultimately finding your podcast. I've listened to nearly all your episodes during my commutes and have learned a great deal. You are talking about the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic mind. Thank you for everything I also donated to the Father McKenna Center website for the Matthew 6-3 matching gift. I have a few questions for you. Apologies if they're a bit all over the place and please feel free to split them across episodes if needed. Sorry, mary.

Voices [12:49]

Mary, Mary, why you buggin'?

Mostly Queen Mary [12:54]

1. Rebalancing during the accumulation phase. You've mentioned the benefits of a 50-50 large cap value small cap value split for rebalancing in a risk parity portfolio. Large cap value small cap value split for rebalancing in a risk parity portfolio. We're in the accumulation phase and my portfolio is set up 50-50 LCV, scv across 403B, 457, backdoor Roth and brokerage accounts using M1 finance for brokerage. Since we're still adding new money bi-weekly which M1 keeps at 50-50, do we get the same rebalancing benefit as with periodic rebalancing? Does the Shannon's Demon effect still apply when using new contributions instead of formal rebalancing? Also, in the accumulation phase, is there a real benefit to diversifying into SCV if it only serves to rebalance, given that SCV may not outperform LC over the long run? Two tax efficient risk parity in brokerage accounts.

Mostly Queen Mary [13:52]

I want to try an intermediate term risk parity portfolio, partly as a practice run for retirement and partly to save for a future car and house. Since we're in the highest tax bracket, how should I approach asset selection in a taxable brokerage account? For example, does it make sense to use BOXX for short term, phys for gold, or am I letting the tax tail wag the dog? Am I over-optimizing If you were in my situation? Highest tax bracket intermediate term goals. How would you approach building this portfolio? One thing my partner and I are grateful for is graduating medical school without debt, and we want to provide the same for our children.

Voices [14:34]

I don't care about the children, I just care about their parents' money.

Mostly Queen Mary [14:38]

With a newborn at home. I'm trying to figure out how much and how to save for college, but the recommended ranges are all over the place. I'm considering using the same 50-50 LCV SCV portfolio for his college fund. Or should I be more aggressive or even use leverage? Maybe he has a gambling problem, given the long time horizon.

Voices [15:00]

Oh, there it is, Winner, winner chicken dinner.

Mostly Queen Mary [15:06]

I'm also thinking of splitting contributions 50% to a 529 plan, 50% to a brokerage account, using the 529 first and the brokerage as backup. Does this make sense or would you recommend a different approach? Thank you again for all you do, deep.

Voices [15:24]

You cannot get out. The shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out.

Mostly Uncle Frank [15:39]

They are coming Well. Thank you also for being a donor to the Father McKenna Center. I forgot to mention it in the last answer, but that is what has moved you to the front of the line, because you do get to go to the front of the email line if you're a donor to the Father McKenna Center and just please mention that in your message or email. But getting to your questions, your first one, you mentioned a 50-50 large cap value, small cap value split as an accumulation portfolio. That may be a typo on your part, because what I talk about here is a 50-50 large cap growth and small cap value split, and I'm assuming that's actually what you meant. I would not use an all value portfolio for accumulation. And as for rebalancing, no, it's not as important during the accumulation phase, at least until you've accumulated a lot of something, because you are constantly adding money into the portfolio and so the easiest way to handle it and especially if you're using a taxable account is simply to contribute to whatever is behind, whatever is lower, and that way you just have to do less rebalancing overall. And yes, the Shannon's Demon effect still applies, but it is going to be more muted when you're talking about dollar cost averaging into something, as opposed to holding a static portfolio and rebalancing that. Because what you're really trying to do here is take advantage of years like 2022, where you had large cap growth going down over 30% and small cap value kind of holding, and then you would have been putting much more into the large cap growth when it was down severely and being able to take advantage of on the big comeback. Because that is actually the scenario where dollar cost averaging ends up beating buy and hold. When you are talking about a drawdown scenario, where the asset goes down for some period of time, you keep buying into it as it's down and as it comes back up, you will have a positive yield in your portfolio, even if the overall return is zero during that period, just because you were buying all the way down and all the way up, all right.

Mostly Uncle Frank [17:50]

Your next question an intermediate term risk parity portfolio, and I think we talked about this in the last episode of the one before it with Tim most recently. So, yes, the most tax efficient way to approach this is also to not rebalance it but simply buy the things when they're down, so you reduce the number of transactions and, in particular, reduce the number of actual sales to when you were actually taking money and using it for something. Now, as I also mentioned in that episode, you probably don't want or need any cash in this kind of intermediate term portfolio, because I'm assuming that you have some allocation to cash in some emergency fund or something else, and so you don't need to put more cash into this intermediate term accumulation portfolio. If you did, yes, box B-O-X-X would be a good choice. If you're in the highest tax brackets, that would be better than, say, a money market or a short-term bond fund.

Mostly Uncle Frank [18:53]

Fis for gold is probably less important. That's P-H-Y-S, which presents itself as allowing for capital gains taxes instead of collectibles taxes that are generally applied to gold funds. The problem with that fund is it tends to underperform other gold funds over time, and so you need to balance that out with deciding whether it's a better choice on the tax side. The maximum tax you're going to be paying on a gold fund like GLDM is going to be 28%, and it won't be more than that if you're in the 30. Paying on a gold fund like GLDM is going to be 28%, and it won't be more than that if you're in the 30, plus percent marginal tax brackets. And the other thing is a relative portion of your entire portfolio. It's not going to be that much, certainly less than 20% Now I should have mentioned, but I'm skipping back to the discussion of the cash again.

Mostly Uncle Frank [19:41]

You might just take that 6% that would have been allocated to cash and allocated to the discussion of the cash again. You might just take that 6% that would have been allocated to cash and allocated to the other assets. Or you could add something like preferred shares which pay qualified dividends, or you could just add some more stocks, or some international stocks or something like that. Or, if you're really adventurous, you can hold a little Bitcoin, because now there are ETFs for that too.

Mostly Uncle Frank [20:04]

In any event, holding this kind of portfolio is going to be much more tax efficient than, say, holding it in a savings account or something similar to that, because that would be the worst taxation situation overall, whereas most of the things in this portfolio are either not going to get taxed or are going to get taxed at a favorable capital gains tax rate. So long as you're not doing a whole lot of transactions in the account, as I mentioned before, do not rebalance it. Just add to the things that are low and use that as the only form of rebalancing you need to do. All right, now your third question saving for college portfolio construction for a newborn. Now, it's interesting you had mentioned Paul Merriman in your question and he had actually called me about this. This is back in 2022. I think I recounted this conversation in episode 208. I was just sitting at my kitchen table one day and Paul Merriman was on the line.

Mostly Uncle Frank [21:01]

Inconceivable merriman was on the line inconceivable. So at the time he was trying to decide what to use for a portfolio for a new grandchild so kind of in the same situation that you're thinking about and he wanted to go with something simple, a two-fund kind of thing. So I told him what my preference would be, to be large cap growth and small cap value. What he ended up going with was S&P 500 and small cap value, but it's very similar. I think you just have more growth potential with large cap growth than you do with the S&P 500. And so I would go ahead and just do that. If you wanted to add an international version of that since people have been talking about that a lot recently national version of that, Since people have been talking about that a lot recently, you could use the fund IDMO as your large cap growth thing and the fund AVDV as the small cap value section of that. But I don't know if you want to add that kind of complication to this.

Mostly Uncle Frank [21:58]

Now, as for the 529 plans, when we were doing this it was before they had changed the rules, so we actually only used 529 plans to get the state tax deduction and then saved elsewhere for college.

Mostly Uncle Frank [22:12]

I know, 529s are now more flexible in that you can take out up to $35,000 to fund a Roth IRA later and if you have multiple kids, you can switch the beneficiary from one to another. So it may very well be advantageous to put more money like that into a 529 plan. And what you should also be thinking of is if this money is really to be set aside for college. You actually want to fund the 529 plan first, as in first in life, because it's going to have a longer time to grow and therefore you are effectively saving more on taxes. So even if you're doing 50% in a 529 and 50% in the brokerage account, the way to do it would be essentially to put it only into the 529 for the first nine years or so of the child's life and then switch to the brokerage account after that, if that makes sense. However, you will find that you have fewer options often in a 529 account and there probably or may not be a small cap value option.

Voices [23:14]

I'm telling you, fellas, you're going to want that cowbell.

Mostly Uncle Frank [23:18]

And that you may want to be putting all of your large cap growth or S&P 500 stuff in there and then, to the extent you're doing small cap value or some kind of international combo of that stuff, you can put that in the brokerage account. The truth is, with all these accumulation portfolios there is no way to know which is going to be the best combination for the next decade in advance, because obviously if you say, look at the last decade, you would have been better off with all large cap growth, but that hasn't been true in most decades.

Voices [23:51]

Like anyone can even know that.

Mostly Uncle Frank [23:54]

So, really, the best advice I can give you is to pick something reasonable, like you've been talking about here, and then just stick with it and avoid the temptation of jumping from one thing to another, because you never know when things are going to change and you don't want to be in a situation where you are effectively selling something low and buying something else high, because that is in fact how amateur investors typically underperform the markets and even the funds in their own portfolio if they're fund hopping. As for using leverage, you have a gambling problem.

Mostly Uncle Frank [24:29]

Yeah, I think you can probably skip that. It wouldn't be wrong to do that with a little bit of the money, and I know a lot of people have had great success with it, at least in the past 10 or 15 years.

Voices [24:42]

Wow, it's very nice.

Mostly Uncle Frank [24:45]

But you wouldn't want to be putting a whole lot of money into this thing and then having a crash scenario when the child is like 10 or 11 and then be wondering whether you have enough or not.

Voices [24:56]

You need somebody watching your back at all times.

Mostly Uncle Frank [25:00]

So you had a lot of good questions here that I think a lot of people are interested in. Hopefully I answered them pretty well and didn't jump around too much. Thank you again for your support of the Father McKenna Center and thank you for your email.

Voices [25:13]

Bow to your sensei. Bow to your sensei, last off.

Mostly Uncle Frank [25:21]

Last off of an email from Joel.

Voices [25:25]

You may be right. Last off we have an email from Joel.

Mostly Uncle Frank [25:38]

And Joel writes Hi Frank.

Mostly Queen Mary [25:41]

Long-time listener, first-time correspondent, I don't think I'm your typical top drawer audience because I feel like I might be doing things wrong.

Voices [25:48]

No, more flying solo.

Mostly Queen Mary [25:50]

I've always kept a simple accumulation portfolio in my Fidelity brokerage 80% VTI, 20% IEF and chill. But after I started listening to your podcast three to four years ago, I opened another taxable account at Fidelity and labeled it risk parity investing using a golden ratio mix with a small amount to get started. Now, about five years from early retirement, I'm stuck in an analysis paralysis. I don't know whether to keep adding to my accumulation portfolio or my risk parity portfolio, which I see as more of a decumulation strategy, or both or neither. It's gotten to the point where I just transfer money and it is sitting there. That's not an improvement. I have 25,000 just sitting in SPAXX at Fidelity, unsure of what to do next. Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks, joel.

Mostly Uncle Frank [27:01]

All right, joel. Well, yes, you do need to get this $25,000 invested. But the answer to your question depends almost entirely on how far you are away from having enough money to retire with, because that's really the deciding factor. Because that's really the deciding factor If you've already accumulated enough money to retire with and are just kind of waiting until it's time to pull the plug in five years, then I would go ahead and put all future contributions into the retirement portfolio, because you are having to switch over to that anyway. If you still wanted or needed to accumulate more, then going with your 80% VTI, 20% IEF would be the way to go, because that portfolio has more accumulation potential. It just has a lot more crash potential too, and you don't want to be crashing less than five years before you actually retire and need the money. And that does get to another point or question is do you need the money?

Voices [28:00]

Show me the money, jerry, you better yell, show me the money.

Mostly Uncle Frank [28:05]

Because if you have accumulated enough for your retirement in terms of a financial independence number and you've put that money into a retirement portfolio, then you have an option as to what you do with any other money above and beyond that.

Mostly Uncle Frank [28:21]

And there are kind of two schools of thought.

Mostly Uncle Frank [28:23]

One would be well, I'm not really going to use this and I don't have a plan for it, and maybe I want to leave it to somebody else or only deal with it in 30 years, in which case you could leave it in an accumulation-style portfolio for as long as that was true.

Mostly Uncle Frank [28:39]

But the other factor is, generally, when people retire, they would like to have a big pile of cash to go do some traveling or buy some fun stuff or do some other things like that, in which case maybe it doesn't even go in either the aggressive accumulation portfolio or in the decumulation portfolio, but actually is going into your cash flower pot or bucket or pie cake, whatever you want to call it because you are planning on pretty much immediately turning around and spending it pretty close to retirement. So those are the kinds of things I'd be thinking about here what is your ultimate purpose for these investments and then allocating them based on the purpose. Just make sure you're not allocating based on your projections as to what you think the market's going to do in the next five years, because that's a fool's errand crystal ball can help you, it can guide you and if you want to listen to a lot more podcasts about this kind of an issue.

Mostly Uncle Frank [29:39]

It's usually labeled transition either in the titles to the podcast or the show notes, and you can word search the entire catalog if you go to the rss feed that is available on the podcast page and I'll see if I can link to that in the show notes. Just make sure you open it in a browser, because it's a huge page with over 400 episodes on it. Hit Control-F and search to your heart's content.

Voices [30:04]

Yes.

Mostly Uncle Frank [30:05]

So hopefully that helps and thank you for your email.

Mostly Uncle Frank [30:11]

Now we're going to do something extremely fun, and the extremely fun thing we get to do now is our weekly portfolio reviews. Of the eight sample portfolios you can find at wwwriskparadrivercom on the portfolios page, and just looking at where the markets stand this year for our various asset classes, the S&P 500, represented by the fund of VOO, is up 2.55% for the year. The NASDAQ 100, represented by QQQ, is up 3.81% for the year. Small cap value is still the big loser this year. Representative fund VIOV is down 9.6% for the year and gold continues to be the big winner.

Voices [30:52]

I love gold.

Mostly Uncle Frank [30:55]

Representative Fund GLDM is up 26.16% for the year. Long-term treasuries continue to do nothing. Representative Fund VGLT is down 0.02% for the year. Reits, represented by the Fund REET are up 4.8% for the year. Commodities represented by the Fund PDBC are down 0.08% for the year. Commodities represented by the fund PDBC are down 0.08% for the year. Preferred shares, represented by the fund PFFV are up 0.03% for the year and managed futures are still managing to be down slightly. Representative fund DBMF is down 2.37% for the year.

Mostly Uncle Frank [31:33]

Moving to the sample portfolios, our first one is this reference portfolio the All Seasons. That was the first simplified risk parity portfolio but is really too conservative for most applications. It is 30% in stocks in a total stock market fund, 55% in intermediate and long-term treasury bonds and the remaining 15% in gold and commodities. It's up 0.49% month-to-date. It's up 3.28% year-to-date and up 12.12% since inception in July 2020. Next one's a golden butterfly. This one is 40% in stocks and a total stock market fund and a small cap value fund, 40% in treasury bonds, divided into long and short, and 20% in gold. It's up 0.71% month to date. It's up 4.35% year to date and up 39.75% since inception in July 2020.

Mostly Uncle Frank [32:26]

Next one's the golden ratio. This one is 42% in stocks, divided into a large cap growth fund and a small cap value fund, 26% in long-term treasury bonds, 16% in gold, 10% in a managed futures fund and 6% in cash. It's up 0.86% month-to-date, it's up 2.97% year-to-date and up 33.81% since inception in July 2020. Next one's the risk parity ultimate. This is kind of our kitchen sink. I'm not going to go through all 14 of these funds. It is up 0.75% month-to-date, it's up 2.63% year-to-date and up 22.56% since inception in July 2020. Now moving to these experimental portfolios that all involve leveraged funds.

Voices [33:12]

Look away, I'm hitting you.

Mostly Uncle Frank [33:15]

Do not try this at home.

Voices [33:17]

Well, you have a gambling problem.

Mostly Uncle Frank [33:20]

First one's the Accelerated Permanent Portfolio. This one's 27.5% in a levered bond fund TMF, 25% in a levered stock fund UPRO, 25% in PFFV, a preferred shares fund, and 22.5% in gold GLDM. It's up 0.67% month-to-date. It's up 2.34% month-to-date. It's up 2.34% year-to-date and up 3.4% since inception in July 2020. Next one's the aggressive 50-50, essentially half stocks and half bonds. This is the least diversified and most levered of these portfolios and it shows it's one-third in a levered stock fund UPRO, one-third in a levered bond fund TMF, and the remaining third divided into preferred shares and an intermediate treasury bond fund. It's up 0.82% month-to-date. It's down 4.16% year-to-date and down 15.59% since inception in July 2020.

Mostly Uncle Frank [34:11]

Next one's the levered golden ratio. This one is 35% in a composite fund called NTSX that's the S&P 500 and treasury bonds levered up 1.5 to 1. It's got 20% in gold GLDM. It's got 15% in an international small cap value fund, avdv, 10% in KMLM, which is a managed futures fund, 10% in TMF, a levered bond fund, and the remaining 10% in two levered funds, udow and UTSL, which are indexed to the Dow and a utilities index respectively. It's up 0.58% month-to-date, leading the pack this year, though, out of these portfolios. It's up 5.84% year-to-date and up 1.16% since inception in July 2021. And the last one is the newest one the Optra portfolio. One portfolio to rule them all.

Voices [35:07]

Frodo of the nine fingers and the ring of doom. Why does he have nine fingers? Where is the Ring of Doom?

Mostly Uncle Frank [35:33]

This is a return-stacked portfolio that we added last year. It is 16% in an levered S&P 500 fund UPRO, 24% in a worldwide value fund AVGV, 24% in GOVZ, a US Treasury Strips fund, and the remaining 36% divided into gold and managed futures. Into gold and managed futures. It's up 1.25% month to date. It's up 3.82% year to date and up 6.84% since inception in July 2024. And that concludes our portfolio reviews for another week. And it's gone.

Voices [36:13]

Poof.

Mostly Uncle Frank [36:15]

But now I see our signal is beginning to fade. Just one programming note I think there will be a podcast in the middle of this week, but there will not be one next weekend. I will be off to Montana to visit my 96-year-old father for Father's Day and hopefully he'll be up for a drink. One of our listeners, chuck, may come along with us, as he also lives nearby Well, la-dee-frickin'-da. In the meantime, if you have comments or questions for me, please send them to frankatriskparodyradarcom. That email is frankatriskparodyradarcom. Or you can go to the website, wwwriskparodyradarcom. Put your message into the contact form and I'll get it that way. If you haven't had a chance to do it, please go to your favorite podcast provider and like subscribe. Give me some stars, a follow, a review. That would be great, okay, thank you once again for tuning in. This is Frank Vasquez with Risk Parity Radio signing off.

Voices [37:24]

I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic you're looking for. Turn out the lights.

Voices [37:46]

Don't try to save me. You may be wrong, but all I know you may be right.

Voices [37:54]

You may be wrong, but you may be right. You may be wrong, but you may be right. You may be wrong, but you may be right. You may be wrong, but you may be right. You may be wrong, but you may be right. You may be wrong, but you may be right. You may be wrong, but you may be right. You may be wrong.

Mostly Queen Mary [38:17]

But you may be right. You may be wrong, but you may be right. The Risk Parody Radio Show is hosted by Frank Vasquez. The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Please consult with your own advisors before taking any actions based on any information you have heard here, making sure to take into account your own personal circumstances.