Portfolio Allocation: Investing In TDX, LQD, BSV And SHY ETFs

I have to chuckle at the folly of my ways. Picking financials way too early, sticking with theme plays such as water and infrastructure. Worse yet was that Chinese recycling company SRRY. And the brilliant move into a coal ETF months ago and then watching the price fall into the abyss. Yikes.

However, my total assets to date are down just under 2%. The reason for this is that I have always actively managed lots of rental homes and multi-unit domiciles within my asset allocation model. The cash spinning off of my real estate has never been better. Renters are of higher quality because of the mortgage stips that make loans hard, if not impossible, to get. My Section 8 government properties are at 100% occupancy with rents trending up, thanks to higher rents being used as comps to formulate a fair rental Lease for those unable or unwilling to work. Even with property values for rental units down, I am nowhere near my initial price point - and am not going to sell, regardless.

One can have too much of a good thing. So, I am still going to keep invested with about twenty dividend-paying non-financial stocks, the names which are not important for this article. What is important is that rather than trying to catch the proverbial falling knife, I am putting cash and some recent funds from security sales into four ETFs. There is overlap, and some risk. Still, I like the overall coverage at this moment in time.

Here they are:

TDX (TDX) follows the Lipper Conservative Mixed-Target Allocation Fund Index. This ETF is a blend of approximately 50% Treasury Notes and Bonds, 15% Corporate Notes and Bonds, and 35% Foreign and Domestic Stock, Bonds, Foreign Currency and Notes. It trades at $24.58. Asset allocation percentages are suspect in this market turmoil.

LQD (LQD) follows the GS $ InvesTop Index of U.S. Corporate Bonds. This IShare offering has taken a beating recently, but did hold up smartly at the end of trading on September 17th. With a yield of 6.34% I have been buying this ETF in ladders but bought a bunch today in the early afternoon. That was lucky timing for that day.
LQD trades at $88.73. Ditto on the allocation.

BSV (BSV) is Vanguard’s Short-Term Bond ETF that is divided about equally between Treasuries and AAA or almost AAA Corporate securities. Yielding 3.93% the ETF trades at $77.86.

SHY (SHY) is the IShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF that follows the Lehman Index. Yielding 3.36%, SHY trades at $84.00. It was up 0.40$ on September 17th.

I am allocating approximately 45% in SHY, 25% in BSV, 20% in LQD and 10% in TDX.

Matched with my other allocation holdings, I am comfortable with resting monies in these four ETFs until the WMDs cease security annihilation.

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