This is a very useful tool and it is a huge pdf breaking down every online broker by the following categories: Name, URL, Phone, Smart Order Routing Yes/No, Customer Directed Routing, Number of Mutual Funds, Bonds, Options Simple, Options Complex, Futures and Futures Options, Forex, Commission on Stock Order, Monthly fee, margin rate, and interest paid on cash balance.

Very useful!

I think the lazy portfolio approach is the very best way to go for the vast majority of investors. In fact, when friends, family, and even casual acquaintances ask me how they should invest in the market, my first and best answer is for them to develop a simple portfolio of index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Lazy Portfolio Advice and Articles

Lazy Portfolio Update - Wondering how they are doing in the current market? Look for updates on the above site, currently as of April 8th the 8 lazy portfolios.

Paul Farrell on the benifits and theories behind lazy portfolios. He goes into how a lot of them are doing, why wall street dislikes them, and this is one of the best advice articles out there! He also helps you choose on that is best for you. It should be noted Paul is the father of lazy portfolios :).

The value of portfolio simplicity covers why simplicity and broad index funds will beat the market and mutual funds. Great examples of Yale and Harvard using this strategy to keep growth even when the stock market heads south.

13 Lazy Portfolio Examples - Tried And True
I have compiled a huge list of lazy portfolio examples which you can see along with a short descript. Just click the link to view the portfolio details, background, and more info. I should also plug The Kirk Report for a lot of this info, be sure to join his site as I’m a member and he is one of the best at keeping posts limited to a few a day and on topic.

Ted Aronson’s Lazy Portfolio - In 2006 it returned 15.9% and the 5 year annualized return is 13.3%.

Scott Burns’ Lazy Portfolios - Scott has created five different long term portfolios that are extremely simple.

David Swensen’s Lazy Portfolio - This portfolio is from the the Yale University money manager which has returned 16.1% in the last few years. It should be noted this is also one of Kirk’s favorites.

Bill Schultheis’ Lazy Portfolio - A writer and an advisor for P.A.M he has published his portfolio with the keys beeing diversify into different asset classes, low fee index funds, and long term focus.

William Bernstein’s Lazy Portfolio - Two portfolios, one with 4 index funds and the other with 9. He is the writer of the book Four Pillars of Investing.

Andrew Tobias’ Lazy Portfolio - Andrew is the writer of “The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need” and has released his portfolio which is 3 index funds. An even split between a total stock market, international, and inflation protected fund.

John Wasik’s Lazy Portfolio - John is the author of the book The Kitchen Table Investor…. The entire book is about lazy portfolios and a great read! His portfolio is made up of five index funds.

Frank Armstrong’s Lazy Portfolio - Frank wrote The Informed Investor: A Hype Guide To Constructing a Sound Financial Portfolio and his portfolio is interesting in that the bulk is in short term bond’s and international stock. Very interesting setup.

Jim Lowell’s Lazy Portfolio - Another author who has a nice lazy portfolio with 8 components of different values.

Ben Stein’s Lazy Portfolio - Ben focuses very strongly on a long term focus and on emerging markets. He has 6 funds in the main portfolio and offers a less risky lazy portfolio for those retiring soon or already retired.

Paul Merriman’s Lazy Portfolios - Paul runs a blog and the site FundAdvice.com. He has a huge list of lazy portfolios you can look at as well as explanations.

Roger Nusbaum’s Lazy Portfolio - Roger designed a portfolio that has two funds to cover domestic, two for foreign, one for commodity, and two for fixed income. Solid with with some good commentary.

WisdomTree Lazy Portfolio - Another good one with 9 index funds!

The blogs and community driven aspects of TradeKing are nice but they are lacking enough contributions. For example the trade notes and notes on stocks seems a little barren to me but hopefully that will improve. Or maybe its just the stocks i’m checking don’t have much commentary. If you get a chance please signup at TradeKing.com and leave your comments. Plus if you want just leave a comment and we can refer a friend and get $50 dollars.

• Trade Execution Isn�??t Instantaneous

Many investors who trade through online brokerage accounts assume they have a direct connection to the securities markets. But they don’t. When you push that enter key, your order is sent over the Internet to your broker�??who in turn decides which market to send it to for execution. A similar process occurs when you call your broker to place a trade…

• Your Broker Has Options for Executing Your Trade

Just as you have a choice of brokers, your broker generally has a choice of markets to execute your trade…

This is a really interesting report and you can read it in entirety here. They also have some nice illustrations for people that learn that way.

My Money Blog also posted a nice link to a Barron’s ranking of online brokers by the speed and quality of their order executions. The link he gave isn’t working but you can get the top 5 rankings at his blog here. Brokers like Scottrade, eTrade, and TradeKing did pretty well it seems.

A DRIP allows shareholders to automatically reinvest cash dividends and capital gains distributions without a broker and the fees they might charge.

So a specific online broker like Computershare might let you invest in certain companies it has deals with to offer DRIPs. For some real world examples of how this works I recommend reading the Sun’s Financial Diary. The post explains why and how he buys into a DRIP at the Bank of America. For even more info the 2MillionBlog has a number of posts on drips. Go here to view them all, he covers strategy, what online brokers sell them, and lots more. Great resource!

Website Usability
Speed Trades Are Executed (and Quality)
Interest Earned On Cash Balance
Tools and Research
Third Party Awards (From Barron’s etc)
Customer Service and Types
Other Misc Options (Transfer speed, options, free tools, divident reinvestment, mutual funds, etc…)

What else?

If you have any comments or suggestions please leave a comment on this post!

If you are wondering how this decline compares to past historical declines here is a great article on the subject. The dollar started declining in July 2001 and has currently dropped about 40% making it one of the longest and most severe in history (keep in mind this article was written in November 07 so it doesn’t include the further decline from the last few months).

The average bull market for the US Dollar is 1,710 days long for an average gain of 48.90%. The average bear market is 1,610 days for an average decline of 31.84%. Based on these averages, the current bear market is both longer in duration and more extreme in its decline.

My answer? I moved some of my investments into Euros and British Pounds using an eTrade global account. At least this way my savings is not 100% based on the dollar.

eTrade Reviews - 1 New Review
eTrade Global Trading Reviews - 1 New Review
Fimatex Reviews (German) - No Reviews Yet
Firstrade Reviews - No Reviews Yet
Scottrade Reviews - 2 New Reviews
ShareBuilder Reviews - 3 New Reivews
TD Ameritrade Reviews - 1 New Review
TradeKing Reviews - 3 New Reviews
Zecco Reviews - 4 New Reviews

For an overview from the Sun go here and here for some details on the Sun’s first buy. I’ll have my review in a few weeks and will keep it ongoing as they fix the bugs I keep finding…

If you have any suggestions or ideas please email me. My name is Ben and I will usually respond within 24 hours or so.