Description

Ted Aronson is an asset manager. His family taxable account portfolio has been featured and tracked by MarketWatch.com's lazy portfolios, maintained by Paul Farrel. The lazy portfolio has done very well prior to 2008-2009 crash. 

The portfolio consists of the following index funds and their ETF substitutes:

- 20% in Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index (VEIEX) --- ETF: VWO

- 15% in Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX) --- ETF: VOO

- 15% in Vanguard Pacific Stock Index (VPACX) -- ETF: VPL

- 10% in Vanguard Extended Market Index (VEXMX) -- ETF: VXF

- 10% in Vanguard Inflation-Protected Securities (VIPSX) -- ETF: TIP

- 5% in Vanguard European Stock Index (VEURX) --- ETF: VGK

- 5% in Vanguard High-Yield Corporate (VWEHX) --- ETF: JNK

- 5% in Vanguard Long-Term U.S. Treasury (VUSTX) -- ETF: VGLT

- 5% in Vanguard Small Cap Growth (VISGX) --- ETF: VBK

- 5% in Vanguard Small Cap Value Index (VISVX) --- ETF: VBR

- 5% in Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSMX) --- ETF: VTI

 

The Aronson Family Taxable ETF Lazy Portfolio consists of 11 funds. 

Asset Class Ticker Name
DIVERSIFIED EMERGING MKTS VWO Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock ETF
LARGE BLEND VOO Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
DIVERSIFIED PACIFIC/ASIA VPL Vanguard Pacific Stock ETF
MID-CAP BLEND VXF Vanguard Extended Market Index ETF
Inflation-Protected Bond TIP iShares Barclays TIPS Bond
EUROPE STOCK VGK Vanguard European ETF
High Yield Bond JNK SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond
LONG GOVERNMENT VGLT Vanguard Long-Term Govt Bd Idx ETF
Small Growth VBK Vanguard Small Cap Growth ETF
SMALL VALUE VBR Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF
LARGE BLEND VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF

Statistics (YTD)

What do these metrics mean? [Read More] [Hide]

TotalReturn:

'Total return, when measuring performance, is the actual rate of return of an investment or a pool of investments over a given evaluation period. Total return includes interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions realized over a given period of time. Total return accounts for two categories of return: income including interest paid by fixed-income investments, distributions or dividends and capital appreciation, representing the change in the market price of an asset.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (103.3%) in the period of the last 5 years, the total return of 38.7% of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is lower, thus worse.
  • Looking at total return, or performance in of 29.9% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus worse in comparison to SPY (59.7%).

CAGR:

'Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is a business and investing specific term for the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over the time period. CAGR is not an accounting term, but it is often used to describe some element of the business, for example revenue, units delivered, registered users, etc. CAGR dampens the effect of volatility of periodic returns that can render arithmetic means irrelevant. It is particularly useful to compare growth rates from various data sets of common domain such as revenue growth of companies in the same industry.'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • The annual return (CAGR) over 5 years of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is 6.8%, which is lower, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (15.3%) in the same period.
  • During the last 3 years, the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) is 9.2%, which is smaller, thus worse than the value of 17% from the benchmark.

Volatility:

'In finance, volatility (symbol σ) is the degree of variation of a trading price series over time as measured by the standard deviation of logarithmic returns. Historic volatility measures a time series of past market prices. Implied volatility looks forward in time, being derived from the market price of a market-traded derivative (in particular, an option). Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The historical 30 days volatility over 5 years of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is 12.1%, which is lower, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (17.5%) in the same period.
  • Looking at volatility in of 12% in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively lower, thus better in comparison to SPY (17.3%).

DownVol:

'The downside volatility is similar to the volatility, or standard deviation, but only takes losing/negative periods into account.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • The downside risk over 5 years of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is 8.4%, which is smaller, thus better compared to the benchmark SPY (12.1%) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (11.5%) in the period of the last 3 years, the downside risk of 8.1% is lower, thus better.

Sharpe:

'The Sharpe ratio (also known as the Sharpe index, the Sharpe measure, and the reward-to-variability ratio) is a way to examine the performance of an investment by adjusting for its risk. The ratio measures the excess return (or risk premium) per unit of deviation in an investment asset or a trading strategy, typically referred to as risk, named after William F. Sharpe.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (0.73) in the period of the last 5 years, the Sharpe Ratio of 0.36 of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is smaller, thus worse.
  • Looking at risk / return profile (Sharpe) in of 0.56 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus worse in comparison to SPY (0.84).

Sortino:

'The Sortino ratio, a variation of the Sharpe ratio only factors in the downside, or negative volatility, rather than the total volatility used in calculating the Sharpe ratio. The theory behind the Sortino variation is that upside volatility is a plus for the investment, and it, therefore, should not be included in the risk calculation. Therefore, the Sortino ratio takes upside volatility out of the equation and uses only the downside standard deviation in its calculation instead of the total standard deviation that is used in calculating the Sharpe ratio.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The downside risk / excess return profile over 5 years of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is 0.51, which is smaller, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (1.06) in the same period.
  • Compared with SPY (1.26) in the period of the last 3 years, the ratio of annual return and downside deviation of 0.82 is lower, thus worse.

Ulcer:

'The ulcer index is a stock market risk measure or technical analysis indicator devised by Peter Martin in 1987, and published by him and Byron McCann in their 1989 book The Investors Guide to Fidelity Funds. It's designed as a measure of volatility, but only volatility in the downward direction, i.e. the amount of drawdown or retracement occurring over a period. Other volatility measures like standard deviation treat up and down movement equally, but a trader doesn't mind upward movement, it's the downside that causes stress and stomach ulcers that the index's name suggests.'

Applying this definition to our asset in some examples:
  • The Downside risk index over 5 years of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is 10 , which is higher, thus worse compared to the benchmark SPY (8.48 ) in the same period.
  • Looking at Ulcer Ratio in of 4.45 in the period of the last 3 years, we see it is relatively smaller, thus better in comparison to SPY (5.31 ).

MaxDD:

'Maximum drawdown is defined as the peak-to-trough decline of an investment during a specific period. It is usually quoted as a percentage of the peak value. The maximum drawdown can be calculated based on absolute returns, in order to identify strategies that suffer less during market downturns, such as low-volatility strategies. However, the maximum drawdown can also be calculated based on returns relative to a benchmark index, for identifying strategies that show steady outperformance over time.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (-24.5 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -25.6 days of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is lower, thus worse.
  • Compared with SPY (-18.8 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum reduction from previous high of -14.1 days is higher, thus better.

MaxDuration:

'The Drawdown Duration is the length of any peak to peak period, or the time between new equity highs. The Max Drawdown Duration is the worst (the maximum/longest) amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs). Many assume Max DD Duration is the length of time between new highs during which the Max DD (magnitude) occurred. But that isn’t always the case. The Max DD duration is the longest time between peaks, period. So it could be the time when the program also had its biggest peak to valley loss (and usually is, because the program needs a long time to recover from the largest loss), but it doesn’t have to be'

Which means for our asset as example:
  • Looking at the maximum days below previous high of 672 days in the last 5 years of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio, we see it is relatively greater, thus worse in comparison to the benchmark SPY (488 days)
  • Compared with SPY (199 days) in the period of the last 3 years, the maximum days below previous high of 122 days is lower, thus better.

AveDuration:

'The Average Drawdown Duration is an extension of the Maximum Drawdown. However, this metric does not explain the drawdown in dollars or percentages, rather in days, weeks, or months. The Avg Drawdown Duration is the average amount of time an investment has seen between peaks (equity highs), or in other terms the average of time under water of all drawdowns. So in contrast to the Maximum duration it does not measure only one drawdown event but calculates the average of all.'

Using this definition on our asset we see for example:
  • Compared with the benchmark SPY (120 days) in the period of the last 5 years, the average time in days below previous high water mark of 207 days of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio is larger, thus worse.
  • During the last 3 years, the average days below previous high is 38 days, which is lower, thus better than the value of 47 days from the benchmark.

Performance (YTD)

Historical returns have been extended using synthetic data.

Allocations ()

Allocations

Returns (%)

  • Note that yearly returns do not equal the sum of monthly returns due to compounding.
  • Performance results of Aronson Family Taxable Portfolio are hypothetical and do not account for slippage, fees or taxes.
  • Results may be based on backtesting, which has many inherent limitations, some of which are described in our Terms of Use.