Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Apache 401k (SP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009




The year over year change in the Balanced portfolio is a bit lower because there are many more funds with positive 5yr Sharpe ratios. That reduced the allocation to company stock APA which has a 5yr APR = 16.09% but with off the chart high volatility. The employee protfolio has 45.9% of their money invested in company stock. Too much volatility risk for a retiree in my opinion. A good plan with a good stable value fund FMIP2 but one of the money martket funds FRTXX has a negative 5yr Sharpe ratio. FDRXX has much better numbers.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Lincoln Electric 401k (ESP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009




Not a lot has changed in the Balanced portfolio year-over-year. Company stock LECO is still the largest employee holding and the Fidelity Managed Income Portfolio, a stable value fund, is still the largest holding in the Balanced portfolio. The 3D scan image has 2 more funds than last year VTXVX and VTINX which both now have small positive 5yr Sharpe ratios.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

AZZ Inc. 401k (EBPT) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009



This plan company stock AZZ has unusally high 5yr returns APR = 32.09% and volatility STD = 79.07%. It is the only plan I have seen with the bond fund MFBFX Sharpe ratio = 0.37 the same as the company stock AZZ Sharpe ratio. I am still thinking about what all this means for a retiree.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Goodrich Rohr 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009




This plan improved year over year and there are now 10 funds in the Balanced portfolio which has a 5yr APR =7.19%. The employee portfiolio on has only 6.5% invested company stock GR and that helped reduce their 5yr return to an APR = 2.79%. The largest single holding in the Balanced portfolio is the Fidelity retirement money market fund, FRTXX in the scan.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Cubic Corp. 401k (EPSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009




This is the first scan for this plan and it was helped a little by company stock. The Balanced portfolio has 2.9% of the plan invested in company stock CUB and the employee portfolio has 1.4% invested in CUB. Prudential is the trustee and there are several good funds like REREX and PTTRX in the plan. The money market fund PMBXX does not have a positive 5yr Sharpe ratio and is not in the Balanced portfolio.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Intel 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009




This is a large plan and like many had a bad 2008. The plan recovered nicely in 2009 although company stock still has a negative 5yr APR = -0.49 with off the chart volatility. The Balanced portfolio now has 23 funds with a 5yr APR = 6.86% and a Sharpe ratio of 1.14 which is very good. The employee portfolio has a positive 5yr APR = 3.61% even with 12.6% of their money invested in company stock.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Lockheed Martin 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009




The last scan of the Lockheed Martin 401k was with 12-31-2008 data and the Balanced portfolio had a bit more invested in company stock which was down in 2009. The Balanced portfolio has 18.0% invested in the stock in this 12-31-2009 scan. The plan trustee is State Street and they hold about 20% of all LMT stock most of that in the ESOP portion of the 401k plan.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

World 20 ETF Portfolio PSDS Scan 12-31-2009





The balanced portfolio now has 19 country ETFs plus the emerging market ETF producing a positive 5yr return APR = 14.60%. The forecast standard deviation STD = 9.02% is low and the Sharpe ratio 1.33 is not distorted by stable value investments. Since 12-31-2008 my model portfolio tracking 13 of these ETFs is up 62%. I rebalance quarterly.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Dress Barn 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-331-2009




This plan has improved year over year but the Balanced portfolio has not changed much. The Balanced portfolio 5yr return APR = 5.92 is about the same but there are now 12 options in the portfolio and all options have positve 5yr returns. The employee portfolio 5yr return is APR = 4.83 with a positve 5yr Sharpe ratio. The company stock DBRN is very volatile but both the Balanced portfolio and employee portfolio have small percentages invested in the stock; 6.4% for the Balanced and 8.3% for the employee portfolio.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

General Dynamics 401k (SSIP) Plan Scan 12-31-2009




Not a lot has changed since the last scan for the General Dynamics plan. The Balanced portfolio has invested 3.8% in the stock GD and most of the money 73% is in the GIC. The employee portfolio has 34.4% invested in company stock which produced a small gain in their portfolio return APR = 4.66% but a large increase in volatility STD = 9.30%. The plan could use a few new funds with better diversification than the current four funds provide.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Bank of America 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009






This plan was last scanned 2/25/09 near the bottom of the recession. The company stock BAC is still not in the scan and has a negative 5yr annualized return (-15.6%) and high volatility. The Balanced portfolio now has more than a dozen funds and the 3D scan image looks healthier. There were a few changes in the plan investment options and Barclays Lifepath target retirement funds are now in the plan. The plan is sill large and complicated but the year over year changes have been positive in my opinion mostly. The Goode stable value fund was represented in the scan by SVF.hpx the Hueler stable value fund index.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Perrigo 401k (PSIP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009




This plan was helped by company stock PRGO and the Balanced portfolio has 10.3% of the plan invested in the stock. The employee portfolio has 11.8% in the stock which has off the chart high volatiltiy at STD = 46.5% but a repectable Sharpe ratio of 0.53. All things considered this small plan is well designed with almost all the funds in the Balanced portfolio. Starting with this scan I am testing different 2D scan layouts to reduce the "clicks" per chart and to help make Windows 7 versions more efficient.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Textron 401k (TSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009





The last Textron scan was 11-2008 just as the market was starting to crash. Company stock recovered a bit in 2009 but not enough to have a positive 5yr return. The Balanced portfolio is invested in 11 of the plan funds but most of the money is in the GIC 40%, the stable value fund 26.9% and the money market fund FIDXX 17.6%. The GIC is not a participant directed investment option but it is in the plan. The employee portfolio has company stock TXT as its largest investment at 28.2% which produced a negative 5yr return.

Friday, March 5, 2010

YUM! Brands 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009





The year over year comparisons of the 3D scan images shows improvement. The Balanced portfolio still has the stable value fund FUNDG in the scan as its largest holding at 66% of plan. The employee portfolio has 45.8% in company stock YUM which has done well. The government STIF fund tracks the Citigroup 3 month T-Bill index not SHY which was used in the 2008 scan. That accounts for the slightly lower Balanced portfolio return.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

United Airlines 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009





The new United Airlines stock UAUA does not have 5yr data and is not in the scan. The Balanced portfolio largest holding is a stable value fund FMIP2 in the scan and it is also the largest holding in the employee portfolio. They have similar 5yr returns Balanced 3.98% and employee 3.02% but the employee portfolio has much higher volatility risk with an STD = 4.15%. Keep in mind volatility kills compounding which is usually the largest risk for retirees.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Sanofi-Aventis US 401k (SP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-09





Another lifeboat Balanced portfolio with 93.1% of the plan invested in the GIC and PTTRX. The employee portfolio has more money in target retirement funds than the GIC which increased their volatility risk to STD = 5.18%. This is not a bad plan but it could use a good global fund and a few sector funds to improve diversification.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Millipore 401k (PSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009





This is good plan with most of the funds in the Balanced portfolio. The largest holding is still the stable value fund SVF.hpx in the scan but the 3D scan image of the portfoilo looks healthier to me. The employee portfolio has a positive 5yr APR= 4.42% with a positive Sharpe ratio PSR = 0.43. In the scan PRWCX is proxy for VCAGX and SVF.hpx is the Hueler stable value index.