Happy New Year

The Roth holdings posted here have done well mostly as you see in the chart.

I am taking the rest of the year off, Cheers.

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

This plan was not helped by company stock WY which is WYer in the scan because it conflicts with the postal symbol for Wyoming in my registry. The Balanced portfolio has no money in the stock and the employee portfolio has 13.3% of their portfolio in the stock. The largest holding in the employee portfolio is VFINX the Vanguard S&P 500 index fund which does not have a positive 5yr Sharpe ratio. It is not in the Balanced portfolio by rule and the stable value fund VRST is its largest holding.

NextEra Energy 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan was helped by company stock NEE and the Balanced portfolio invested 5.1% of the portfolio in the stock. The employee portfolio invested 17.4% of their portfolio in the stock and a bit more in the Fidelity stable value fund FMIP2 in the scan. Most BTC index funds are represented by their benchmarks in the scan as they do not have 5yr data posted. The US Debt index fund is represented by FUNDF from the US Government 401k (TSP) plan. All in all a good plan but still a lifeboat Balanced portfolio.

Harris Corp. 401k (RP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The Balanced portfolio for this plan has the lowest Sharpe ratio of the year SR = 0.45. The plan trustee is Northern Trust and only investment options that represent 5% or more of the plan are in the scan plus NOSIX the Northern Trust S&P 500 fund. Company stock HRS helped the plan and the Balanced portfolio invested 16.5% of the portfolio in the stock. The 2 largest holdings in the Balanced portfolio are Wells Fargo fixed income funds SSTBX and STVSX.

Great Plains Energy 401k (SP) PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan year over year made a small improvement in Balanced portfolio returns. However, the plan grew from 27 to 38 investement options in the report and needs to eliminate a lot of dead wood in my opinion. Company stock GXP still has a negative 5yr APR and is not in the Balanced portfolio which remains a lifeboat portfolio. It invested in very small amounts in many options and 69.4% in just 3 options, two stable value funds SVF.hpx and FMIP2 and one bond fund PTTRX. The largest holding in the employee portfolio is company stock.

Morningstar In-Retirement Conservative Model Portfolio

This is one of two In-Retirement portfolios in a recent Morninstar online newsletter. Two of the investment options do not yet have 5yr data HARRX and HACMX and they were represented in the scan by PCRAX and FNARX. I like the idea of In-Retiremnt portfolios and this one is a start but as you can see the model portfolio asset allocation and the Balanced portfolio asset allocation are very different. Several model portfolio investment options like DODGX, DGAGX and VTSMX do not have positive 5yr Sharpe ratios and are not in the Balanced portfolio by rule. I plan to post another version of the model portfolio with these options replaced by ones that have positive 5yr Sharpe ratios. The topic of In-Retirement portfolios should be of interest to many Morningstar fans of which I am one.

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

This company was founded in 1979 but only became a public company in 2007 after leaving NCR. The stock TDC does not yet have 5yr data and is not in the scan. The Balanced portfolio has money in 10 of the plan investment options and a nice 5yr APR = 6.38% with a positve Sharpe ratio of 1.10. The employee investment data in the SEC 11-k report show that they have 6.3% of their porfolio in company stock which has a trailing 36 month APR = 16.6% and a positive Sharpe ratio. The scan employee portfolio does include the stock and is lower than the actual portfolio on a 3yr basis.

Praxair 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan continues to be helped by comapany stock PX which now has a 5yr APR = 14.72% and the Balanced portfolio invested 7.0% of the plan in the stock. The employee portfolio invested 39.2% of their portfolio in the stock which is too volatile and too much for a retiree in my opinion. In the scan the International Index fund is represented by EFA. A good plan that improved in 2009 with the market after the 2008 rescession.

AmerisourceBergen 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan was helped by company stock ABC and it is one of the top 3 holdings of the Balanced portfolio which are the stable value fund FMIP2, the bond fund PTTRX and the stock. The employee portfolio invested 12.7% of that portfolio in the stock compared to 9.8% for the Balanced portfolio. This is a good small plan but with one terrible mutual fund that is clearly evident in the 2D scan image and the correlation chart.

McKesson 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan made major changes effective March 31, 2010 the date of the last SEC 11-k report. The Mutual Fund window was closed and the investment options reduced. This scan uses the SEC 11-k report data for 5% or more of the Plans net asset allocation as of 3-31-2010 and Market Data as of 12-31-2009. The plan was helped by company stock MCK which is one of the three investment options in the Balanced portfolio. When I have more time I will redo the scan with 3-31-2010 Market Data. I had to read the SEC 11-k report several times to get this far.

John Deere 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

I have owned John Deere stock DE for over 25 years and still do. The scan is on a best efforts basis as the 11-k report is in a format I cannot easily read. The top 3 holdings of the plan are a large GIC, company stock DE and FUSEX as posted on the web and Fidelity is the trustee for the plan. All the other Fidelity funds in the scan are core Fidelity funds in many other 401k plans.

Company stock is volatile like a ride on a tractor but the returns are just fine.

Dunn & Bradstreet 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The plan 5yr APR has improved a little compared to last year. Company stock DNB is now 5.2% of the Balanced portfolio and 9.9% of the employee portfolio. The Blackrock US Debt Index Fund is FUNDF in the scan using performance data from the US Government 401k (TSP) plan. The largest holding is still the GIC but a wee bit of money is now in a few equity funds.

Best Buy 401k (RSP) Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This scan includes only plan investments that represented 5% or more of the 12-31-2009 assets available for benefits. One of them the JPMCB intermediate bond fund PGBOX in the scan is nonparticipant directed. The plan is small but the Balanced portfolio outperforms most other plans with a 5yr APR = 6.06% and a positive Sharpe ratio of 1.02. The employee portfolio invested 33.5% of that portfolio in company stock BBY which reduced their return and increased their volatility risk. All in all a good plan and if you limit company stock to 10% a very good plan.

Verizon Communications 401k PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The trustee for the plan is Fidelity and I used Fidelity funds for the catagory funds in the 11-k report where possible. Company stock VZ does not have a positive 5yr Sharpe ratio although it does have a slightly positive 5yr APR = 1.93%. The employee portfolio invested 27.5% of money in company stock which did not help their 5yr return. The investment options in the scan are,

Company Stock VZ

Investment Contracts GIC.ekx

Mutual Funds

US Fixed Income FDLXX

US Equity FUSEX

US Small Cap FSLCX

International Equity FIGRX

Commingled Funds

US Equity SPY

Cash Equivalents SHY

International Equity EFA

US Small Cap IWM

US Fixed Income Fund FUNDF (US Gov 401k TSP Bond Fund)

Real Estate RWR

International Fixed Income TPINX

Common Stock

International Equity VGSTX

The plan assets are held in the Bell Atlantic Master Trust.

NORDSON Corp. 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

This plan was helped by company stock NDSN but it is very volatile. The Balanced portfolio invested 3.1% in the stock and the employee portfolio has 12.1% in the stock. A good plan but it could use a few more equity funds with 5yr positive Sharpe ratios. There are lots of them. There are also better money market funds.

State of Wyoming 457 Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

The Balanced portfolio for the plan has improved over last year and has 10 plan options in the portfolio vs. 5 last year. It is still a lifeboat portfolio with over 80% of the money in the stable value fund, the bond fund DODIX and the money market fund DWDXX. All the plan options did well in 2009 and 22 had double digit positive returns but that was a mirror image of 2008 which means the 5yr returns were modest. The plan does an excellent job of reporting investment option performance on a single page. Thank you Wyoming.

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

This plan was hurt by company stock FELE which has a 5yr APR = -6.02% and the employee portfolio has 19.8% of their money in the stock. The Balanced portfolio has 83.3% of the portfolio in the Wells Fargo stable retrun fund WFSRF in the scan and the stable value fund DSVG1. The plan has several good funds and 8 of them are in the Balanced portfolio.

CIMAREX Energy 401k Plan PSDS Scan 12-31-2009

Another energy company stock XEC that the Balanced porfolio invested a small anount in, 2.8% of the portfolio. The employee portfolio invested 80.7% of their money in the stock, way too much in my opinion but it seems to be typical of energy companies. In the scan 3 Goldman Sachs funds, GSCKX, GSATX and GSNTX did not yet have 5yr data and they were represented by benchmark index ETFs in the scan, EAF, IWM and AGG. A small plan that covers the basics.