Self Directed Brokerage Account

I just stumbled upon the option to do self-directed investing on the VRS website - you can buy and sell stocks/options using TD Ameritrade! That's a nice alternative to the limited list of funds available in the VRS system. Note the following stipulations:

1. You cannot transfer more than 50% of your account balance
2. When transferring from investments, you can only allocate up to 95% of the previous day's close (in case the investment tanks today).

I'm excited to see how this will affect my retirement performance and may increase my withholding.

Mar +1.98%

March saw a strong turnaround in my portfolio, boosted by an astounding 12.55% jump in the REIT index! Volatile as they are, I sure am glad I held out...

The bonds were a bit of an anchor in March with Active Bond down -.5% and Inflation Protection -.8%. I guess that's the cost of insurance, since I wasn't complaining when they were returning well in the beginning of the year. With the low interest rates, I should probably move out of bonds and into equities, but with talks of recession looming, I may play it safe and go stable value.

Mar +1.98%
YTD +3.96%

Feb -1.7%

After a rough couple weeks, things were lookup before the S & P took a nosedive the last couple days. Apparently REIT's were not quite poised for takeoff since they were -1.3% since I transferred (and -7% in Feb). Anticipating another Fed rate-cut, I'm still holding out hope though.

Feb -1.7%
YTD +1.9%

Useful Tool

The VRS Deferred Comp website has many nice features, the PDF "investment performance" is not one. It is so completely out-of-date (usually 2 months or more) that it is impossible to see which funds are dogs and which ones are animals.

The "Fund Values" screen is like a real-time version of the investment performance screen and lets you pick any two dates - by default the last 30-days are displayed. It displays all the investment options side-by-side so it's easy to see where the action is. Note, this is not an endorsement for casual "trading" of funds, but it is a way to make a judgement based on data that is up-to-date. The "Fund Values" link is on the "Investments" tab.

Note: trading too frequently in VADCP may incur expensive transaction costs. We'll dive into those costs in an upcoming story.

Happy investing!

Jan performance +3.6%

It's been a good January for my portfolio, despite my Active Global position (-3.6%).

Jan	YTD
+3.6%	+3.6%

I'm 50/50 equity-bonds; I reduced bonds for S&P and REITs after the rate cut. My current allocation:

Investment Option	Percent
Active Global Equity Fund	20%
S & P 500 Index Fund	20%
Active Bond Fund	20%
Active Inflation-Protected Bond Fund	30%
Real Estate Investment Trust Index Fund	10%

REIT fund up 16% since 1/21!

What a move! Helped in large part by the Fed rate cuts, REITs have staged a massive comeback and are still trading near 52-week lows.

It's not too late to get in. REITs have been so beaten down this is probably a solid bottom. With more rate cuts ahead, commercial real estate could be a good bet if the economy doesn't dive further.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog community of VRS Deferred Compensation Plan investing. This is a place to learn more about retirement investing in the 457 and cash match plan, keep up-to-date on fund performances, and share ideas about market trends and undervalued sectors.

Unfortunately the VRS portfolio list is fairly limited, but with careful consideration quality gains can be realized. Plus who else is going to give you a free $40/month (the max cash match)?

So tune in and post comments...