Replies to post #41514 on A.I.M. Users Bulletin Board (AIMUSERS)

[OldAIMGuy]

Hi Lou, Re: the UBA examples from my old web site.......

There's a lot more info at that old site which will help to fill in a lot of blanks. ( http://web.archive.org/web/20120830055133id_/http://www.aim-users.com/index.html )

1) early on (around 1990) I split SAFE into two pieces, Buy and Sell. Each could then be "tuned" to the investment in question. This activity was usually after I'd done some historical viewing of the investment's activity. Most of my ETF components I use 10% Buy SAFE and zero on the sell side.

2) Another early effort was to come up with something better than a 'one size fits all' cash starting point. It was called the i-Wave. Today the AIM Users have the v-Wave as a reasonable substitute. Recently it's been showing a very high level of cash needed for starting individual company stock AIM accounts. For diversified portfolios it is currently showing about 42% as being appropriate. That's quite conservative, I believe.

3) I've not added much to my IRA in years. Not much earned income from which to do so. However, I would have been adding cash and equity value most likely at the Cash/Equity ratio that AIM showed at the time of the addition. That would be the best barometer. AIM knows when you've been buying or selling and the ratio reflects such.

Part of the overall effort has been to keep the cash level appropriate for the perceived market risk. To conserve cash, I generally don't make more than one sequential purchase in a 30 day window of time. We can run out of cash with AIM. However, we can't run out of shares if using the basic AIM method, so I'll sell as often as my position triggers a Sell Market Order.

Hope this helps.

[lbdina]

Tom,

I read Merriman's UBH link and found it very good. He mentioned a number of Vanguard ETFs that could be used with his strategy and I was surprised many of them are NOT listed on Vanguard's own website. VIOO (SmallCap 600) is one example. But, that ETF IS being actively traded. There are quite a few other Vanguard ETFs in the same boat.

I was trying to decide which ETFs to AIM, whether sector or style, when I ran into this situation. I'll contact Vanguard when they open Tuesday, but I was wondering if you can shed any light on this. I wonder if Vanguard will let me trade these "unlisted" funds.

BTW, where can I find the most current vWave recommendation?

Thanks, Lou