Strategy for the second half of 2016

I meant to discuss one of the reasons why I decided to buy the Global REIT ETF a couple of weeks ago.  The main reason was that I wanted more non-U.S. exposure.  This was also the reason why I had previously purchased the international dividend ETF.

But more to the point, I recently read a Wall Street Journal article which talked about how people believe that investing in large U.S. companies that have operations abroad give them international exposure and diversification.  Well I sat right up because yes that is what I thought.  But part of the reason for looking for international exposure is the benefits of the exchange rate and not just other non-U.S. markets.

However, a U.S. company (or any other large company in another country), is going to enter into hedges to protect themselves against currency movements.  When I read this I was like (Pru slaps hand against forehead), "Of course!"

And so a desire to have more direct international exposure has started to grow.  Also, while I still expect the U.S. to be a strong economy in 20-30 years, other countries will also be doing well so I need to have some of them in my portfolio (via index funds and ETFs).  I am, however, not looking to add specific international stocks to my portfolio.  Well at least not right now.  I do have Unilever but that is more because it is cheaper than Proctor & Gamble :-)

Okay, now let's look ahead.  I want to continue making purchases of my ETFs (VYM, VYMI, VENQ) and I want to invest funds into my Energy mutual fund since I do believe that over the long term Energy will do well and it will be important to my building stable returns.

As for stocks, I plan to increase my Walmart (WMT) stock to 10 or 15 shares in total.  I'd like to have all my stocks at a rational (to me) number - like 25, 50, 75 etc.  And I'd like to add Ford (F) to my portfolio.  

I am trying to spend at least $700 when I purchase a stock so that the fee of $7 is equal to 1% or less of the purchase.  Because of this, I will be starting to transfer excess funds to my settlement account and will be holding them there until I have saved enough to make a stock purchase.  It's better for me than keeping in my checking account or saving account where it isn't earning much.  

So expect ETF and mutual fund purchases monthly and then a couple of times between now and December I will make WMT or F purchases.

Pru