Trust Funds For Kids

Trust Funds for Kids

  • Currency Rates and Japan

    Japanese Market and Currency Swings The Japanese stock market has been rallying, although recent losses have been in the headlines. Lets use this rally to provide us a stark example of the impact of currency rates on your portfolio. As part of a policy from the Japanese government to spur growth, their currency has been…

  • Tax Time

    When we started these trust funds with the first one right after 9/11 I had no idea what to expect. People said that just putting money into a fund which grants them full access when they are of age was madness, since they could (theoretically) spend the money on anything they want. There was an…

  • Additional Stock Selections for April, 2013

    Portfolio Three might have some additional contributions so I looked for some stock selections that could be appropriate. In general, valuations seem high right now so I am generally looking at stocks (or ETF’s) that are a bit “banged up” (usually by barely missing earnings and having the stock price punished as a result). Here…

  • Dividend Portfolio Final Results

    Since interest rates are so low I didn’t want to just renew my CD bond “ladder” and decided instead to take those funds and invest them in a portfolio of dividend stocks. Currently stock dividends are returning more than government debt, which is a very rare occurrence. Thus I selected a dozen stocks with reasonable…

  • Interim Stock Selections for January 2013

    During the course of 2012 several of the trust funds have sold off stocks for various reasons, including: – Exelon (utility) started to go down significantly as their dividend came under threat – Canon (Japan) fell as part of the overall Japanese stock market – Metro PCS rose quickly on a takeover attempt As stocks…

  • Portfolio Six Updated January 2013

    Portfolio Six is the newest portfolio. Portfolio six has been in existence about half a year, with the beneficiary contributing $500 and the trustee contributing $1000, for a total of $1500. The current value of the portfolio is $1585, for a gain of $85. The two stocks in the portfolio are both doing OK, trading…

  • Portfolio Five Updated January 2013

    Portfolios four and five are both three and a half years old. The beneficiary has contributed $2000 and the trustee has contributed $4000, for a total of $6000. The value of the portfolio is $6848, for a gain of $848, or 14%, which is 5.4% / year when adjusted for the timing of contributions. You…

  • Portfolio Four Updated January 2013

    Portfolios four and five are both three and a half years old. The beneficiary has contributed $2000 and the trustee has contributed $4000, for a total of $6000. The value of the portfolio is $7123, for a gain of $1123, or 18.7%, which is about 7% / year when adjusted for the timing of contributions.…

  • Portfolio Three Updated January 2013

    Portfolio Three is our third longest lived portfolio. It began in 5 1/2 years ago and the beneficiary contributed $3000 and the trustee $6000, for a total of $9000. The current value is $9792, a gain of $792 or 8.8%, which is 2.4% / year when adjusted for the timing of cash flows. You can…

  • Portfolio Two Updated January 2013

    Portfolio Two is our second longest portfolio, at 8 1/2 years. The beneficiary contributed $5000, the trustee contributed $10,000 and the current value is $17,607 for an increase of $2607 or 17.4%, which is about 3% / year over the life of the portfolio adjusted for the timing of contributions. The detail can be found…