One for the Road (Jeffrey Saut)

The call for this week: When I entered this business, some 40 years ago, one of my mentors told me to put 20% of my money into Treasury Bills, 20% into stocks, 20% into bonds, 20% into precious metals, and 20% into real estate. Clearly I have not followed that advice, although vetting it over a long-cycle shows it has a pretty decent track record. More to my liking is the attendant asset allocation chart, which has nothing to do with ANY of the Raymond James Asset allocation models, but rather how I would structure a “businessman’s risk” portfolio. For international exposure, I would use funds like MFS International Diversification Fund (MDIDX/$11.71), which just got the mandate to increase its exposure to emerging markets. For fixed income, I would use funds like Putnam Diversified Income Fund (PDINX/$7.95), which as a side note was included in a report from our Mutual Fund Research Department last week. And for precious metals, I continue to like OCM Gold Fund (OCMGX/$24.21), which is managed by my friend Greg Orrell. And don’t look now, but crude oil ($78.98/bbl. basis September future) traded above its 200-day moving average ($77.69) last week, which is a step in the right direction for our energy investments.