MyPlanIQ offers both free and premium subscription services. The subscriptions comprise regular newsletters as well as investment model portfolios and tools.
The free newsletters cover various topics, including financial planning, retirement planning, 401(k) and IRA strategies, taxable investment strategies, income generation, ETFs, mutual funds, and tips for saving and spending.
A premium subscription encompasses monthly premium newsletters, which provide timely updates to model portfolios and offer in-depth commentaries on market conditions and investment strategies. Additionally, it includes tools for customizing and monitoring portfolios, evaluating funds, and financial planning..
Free tier subscription
This tier is for free registered users.
Benefits of a subscription
Receive regular educational and insightful tips on retirmeent savings & investings, 401(k) & IRA strategies, and personal finance. Access to useful financial and investment calculators and tools for ETFs and mutual funds.
Newsletters
Subscribers, or registered users, receive regular free newsletters containing invaluable suggestions on retirement investments, 401(k) and IRA strategies, ETFs, mutual funds, income generation, savings, and spending. Sample newsletter.
Portfolios
Additionally, subscribers can create and backtest portfolios consisting of their chosen ETFs, mutual funds, and stocks. These portfolios can be tracked in real-time and updated daily. Link to create and backtest a ‘static’ portfolio with a set of funds.
Tools
Furthermore, subscribers have access to a range of tools provided on the website. The tools include a set of calculators (that includes a popular portfolio simulator/calculator) and an extremely detailed and powerful comparison tool for portfolio, ETF, mutual fund, and stocks.
Basic tier premium subscription
This tier is for premium basic level subscribers. Pricing.
Benefits of a subscription
Follow real-time ETF and mutual fund model portfolios, customize model portfolios to follow for a 401(k) plan, and receive premium monthly newsletters.
Newsletters
Basic tier subscribers receive premium monthly newsletters on model portfolios updates including their holdings and rebalance buy and sell transactions, current economic and financial market reviews, and deep dive into topics including investment strategies, retirement investments and savings, ETFs and mutual funds and other relevant topics for personal finance. Sample newsletter.
Model Portfolios
For more than two decades, we’ve researched and authored numerous research articles to explore asset allocation portfolio strategies. We’ve distilled our ideas into the following best idea model portfolios* for basic subscribers.
For taxable or IRA brokerage investments
Basic tier subscriber sautomatically follow the following model portfolios on their dashboard.
Stock ETF model portfolios
We provide two stock ETF model portfolios:
| Portfolio Name | Strategy | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| MyPlanIQ ETF Strategic Stock Allocations | Strategic asset allocation (buy and hold) | Ultra-low cost index US and international ETFs, highly selective actively managed ETFs & some excellent sector or industry ETFs |
| MyPlanIQ ETF Tactical Stock Allocation | Tactical asst allocation (dynamic) | Dynamically select best performing ETFs from a set of selected candidate ETFs |
Detailed explanations
- Best idea strategic asset allocation stock ETF portfolio: It includes investments in ultra-low-cost index ETFs, select actively managed ETFs, and index sector or industry ETFs with sound business fundamentals. This portfolio adheres to the buy-and-hold principle and does not frequently change its holdings. However, as circumstances dictate, MyPlanIQ may rebalance the portfolio and make adjustments to ETFs from time to time. See Strategic Model Portfolio for details.
- Suitable: For long-term (more than 15 years, preferably more than 20 years), want to be tax efficient and can withstand interim drawdown or loss as high as 50% or more.
- Pros:
- Less error-prone
- Infrequent rebalancing or transactions
- Tax efficient
- Cons:
- Interim loss or drawdown can be substantial
- Possible low returns for an extended period, such as 10 years or longer
- Best idea tactical asset allocation stock ETF portfolio: Depending on market conditions and the performance of underlying ETF candidates, the portfolio may decrease stock allocations during periods of market stress and/or adjust ETF holdings. The strategy is grounded in a robust trend-based asset allocation approach that integrates return trends of asset classes and funds with economic and market condition indicators. Rebalancing occurs no more than once a month. See Tactical Model Portfolio for details.
- Suitable: For long-term (more than 10 years or preferably longer) capital. Investors are willing to rebalance as frequent as monthly.
- Pros:
- Reduce large interim loss or drawdown
- Less sensitive to investment entry point
- Likely to improve returns
- Cons
- Demand more frequent rebalancing or transactions
- Less tax efficient — more suitable in a tax-deferred account such as 401(k) or IRA
- Can experience a period of lower returns compared to a broad-based strategic allocation or a buy-and-hold benchmark, especially in some bull markets
The model portfolios are listed on a subscriber’s dashboard.
Fixed income bond ETF & mutual fund model portfolios
The following ETF & total return bond mutual fund based portfolios have consistently outperformed even the best total return bond funds for more than a decade:
| Portfolio Name | Strategy | Candidate Funds |
|---|---|---|
| MPIQ ETF Fixed Income | Tactical rotation of bond ETFs | Choose from a few of highly selectiv total return bond ETFs |
| Schwab Total Return Bond | Tactical rotation of bond mutual funds | Choose from a few of highly selective total return bond no load and no transaction fee mutual funds available in Schwab |
| Fidelity Total Return Bond | Tactical rotation of bond mutual funds | Choose from a few of highly selective total return bond no load and no transaction fee mutual funds available in Fidelity |
| Etrade Total Return Bond | Tactical rotation of bond mutual funds | Choose from a few of highly selective total return bond no load and no transaction fee mutual funds available in Etrade |
| Merrill Edge Total Return Bond | Tactical rotation of bond mutual funds | Choose from a few of highly selective total return bond no load and no transaction fee mutual funds available in Merrill Edge |
| Vanguard Brokerage Total Return Bond | Tactical rotation of bond mutual funds | Choose from a few of highly selective total return bond no load and no transaction fee mutual funds available in Vanguard |
- Total return bond ETF portfolio: This portfolio employs a momentum strategy to invest a total return bond ETF each month with the highest momentum score. The candidate funds are a highly selective set of total return bond ETFs managed by excellent fixed-income bond managers. If market conditions warrant, the portfolio can rotate to a safer Treasury bond ETF.
- Suitable: retirees or anyone seeking steady income for capital from 1 to 6 years. Prefer using ETFs instead of mutual funds.
- Pros: can follow in any brokerage account
- Cons: returns can be lower compared to total return bond mutual fund portfolios because there are still some excellent mutual funds not available as ETFs.
- Total return bond MF (mutual fund) portfolios: similar to the ETF portfolio, these portfolios are customized for major brokerages including Fidelity, Schwab, Etrade, Merrill Edge and Vanguard. The portfolios select a total return bond mutual fund to invest every month from a list of selected excellent no-load NTF (No Transaction Fee) total return bond mutual funds. See the fixed-income investor page for more details.
- Suitable: retirees or anyone seeking steady income for capital from 1 to 6 years. Prefer and have accounts in major brokerages supported. Comfortable with mutual funds.
- Pros: superior returns that have consistently outperformed even the best total return bond mutual funds for more than a decade
- Cons: brokerage-specific because not all excellent candidate bond mutual funds are available in all brokerages as no-load (or load-waived) NTF mutual funds.
These portfolios can be found on dashboard when you login.
How to construct a balanced portfolio to invest
Subscribers typically begin by determining their desired allocations to stocks and bonds based on their individual circumstances (you can use our ‘Get Started Now” tool to assist with this decision). A balanced allocation, with 60% to 70% invested in stocks and the remainder in bonds, is commonly favored by most subscribers. Once you have established your desired breakdown between stocks and bonds, you can then follow the stock and bond portfolios outlined above to allocate your investments accordingly.
- Decide target stock and bond allocations (risk profile). Use ‘Get Started Now” to help decide if needed.
- For stock allocation, consider following the strategic and/or tactical model portfolios provided above. We advocate utilizing both strategic and tactical approaches for a portion of your investment capital. Keep an eye on our monthly newsletters for potential rebalancing needs.
- For bond allocation, follow the bond ETF or MF portfolio in the above. Keep an eye on our monthly newsletters for possible rebalancing needs.
For 401(k) investments
Basic subscribers are also able to create custom model portfolios tailored for the available investment options in their 401(k) plans or other retirement plans (such as 403(b). These portfolios are be customized to match specific risk profiles, i.e. the target stock and bond allocations. They can follow either strategic or tactical asset allocation strategies. See for an example of a 401(k) plan model portfolio.
How to customize a 401(k) portfolio to follow
- Simply follow ‘Get Started Now” flow to decide your risk profile, search for your 401(k) or 403(b) plan, and then customize a model portfolio with strategic or tactical allocation strategy.
Expert and pro subscriptions
These two tiers are for expert and pro investors. Pricing.
Benefits of a subscription
In addiiton to basic tier benefits, expert and pro subscriptions can also follow many advanced portfolios and even create their own investment plans. Also higher plan and portfolio quota.
Advanced model portfolios
The following are some selective advanced portfolios:
| Portfolio Name | Strategy | Explanations |
|---|---|---|
| P Composite Momentum Scoring Factor ETFs | Composite momentum strategy | Using MyPlanIQ tactical strategy that combines market indicatiors and fund momentum to invest in top performing factor ETFs each month |
| P Composite Momentum Scoring Fidelity Select Funds | Composite momentum strategy | Composite momentum to invest top performing Fidelity Select Funds monthly |
| STS Seasonal Timing Using VFINX Total Return Bond Fund As Cash | S&P 500 or US stocks seasonality | Utilize seasonality property in financial markets to invest in stocks and reduce volatility while achieving comparable or better returns |
| P High Yield Bond Alpha VWEHX | Demonstrate High Yield Bonds Momentum | Using high yield bond’s alpha momentum to invest Vanguard high yield bond fund or cash |
There are many other interesting model portfolios MyPlanIQ tracks. See Advanced Strategies for details.
Customize portfolios and private plans
Expert and Pro subscribers also have the option to customize an advanced portfolio by adjusting its strategy parameters, including candidate funds and others. Additionally, they can create a private plan consisting of funds of their choice and generate model portfolios of an asset allocation strategy (strategic or tactical) based on this plan.
Pricing
See Pricing for details.