I recently read a SA article by Bob Wells where he discussed a problem he has regarding who would take over management of his portfolio when he is no longer able to do so. He looked at ETFs as a possible solution, without complete satisfaction. David Van Knapp has also written in SA concerned with the same problem. I, and possibly most of us, have the same successor problem. Both David and I (with Bob and probably others) have analyzed using ETFs as a potential solution, without success. I believe a reason for this is that we all were looking at individual ETFs with the hope of finding one (at least) that satisfies the dividend growth criteria. This article takes another, broader, look.

The reason for these concerns is that we don't know how much maintenance is needed to keep our portfolios within its objectives. If we have chosen

What's New: I've updated the charts below through Thursday's close. The S&P 500 is fractionally off its all-time high set on April 2nd.The yield on the 10-year note closed today at 1.78%, which is the lowest daily close of 2013, matching the close on December 31st of last year.

The latest Freddie Mac Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey puts the 30-year fixed at 3.54%, down from its interim high of 3.63% in mid-March but 23 basis points above its historic low of 3.31%, which dates from the third week in November of last year.

Here is a snapshot of selected yields and the 30-year fixed mortgage starting shortly before the Fed announced Operation Twist.

For a eye-opening context on the 30-year fixed, here is the complete Freddie Mac survey data from the Fed's repository. Many first-wave boomers (my household included) were buying homes in the early

In my article Build a Reliable All-Weather ETF Portfolio with 4 ETFs, I cover how to construct an easy-to-manage portfolio by imagining building a sailboat comprised of a hull, a keel, a sail and auxiliary power.

Over a short series of articles I will cover how to adjust weightings between the four component ETFs within the All-Weather Portfolio to achieve better performance and lower risk.

Before I get to allocation, I want to talk about vessel dynamics or how the ETFs within the portfolio react and counter-react to each other. Although the portfolio is simple, the thought behind it is not.

Four Broad Assets

The portfolio I present consists of a sailboat with a hull made of TIP for inflation protection, a sail made of a broad market index like VTI or SPY to catch the winds of a favorable stock market. A keel of government bonds TLT,