Reader Q & A: Setting Up An ETF Model Portfolio Template

Several readers have emailed wanting to know if a template for the ETF Model Portfolios was available and/or what it would take to do the daily updates. Here’s what Dan had to say:

Are the spreadsheets for your ETF Model Portfolios available in template form somewhere on your website? Or do you suggest that readers draw them up on their own? Also, is it right that you update the prices from Yahoo Finance? How much of the work must be done manually, such as setting the new highs for each fund or ETF?

There is no template available and you would need to set up you own on a spreadsheet using my matrix as an example.

If you want to follow all 6 ETF model portfolios on a daily basis, you should first set up all ETFs as a portfolio in YahooFinance. The prices on that list can then be downloaded as a spreadsheet and pasted into your personal worksheet.

You need to then reference the ETFs in each portfolio to their respective daily prices. My best guess is that the initial set up may take you an hour or so, depending on your knowledge of YahooFinance as well as setting up a spreadsheet.

Once that is done, the daily update will only take about a minute or so, depending on how many ETFs have made new highs. If some of them have, that would require you to update those high prices, since they form the basis for your sell stop calculations.

If this is not your cup of tea, just follow my weekly updates and watch the daily price changes of the portfolio you are interested in. If there is a major price drop, and a particular ETF has been hovering close to its sell stop trigger point, simply take that as a guide to make your portfolio adjustments.