May 9, 2008: PowerShares To Introduce Their Version of Global Asset Allocation

On May 20, Invesco PowerShares anticipates launching the first family of globally-allocated ETFs of ETFs. They will be called PowerShares Global Asset Portfolios.

According to the PowerShares press release, these Funds are designed to provide investors convenient access to long-term, core asset allocation strategies based on three targeted risk profiles. These are balanced, balanced growth and growth. They will be based upon PowerShares ETFs representing a range of asset classes. Each index will rebalance quarterly, although PowerShares indicates that monthly rebalancing may well occur in volatile markets.

Here are the three ETFs of ETFs:

PCA - PowerShares Autonomic Balanced NFA Global Asset Portfolio
60% equity (23.7% Domestic, 31.3% Foreign, 6.4% Real Estate)
40% Fixed Income (35.8% Fixed Income, 2.8% Commodities and Currency)

PAO - PowerShares Autonomic Balanced Growth NFA Global Asset Portfolio
75% Equity (30.3% Domestic, 39.5% Foreign, 6.4% Real Estate)
25% Fixed Income (21.5% Fixed Income,2.3% Commodities and Currency)

PTO - PowerShares Autonomic Growth NFA Global Asset Portfolio
90% Equity (36.6% Domestic, 49.2% Foreign, 4.8% Real Estate)
10% Fixed Income (7.9% Fixed Income, 1.5% Commodities and Currency)

PowerShares claims that tax efficiency will be one major benefit of their "Fund of Funds". No breakdown of total expenses have been provided. And many investors are aware that investment products of this sort frequently have fallen short of expectations.

It will be interesting to view the initial portfolios, assess the risk of their security selections and compare these products against others in the target allocation arena.

I think it is a good thing to have more choices available with ETFs advancing beyond one index or another, parsing and dicing allocation products. It will be even better if PowerShares will demonstrate excellent performance and support for these and similar ETFs at a cheap price.