Hello Larry
The discussion you have started is a timely one as the plethora of products we have in the market create both an opportunity to assemble the pieces of the puzzle as you eloquently describe in the first point but also make it difficult for the layman to do so effectively, as you also suggest in the next two points.
Perhaps I am jumping ahead in your discussion but would like to add two things that I have found to be useful in deciding what asset classes to include - the covariance matrix between assets and liquidity of the assets.
Thank you again for taking the time to put this together - I look forward to reading your next post on this subject.
Best wishes
Savio