Portfolio Strategy
Allocation, rebalancing, and portfolio construction
Week 26 Day 1: SCHD: The Dividend Growth Workhorse
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) holds 100 companies with at least 10 years of consecutive dividend increases. It yields about 3.5%, has grown dividends at 12% annually, and costs just 0.06%. It is the core dividend fund.
Read commentary →Week 26 Day 2: VTI: Own Every American Company in One Fund
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) holds over 3,600 U.S. stocks from the largest mega-caps to tiny small-caps. It costs 0.03% per year. One fund, total diversification, total market return.
Read commentary →Week 26 Day 3: SCHH: Real Estate Without the Tenants
Schwab U.S. REIT ETF (SCHH) gives you exposure to the U.S. commercial real estate market -- office buildings, apartments, data centers, cell towers -- through publicly traded REITs. No tenants, no toilets, no midnight phone calls.
Read commentary →Week 26 Day 4: VCIT: Corporate Bonds for Steady Income
Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCIT) holds investment-grade corporate bonds maturing in 5-10 years. It yields about 4.5-5.5%, has low default risk, and provides a stable income stream that diversifies your stock-heavy portfolio.
Read commentary →Week 26 Day 5: VTIP: Inflation Protection for Your Bond Allocation
Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF (VTIP) holds Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) maturing in 0-5 years. The principal adjusts with CPI, so your purchasing power is maintained regardless of inflation.
Read commentary →Week 26 Day 6: The Five-Fund Portfolio: Putting It Together
VTI (U.S. growth) + SCHD (dividend income) + SCHH (real estate) + VCIT (bond income) + VTIP (inflation protection). Five funds covering every major asset class. Simple, low-cost, and built for decades.
Read commentary →Week 26 Day 7: Q2 Synthesis: You Now Know More Than Most Financial Advisors
In 13 weeks, you have learned account types, asset classes, fund comparisons, investment philosophy, retirement income, and portfolio construction. You now have the knowledge to build and maintain a portfolio that will outperform 90% of professionally managed money.
Read commentary →Week 46 Day 1: The One-Fund Portfolio: Total Simplicity
You can build a perfectly adequate retirement portfolio with a single fund: a target-date fund (like Vanguard Target Retirement 2055 or Fidelity Freedom 2050). It holds stocks and bonds in an age-appropriate mix and automatically becomes more conservative as you approach retirement. Zero decisions. Zero rebalancing. Zero mistakes.
Read commentary →Week 46 Day 2: The Two-Fund Portfolio: U.S. Stocks and Bonds
VTI (total U.S. stocks) + BND (total U.S. bonds). Choose your ratio based on your risk tolerance: 80/20 for aggressive, 60/40 for moderate, 40/60 for conservative. Rebalance once a year. This two-fund combination captures the vast majority of available returns at the lowest possible cost.
Read commentary →Week 46 Day 3: The Three-Fund Portfolio: The Bogleheads Classic
VTI (U.S. stocks) + VXUS (international stocks) + BND (bonds). This is the Bogleheads' three-fund portfolio -- the gold standard of simplicity and diversification. It captures the entire global stock and bond market at a total cost of approximately 0.05%. Warren Buffett's recommended approach for his wife's trust is essentially this.
Read commentary →Week 46 Day 4: The Dividend Growth Portfolio: Income That Increases Every Year
The dividend growth strategy focuses on companies that have increased their dividends consistently for 10, 25, or 50+ years. SCHD (Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity) holds the top 100 U.S. dividend-paying stocks screened for dividend growth, quality, and financial strength. The goal: a growing income stream that outpaces inflation without selling shares.
Read commentary →Week 46 Day 5: The All-Weather Portfolio: Prepared for Any Season
Ray Dalio's All-Weather portfolio is designed to perform acceptably in any economic environment: growth, recession, inflation, and deflation. It allocates 30% VTI, 40% long-term bonds, 15% intermediate bonds, 7.5% commodities, and 7.5% gold. It sacrifices upside for stability and has a remarkably smooth return profile.
Read commentary →Week 46 Day 6: The Factor-Tilted Portfolio: Weighting Toward Historical Winners
Factor investing tilts the portfolio toward characteristics that have historically earned higher returns: small companies (size), cheap companies (value), profitable companies (quality), and stocks with recent momentum. A factor-tilted portfolio adds small-cap value (VBR) and sometimes momentum to a core total-market holding.
Read commentary →Week 46 Day 7: Choosing Your Portfolio Strategy: A Decision Framework
The best portfolio strategy is the one you can stick with for decades. A perfect strategy you abandon during a crash is worse than a mediocre strategy you hold forever. Match your strategy to your temperament, knowledge level, and willingness to tolerate tracking error. Then stop second-guessing and let compound interest work.
Read commentary →Week 47 Day 1: What Rebalancing Is and Why It Matters
Over time, your portfolio drifts. If stocks surge, your 60/40 portfolio might become 75/25 -- far riskier than you intended. Rebalancing means selling what has grown too large and buying what has shrunk, restoring your original target allocation. It is the disciplined act of staying on course.
Read commentary →Week 47 Day 2: Calendar vs. Threshold Rebalancing: Two Approaches
There are two main approaches to rebalancing. Calendar rebalancing means you check and adjust on a fixed schedule -- quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Threshold rebalancing means you act only when an allocation drifts beyond a set band, like 5% from target. Both work. The best method is the one you will actually do.
Read commentary →Week 47 Day 3: Tax-Smart Rebalancing: Avoiding the Tax Drag
Selling winners to rebalance in a taxable account triggers capital gains taxes, which erode the very benefit you are trying to capture. Tax-smart rebalancing avoids this by using contributions, dividends, and tax-advantaged accounts to restore balance without triggering taxable events.
Read commentary →Week 47 Day 4: Rebalancing in Retirement: When You Are Withdrawing, Not Contributing
During your working years, rebalancing is easy -- just direct new contributions to the underweight asset. In retirement, the math flips. You are withdrawing, not contributing. The most efficient approach: withdraw from the overweight asset class. Every withdrawal becomes a rebalancing opportunity.
Read commentary →Week 47 Day 5: The Emotional Cost of Rebalancing: Why Most People Fail
Rebalancing sounds simple on paper. In practice, it requires selling what just made you money and buying what just lost you money. After a year where stocks returned 25%, the last thing you want to do is sell stocks and buy bonds. After a crash, the last thing you want to do is sell safe bonds and buy terrifying stocks. That is exactly why it works.
Read commentary →Week 47 Day 6: Rebalancing With Multiple Accounts: The Whole-Portfolio View
Most people do not have one account -- they have a 401(k), an IRA, a Roth, and maybe a taxable brokerage. Your target allocation applies to the total across all accounts, not to each account individually. Rebalancing means looking at the whole picture and making moves where they are most tax-efficient.
Read commentary →Week 47 Day 7: Your Rebalancing Checklist: A System That Runs Itself
The best rebalancing system is one you set up once and follow without thinking. Pick your method (calendar or threshold), decide your frequency (annual is fine), identify which accounts to trade in first (tax-advantaged), and automate where possible. Then stop worrying about it. Rebalancing is maintenance, not strategy.
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