Lazy Portfolios and ETF composition (2024)

FAQs

What percentage of my portfolio should be ETFs? ›

"A newer investor with a modest portfolio may like the ease at which to acquire ETFs (trades like an equity) and the low-cost aspect of the investment. ETFs can provide an easy way to be diversified and as such, the investor may want to have 75% or more of the portfolio in ETFs."

A typical asset allocation for a lazy portfolio would be about 60% US stocks, 20% international stocks and 20% bonds. If you want to be a little less lazy, you can get more creative with your fund choices.

A three-fund portfolio isn't complex. It just means choosing one representative fund to include in your portfolio from the domestic stock, international stock and bond categories. These funds can all belong to the same family or come from different mutual fund companies.

This is commonly referred to as The 4% Rule. The Trinity Study found that you can 'safely' sell off 4% of your total ETF investments once each year, and they 'should' last the next 30 years before you run out.

This investment strategy seeks total return through exposure to a diversified portfolio of primarily equity, and to a lesser extent, fixed income asset classes with a target allocation of 70% equities and 30% fixed income. Target allocations can vary +/-5%.

This rule suggests that investors should not allocate more than 5% of their portfolio in any one stock or investment. The idea behind this rule is to limit the potential risk to the overall portfolio if one investment does not perform as expected.

It suggests that 10% of your portfolio should be allocated to high-risk, high-reward investments, 5% to medium-risk investments, and 3% to low-risk investments. By following this rule, you can spread your investment risk across different asset classes and investment types, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and cash.

The current David Swensen Lazy Portfolio Sharpe ratio is 1.57.

In investing, the 80-20 rule generally holds that 20% of the holdings in a portfolio are responsible for 80% of the portfolio's growth. On the flip side, 20% of a portfolio's holdings could be responsible for 80% of its losses.

What is the 60 40 portfolio rule? ›

The “60/40 portfolio” has long been revered as a trusty guidepost for a moderate risk investor—a 60% allocation to equities with the intention of providing capital appreciation and a 40% allocation to fixed income to potentially offer income and risk mitigation.

Ramsey's recommendation is to invest 100% of your portfolio in stocks, with no allocation to bonds or other fixed-income investments. He believes that over the long term, stocks will outperform other asset classes, and that a well-diversified stock portfolio is the best way to build wealth.

Experts agree that for most personal investors, a portfolio comprising 5 to 10 ETFs is perfect in terms of diversification. But the number of ETFs is not what you should be looking at.

A three-fund portfolio is a portfolio which uses only basic asset classes — usually a domestic stock "total market" index fund, an international stock "total market" index fund and a bond "total market" index fund.

The 33-33-33 rule says that the monthly income needs to be divided into 3 parts. The first 33% to go for monthly needs. The second is 33% for your wants like shopping and traveling and the last 33% towards investments and savings.

You expose your portfolio to much higher risk with sector ETFs, so you should use them sparingly, but investing 5% to 10% of your total portfolio assets may be appropriate. If you want to be highly conservative, don't use these at all. Consider the two funds below.

How many ETFs are enough? The answer depends on several factors when deciding how many ETFs you should own. Generally speaking, fewer than 10 ETFs are likely enough to diversify your portfolio, but this will vary depending on your financial goals, ranging from retirement savings to income generation.

A good rule of thumb is to not invest in any fund with an expense ratio higher than 1% since many ETFs have expense ratios that are much lower. Also, ETFs tend to be passively managed, which keeps the management fee low.

ETFs can be a great investment for long-term investors and those with shorter-term time horizons. They can be especially valuable to beginning investors. That's because they won't require the time, effort, and experience needed to research individual stocks.