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 a...
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View lesson →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 diver...
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View lesson →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 p...
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View lesson →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 ri...
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View lesson →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 ...
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View lesson →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....
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View lesson →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...
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View lesson →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). ...
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View lesson →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 conservati...
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View lesson →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 diversificati...
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View lesson →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) ...
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View lesson →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% V...
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View lesson →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), profi...
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View lesson →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 ...
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View lesson →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 ...
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View lesson →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. Thre...
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View lesson →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 av...
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View lesson →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, no...
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View lesson →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 ret...
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View lesson →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...
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View lesson →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)...
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View lesson →Master Portfolio Strategy
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