Here's the model asset allocation that I decided upon, subject to future tweaking. I originally had the stock portion even lower, but listening to John Bogle, he considered a portfolio of 50/50 stocks/bonds to be the most bearish allocation he would have personally, and he was in his 80s.
My own view is that one should be able to drop the stock portion down to as low as 20%, so the current 45% could be subject to revision. To me 45% in stocks right now seems high.
Using index ETFs means no market timing, no individual stock blowups, super low expenses, etc. ETFs are considerably more tax efficient than the older index mutual funds, though those would still be fine within an IRA. The gold portion could be bumped up to 10%, but 10% would be the max allowed (per Jim Rickards). The dividends generated by these stock ETFs generally qualify as 'Qualified Dividends' for tax purposes (just like owning individual stocks), which is a big plus. ETFs almost never have year end capital gains distributions (unlike the older mutual fund format).
Bonds - 50%
Stocks - 45%
Gold - 5%
BONDS -
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10% - Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) ------------ 3.17%
10% - Vanguard Intermediate Term Bond (BIV) ----------- 3.24%
10% - Vanguard Long Term Bond ETF (BLV) --------------- 3.96%
10% - Vanguard Intermediate Term Corporate ETF (VCIT) - 4.04%
10% - Vanguard Long Term Corporate ETF (VCLT) --------- 4.67%
STOCKS -
*********
20% - Vanguard High Dividend ETF (VYM) -------------- 3.39%
10% - Vanguard 500 Index ETF (VOO) ------------------ 2.23%
10% - Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU) ------------------ 3.28%
5% -- Individual Stocks / Trading
GOLD -
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5% -- GOLD - US Eagle Coins -------------------------- 0%
AI
