What ratio are you stocks/bonds and how old are you?

jj · Post by jj » Sun Jun 28, 2015 7:17 am

Retired - negligible pension or SS expected

60/56 ages

40-45% stock - 55-60% fixed income

At the moment we are at the top of our 45% stock rebalancing bands and take our income from mutual fund distributions, CD interest and nibbling at our stock allocation to bring it under 45%. When the stock market goes off 'pop' we will nibble at the fixed income side. Stock percentage is 60/40 US to International . Current withdrawal rate less than 3.5%. No asset allocation change anticipated - as we age more of our stocks will be earmarked for heirs.

PhysicsTeacher · Post by **PhysicsTeacher** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 9:23 am

Age 29: 60% equities/40% bonds.

SimpleGift · Post by **SimpleGift** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:21 am

An updated chart to reflect all the recent responses. Total responses now stand at 172 and counting — but there's been no appreciable shift in the trend line since the first chart.

What's especially remarkable to me is the wide dispersion of stock allocations among Bogleheads across the entire age spectrum. It's this diversity of investing approaches, outlooks, and life situations that makes the Forum such a rich and valuable resource for all who participate. Thanks!

Note: In cases of paired investors, the age charted is the average of the two.

SimpleGift · Post by **SimpleGift** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 2:06 pm

Via PM, there was a request for updated data comparing Bogleheads' stock allocations from 2007, 2011 and 2015, based on previous polls about the same question. Here's what our shifting stock allocations look like over time, by age:

NOTE: For 2007, n = 101; for 2011, n = 76; and for 2015, n = 172.

Historical Data Source: Dale Maley

mcblum · Post by **mcblum** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 2:09 pm

I'm 71.5, still working and am at 50/50 . My stock % has drifted a little lower in the past 6 months but not enough to trigger rebalancing.
Marty

herpfinance · Post by **herpfinance** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 3:05 pm

Age 30.
75% stocks, 25% bonds.
Rebalancing band of +/- 5%.

This allocation was chosen since I don't think I would feel comfortable holding over 80% stocks.

I also like Benjamin Graham's 25/75 advice.

Dude2 · Post by **Dude2** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 3:17 pm

I'm 46 and 50/50. The reason for this is the general conclusion in a book by Otar entitled Unveiling the Retirement Myth that in a buy and hold portfolio one should keep one's stock allocation to below 50% based on his many performance aft-casts (what-if scenarios) of the various mixes of the two asset classes throughout the time in which we have data.

I think of this in terms of putting one on the gambling table and taking one off. An argument could be made that I can achieve what another person who is 100% stocks has achieved if I work twice as hard. Also there is the possibility that my company might match my 401k contributions. I gamble with their money and take mine off the table. Ultimately it comes down to what you're comfortable with. I like the balance of the middle ground.

lack_ey · Post by **lack_ey** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 3:51 pm

For people with 100% equities (actually, anyone else), what kind of other assets are we talking about? Living paycheck-to-paycheck with only a few hundred in the bank, but hundreds of thousands or millions in stocks? Or 100% stocks aside from that 2-year emergency fund, house fund, and a couple extra 529s?

This probably should have been explicitly defined from the beginning for consistency of responses.

herpfinance · Post by **herpfinance** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:05 pm

Good point indeed, lack_ey.

For my own part, the asset allocation outlined a few posts above purely involves retirement planning.

I have other (more conservative) allocations for other saving goals.

backpacker · Post by **backpacker** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:08 pm

lack_ey wrote:For people with 100% equities (actually, anyone else), what kind of other assets are we talking about? Living paycheck-to-paycheck with only a few hundred in the bank, but hundreds of thousands or millions in stocks? Or 100% stocks aside from that 2-year emergency fund, house fund, and a couple extra 529s?

This probably should have been explicitly defined from the beginning for consistency of responses.

Many, if not most, investors exclude cash when reporting AA. I agree that this becomes a problem when investors claim to have a 100/0 portfolio while excluding an abnormally large emergency fund. My own portfolio 100/0 portfolio is 95/5 including cash.

zaboomafoozarg · Post by **zaboomafoozarg** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:08 pm

herpfinance wrote:Age 30.
75% stocks, 25% bonds.
Rebalancing band of +/- 5%.

Same age and ratio here. I have no immediate plans to deviate from 75/25 - I'll keep doing that for 10 or so years, then reevaluate.

countofmc · Post by **countofmc** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:44 pm

50/50. I'm 32.

I'm risk adverse (I used to be 30/70 actually). I finally decided 50/50 is the most stock I could stomach, and also liked the simplicity and easy math. My plan is to just stick to 50/50 for a long time.

dwickenh · Post by **dwickenh** » Sun Jun 28, 2015 8:20 pm

age 60, wife 60,

65/35 currently and moving to 55/45 due to impending retirement.

Dan

red5 · Post by **red5** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 3:58 am

Ages 33/29

84/16 Stock/Bond

ALinLI · Post by **ALinLI** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:48 am

Ages 43 for wife and me. We are 65/35 equities/FI.

zonto · Post by **zonto** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 12:39 pm

timboktoo wrote:Age is 33
33% bonds

No, I'm not following Age In Bonds intentionally I have a lazy portfolio of 1/3 Total Bond, 1/3 Total Stock, 1/3 Total International.

- Tim

Same allocation, but 29 years old.

Grt2bOutdoors · Post by **Grt2bOutdoors** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 1:19 pm

Early 40's (give or take a few years

)
65/35. For those who worry that a 60/40 allocation will not be sufficient, remember there are three things you control: 1) keep expenses low, 2) your savings rate and 3) asset allocation. Any one of the three levers or a combination of that can put the odds in your favor and make the "experts" look incompetent. If they were licensed and were as careless to make such prognostications they could have their licenses yanked in quick order, alas the financial advice world is still pretty much the wild west of quackery (more art than science). Set up a blog, and now you're an expert.

It's folly to make blanket statements without fully analyzing the variables that affect results.

Puck · Post by **Puck** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 1:20 pm

Age: 62

Retired.

60/40

Puck

NET1 · Post by **NET1** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:41 pm

Age: 28/30
100% Stocks

Will phase in some sort of bond position in 5 years or so. Planning to do it via contribution vs. rebalancing.

ofcmetz · Post by **ofcmetz** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:46 pm

Him age 35. Her age 39

Our portfolio is 70% equities, 20% fixed income, and 10% TIAA Real Estate.

MnD · Post by **MnD** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:47 pm

backpacker wrote: Many, if not most, investors exclude cash when reporting AA. I agree that this becomes a problem when investors claim to have a 100/0 portfolio while excluding an abnormally large emergency fund. My own portfolio 100/0 portfolio is 95/5 including cash.

I include cash in all investment accounts under fixed income.
I do not include bank account checking/savings cash which for checking is pretty much money in money out over a few month averaging and savings accounts which are really "spending" accounts (vacations, appliances, home repairs etc.)

siamond · Post by **siamond** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:59 pm

Age: 53/58. DH is semi-retired, DW keeps working.

75% equities, 25% bonds. No plan to change.

PS. simplegift, thanks for the cool charts.

iilucki · Post by **iilucki** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 10:41 pm

Age: 19 Lazy 3 fund portfolio 1/3 VTSAX 1/3 VTIAX 1/3 VBTLX. Currently not working and in college got a small inheritance so my rational was to protect it with bonds until I have a full time job. Plan on working towards 80% stock 20% bond maybe less bonds not quite sure.

singledigit12b · Post by **singledigit12b** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 10:46 pm

Age 55

85/5/10 Stocks-Bonds-Cash
Hold WAY too much company stock in ESOP. Retiring in August and adjusting AA to 55/35/10.
If the market can just hang in there a little longer for me.
Going to make the tax man very happy this year cashing out but that's my price for freedom.

Sents · Post by **Sents** » Mon Jun 29, 2015 10:53 pm

27 years old.

75% stock, 25% bonds.

ny_rn · Post by **ny_rn** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:07 am

Age - 30
Asset allocation - 100% equities (via Vanguard Total Stock Market Index and SSgA S&P 500 Index Fund).

Bounca · Post by **Bounca** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:26 am

Cool thread. Cool charts.

42 years old

70/30 Stock/Bond

Gecko10x · Post by **Gecko10x** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:34 am

34 average age, 60/40.

JW-Retired · Post by **JW-Retired** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 6:59 am

I already responded, but wanted to express my appreciation to tc101 for starting this very informative poll. Likewise to Simplegift for plotting up & comparing the results. Thank you!

JW

DocWillA · Post by **DocWillA** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 10:15 am

65 - 70/30 stock/bond funds, but I have a solid pension that covers ~80% of my living expenses

jed2009 · Post by **jed2009** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:40 am

24 Years Old - 89% Stocks / 11% Bonds/REIT

vitaflo · Post by **vitaflo** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:00 pm

39 - 77/23

I do not use age to define how much I need in bonds. I use current portfolio balance to "end goal" ratio to decide.

Makaveli · Post by **Makaveli** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:05 pm

Age: 27, 83/17. Thanks for plotting.

bigred3 · Post by **bigred3** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 12:55 pm

28 years old:

82% stocks/ 11% bonds/ 7% PE

boobinson · Post by **boobinson** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 1:12 pm

Him: 35
Her: 39
Ratio: 80/20

Reading this thread has made me reevaluate my ratio... I don't think I've thought about it much for the past few years.

Dulocracy · Post by **Dulocracy** » Tue Jun 30, 2015 4:20 pm

We are doing something odd, so it depends on how you count it.

We are using an Age - 15 formula based on my wife's age, since she is 9 years younger than I am. HOWEVER, that money does not go into bonds. With all the talk, we are hesitant to go into bonds. We are using a reverse-bond strategy of paying down our mortgage by that amount each year (Age - 15). At age 28, we are currently putting 13% aside into our "fixed income/fixed outgo reduction" strategy.

If you do not count that as a legitimate boglehead allocation (I have seen it argued both ways), we are 100% equities while aggressively paying down the mortgage.

The reason that I would count it is that the goal is to ascertain what percentage of money invested in stock each boglehead has at what age, and we would skew the numbers inaccurately towards more stock if that strategy was not taken into account.

artgerst · Post by **artgerst** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 5:26 pm

Wow. This post is very interesting!

I now realize that I'm really conservative.

My wife and I are 47 and we are 53/25/22% (stocks/bonds/cash) - I guess the "standard" my age in bonds (or really in my case bonds+cash). Mind you that I need cash because I own a business and I have to come up with money for quarterly taxes. Also I've been very fortunate (worked hard in my business for many years) and we're over several mill of net worth. My mindset has been that since I'm good with what I have for the most part I can be a bit more conservative. But given lots of the responses (people my age and older having 75% in equities)...wow, maybe I'm way too conservative!

Scamp · Post by **Scamp** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 5:56 pm

I'm a lot like you artgerst and few others that posted

Ages 46/39
56% Stocks / 44% Bonds, Real Estate, Misc Fixed Income

I think of myself as retired with a paycheck. That paycheck comes from the business I sold and could dry up at anytime and I'll be living on just the portfolio. I guess I could go back to work.... naw that's a terrible idea.

Broken Man 1999 · Post by **Broken Man 1999** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:20 pm

Wife 62, I'll be 62 this month.

Current AA (Since 2013) is 50/50 equities/bond. Early in 2013 we changed from 65/35 equities/bonds to dial down equities a bit.

50/50 feels very right. We sleep well, and I'm considering a balanced fund strategy. It would sure simplify life, now and especially for later.

Broken Man 1999

yukonjack · Post by **yukonjack** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:43 pm

We are 56 and 51.
Stocks/Bonds/Cash - 70/28/2.
Cash is primarily there for quarterly taxes. Thanks again to tc101 and simplegift. Great post. One of the best.

jrtexas · Post by **jrtexas** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 7:47 pm

right around 50/50. 54 yrs old. Wife IRA is 70/30. 10 years out. gonna trim back
or get out of international. Europe is a joke. I'll stick to Total Stock Market,
Small Cap value,Bonds. Also have Apple and Starbucks. Invest in what you know
and what stores are the busiest. Also looking at Kroger.

gpburdell · Post by **gpburdell** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 10:02 pm

I'm 80% stock/20% bonds and 39 years old.

lack_ey · Post by **lack_ey** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 10:13 pm

artgerst wrote:Wow. This post is very interesting!

I now realize that I'm really conservative.

My wife and I are 47 and we are 53/25/22% (stocks/bonds/cash) - I guess the "standard" my age in bonds (or really in my case bonds+cash). Mind you that I need cash because I own a business and I have to come up with money for quarterly taxes. Also I've been very fortunate (worked hard in my business for many years) and we're over several mill of net worth. My mindset has been that since I'm good with what I have for the most part I can be a bit more conservative. But given lots of the responses (people my age and older having 75% in equities)...wow, maybe I'm way too conservative!

No, you have a business and more stock-like risk there than most people, and so have less capacity for stock risk and should use a more conservative allocation, even discounting funds needed to pay business taxes. That is, unless you're a repo man, bankruptcy lawyer, or the likes, where business is generally better when stocks are crashing.

The fact that your account total means you have less need to take risk is also an indication that scaling back is reasonable. I wouldn't hesitate to use even less stocks, especially if your business is more sensitive to cyclical economic conditions.

babington · Post by **babington** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 10:35 pm

68 years old.

55/45.

drwtsn32 · Post by **drwtsn32** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 10:52 pm

Age 40 with a 90/10 AA

Aptenodytes · Post by **Aptenodytes** » Wed Jul 01, 2015 11:34 pm

1.2, 56

carolinaman · Post by **carolinaman** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 9:50 am

Age 70, 37% equity/63% fixed (bonds, CDs, SV, Cash)

jrtexas · Post by **jrtexas** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 3:05 pm

jrtexas wrote:right around 50/50. 54 yrs old. Wife IRA is 70/30. 10 years out. gonna trim back
or get out of international. Europe is a joke. I'll stick to Total Stock Market,
Small Cap value,Bonds. Also have Apple and Starbucks. Invest in what you know
and what stores are the busiest. Also looking at Kroger.

I also have a Pension with COLA,along with a Benefit Supplement at age 55.
Also a Deferred Retirement Option Plan, which is where my retirement has
been going into for the last 7 years at 8%. Still stay conservative. But will
adjust when Wall Street decides all is well. Never trust The Street. I watch
my portfolio daily.

slowbutsteady · Post by **slowbutsteady** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 6:27 pm

42, Wife 41

92 Equity/8 Bonds

30% S&P500
25% Mid-Cap
35% International
~2% Other Equity/Sector (REIT,..) - play money
8% Bond

Have Whole Life; Could be seen as complementing our bond holding

ScroogeMcDuck · Post by **ScroogeMcDuck** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 7:41 pm

We're very conservative for our age (both 30): 62% equities, 35% bonds, 3% cash. I started investing in 2010 and remember feeling scared then, so I think this is about the maximum percentage we're comfortable with if we're going to stick with it under all market conditions.