How To Rebalance Your Portfolio

Paul Merriman, Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls each share his studies and comments about rebalancing a portfolio—how often, how much change before rebalancing, and when does it make sense not to rebalance? They also answer listener/viewer questions and Paul makes a special offer for a free chapter from Larry Swedroe’s book, Your Complete Guide to a Successful & Secure Retirement. (See details in ‘Links’ below).

Q&A

Which asset classes should be in taxable accounts and which in tax-advantaged accounts?
To answer this oft-asked question, Paul recommends Larry Swedroe’s book, Your Complete Guide to a Successful & Secure Retirement and encourages investors to read Chapter 10 from the book, “The Asset Location Decision." See “Links” below for details to buy the book and access the free chapter.

“Is there a rebalancing bonus?”
Chris answers this question and illustrates his answer with the chart, “Is There a Rebalancing Bonus? … Not Much.” See this chart and others mentioned below.

“I want to help my 36-year-old daughter establish a retirement portfolio. What do you think of using Vanguard Life Strategy Moderate Growth Fund (VSMGX)?”
Chris answers by suggesting a better answer may be a Target Date Fund and shows the Vanguard Target Date Fund Glidepath. See this and other charts and tables mentioned here.

“Can I expect to invest in the funds you recommend today and hold them for the rest of my life?” Daryl’s answer is yes, using our 4-Fund portfolio. He shows why by comparing the Total Market Index funds to our “No-Nonsense Portfolios” in Table 1a: “No-Nonsense Portfolios for Sound Investing: Equity Asset Allocation” and Table 2a.1, which shows “Comparison Data,” drawing special attention to our U.S. Only 4-Fund Portfolio over the Total Market Index and S&P 500.

Daryl also offers a third Table, “No-Nonsense Portfolio Performance Rankings by Decade (1970-2021). See these and all charts and tables mentioned here.

MORE LINKS

Rebalancing: The implications of adding a small amount of small-cap value to a Total Market Index portfolio. See this Table.

You can get your copy of Larry Swedroe’s book, Your Complete Guide to a Successful & Secure Retirement at: https://amzn.to/3gb3noz. If you purchase via our link, it may result in our Foundation receiving a small commission that supports our financial education outreach at no additional cost to you.

Read this FREE chapter from Larry’s book, “The Asset Location Decision,” courtesy of Mr. Swedroe and publisher Harriman House.