BND

crashnbash25

Nice. Yep im around 10% BND, 25% VXUS, 40% VOO and 25% stock. (For my non sgov positions) I bought Sandisk at $38 a share (had 115 shares), NVidia at $90 a share, reddit at $90 a share (100 shares) and I did Netflix calls when then were at $80 but I sold prematurely when it hit $92. Coulda milked it a bit more I sold off most of my Sandisk but still have my NViDIA and am going hard into Reddit since I think its super undervalued.

Sad-Teaching30

A broud based index fund that tracks the us market, the international market, and if you are risk adverse or close to using the funds, a total bond fund. VT is an example that covers the full world and BND and BNDX are two of many bond funds.

dudeatwork77

Guaranteed to grow? I’d buy some BND

EveryPassage

TDFs generally don't have a large portion of long duration bonds. BND is down 1%

D74248

IMO because the followers of Jack Bogle have become a dogmatic church. If it did not exist when he was active, then it is "market timing" or some other heresy. Another example in addition to your alternative indexes are defined maturity bond ETFs. If they had existed earlier Bogle might have been all about using them to build bond ladders. But they didn't, so today the bogleheads are still all about BND.

abstractraj

VT and chill. It covers the world. You’ll be diversified across thousands of stocks. Shift some into SCHD/BND closer to retirement

Excellent_Row8297

BND, GLD, VTI, VXUS all down in my portfolio today. But PINS is ripping. Who would have thought PINS would be my safe haven.

mrpuma2u

Buy some safe stocks and or ETFs (VTX BND Apple stuff like that) and sit out on the risky stuff.

MomentPrestigious180

BND is a growth stock now compared to SPY on YTD chart lmao.

DopeCyclist

Rather than swing trading, you would be further ahead and have less stress just plopping it all into VT and keeping buying as soon as you have money. Add bonds BND to your risk tolerance and keep the allocation the same no matter what.

GrapeAyp

I just buy VT and BND

Alternative-Boot9256

Since you already have the S&P 500: A fund like VXF would give you the rest of the US market (small and medium companies), VXUS would give you international companies (outside the US) and/or BNDW would give you a sampling of the global bond market (or BND if you only want US bonds). I used Vanguard funds as examples because that's what I'm familiar with. By combining those 4 components to taste (large caps, small/mid caps, international and bonds) you can put together all kinds of different portfolios for different risk tolerances.

ConcentrateOk523

Should take my 20 percent in BND and BNDX and put it in NVDA. BND and BNDX literally do nothing for my portfolio for 10 years.

DSCN__034

It's a reasonable choice assuming you understand that a 10% drawdown in the stock market could leave you with a 15% decline value in your fund. (Assuming the bond portion doesn't completely mitigate the loss.) Another option might be to put 30% in VT and 70% in BND, then with a market downturn you could use the bond portion to pay for expenses, allowing time for the stock portion to recover. This is what retired Bogleheads tend to do.

TreGet234

Junk bond spreads are apparently at 20 year lows. The market has priced in a perfect soft landing with almost no default risk on corporate bonds. In fact, spreads have been compressing, ie yields on corporate bonds have overall been coming down while long treasury yields have been creeping up. (Hence the strong performance of corporate bond etfs especially compared to treasuries) That all sounds...concerning. Even spreads on EM bonds and southern european bonds are very low. Though there is a divergence in lower grade corporate bonds (literal 'junk'). The 'investment grade' corporate bonds from the likes of JPM, Oracle and Pfizer are effectively priced with minimal default risk. Spreads on lower grade corporate bonds (available through private credit, etfs like BND generally only have investment grade corporate bonds) have indeed been rising. Credit default swaps (insurance against defaults) have been rising on them too. Idk man the markets have priced in a weirdly perfect economy. God i hate bonds. The more you learn about them the more complicated they become. Maybe i'm stupid though, just wondering what will be the trigger for the next crazy once in a lifetime crash that happens every couple years these days.

TreGet234

Not trusting the corporate bonds and mortgage backed securities in BND even if those are the best performers. God everything is so fucked.

Just_Review_6635

Tbh I’d do $500/ VOO, $200/ VXUS, $200/SCHD, $100/BND if you really wanna split it like that

TreGet234

BND looking sexy.

Heyhayheigh

If you’re going to do yourself, SGOV and BND for whatever suitable bond portion for your risk profile. You’re already in broad index. Just remember to only sell when you have something urgent to pay for.

W8tLifrN00b

Uh, yeah. Going that heavy in on one company is a “do at your own risk.” The first thing you need to do is figure out the tax implications of selling. If you inherited a Roth IRA, you should be good to buy-and-sell within the portfolio as much as you want. You’ll get taxed when you take distributions. Also, if your grandmother would’ve been old enough that she would have been required to take minimum distributions every year, you’ll need to be aware of that. If it’s a regular investment account, I think the amount you inherit is treated as your starting cost basis, but PLEASE CHECK with an expert or your brokerage ASAP. The second thing (assuming you don’t like 50% in any one company) is to trim that position down to 5% or less. The third thing is to rebalance. I personally like the all-world ETF (VT) that others are recommending you make as your majority holding. You can leave yourself about 15% of the portfolio as your “play” money for individual companies (including your Tesla position should you decide to keep it). That, ultimately, is up to you. I would actually recommend putting around 5% in BND (bond ETF for monthly coupons) even though you’re young. Beyond that, you’ll have to do some more work. Just make sure you hang onto that caution that you expressed about being too aggressive (even in sector-specific ETFs.) Good luck!

chris_r_jones

Hi, all. I'm a 51M from the US. I am reallocating my portfolio (mainly to simplify and minimize fees/expenses) with an \~8 year horizon to retirement. I'm getting on the simple low expense ratio VTI/VXUS/BND ETF bandwagon with a 50/20/30 split. However, I'm wondering if I should split the BND portion into BND/BNDX/VTG to increase the government percentage (less corporate) and foreign market exposure. I know that there is a lot of debate over investing into bonds at all. Please give me your advice/suggestions concerning that I do want to invest into bonds as a portion of my portfolio. Also, percentage suggestions are welcome too. Thanks!

cheddarben

51 right now -- Equities – 65% total Individual Stocks – 10% Standalone, high-conviction positions Equity ETFs – 55% US Equity – 25% Developed International – 20% Emerging Markets – 10% --- Bonds – 25% total US Aggregate (BND) – 17% International Bonds (USD-hedged) – 8% --- Alternatives – 8% Diversifiers (gold, REITs, trend, infrastructure) --- Rando – 2% Opportunistic / experimental capital

ConcentrateOk523

Nothing against Vanguard advisors but they recommend the standard 4 fund portfolio of VTI, VXUS, BND and BNDX. In July 2016 this is what the advisor recommended to me at age 49 and told me to put 35 percent in BND and BNDX and 26 percent VXUS. I went with 20 percent bonds. My portfolio would be at 4 million if I just went without the bonds. If I did 35 percent bonds and their recommended portfolio I would be at about 2.5 million. I am at 3.1 million.

TrashPanda_924

Late 40s. 75% VTI/VOO, 15% VXUS/Fidelity Int’l Fund, 8% BND, 1% BTC, and 1% physical metals. Planning on working until 65 if I enjoy my job, but have the flexibility to FIRE sooner if I’m ready to call it a day.

TDn6I

My bonds are split between SGOV and BND so part of mine is also a short term/emergency savings vehicle.

ClosedDimmadome

If you don't know what you're doing, or even if you do, most people are better off investing in diversified index funds. I highly recommend against picking individual stocks or even specific sectors with any significant amount of your retirement savings. Look into the Bogleheads forum. A simple 3 fund portfolio with VTI, VXUS, BND is often recommended. What got me started was my employers automatic contribution. I started contributing 6% pretax and it automatically goes to 10% unless I would have stopped it. Decided I didn't want to retire at 65-70 like most people so I bumped it 15%. Then 20%. Now I'm sitting at 28% including my companies match hoping to retire at 55.

OxRedOx

Check expense ratios and compare the returns on these assets over the last decade to SPY/VOO/VTI on one hand and BND on the other. I personally would be a bit risk averse because I feel like be markets are overvalued but you should invest it soon in diversified ETFs (not just in VOO but also things like VT, DIA, VGK, some bond ETFs, etc) and some portion in a HYSA so you can take money out and put it in while you’re in college.

ServerTechie

Well first of all, if your company matches a percentage of 401K contributions, always contribute that matching percentage at minimum since it’s free money. If you make combined less than $236K combined, you can contribute $7500 each to a personal Roth accounts, so be sure to max that out. $236 - $246k limit is $7000 each Roth, after that it’s not allowed. If you exceed $246K, then better to max the company 401K Roth if applicable. Then again, if you’re making that kind of money then chances are you’re better off with traditional IRA given your higher tax bracket. The advantage of a personal Roth thru a retail investment firm like Fidelity is typically more control than 401K plans. As far as diversifying I recommend a portfolio like this: 45% IVV/VOO (S&P500), 15% AVUV (active managed small cap value), 30% FENI/FNDF/VEA (international developed market), 10% FNDE (emerging market). As you age, you should steadily add & increase BND allocation, to create a glide path that protects the portfolio from drawdowns.

herring-net

A chill portfolio this close to retirement should have some easygoing income ETFs in it like SPHY, JAAA, BND. You don’t want a AI bubble pop harshing your retirement mellow. 

CursedClownz

I do 40%VT and rest of the 60% 10% FTEC 10% SMH 10% AVUV 10% GLD 10% BND

SynapticMelody

Have some funds allocated to a bond market ETF like BND in your IRA. Increase the allocation percentage to be more heavy as you approach your target date. It's also not a bad idea to work in an international ETF, like VXUS.

Cruian

A good number of SCHD is inside VOO as well. The 3 fund portfolio is a bit of a misnomer, the number of funds matters less than having 3 main areas covered (I can design a 3 fund portfolio concept using anywhere from 1 to about 7 funds with little to no overlap - your target date funds in the 401K is one example of the 1 fund setups). VOO could be used for the US role, but you'd have zero international (which can be beneficial to both returns and volatility compared to US only) and zero bonds or similar (which may be fine while young, if you can truly stomach the volatility of 100% stocks). One example (out of many possible) of a 3 fund portfolio using ETFs would be VTI (US stocks) + VXUS (international stocks) + BND (bonds).

tidepill

VOO and VTI are extremely similar, they track each other very very closely... either one is fine. To really diversify you should put some into VXUS and BND.

duhph

Buy VTI and VTUS and a little bit of BND. Easy as that.

brewmasterlite

Have some BND. Has been doing well!

Fat_tail_investor

If you have $20 million, you certainly want some bonds but not 100% bonds. If you have a basic 60% VOO and 40% BND portfolio, the experienced volatility is of little concern as long as your spend is below the long term CAGR. Don’t confuse standard deviation with permanent loss of capital.

Bam2458

BND is outperforming SPY this year 😆

Excellent_Row8297

Is it bad when BND if outperforms SPX YTD?

Moustachiou

Research ETFs and Index investing , set it and forget it. You are are18 years old, Penny stocks are basically gambling for you!!! that 1845$ could go to zero if fully invested in penny stocks. Look into SCHD ,VTI, VOO, REIT, bonds (BND) and diversify with like international ETF. You can also buy some individual stocks like HOOD, BE, PLTR, RBLX, Apple, Amazon, or Microsoft. Pepsi, KO, Solid business. forget about the bubble , market will adjust and correct eventually..... You could also consider Joby or Archer if you’re interested in emerging technology, but only after doing proper research. They’re still speculative, but way better than whatever you’re doing with penny stocks. For the love of God or the universe, whatever you believe in , sell your penny stocks and invest accordingly. With your high-yield savings account already in place, you can focus this account on growth ETFs and index funds instead.

Excellent_Row8297

I hope SPY hits 700 today for all you regards so you can finally outperform BND on the 1-month chart 🥰

CallMeBao

In my 5 years of having a Roth Ira, my highest yielding stock was IVV, everyday $2 investment, gained me 3x than the other recommended stocks like VOO, BND, VEA, VONG and so and so.

Excellent_Row8297

Don’t stop there, might as well go whole hog into BND

whywires

I recently inherited a brokerage that seems to have some similar assets and would like some feedback. * BBJP + EWJ. These seem pretty close with similar holdings and objectives. What might be the reasoning for owning both? * There are also several bond funds - BND, BNDX, GOVT, VCIT, VTABX. I know a couple of those are international (one being ETF and one mutual fund), but it again seems like some of these are basically going for the same thing. Just curious if anyone has some strong thoughts on this.

a5ehren

If he’d stacked VTI he’d have like 300k instead of -60k. Even if he did a terrible pick like BND he’d have like 150k+dividends

RandomGamer414

Wow how tf did BND perform as well as something like PHYZX junk BOND fund! I’m kinda shocked tbh . Learned something today for sure

RandomGamer414

Did BND make nearly 7% last year because the performance of the chart you linked showed this one did

CmdrChesticle

BND.

FINomad

Ok, what is your AUM fee with EJ and ML? What are the expense ratios of the funds you're in? And what other junk fees are you paying? Any commissions, quarterly fees, etc? Now compare your fees to Vanguard's advisor fees. It would cost you 0.30% for the advisor and they'll probably have you in a mix of VTI/VXUS/BND, which have an expense ratio of .03%/.05%/.03%. My bet is you're paying over 1% AUM and your expense ratios are at least .20%. You shouldn't be paying more than 0.35% combined.

PennyStonkingtonIII

I think BND looking pretty good right now. I bought some MSFT on the way down @ 427. I bought a bit of RDDT at 152. But I’ve been buying SGOV all year and just bought some BND. I think there will be some big volatility between now and midterms. I’m counting on the potus to do something(s) crazy between now and then. But I always like MSFT. That will be one of my targets to try and bottom tick if possible.

Excellent_Row8297

BND etf 😂

Excellent_Row8297

The boomers were right! Holding BND is a good hedge!

Live_Equivalent_6677

>...ESG funds have a track record of poor performance... You got your facts wrong, buddy. Over the lifespan of the funds, ESGV has outperformed VTI, VSGX has outperformed VXUS, and VCEB has outperformed BND. Those are your examples, that you picked. So knock it off with this "poor performance" B.S.

geetarman84

The two I mentioned was to rotate more into growth SCHD to VTI and EPD(mainly to dump a MLP I didn’t need the income from) into VT. My portfolio is all boring ETF’s, VTI/VT/VXUS/SCHD, 6% BND, 6% IAU and maybe 1 or 2% stocks. My trading days are over.

ArthurDent4200

A fifth of your nut in NLR. Not a call I would make, but a bold choice. Hope it doesn't disappoint! Would love to see how each performs this time next year. Unless you are holding the BND as an emergency fund, that is one I would ditch as it is anchoring you with only 4.1% returns. Good luck with your goals.

LotsoPasta

I personally invest in equities and bonds only because of their fundamental value proposition. My primary goal is growth, and interest rates are low relative to expected equity growth, so I'm weighted 90% equity and 10% bonds. Equities produce everything. Ultimately, it's labor that produces value. You need to make assets move for them to get something out of them, and equities are the only thing that does that. I invest in a global market index (VT) because it closely resembles the global value of equities. For the long term, i dont believe strongly in any company, industry, or country (not enough to expect trajectories wont change), but I do believe humans will crack on and continue to progress as a whole one way or another. The value of bonds is contractually defined. They will pay $X dollars over Y years unless the guarentor goes bankrupt. No other asset class has the level of calculable certainty. I invest in a US-based currency bond index fund (BND) because it's the currency I trade in, and I'm not interested in currency risk. BND is as diversified as I can get without taking on risk of other currencies. I also use USFR and GOVT for tax efficiencies and safety associated with US treasuries, and I have a small position in SPHY as BND lacks junk bonds, and it helps balance my weighting back toward corporate bonds given my use of treasury funds. I dont invest in static assets or currencies as they dont have a value-growth proposition. When you invest in other assets, it's pure speculation they will be worth more later. I think they can be valuable as wealth preservers (albeit with a lot of volitility), but my main investment goals are growth.

leaning_on_a_wheel

Ditch BND

Inevitable_Pin7755

Big picture, it’s not crazy, but there’s a lot of overlap and a couple of odd weightings. VTI and SPY overlap heavily. You’re basically doubling down on US large caps without really meaning to. If you want total US, VTI already does that. SPY on top doesn’t add much except concentration. NLR at 18% is pretty aggressive. Nothing wrong with having a thematic bet, but almost a fifth of the portfolio in one niche sector is a lot, especially for money you might need for a house or wedding. That’s the piece that makes this feel riskier than it looks on paper. BND makes sense if your timeline is shorter, but if those big purchases are still several years out, you might be dampening growth more than you need to at 27. Same with IAU, it’s fine as a hedge, just don’t expect it to move the needle much at 4%. If it were me, I’d simplify. Pick VTI or SPY, not both. Keep VXUS for diversification. Decide whether NLR is a conviction play or just an idea, and size it accordingly. The cleaner the portfolio, the easier it is to stick with when markets get rough. Overall it’s not reckless, just a bit cluttered and slightly concentrated in places that don’t line up perfectly with your stated goals.

Equivalent-Loan-7231

Depression and stock volatility can be a bad mix. While VOO generates good returns on average, a bad cycle could deeply affect you. Make it 70/30 VT and BND generates lower returns on average but could be better for your mental well being and beats cash sitting around.

Hooked__On__Chronics

Agreed I think. I don't see a fundamental shift in the case for gold compared to yesterday, but I'm sure looking for it. Dollar is up, equities down, metals way down, BND flat. There is trust in government from elites. My guess is equities will be up big ish tomorrow/after this shakes out. I hope so, I want the rest of my portfolio to make up for the -12% gold dip today. Not an expert.

cjorgensen

I was 100% equities a year ago. Then I moved into an 80/20/20 portfolio. New money has been going into VXUS and BND. I'd like to get my international up to 30% and probably same with bonds. I'm 5-10 years from retirement and can't face a 20% downturn. So I'm moving away from what I see as unstable into what I see as stable. I could be wrong though, so not fully exiting my US positions.

Wenis_Aurelius

If I’m understanding this product correctly, BND’s monthly distributions are backward-looking cash flows affected by coupon timing and MBS payments. Rising BND distributions would mostly reflect higher coupons being locked in after prior rate hikes?

Just_Candle_315

Actually BND's distribution in November 2025 was 3.6% in December it was 5.6% they havent released Feb but if it goes higher than 6 or 7% we will be watching the crash in real time

ChinaWetMarketLover

The thing is - there isn’t any evidence bonds are being dumped. If that were true, we would see reports and the price of bond ETFs like BND would plummet. We see neither.

HotTruth999

Retirees and savers are not going to be wiped out if they invest in a Boglehead way. VTI plus VXUS plus BND work in a weak or strong dollar environment. Wage earners are gonna have to buy American and they’ll be fine. Foreign imports are going to be too expensive with a weaker dollar and tariffs. This is all by design.

helpwithsong2024

You could simplify it by doing: 90% VT (which is roughly 60% US and 40% non-US and includes all caps, large, mid, small) 10% BND

SuperCaptainMan

Cash out, put most of it in BND or SGOV and live off the interest

Kinnins0n

I can hear a GLD vs BND argument. I’ve actually myself shifted my short term reserves to GLD last year and got lucky to see it go +50%. Not sure i’d trust gold to beat bonds over the long tun but it’s an interesting question.

dritu_

Lots of people on this sub say VOO and chill, but volatility is tough to stomach for most new investors. I'd recommend a more balanced portfolio that has gains similar to the S&P 500 but only 1/3 the drawdown depth: * 40% VTI - total US market * 30% DBMF - managed futures fund * 20% GLDM - gold * 10% BND - total US bond market [Backtest](https://testfol.io/?s=c8YmC0gehiy) since 2000 is on par with S&P 500 returns. Underperforms since 2012 of course, but not that much considering. Rebalance via contributions. 97% chance of being up 3 years out (compared to 79% for S&P 500). Basically, this portfolio is a safer way to preserve capital while growing it in any economic environment: high/low inflation and high/low growth. Each asset performs well in some of those environments. Together, they zig when others zag, leading to a strong return while limiting volatility.

Legal-Koala-5590

Yep. I sold all my BND and put more in gold and defensives. None of this shit is good for the US long-term, and even if it is just simple market manipulation I don't want to be holding the bag when the bottom eventually drops out.

BobtheChemist

Given the volatlity of bonds right now (at least government ones), I would move slowly and just shift some stocks to bonds every month or year as you sell winners or rebalance. Corporate might be safer and higher yielding right now. Treasuries might be volatile due to EU countries sellin them now. But having some bonds is a good idea as you get old, maybe also look at AGG, BND, LQD, and other bond etfs or CEFs.

NoRecommendation617

Bonds are no panacea. Take a look at the Vanguard Total Bond Fund (BND). It's down from around $87 to $74 over the last 5 years. However, it pays a 4.3% dividend yield so probably closer to break even over that time given the yield. If you get in a shorter-term bond fund like SGOV you can still get most of the yield without taking the risk of loss that a longer-term bond fund would expose you to.

shane1955

Here are a few things to consider: Step 1: Define Your Investment Policy (IPS) Before buying anything, answer these questions: \-Time Horizon: When do I need this money? (5, 10, 20+ years) \- Risk Tolerance: Can I stomach a 30% drop without panic selling? \-Goals: Retirement? House down payment? Financial independence? For your first year or two: Simple Three Funds    Fund                            Allocation         Purpose Total US Stock (VTI)              60%      US market exposure Total International (VXUS)     25%      Global diversification Total Bond (BND)                   15%     Stability Then make your portfolio in your own style, every investor is different. Best of Luck!

Just_Candle_315

Same, sold BND for a small gain and bought gold last week just before all the other countries started offloading today. Looks like it was a great move on my part.

Redcrux

You have less volatility because 20% of your money is doing nothing but dragging your portfolio for the past 20 years. You'd have the same effect (but better returns) if you put 20% in a HYSA. Even in the worst case of investing the 20% in VTI, that 20% would have gained enough in the past 5 years that you would still have a higher portfolio value after a crash than BND. There's no scenario where bonds magically save your retirement from a crash where another asset couldn't have done better. It's smarter to diversify into other areas or assets that are less affected by the current economic and political headwinds. Or at least ones that are not highly correlated with the market while still gaining each year.

Much_Friendship5497

You're supposed to have a well diversified portfolio that aligns with your risk tolerance and planned retirement date. You can do this with VTI/VXUS/BND, rebalancing yearly.  If you have a long ways to retirement, having no BND could make sense, but you'll need the stomach to not sell in a severe downturn. A bond fund will usually provide for less volatility. You can also adjust the ratio of VTI to VXUS but having a decent sized international component is a must if you want diversification. You could also omit the VTI/VXUS and just hold VT which I believe is around 60% US and 40% Ex-US. I am currently 5-10 years from retirement and have roughly 55/25/20 VTI/VXUS/BND and I sleep well at night. I will add to the BND as I get closer to retirement.

AnyMarzipan6859

I have a slightly different take on this. Rather than dump it all into large cap, I did a lot of research and optimized a similar amount across 5 positions: VTI, VXUS (intl), BND, VBR (small cap) and VWO (emerging markets). Can’t lose long term with this allocation.

MaybeTheDoctor

A broker accounts and you buy either SGOV (t-bills) or BND / FBND (bonds). Emergency funds now get 4% interest and have next day liquidity to cash.

ConcentrateOk523

Wish I never invested in BND and BNDX. Should have stayed 100 percent stocks.

Throwawaymoneytalk19

I have BND and it does what a bond fund is meant to do- not much. About 10% of my portfolio is split between BND and BNDX. The point is that it’s low risk so if everything else is down they should be ok. But they aren’t going to grow much either. 

shane1955

This might help. Step 1: Define Your Investment Policy (IPS) Before buying anything, answer these questions: \-Time Horizon: When do I need this money? (5, 10, 20+ years) \- Risk Tolerance: Can I stomach a 30% drop without panic selling? \-Goals: Retirement? House down payment? Financial independence? The 4 Rules That Never Change  1.          Keep Costs Low — Every 1% in fees costs you \~25% of your wealth over 30 years 2.           Stay Diversified — No single stock should be more than 5% of your portfolio 3.           Rebalance Systematically — Emotions are the enemy; rules are your friend 4.           Know What You Own — If you can’t explain it, you shouldn’t own it “The Simple Three”    Fund                                Allocation                        Purpose Total US Stock (VTI)                  60%      US market exposure Total International (VXUS)      25%      Global diversification Total Bond (BND)                      15%     Stability    \*\*Short-Term Conditions (Next 3–6 Months):\*\* Consider what the economy and markets may look like in the near term—not to time the market, but to plan for volatility and stay disciplined. If you’re uneasy about short-term swings, consider \*\*adding to BND first\*\* to increase stability and reduce the risk of panic-selling. Then, \*\*rotate from BND into equities gradually\*\* (e.g., on a monthly schedule) until you reach your target allocation. This keeps you invested, lowers “all-at-once” timing risk, and maintains a rules-based process.

ConcentrateOk523

BND and BNDX have been dogging it the last ten years.

The_Quibbler

The US is a shitshow with new and potentially volatile developments every waking day? Pardon the snark, but a legit question I have as a total rookie. When BND and BNDX have been dogging it all year, what's a boy to think?

Digital-Doc-777

[https://imgur.com/a/FDBAdZp](https://imgur.com/a/FDBAdZp) If we look at the total return, across 13 years (or so), we can see the performance of VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index), BND (Vanguard Total Bond Market Index), and VTIP (Vanguard Short Term Inflation Protected Index). The stocks will perform much better over the long term. The bonds should be used for current income, once retired.

One_Talk_3410

VT and have a higher portion in BND than usual. 60/40 portfolio. Shift cash to equities on sell offs. Rotate back into bonds and treasuries after recovery, repeat.

MateoHardini

Agree with the others, but you don’t need BND either. You’re 38 and you said you’ve got a 20 year horizon, VTI and VXUS is all you need and maybe pivot to BND when you get closer to your horizon

koushikrish

Thank you for feedback! probably leaning towards VTI, VXUS and BND then!

kiseki1107

VOO and VTI overlap with VTI holding 3000+ US companies and VOO holding only 500+ companies. If you want foreign exposure outside US, then VXUS is a good one. A dividend-focused one would be like SCHD. VGIT, BND, SGOV are all like investing in fixed income/bonds/HYSA so I would put a few percentage there for a safety net. Overall, if your goals are aggressive, I’d put like 50% in either just VOO or VTI. Split the remaining 50% among foreign exposure like VXUS, dividend exposure like SCHD, and fixed-income exposure like VGIT.

pbmadman1994

You have the right idea and simple ETF investing will get you better results than 95%+ of people. Good tax efficiency too. I would avoid overlap though as others have said. Also consider some high yield cash equivalents while stocks are so high. For now I’d go with a stock market portfolio of 40% VTI 20% VT (global) and 40%SGOV until S&P PE for next years earnings is under 20. Then just 75% VTI and 25% VT when market corrects. When you reach 40yo, put 10% of your total portfolio in BND for bonds and increase 1% of your bond portion every birthday. Keep the stock portion with the same weighting. I got this strategy from Brinkeradvisor.com and have been following him with great success and returns for over 30 years.

First_Bother_4177

Keep some percent bonds (BND for example) as there is no guarantee stocks will out perform bonds even over 50 year saving time horizon

DiegoMilan

Lol this reads like some kind of zen koan. To elaborate OP, VTI already contains all the S&P 500 names in VOO plus thousands of mid and small caps, so the overlap is huge and performance ends up almost identical most of the time. All you really do by owning both is add complexity (more tickers to track, messier allocation) without meaningful extra diversification If you want to diversify, go international with an ETF like VXUS, or just go all in on VTI until you get near retirement and allocate some to bonds, I believe the ticker is BND

therossboss

dang, 36% short on BND is wild

Cold-Ear2167

I have BND,BNDX,VTI,and VXUS in etfs

tinydisaster

Serious? Split it in two. Dump 1k into something like vanguard, 1/3 into VT or VTI, 1/6 in BND, 1/6 in GLDM, and leave the remainder in JAAA as a cash like position at 5.48% APY. Ignore it for as long as you can. Have fun with the other 1k. Whatever that means.

Kitchen-Safety4218

Institutional wisdom favors the "Three-Fund Portfolio" for a reason. VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market) VXUS (Vanguard Total International Stock) BND (Vanguard Total Bond Market) Efficiency dictates this VTI, VXUS, and BND allocation. VTI captures the entire domestic engine. VXUS provides the necessary global hedge against a weakening dollar. BND offers the ballast needed when equity volatility spikes. It's the same structural integrity that saved disciplined portfolios during the 1970s stagflation. Which is why sophisticated capital favors this triad. Because simplicity is the highest form of risk management.

SirGlass

>Also what is the maximum amount I should have in a single index? I mean the advise is to be diversified; you do not need to collect a bunch of ETFs to be diversified. Its completely reasonable to have 100% allocation to a broad fund like VT (all world stock fund) Now you would have no bond allocation so if you want bonds to lower risk you would have to add one. However you can have a "Diversified" portfolio simply by holding VT/BND or something

mrdungbeetle

The goal is to eventually simplify it more than it is. Its a work in progress of rebalancing from a riskier and more complex portfolio. For stocks, I wanted to be able to make gradual tweaks to the weighting between megacap, growth, dividends, value, small cap, international etc. I don't have that flexibility with just VT. I don't really like bond funds like BND because you can lose a ton of money if you have to sell it down in a rising interest environment. That hurt me in 2022. Now, anything I plan to sell in the next decade is in bond ladders or iBonds so that I can plan for the face value on a specific maturity date.

One_Talk_3410

Why not just invest in VT/BND to simplify your portfolio. 

SnooConfections5135

Never seen spyi or qqqi I’ll have to check them out thx! BND also has some treasuries within but mixes it up with some corporate and municipal bonds as well if you like a teeny-weeny-lil-bitty risk and variety.

ConcentrateOk523

Not well 15 percent. Own BND, BNDX and VBR.

ConcentrateOk523

In this environment there is nothing to make stocks go down. Any time stocks decline a couple percent they go right back up. April decline lasted like a month. Valuations do not matter. Every analyst is bullish. I wish 2000-2010 was as good as last 10 years. I am 20 percent bonds with BND and BNDX and regret owning them.