Choosing the right asset mix

At a glance

• Your investment goal, time frame for needing the money, and risk tolerance should determine your target asset mix.
• Each asset class—stocks, bonds, and cash—plays a different role in a balanced portfolio.
• Once you know your target asset mix, you can choose individual investments to hold in your portfolio.

One of Vanguard’s key investment principles is to create clear, appropriate investment goals. For example, your goal may be to save for retirement. That goal, along with your time frame and risk tolerance, determines your target asset allocation—the ideal mix of stocks, bonds, and cash you should hold in your portfolio.

Your target asset mix is like a bull’s-eye: Zero in on it, stay focused, and tune out the distractions so you can reach your goal.

Here’s some information to help you choose your target asset allocation.

Start with your goal, time frame, and risk tolerance

Before you choose a target asset allocation, ask yourself the following questions to determine these 3 things:

1. Your goal.
What am I investing for? Am I saving for retirement or a down payment on a house? It’s possible to have multiple goals, but it may be easier to focus on one at a time.

2. Your time frame.
How much time do I have to invest before I’ll need the money? Consider how you plan to make withdrawals. Will you take all the money at once (to put toward a down payment on a house)? Or can you stretch your withdrawal period over several years (like withdrawing from a retirement account throughout retirement)?

Your time frame affects the amount you’ll need to save to meet your goal. Let’s say you want a $10,000 down payment in 6 years. If you open an account with $100 and earn a 6{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} average annual return, you’ll need to save around $114 a month for 6 years to reach $10,000. All other factors being equal, if you want the same down payment in only 3 years, you’ll have to save over $250 a month.

Note: This hypothetical example does not represent the return on any particular investment and the rate is not guaranteed.

3. Your risk tolerance.
What’s my comfort level with the unknown? Generally, stocks are riskier than bonds, and bonds are riskier than cash.

Your target asset allocation should contain a percentage of stocks, bonds, and cash that adds up to 100{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca}. A portfolio with 90{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} stocks and 10{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} bonds exposes you to more risk—but potentially gives you the opportunity for more return—than a portfolio with 60{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} stocks and 40{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} bonds.

More information: Make a plan to reach your goal

Understand the asset classes Each asset class responds differently to market movement. Holding investments from each one reduces your overall risk, which means your portfolio will be in a better position to weather market ups and downs. The percentage you invest in each asset class may be the most important factor in determining your portfolio’s short- and long-term risks and returns.

Over the long term, you can see how different asset classes (in globally diversified portfolios) have responded to market movement:

100{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} bonds

 
50{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} stocks/50{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} bonds

100{f08ff3a0ad7db12f5b424ba38f473ff67b97b420df338baa81683bbacd458fca} stocks

Notes: When determining which index to use and for what period, we selected the index we deemed to be a fair representation of the characteristics of the referenced market, given the information currently available.

For U.S. stock market returns, we use the Standard & Poor’s 90 Index from 1926 through March 3, 1957; the S&P 500 Index from March 4, 1957, through 1974; the Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index (formerly known as the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Index) from 1975 through April 22, 2005; the MSCI US Broad Market Index from April 23, 2005, through June 2, 2013; and the CRSP US Total Market Index thereafter.

For U.S. bond market returns, we use the S&P High Grade Corporate Index from 1926 through 1968; the Citigroup High Grade Index from 1969 through 1972; the Lehman Brothers U.S. Long Credit AA Index from 1973 through 1975; the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index from 1976 through 2009; and the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted Index thereafter.

For U.S. short-term reserves, we use the Ibbotson U.S. 30-Day Treasury Bill Index from 1926 through 1977 and the Citigroup 3-Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index thereafter.

More information:
What’s a stock?
What’s a bond?
What’s cash?
Vanguard portfolio allocation models

Find your target Our investor questionnaire, which you can complete in about 5 minutes, can help you find an appropriate target asset allocation. Once you have your questionnaire results, you can open an account and choose among individual stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) to build a portfolio that matches your target asset allocation. You can also partner with a financial advisor to create a professionally managed, customized financial plan to help you reach your goals.

More information:
Investor questionnaire
Partner with an advisor
Start with your asset allocation