Strategy
Balanced
An alternative to the classic 60/40 portfolio. 46% is in stocks. The rest does not rely on bonds alone: it is spread across Treasuries, cash, commodities, gold, trend following and an anti-beta hedge. Built to grow like 60/40 and fall less, including when stocks and bonds fall together.
Ten years to Oct 15, 2026, after trading costs. Beta: how much the portfolio moves when the S&P 500 moves by 1. A 60/40 portfolio (60% S&P 500, 40% Treasuries) is shown for comparison.
What it holds
Weights are fixed. At the start of every quarter each holding is traded back to its exact target weight.
Technology
15%The growth engine: the technology companies of the S&P 500, from chips to software.
US technology
The growth engine: the technology companies of the S&P 500
Diversifying equities
31%Stocks chosen to behave differently from technology, so that equity returns do not hang on one sector.
US dividend companies
Strong balance sheets, steady dividends, little technology
US health care
Demand that does not follow the economic cycle
Quality dividend growth
Profitable companies that keep raising their dividends
US utilities
Steady, regulated earnings; sensitive to interest rates
S&P 500 equal weight
All 500 companies at the same weight: breadth beyond the largest names
Bonds and cash
18%Income and stability. Treasuries also cushion a growth scare, though not an inflation shock.
US Treasuries 7–10 years
Gains when growth fears pull yields down; loses in inflation shocks
Short-term high yield
Income from short-dated corporate bonds
Treasury bills (cash)
Stability, and funds for rebalancing
Commodities
17%A broad commodity fund and gold: protection against inflation and a weaker dollar.
Broad commodities
Protection when inflation rises
Gold
Protection against a weaker dollar and a loss of trust in policy
Trend and hedges
19%Strategies that can gain while stocks fall: trend following and an anti-beta fund.
Trend following (managed futures)
Gains in long bear markets and inflation shocks; loses in sudden reversals
Anti-beta (market neutral)
Gains when the riskiest stocks fall hardest
Performance
One continuous portfolio since 2007, sliced to the window you pick. Returns count every day of the window, from the close before its first day.
From the Oct 14, 2016 close to the Oct 15, 2026 close · 2,513 trading days. Chart points are weekly closes; statistics use every trading day.
| Total return | Annual return | Volatility | Max drawdown | Sharpe ratio | Turnover a year | Trading costs a year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balanced | +202.97% | 11.72% | 9.35% | −18.84% | 0.98 | 20% | 0.04% |
| 60/40 | +154.24% | 9.78% | 10.58% | −21.30% | 0.71 | 15% | 0.03% |
| S&P 500 | +324.34% | 15.55% | 17.95% | −33.70% | 0.77 | 0% | 0.00% |
Across horizons
Long histories use monthly data and, before some funds existed, labelled proxies and models (see Methodology).
| 10 years | Since 2008 | 1999–2026 (monthly) | 2000–02 dot-com crash | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | Max drawdown | Return | Max drawdown | Return | Max drawdown | Max drawdown | |
| Balanced | 11.7% | −19% | 8.5% | −30% | 8.0% | −27% | −17% |
| 60/40 | 9.8% | −21% | 8.4% | −31% | 7.1% | −29% | −20% |
| S&P 500 | 15.5% | −34% | 11.3% | −52% | 8.7% | −51% | −45% |
In sell-offs
Smaller falls, even when bonds fail
A 60/40 portfolio is protected only while bonds rise as stocks fall. Balanced shares that job between Treasuries, commodities, trend following, gold and cash. Since 2007 the S&P 500 has dropped sharply 13 times.
- 13 of 13
- sell-offs in which Balanced fell less than the S&P 500
- 45%
- of the S&P 500's combined fall. A 60/40 portfolio took 57%
- −5% vs −21%
- Balanced against 60/40 in 2022, when bonds fell with stocks
When Treasuries rallied, in 2010, 2011 and 2020, a 60/40 portfolio held up as well or slightly better. When bonds fell together with stocks, in 2022, 2023 and early 2026, 60/40 had nothing else to lean on. Balanced did.
Every fall of 10% or more in the S&P 500
Smaller, recent scares
Change in value, dividends included, between the S&P 500's closing high and closing low in each sell-off. In the 2026 momentum and AI-chip crash the dates are the semiconductor index's high and low.
Compare and test
Put it next to the other strategy, or change the weights yourself in the constructor: the same engine, costs and data.