Conservative Portfolio
This conservative portfolio consists of four ETFs, diversified across domestic and international equity and bond markets. It emphasizes capital preservation and income generation with a higher allocation to bonds (60%) than equities (40%). Exposure to domestic and international assets offers diversification benefits, while the relatively lower allocation to equities reduces overall risk and volatility. This portfolio is suitable for risk-averse investors seeking modest growth and income over the long term.
Asset Allocation
| Position | Category/Sector | Target Weight |
|---|---|---|
BND Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | Total Bond Market | 48% |
IGOV iShares International Treasury Bond ETF | International Government Bonds | 12% |
VEA Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF | Foreign Large Cap Equities | 14% |
VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | Large Cap Growth Equities | 26% |
Performance
Performance Chart
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The earliest data available for this chart is Jan 29, 2009, corresponding to the inception date of IGOV
Returns By Period
As of May 11, 2025, the Conservative Portfolio returned 2.78% Year-To-Date and 4.75% of annualized return in the last 10 years.
| YTD | 1M | 6M | 1Y | 5Y* | 10Y* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
^GSPC S&P 500 | -3.77% | 7.44% | -5.60% | 8.37% | 14.12% | 10.46% |
| Conservative Portfolio | 2.78% | 4.27% | 0.88% | 7.51% | 4.89% | 4.75% |
| Portfolio components: | ||||||
VEA Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF | 12.77% | 11.62% | 8.93% | 10.01% | 11.74% | 5.66% |
IGOV iShares International Treasury Bond ETF | 7.70% | 1.75% | 4.23% | 6.96% | -3.19% | -0.89% |
BND Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | 2.21% | 0.98% | 1.19% | 5.53% | -0.78% | 1.51% |
VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | -3.75% | 7.98% | -5.68% | 9.17% | 15.27% | 11.77% |
Monthly Returns
The table below presents the monthly returns of Conservative Portfolio, with color gradation from worst to best to easily spot seasonal factors. Returns are adjusted for dividends.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1.75% | 0.94% | -1.31% | 1.31% | 0.09% | 2.78% | |||||||
| 2024 | -0.34% | 1.00% | 1.84% | -3.17% | 2.88% | 0.91% | 2.45% | 2.00% | 1.53% | -2.57% | 2.35% | -2.54% | 6.27% |
| 2023 | 5.09% | -3.04% | 2.91% | 0.99% | -1.33% | 2.41% | 1.36% | -1.63% | -3.50% | -2.03% | 6.61% | 4.56% | 12.47% |
| 2022 | -3.42% | -1.72% | -0.90% | -6.13% | 0.57% | -4.72% | 4.61% | -3.92% | -6.60% | 2.49% | 5.87% | -2.48% | -15.95% |
| 2021 | -0.79% | 0.10% | 0.48% | 2.36% | 0.82% | 0.70% | 1.30% | 0.73% | -2.45% | 2.15% | -1.01% | 1.30% | 5.75% |
| 2020 | 0.63% | -2.29% | -6.38% | 5.83% | 2.71% | 1.58% | 3.14% | 2.20% | -1.42% | -1.25% | 5.90% | 2.40% | 13.09% |
| 2019 | 3.97% | 1.14% | 1.46% | 1.32% | -1.44% | 3.57% | 0.00% | 0.76% | 0.43% | 1.24% | 0.96% | 1.30% | 15.63% |
| 2018 | 1.73% | -2.31% | -0.05% | -0.41% | 0.61% | -0.09% | 1.10% | 0.89% | -0.20% | -3.72% | 0.95% | -1.88% | -3.48% |
| 2017 | 1.25% | 1.40% | 0.49% | 1.18% | 1.36% | 0.44% | 1.47% | 0.58% | 0.60% | 0.68% | 1.07% | 0.90% | 12.04% |
| 2016 | -1.53% | 0.39% | 3.61% | 0.89% | 0.12% | 1.13% | 2.07% | -0.18% | 0.43% | -1.87% | -0.89% | 0.96% | 5.13% |
| 2015 | 0.21% | 1.56% | -0.41% | 0.81% | -0.34% | -1.45% | 1.08% | -2.66% | -0.74% | 3.00% | -0.42% | -0.79% | -0.27% |
| 2014 | -0.75% | 2.53% | 0.03% | 0.79% | 1.30% | 1.02% | -1.15% | 1.68% | -1.90% | 0.93% | 0.98% | -0.60% | 4.88% |
Expense Ratio
Conservative Portfolio has an expense ratio of 0.07%, which is considered low. Below, you can find the expense ratios of the portfolio's funds side by side and easily compare their relative costs.
Risk-Adjusted Performance
Risk-Adjusted Performance Rank
With an overall rank of 77, Conservative Portfolio is among the top 23% of portfolios on our website when it comes to balancing risk and reward. Below is a breakdown of how it compares using common performance measures.
Risk-Adjusted Performance Indicators
This table presents a comparison of risk-adjusted performance metrics for positions. Risk-adjusted metrics are performance indicators that assess an investment's returns in relation to its risk, enabling a more accurate comparison of different investment options.
| Sharpe ratio | Sortino ratio | Omega ratio | Calmar ratio | Martin ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VEA Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF | 0.59 | 1.00 | 1.13 | 0.80 | 2.42 |
IGOV iShares International Treasury Bond ETF | 0.72 | 1.11 | 1.13 | 0.20 | 1.41 |
BND Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | 1.00 | 1.45 | 1.17 | 0.42 | 2.54 |
VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 0.47 | 0.83 | 1.12 | 0.51 | 1.94 |
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Dividends
Dividend yield
Conservative Portfolio provided a 2.63% dividend yield over the last twelve months.
| TTM | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | 2.63% | 2.63% | 2.30% | 2.10% | 1.75% | 1.72% | 2.22% | 2.39% | 2.08% | 2.22% | 2.19% | 2.46% |
| Portfolio components: | ||||||||||||
VEA Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF | 2.91% | 3.36% | 3.16% | 2.91% | 3.16% | 2.04% | 3.04% | 3.35% | 2.77% | 3.05% | 2.92% | 3.68% |
IGOV iShares International Treasury Bond ETF | 0.55% | 0.59% | 0.00% | 0.11% | 0.39% | 0.00% | 0.24% | 0.31% | 0.19% | 0.69% | 0.22% | 1.28% |
BND Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | 3.75% | 3.67% | 3.09% | 2.60% | 1.97% | 2.22% | 2.72% | 2.81% | 2.54% | 2.51% | 2.57% | 2.79% |
VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 1.35% | 1.27% | 1.44% | 1.67% | 1.21% | 1.42% | 1.78% | 2.04% | 1.71% | 1.92% | 1.98% | 1.76% |
Drawdowns
Drawdowns Chart
The Drawdowns chart displays portfolio losses from any high point along the way. Drawdowns are calculated considering price movements and all distributions paid, if any.
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Worst Drawdowns
The table below displays the maximum drawdowns of the Conservative Portfolio. A maximum drawdown is a measure of risk, indicating the largest reduction in portfolio value due to a series of losing trades.
The maximum drawdown for the Conservative Portfolio was 22.18%, occurring on Oct 14, 2022. Recovery took 462 trading sessions.
The current Conservative Portfolio drawdown is 0.36%.
Depth | Start | To Bottom | Bottom | To Recover | End | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -22.18% | Nov 10, 2021 | 234 | Oct 14, 2022 | 462 | Aug 19, 2024 | 696 |
| -15.68% | Feb 20, 2020 | 20 | Mar 18, 2020 | 55 | Jun 5, 2020 | 75 |
| -9.93% | Feb 10, 2009 | 19 | Mar 9, 2009 | 23 | Apr 9, 2009 | 42 |
| -8.07% | Jan 29, 2018 | 229 | Dec 24, 2018 | 58 | Mar 20, 2019 | 287 |
| -7.26% | Jul 25, 2011 | 50 | Oct 3, 2011 | 83 | Feb 1, 2012 | 133 |
Volatility
Volatility Chart
The chart below shows the rolling one-month volatility.
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Diversification
Diversification Metrics
Number of Effective Assets
The portfolio contains 4 assets, with an effective number of assets of 3.01, reflecting the diversification based on asset allocation. This number of effective assets suggests a highly concentrated portfolio, where a few assets dominate the allocation, potentially increasing the portfolio's risk due to lack of diversification.
Asset Correlations Table
| ^GSPC | BND | IGOV | VTI | VEA | Portfolio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ^GSPC | 1.00 | -0.13 | 0.13 | 0.99 | 0.83 | 0.86 |
| BND | -0.13 | 1.00 | 0.44 | -0.12 | -0.08 | 0.22 |
| IGOV | 0.13 | 0.44 | 1.00 | 0.13 | 0.33 | 0.47 |
| VTI | 0.99 | -0.12 | 0.13 | 1.00 | 0.83 | 0.87 |
| VEA | 0.83 | -0.08 | 0.33 | 0.83 | 1.00 | 0.88 |
| Portfolio | 0.86 | 0.22 | 0.47 | 0.87 | 0.88 | 1.00 |
AI Insight on Diversification
The portfolio is moderately diversified with a blend of fixed income and equity positions showing varying degrees of correlation. The bond ETFs BND and IGOV have a moderate positive correlation of 0.44, indicating some overlap in fixed income exposure but not excessively so. The equity ETFs VTI and VEA are highly correlated at 0.83, suggesting that these two equity positions move closely together and may reduce diversification benefits within the equity sleeve.
Notably, the correlations between bonds and equities are low to slightly negative (e.g., BND with VTI at -0.12 and BND with VEA at -0.08), which supports diversification by reducing overall portfolio volatility. IGOV has a moderate positive correlation with equities (0.13 with VTI and 0.33 with VEA), which slightly reduces the diversification benefit compared to BND.
Looking at the portfolio’s correlation with individual positions, it is strongly correlated with the equity ETFs (0.87 with VTI and 0.88 with VEA), indicating that equities dominate the portfolio’s behavior. The portfolio’s correlation with bonds is lower (0.22 with BND and 0.47 with IGOV), reflecting that fixed income plays a smaller but still meaningful role in the portfolio’s overall risk and return profile.
In summary, the portfolio is not highly concentrated but leans toward equity dominance, with two equity positions that are strongly correlated and thus somewhat limit diversification within the equity portion. The inclusion of bonds with low or negative correlations to equities enhances diversification, but the moderate correlation between the two bond ETFs slightly reduces this benefit. Overall, the portfolio achieves a reasonable balance but could improve diversification by reducing the high correlation between the two equity ETFs or by adding assets with lower correlations to the existing positions.