Pinwheel Portfolio
The Pinwheel Portfolio is a lazy portfolio created by Tyler from PortfolioCharts.com. It uses all four equally-weighted core asset classes: U.S. stocks, international stocks, bonds, and real estate. Each asset class is then enhanced with a performance tilt to optimize performance and reduce volatility and risk.
Asset Allocation
Performance
Performance Chart
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The earliest data available for this chart is Oct 22, 2012, corresponding to the inception date of IEFA
Returns By Period
As of May 31, 2025, the Pinwheel Portfolio returned 5.59% Year-To-Date and 6.70% of annualized return in the last 10 years.
| YTD | 1M | 6M | 1Y | 5Y* | 10Y* | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
^GSPC S&P 500 | 0.51% | 6.15% | -2.00% | 12.92% | 14.19% | 10.85% |
| Pinwheel Portfolio | 5.59% | 2.74% | 2.15% | 12.97% | 9.07% | 6.70% |
| Portfolio components: | ||||||
VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 0.38% | 6.25% | -2.68% | 13.67% | 15.23% | 12.13% |
IEFA iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | 17.47% | 4.89% | 13.86% | 14.15% | 11.27% | 6.10% |
USRT iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF | 0.22% | 2.23% | -7.25% | 14.31% | 9.28% | 5.86% |
SLYV SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF | -11.44% | 4.48% | -17.55% | -1.50% | 12.23% | 6.67% |
IEMG iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 8.56% | 4.65% | 6.64% | 10.25% | 7.60% | 3.99% |
VGIT Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF | 3.53% | -0.82% | 2.37% | 6.83% | -0.96% | 1.36% |
VGSH Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF | 2.18% | -0.24% | 2.42% | 5.81% | 1.18% | 1.50% |
IAU iShares Gold Trust | 25.55% | -0.02% | 23.70% | 40.51% | 13.46% | 10.41% |
Monthly Returns
The table below presents the monthly returns of Pinwheel 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 | 2.43% | 0.72% | -0.69% | 0.31% | 2.74% | 5.59% | |||||||
| 2024 | -1.60% | 1.89% | 2.88% | -2.86% | 3.24% | 0.75% | 3.98% | 2.18% | 2.25% | -1.84% | 2.32% | -3.25% | 10.01% |
| 2023 | 7.06% | -3.42% | 1.46% | 0.65% | -1.92% | 3.25% | 2.88% | -2.58% | -3.99% | -1.85% | 6.70% | 5.52% | 13.69% |
| 2022 | -3.52% | -0.94% | 0.69% | -4.87% | -0.62% | -5.37% | 4.50% | -3.74% | -7.78% | 3.80% | 6.74% | -2.69% | -13.88% |
| 2021 | 0.39% | 1.93% | 1.95% | 3.23% | 2.14% | -0.10% | 0.55% | 1.23% | -2.99% | 2.98% | -1.64% | 3.39% | 13.66% |
| 2020 | -0.63% | -4.54% | -10.61% | 7.01% | 2.65% | 2.64% | 4.12% | 2.68% | -2.39% | -0.85% | 7.92% | 4.23% | 11.25% |
| 2019 | 6.60% | 1.35% | 0.71% | 1.57% | -2.91% | 4.38% | 0.01% | 0.26% | 1.38% | 2.03% | 0.37% | 2.29% | 19.25% |
| 2018 | 1.97% | -3.72% | 0.54% | 0.13% | 1.18% | -0.11% | 1.25% | 0.61% | -0.87% | -4.46% | 1.83% | -3.90% | -5.71% |
| 2017 | 1.92% | 2.00% | 0.46% | 1.14% | 0.69% | 0.63% | 1.84% | 0.49% | 1.09% | 0.70% | 1.34% | 0.91% | 14.02% |
| 2016 | -2.53% | 0.95% | 5.47% | 0.76% | -0.30% | 2.32% | 3.03% | -0.68% | 0.65% | -2.46% | -0.10% | 1.44% | 8.61% |
| 2015 | 1.35% | 1.35% | -0.31% | 0.36% | 0.00% | -1.85% | -0.11% | -3.80% | -1.24% | 4.52% | -0.75% | -1.12% | -1.81% |
| 2014 | -1.24% | 3.87% | 0.04% | 0.67% | 1.26% | 1.87% | -1.52% | 2.15% | -3.83% | 2.30% | 0.91% | -0.49% | 5.93% |
Expense Ratio
Pinwheel Portfolio has an expense ratio of 0.09%, 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 79, Pinwheel Portfolio is among the top 21% 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 0.68 | 0.98 | 1.14 | 0.63 | 2.36 |
IEFA iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | 0.81 | 1.18 | 1.16 | 0.97 | 2.84 |
USRT iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF | 0.78 | 1.18 | 1.16 | 0.76 | 2.49 |
SLYV SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF | -0.06 | 0.08 | 1.01 | -0.06 | -0.16 |
IEMG iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 0.55 | 0.77 | 1.10 | 0.37 | 1.44 |
VGIT Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF | 1.49 | 2.24 | 1.27 | 0.59 | 3.53 |
VGSH Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF | 3.46 | 5.74 | 1.77 | 6.07 | 16.50 |
IAU iShares Gold Trust | 2.29 | 2.98 | 1.38 | 4.85 | 13.25 |
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Dividends
Dividend yield
Pinwheel Portfolio provided a 2.59% dividend yield over the last twelve months.
| TTM | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | 2.59% | 2.66% | 2.41% | 1.97% | 1.84% | 1.80% | 2.29% | 2.65% | 2.30% | 2.11% | 2.46% | 2.51% |
| Portfolio components: | ||||||||||||
VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 1.29% | 1.27% | 1.44% | 1.67% | 1.21% | 1.42% | 1.78% | 2.04% | 1.71% | 1.92% | 1.98% | 1.76% |
IEFA iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | 2.96% | 3.47% | 3.20% | 2.70% | 3.32% | 1.90% | 3.18% | 3.46% | 2.57% | 2.96% | 2.63% | 3.10% |
USRT iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF | 2.81% | 2.85% | 3.18% | 3.47% | 2.27% | 3.12% | 3.34% | 5.66% | 3.43% | 3.98% | 3.59% | 3.46% |
SLYV SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap Value ETF | 2.62% | 2.30% | 2.11% | 1.47% | 1.94% | 1.40% | 1.66% | 2.14% | 5.53% | 2.18% | 6.55% | 7.50% |
IEMG iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 2.95% | 3.20% | 2.89% | 2.70% | 3.06% | 1.87% | 3.15% | 2.76% | 2.34% | 2.28% | 2.52% | 2.30% |
VGIT Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury ETF | 3.73% | 3.67% | 2.72% | 1.74% | 1.69% | 2.23% | 2.24% | 2.05% | 1.67% | 1.69% | 1.69% | 1.54% |
VGSH Vanguard Short-Term Treasury ETF | 4.17% | 4.19% | 3.32% | 1.15% | 0.66% | 1.75% | 2.28% | 1.79% | 1.10% | 0.84% | 0.71% | 0.46% |
IAU iShares Gold Trust | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% |
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 Pinwheel 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 Pinwheel Portfolio was 23.65%, occurring on Mar 23, 2020. Recovery took 97 trading sessions.
The current Pinwheel Portfolio drawdown is 0.33%.
Depth | Start | To Bottom | Bottom | To Recover | End | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| -23.65% | Feb 21, 2020 | 22 | Mar 23, 2020 | 97 | Aug 10, 2020 | 119 |
| -21.05% | Nov 16, 2021 | 230 | Oct 14, 2022 | 363 | Mar 27, 2024 | 593 |
| -11.53% | Apr 29, 2015 | 184 | Jan 20, 2016 | 108 | Jun 23, 2016 | 292 |
| -11.2% | Jan 29, 2018 | 229 | Dec 24, 2018 | 66 | Apr 1, 2019 | 295 |
| -9.83% | Feb 19, 2025 | 35 | Apr 8, 2025 | 23 | May 12, 2025 | 58 |
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 8 assets, with an effective number of assets of 7.69, reflecting the diversification based on asset allocation. This number of effective assets indicates a moderate level of diversification, where some assets may have a more significant influence on overall performance.
Asset Correlations Table
| ^GSPC | IAU | VGSH | VGIT | USRT | IEMG | SLYV | IEFA | VTI | Portfolio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ^GSPC | 1.00 | 0.00 | -0.13 | -0.17 | 0.58 | 0.69 | 0.76 | 0.79 | 0.99 | 0.85 |
| IAU | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 0.37 | 0.10 | 0.17 | 0.00 | 0.13 | 0.01 | 0.26 |
| VGSH | -0.13 | 0.34 | 1.00 | 0.80 | 0.10 | -0.06 | -0.13 | -0.05 | -0.13 | 0.05 |
| VGIT | -0.17 | 0.37 | 0.80 | 1.00 | 0.12 | -0.10 | -0.18 | -0.10 | -0.17 | 0.02 |
| USRT | 0.58 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 0.12 | 1.00 | 0.42 | 0.57 | 0.51 | 0.59 | 0.74 |
| IEMG | 0.69 | 0.17 | -0.06 | -0.10 | 0.42 | 1.00 | 0.58 | 0.78 | 0.70 | 0.79 |
| SLYV | 0.76 | 0.00 | -0.13 | -0.18 | 0.57 | 0.58 | 1.00 | 0.68 | 0.80 | 0.81 |
| IEFA | 0.79 | 0.13 | -0.05 | -0.10 | 0.51 | 0.78 | 0.68 | 1.00 | 0.80 | 0.87 |
| VTI | 0.99 | 0.01 | -0.13 | -0.17 | 0.59 | 0.70 | 0.80 | 0.80 | 1.00 | 0.87 |
| Portfolio | 0.85 | 0.26 | 0.05 | 0.02 | 0.74 | 0.79 | 0.81 | 0.87 | 0.87 | 1.00 |
AI Insight on Diversification
The portfolio is moderately diversified with a mix of asset classes that exhibit varying degrees of correlation, which impacts overall diversification.
Several positions show high correlations with each other, particularly among the equity-related ETFs: IEFA (developed international equities), VTI (U.S. total stock market), SLYV (small-cap value), and IEMG (emerging markets). Correlations among these range from 0.68 to 0.87, indicating these holdings tend to move together, which reduces diversification benefits within the equity portion of the portfolio.
Conversely, the portfolio benefits from lower correlations between certain bond ETFs (VGSH and VGIT) and gold (IAU) with the equity holdings. For example, IAU (gold) has low to moderate correlations (0.01 to 0.37) with most other positions, providing a diversification buffer. Similarly, VGSH and VGIT (short- and intermediate-term government bonds) have near-zero or slightly negative correlations with equities, which helps reduce overall portfolio volatility.
Looking at the correlation of the portfolio with individual positions, the portfolio is most strongly correlated with the equity ETFs, especially IEFA (0.87), VTI (0.87), and SLYV (0.81). This suggests these positions dominate the portfolio’s risk and return profile. The lower correlations with bonds and gold indicate these assets serve more as diversifiers rather than drivers of portfolio performance.
Overall, while the portfolio includes multiple asset classes, the high correlations among the equity components imply a concentration in equity risk. The presence of bonds and gold improves diversification but does not fully offset the dominance of equities. Therefore, the portfolio is somewhat diversified but leans toward equity concentration, which investors should consider in the context of their risk tolerance and investment goals.