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Lazy Portfolios and Their ETF Pies for M1 Finance

Last Updated: March 19, 2021 23 Comments – 2 min. read

The term “lazy portfolio” refers to a portfolio designed to perform well in most market conditions, that can be held for an extended period without changing the asset allocation leading up to retirement. Popular examples are the traditional 60/40 Portfolio and the Bogleheads 3 Fund Portfolio.

Disclosure:  Some of the links on this page are referral links. At no additional cost to you, if you choose to make a purchase or sign up for a service after clicking through those links, I may receive a small commission. This allows me to continue producing high-quality, ad-free content on this site and pays for the occasional cup of coffee. I have first-hand experience with every product or service I recommend, and I recommend them because I genuinely believe they are useful, not because of the commission I get if you decide to purchase through my links. Read more here.

Lazy portfolios are usually simple, diversified collections of low-cost index funds; no active management, market timing, or stock picking here. Jack Bogle, founder of Vanguard and considered the father of index investing, advocated for the “majesty of simplicity.” In this case, “lazy” isn’t a bad thing.

Lazy portfolios arguably take index investing even further, taking the guesswork and complexity out of investing, allowing the investor to truly be “lazy” in their investing approach by eliminating the need to choose funds and the allocations thereof; the investor need only occasionally rebalance their lazy portfolio. This saves the investor time and alleviates potential stress and cognitive dissonance related to investing strategies. As such, they’re perfect for the long-term buy-and-hold investor who wants to be hands-off.

Below is an ever-evolving list of popular lazy portfolios, with links to my usually-brief analysis/review of each and the corresponding pie of ETF’s to use with M1 Finance. Whenever possible, I’m usually using low-cost Vanguard funds, or whichever provider has the lowest fees with sufficient AUM. Similarly, when a particular risk factor is targeted, I’ve selected the fund with a favorable balance of factor loading, fees, and volume. I try to review these regularly as new funds emerge that may be a superior choice.

In most cases of US-only equities, I’ve also created a global version to capture international stocks for those wanting more diversification.

Comment or email to request a lazy portfolio that I may have missed or haven’t seen yet.

List of Lazy Portfolios

  1. Ginger Ale Portfolio (my own portfolio)
  2. Vigorous Value Portfolio (my design)
  3. Ray Dalio All Weather Portfolio (review here)
    1. All Weather Portfolio with Utilities
    2. Risk Parity All Weather Portfolio with Utilities
    3. Global All Weather Portfolio
    4. 3x Leveraged All Weather Portfolio with Utilities
    5. 3x Leveraged Risk Parity All Weather Portfolio with Utilities
  4. Golden Butterfly Portfolio (review here)
    1. Global Golden Butterfly Portfolio
    2. Modified Golden Butterfly Portfolio
  5. Harry Browne’s Permanent Portfolio (review here)
    1. Global Permanent Portfolio
    2. Leveraged Permanent Portfolio
  6. David Swensen Portfolio (review here)
  7. Bogleheads 3 Fund Portfolio (80/20; review here)
    1. Bogleheads 3 Fund Portfolio with Intermediate Treasury Bonds
    2. Bogleheads 3 Fund Portfolio with Long-Term Treasury Bonds
  8. Bogleheads 4 Fund Portfolio (80/20; review here)
  9. 60/40 Portfolio (review here)
    1. Global 60/40 Portfolio
  10. Meb Faber Ivy Portfolio (review here)
  11. Bernstein No Brainer Portfolio (review here)
  12. Ben Felix Model Portfolio (review here)
  13. Frank Armstrong Ideal Index Portfolio (review here)
  14. Bob Clyatt Sandwich Portfolio (review here)
  15. Pinwheel Portfolio (review here)
  16. Bill Schultheis Coffeehouse Portfolio (review here)
  17. Warren Buffett Portfolio (review here)
  18. John’s High Dividend Pie
  19. Paul Farrell Second Grader’s Starter Portfolio (review here)
  20. Larry Swedroe Portfolio (review here)
  21. Tim Maurer Simple Money Portfolio (review here)
  22. Rick Ferri Core 4 Portfolio (review here)
  23. JL Collins Simple Path to Wealth Portfolio
  24. Craig Israelsen 7Twelve Portfolio (review here)
  25. Paul Merriman 4 Fund Portfolio
  26. Paul Merriman Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio (review here)
    1. Modified 80/20 Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio
  27. Roger Gibson 5 Asset Portfolio (review here)
  28. Roger Gibson Talmud Portfolio (review here)
    1. Global Talmud Portfolio
  29. Gyroscopic Investing Desert Portfolio (review here)
    1. Global Desert Portfolio
  30. Scott Burns Couch Potato Portfolio (review here)
    1. Global Couch Potato Portfolio
  31. Scott Burns Margarita Portfolio
  32. Alexander Green’s Gone Fishin’ Portfolio (review here)
    1. Modified Gone Fishin’ Portfolio
  33. Hedgefundie’s Excellent Adventure 55/45 (not “lazy,” I know; review here)
    1. Hedgefundie’s Excellent Risk Parity Adventure
    2. MotoTrojan’s 43/57 UPRO/EDV Variant

Disclaimer:  While I love diving into investing-related data and playing around with backtests, I am in no way a certified expert. I have no formal financial education. I am not a financial advisor, portfolio manager, or accountant. This is not financial advice, investing advice, or tax advice. The information on this website is for informational and recreational purposes only. Investment products discussed (ETFs, mutual funds, etc.) are for illustrative purposes only. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or otherwise transact in any of the products mentioned. Do your own due diligence. Past performance does not guarantee future returns. Read my lengthier disclaimer here.

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  • The 6 Best Index Funds for Beginners for Long-Term Growth

About John Williamson

Analytical and entrepreneurial-minded data nerd, usability enthusiast, Boglehead, and Oxford comma advocate. I lead the Paid Search marketing efforts at Gild Group. I'm not a big fan of social media, but you can find me on LinkedIn and Reddit.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kris says

    April 15, 2021 at 8:41 am

    Hi John,

    just a quick table comparing all strategies would be a gift from heaven.

    Thank you!
    Kris

    Reply
  2. Kris says

    April 14, 2021 at 10:20 am

    Hi John,
    as you know, european users don’t have direct access to the ETF’s mentioned. Several times you mention as a solution to look at etoro. Now it seems they are changing their regulations (US ETF’s are being sold as CFD’s):

    “From time to time as a global business, it is necessary to modify or restrict the services we offer in certain countries. From 18 April 2021, it will no longer be possible for eToro users residing in Belgium to open new CFD positions or to start copying anyone who resides outside Belgium. CopyPortfolios which include CFDs will also not be available. ”

    Wisdomtree does have a good offer of EU available products and about 90% of the ones you mention can be found here. Of course they don’t have the same volume and some funds are really small. Personally, I didn’t care too much as for an ETF the volume should not affect the price. However, I see you take the AUM in calculation for your selection.

    Here is the list with ETP’s. Maybe it can help someone. I also wonder about your opinion about their offer:
    https://www.wisdomtree.eu/nl-be/-/media/eu-media-files/other-documents/product-list/etf-product-list.pdf

    Cheers

    Reply
  3. El Ruliano says

    March 20, 2021 at 3:39 am

    If you were to build a lazy portfolio with an initial amount that you don’t plan to replenish much over time (10-15 years), how would you invest the initial amount? wait for a large correction and invest all in once? wait for individual dips and invest within 1 year 3 to 4 times?

    Except for some commodities, stocks are at an all-time high and without being able to use dollar-cost averaging over a long period of time, I fear a large correction within the first year or two would reduce my returns prospects over the long-term goals.

    Reply
    • John Williamson says

      March 20, 2021 at 10:30 am

      I’d put it all in the market ASAP, which is what I do at the beginning of each year to max out my IRA and HSA. Lump sum beats DCA on average. A small handful of days are responsible for most of the market’s gains for the entire year. Don’t miss out on those by waiting around for a correction that may never come. This is why holding dry powder is not a good idea. Time in the market beats timing the market.

      The longer you extend the DCA period, the worse the results are. If I were to do it, I wouldn’t DCA over a period longer than 3 months.

      Reply
  4. Matt says

    March 12, 2021 at 9:28 pm

    I commented a little bit ago about doing an analysis on the Marotta’s Gone-Fishing Portfolio. I thought of a couple of other lazy portfolios if you wanted a comprehensive list. Dave Ramsey’s portfolio of 25% Growth and Income 25% Growth 25% Aggressive Growth 25% International and the wealthfront/betterment portfolio https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcgerstein/2016/01/16/evaluating-the-wealthfront-and-betterment-portfolios/?sh=1e5803321f34

    Reply
    • John Williamson says

      March 13, 2021 at 1:53 pm

      Thanks for the suggestions, Matt! Will try to get on these soon.

      Reply
    • John Williamson says

      March 14, 2021 at 9:30 pm

      Matt, just finished the Gone Fishin’ Portfolio. It was both fun and frustrating.

      Reply
  5. Daniel Cifuentes says

    February 27, 2021 at 12:14 pm

    Hello John. I’ve been just found your site and love it.

    Is there a way to compare all these with S&P500? Or make a comparison between them? For example, to make it easier, Bogleheads 2 vs 3 fund? Maybe one of them vs All Weather? All Weather vs Buffet’s? Or most important, “my fund” vs any of these?

    Reply
    • John Williamson says

      February 27, 2021 at 10:54 pm

      Thanks Daniel! Glad you’re liking it. I usually compare each one to the S&P 500 in each individual post. No way to do them all at once that I can think of. You can do 3 at a time plus the S&P 500 in Portfolio Visualizer. Other tools may allow you to compare more simultaneously; I’m not sure.

      But yes you can take any portfolios/funds and put them in Portfolio Visualizer to view the historical data.

      Reply
    • Matt J says

      March 12, 2021 at 7:17 pm

      A lazy portfolio that I’d be interested in seeing is Marotta’s Gone-Fishing Portfolio (https://www.marottaonmoney.com/category/gone-fishing/) if you have the chance.

      I just started reading some of your analyses and I love the attention to detail and seeing a third party put some of these guys’ “secret sauce” portfolios through their paces.

      Reply
      • John Williamson says

        March 13, 2021 at 1:53 pm

        Thanks Matt. I remember glancing at this one a while back and I think I couldn’t find a definitive asset allocation that spelled it out. I believe I found multiple different ones claiming to be the “Gone Fishing Portfolio.” I’ll revisit it and let you know.

        Reply
  6. Juan Cepeda says

    February 20, 2021 at 12:30 pm

    Hello and thank you so much for your work ! I need to ask, what would be your recomendation for a young man (25 years old) who want to invest his money on a lazy etf portfolio for about 40 years? Thank you so much

    Reply
    • John Williamson says

      February 20, 2021 at 1:35 pm

      Hey Juan, I can’t make personalized recommendations but the most popular lazy portfolio is the Bogleheads 3 Fund. Your choice will depend on your personal risk tolerance. Others like the All Weather Portfolio and the Golden Butterfly Portfolio use more diversification to lower volatility and risk. The Paul Merriman Ultimate Buy and Hold and the Ben Felix Factor Portfolio are some of my favorites that pretty closely resemble my own portfolio.

      Reply
  7. Elizalde says

    December 22, 2020 at 4:35 pm

    Hey, thank you for your very good job, I’d like to know how do you simulate a leveraged etf with portfoliovisualizer, have you an article wich talks about that ? Send me it please.

    Reply
    • John Williamson says

      January 22, 2021 at 11:58 pm

      Hi, for some of them I created my own simulation data. For a quick and dirty way to do it, you can set a position at the leveraged percentage and use a negative cash position with CASHX.

      Reply
      • Daniel says

        February 27, 2021 at 9:52 pm

        What is the process to generate one’s own simulation data? Is there any resources you could link to for learning that?

        Thanks in advance!

        Reply
        • John Williamson says

          February 27, 2021 at 10:52 pm

          Basically, locate a mutual fund equivalent and download the historical returns from Yahoo Finance and then upload that to Portfolio Visualizer.

          Reply
  8. Barb says

    July 13, 2020 at 8:22 am

    Hi John! I am really enjoying your blog so far. I started getting into M1 investing and was wondering what advice you would have for someone in their mid 30’s? I like the idea of a lazy pie that I do not need to maintain or switch up but I can afford to be a little risky. If you have a specific blog post you can direct me to I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

    Reply
    • John Williamson says

      July 14, 2020 at 12:14 pm

      Hey Barb. Glad you’re enjoying it!

      That’s a simple question with a not so simple answer. I don’t really have a post where I’ve compared a lot of these at once. I did write a comment here that may give you some insight where someone asked which lazy portfolios were my favorites.

      Since you mentioned being able to afford some risk, I’d probably go with an 80/20 asset allocation of stocks to bonds. You might like the long-term treasury version of the Bogleheads 3-Fund Portfolio or my modified 80/20 version of the Paul Merriman Ultimate Buy & Hold Portfolio. Both of those versions appear at the very end of the blog posts.

      Hope this helps!

      Reply
  9. Rob says

    June 29, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    Which portfolio(s) would you recommend at various points throughout an investor’s life? The common thought is being heavy stocks when young, and rebalancing toward bonds as one ages. What about taking the same approach to portfolio? Maybe start Butterfly and slowly drift toward All Weather when one gets into their 50’s or 60’s?

    Reply
    • John Williamson says

      June 29, 2020 at 9:22 pm

      Hey Rob,

      Thanks for your comment. The entire purpose of “lazy portfolios” is to not have to adjust them over your investing horizon. The Golden Butterfly and All Weather are very similar. If you want to gradually move more into bonds as time goes by (I support that idea) then I’d go with the Bogleheads 3 Fund or Bogleheads 4 Fund and adjust the allocations accordingly.

      Reply
  10. Tom says

    June 19, 2020 at 2:09 pm

    Is there one place where all these portfolios are compared? I’m retired and have a low risk tolerance but also want to choose the best one for safety and returns. Do you have any favorites?

    Reply
    • John Williamson says

      June 21, 2020 at 1:16 pm

      Hey Tom,

      No I haven’t compared them all anywhere here. You can see their historical returns at lazyportfolioetf.com.

      It’s hard to pick a favorite as they’re appropriate for different time horizons in some cases. In your case I’d probably choose the All Weather Portfolio.

      Reply

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