The Vigorous Value Portfolio – Summary and M1 ETF Pie

I designed the Vigorous Value Portfolio for those wanting to heavily tilt Size and Value. Below are the details on its components and fund selection.

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What Is the Vigorous Value Portfolio?

Based on the current research on asset pricing, most seasoned investors think it's sensible to overweight, or tilt, Emerging Markets stocks, Value stocks (stocks thought to be underpriced relative to their book value), and small stocks relative to their market weights. I designed this aggressive 100% stocks portfolio to do that globally to an extent greater than what is typically seen, while maintaining diversification across cap sizes and geographies. I dubbed it the Vigorous Value Portfolio because it does indeed tilt Value quite vigorously, and because we would expect it to be more volatile than something like 100% VT or the S&P 500.

This portfolio is not unlike Paul Merriman's 4 Fund Portfolio, but this one more meticulously avoids small cap growth stocks and goes beyond U.S. borders. I'll explain these details below.

The Vigorous Value Portfolio looks like this:

15% U.S. Large Cap Stocks
15% U.S. Large Cap Value
30% U.S. Small Cap Value
5% Emerging Markets
5% Emerging Markets Large Cap Value
10% Emerging Markets Small Cap Value
5% Developed Markets (ex-US)
5% Developed Markets (ex-US) Large Cap Value
10% Developed Markets (ex-US) Small Cap Value

This portfolio uses a 60/40 ratio of U.S. to international stocks, 2:1 Value to Growth, roughly 1:1 large caps to small caps, and 1:1 Developed Markets to Emerging Markets. Here's that visualized in the Morningstar X-Ray:

Below I'll explain the reasoning behind each asset and subsequent fund selection in detail. Fund selection was based primarily on factor loading and secondarily on liquidity and fees. They're basically the same funds I laid out in my post on the best Value ETFs across cap sizes and geographies.

U.S. Large Cap Stocks – 15%

The U.S. stock market comprises roughly half of the global stock market. The Value and Size premia have experienced periods of underperformance historically, so part of keeping some large cap growth exposure comes from U.S. large caps, in this case the famous S&P 500 Index – considered a sufficient barometer for “the market” – via Vanguard's VOO. This segment captures household names like Amazon, Apple, Google, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, etc.

Why not use VTI to capture the entire U.S. stock market including some small- and mid-caps? I'll answer that later.

U.S. Large Cap Value – 15%

Though the Value premium has suffered for the decade 2010-2020. there's no legitimate reason to think that it has disappeared. That is, on average, we would still expect Value stocks to outperform Growth stocks over the long term. Interestingly, there have been more 10 year periods where the market delivered a negative premium than 10 year periods where Value delivered a negative premium.

I don’t employ or advise market timing, but AQR maintains that Value is basically the cheapest it’s ever been right now relative to history with the largest valuation spread between Value and Growth, suggesting that now may actually be the worst time to give up on the factor, and that it’s due for a comeback. Value stocks beat Growth stocks in 2021 and 2022, so that comeback may indeed be happening.

For this component I'm suggesting RPV, the Invesco S&P 500 Pure Value ETF. As the name suggests, this fund seeks to track the S&P 500 Pure Value Index. RPV is the best fund I've found for exposure to the Value factor in U.S. large caps; it has much greater exposure than competitors like VLUE, VTV, and IUSV. Conveniently, the fund also delivers positive loading to the Profitability factor.

U.S. Small Cap Value – 30%

I didn't use VTI (total U.S. stock market) here because I want to avoid those pesky small-cap growth stocks which don't tend to pay a risk premium, and because we're getting plenty of purposeful small cap exposure. Even mid-cap growth hasn't beaten large cap blend historically on a risk-adjusted basis. We do get some mid cap exposure from the international indexes, but this portfolio takes a barbell approach for the U.S. stocks, only getting growth exposure in large caps.

Specifically, small cap growth stocks are the worst-performing segment of the market and are considered a “black hole” in investing. The Size factor premium – small stocks beat large stocks – seems to only apply in small cap value. As Cliff Asness from AQR says, “Size matters, if you control your junk.” Basically, if you want to bet on small caps, the evidence suggests to do so in small cap value, preferably while also screening for profitability.

By “risk premium,” I'm referring to the independent sources of risk identified by Fama and French (and others) that we colloquially call “factors.” Examples include Beta, Size, Value, Profitability, Investment, and Momentum. I delved into those details in a separate post that I won't repeat here, but I'll be referring to these factors and their benefits quite a few times below. Though it may sound like magic, the evidence suggests that overweighting these independent risk factors both increases expected returns over the long term and decreases portfolio risk by diversifying the specific sources of that risk, as the factors are lowly correlated to each other and thus show up at different times.

The fund I've chosen for U.S. small value is AVUV from Avantis. Previously, the S&P Small Cap 600 Value index (VIOV, SLYV, IJS) was sort of the gold standard for the U.S. small cap value segment. AVUV, the new kid on the block, has provided some extremely impressive exposure – superior to that of those funds – in its relatively short lifespan thus far. I went into detail about this in a separate “small value showdown” post here. In a nutshell, it has been able to capture smaller, cheaper stocks than its competitors, with convenient exposure to the Profitability factor, all while considering Momentum in its trades.

Small cap stocks only make up about 6% of the market at their market weight, of which small cap value is about half that. Here we're giving small caps room to shine by weighting them equal to large caps.

Emerging Markets Large Cap Value – 5%

Just like in the U.S., we also want to specifically overweight large cap value stocks in Emerging Markets, as the Size and Value premia show up at different times across geographies.

The fund I've chosen for this segment is FNDE from Schwab. Its name is pretty long: Schwab Fundamental Emerging Markets Large Company Index ETF. Its “fundamental” in the name refers to its use of RAFI fundamental factors such as revenue, cash flow, etc. to weed out companies with weak profitability.

Emerging Markets Small Cap Value – 10%

There's currently no ideal fund for this very narrow segment of the global market. In June 2021, Avantis actually filed for an all-cap value fund for Emerging Markets (AVES launched in September, 2021) that'll likely have positive loading on the Size factor. We’ll see what kind of exposure it's able to deliver in the future.

For now, we're using a small cap dividend fund from WisdomTree as a proxy for Value within small caps in Emerging Markets. Don't let this sound discouraging. The fund also screens for strong financials and has appreciable loading across Size, Value, and Profitability. The fund is DGS, the WisdomTree Emerging Markets SmallCap Dividend Fund.

Developed Markets – 5%

Developed Markets refer to developed countries outside the U.S. – Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK, France, Japan, etc.

While Emerging Markets are the better diversifier for U.S. stocks, there's no reason to completely avoid Developed Markets, as there have been years where they outperformed the rest of the world (including the U.S.).

Vanguard offers a low-cost fund called the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF. Its ticker is VEA.

Developed Markets Large Cap Value – 5%

As we did in the U.S., we can overweight large cap value in Developed Markets with EFV, the iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF.

Developed Markets Small Cap Value – 10%

Lastly, we also want to overweight small cap value stocks in Developed Markets.

Avantis recently launched a fund available to retail investors that specifically targets international small cap value in Developed Markets – AVDV.

I know I'm being a bit hypocritical in suggesting the actively-managed AVDV here while refusing to include the actively-managed AVUV for U.S. small value above. I think this case is different because there are far fewer options for ex-US small value. Prior to the launch of AVDV, we were forced to use another dividend fund from WisdomTree (DLS) as a proxy for small cap value in Developed Markets.

AVDV is currently the only fund available to the public that specifically targets Size and Value (and conveniently, Profitability) in ex-US stocks. As a bonus, AVDV is also roughly half the cost of the former option DLS.

Vigorous Value Portfolio – Historical Performance

Some of these funds are pretty new, so I had to use comparable mutual funds in some cases to extend this backtest. The furthest I could get was 2000, going through February 2021:

Here are the annual returns:

Here are the rolling returns:

Keep in mind the Size and Value premia and international stocks suffered for the decade 2010-2020, otherwise I think the differences in performance metrics would have been even greater.

Vigorous Value Portfolio Pie for M1 Finance

So putting all the funds together, the resulting Vigorous Value Portfolio looks like this:

• VOO – 15%
• RPV – 15%
• AVUV – 30%
• VWO – 5%
• FNDE – 5%
• DGS – 10%
• VEA – 5%
• EFV – 5%
• AVDV – 10%

You can add this pie to your portfolio on M1 Finance by clicking this link and then clicking “Save to my account.”

Canadians can find the above ETFs on Questrade or Interactive Brokers. Investors outside North America can use eToro or possibly Interactive Brokers.

Don't want to do all this investing stuff yourself or feel overwhelmed? Check out my flat-fee-only fiduciary friends over at Advisor.com.

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Questions, comments, concerns, criticisms? Let me know in the comments.

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Disclosure: I am long VOO, AVUV, VEA, DGS, VWO, and AVDV in my own portfolio.

Interested in more Lazy Portfolios? See the full list here.

Disclaimer:  While I love diving into investing-related data and playing around with backtests, this is not financial advice, investing advice, or tax advice. The information on this website is for informational, educational, and entertainment 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. I always attempt to ensure the accuracy of information presented but that accuracy cannot be guaranteed. Do your own due diligence. I mention M1 Finance a lot around here. M1 does not provide investment advice, and this is not an offer or solicitation of an offer, or advice to buy or sell any security, and you are encouraged to consult your personal investment, legal, and tax advisors. All examples above are hypothetical, do not reflect any specific investments, are for informational purposes only, and should not be considered an offer to buy or sell any products. All investing involves risk, including the risk of losing the money you invest. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Opinions are my own and do not represent those of other parties mentioned. Read my lengthier disclaimer here.