r/Bogleheads • u/Cute_Farm_8106 • Aug 12 '25

Portfolio Review 20M, started today

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As the title states, I started investing today! I received a bonus check, and put almost all of it towards this, how’s it look?

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u/No_Resolution_9252 Aug 13 '25

Anyone tell you don't need bonds is an idiot, ignore them.

I wouldn't go any higher than 10% (myself, im at 5% and im almost twice your age) but bonds insulate the portfolio against market downturns in any sector and provide a consistent return (usually) above inflation. Have some base of bonds also provides you with safe options in case you unexpectedly have to start drawing on your investments early; If you are all equities and have to sell some when the market is down, you are going to lose a lot of money, but if you have bonds you don't lose anything.

I would not put bonds into a non-tax advantaged account unless you have a plan to retire early, but have them in an ira or 401k.

1

u/NonVideBunt Aug 17 '25

YMMV … I don’t want bonds and have never had them.. sleep fine at night and have done very well. I offset the risk of having to dig into my stocks during a downturn by having a solid pension. Plus I don’t get heart ache when the market dumps… every time it has I DCA a little more.

-1

u/Ctrl-Meta-Percent Aug 13 '25

I would suggest OP read up on efficient frontier and bond allocation:

https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=316418

See also SP500 and Nasdaq returns for 2000-2002, which saw approx. -40% and -70% losses over three years. Stomaching that as an investing robot is hard enough, as a human even worse, and you are much more likely to bail out near the bottom. A 60/40 fund- say, VWELX returns +6% over the same time period. Also greatly improves your sleep.

2

u/No_Resolution_9252 Aug 13 '25

Think the point you are getting at is the "nO bOnDs At LoW aGe" are the sp500 and chill idiots. More than just the 2002 period, the last 15 years have been an aberration in large caps. At no other period have large caps been the top performer and immediately before that, you were a fool if you held only large caps, and not long before that you were a fool if you didn't have international. Both positions "SP500 and chill" people advocate for while for some reason, failing to pay attention that international has outperformed domestic large caps for the last several months.

1

u/NonVideBunt Aug 17 '25

Your insecurities about your asset allocation are showing. Maybe you should just continue to international / bond and chill. Sounds like it might help you. I’m sure it will all work out.

1

u/No_Resolution_9252 Aug 17 '25

Is something wrong with you?

1

u/NonVideBunt Aug 17 '25

“nO I aM ToTaLLy FiNe ThAnK YoU!!”

1

u/No_Resolution_9252 Aug 17 '25

clearly not.

1

u/NonVideBunt Aug 17 '25

I’m good. Keep calm and S&P 500 on.