I'm a big fan of Jack Bogle's Investment Philsophy, which emphasizes long-term buying-and-holding of low-cost index funds; I highly encourage anyone who hasn't started planning for the future to set up an account on Vanguard and do exactly that. Here is my standardized portfolio blueprint:
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Witch's 80/20: [60% VT][20% FLEX] [20% BNDW] |
VT (Vanguard Total World Stock ETF) is an index of every stock in the stock market, and BNDW (Vanguard Total World Bond ETF) is an index of every bond in the bond market; owning both is the most dead-simple way to own the whole haystack. My portfolio dedicates 80% of its space to that powerful 2-fund, while leaving 20% FLEXIBLE SPACE one can season-to-taste with tilts and speculation (or follow the KISS principle and fill it with more VT). My bond recommendation varies by age:
The '80/20' is a double entendre: 80% total-market and 20% flexible space, but also 80% stocks and 20% bonds during the core investment decades. One holding I like in the flex space is VYM, which adds a tilt towards stable dividend-paying value stocks (financials, energy, utilities, health care, consumer staples, etc). This is the short version of my investment strategy, for the long version (which includes a step-by-step guide and explanation of several concepts), read my article here.