Bogleheads Three Funds Portfolio: Rebalancing Strategy

Data Source: from January 1970 to September 2024
Consolidated Returns as of 30 September 2024

Managing the Bogleheads Three Funds Portfolio with a yearly rebalancing, you would have obtained a 8.78% compound annual return in the last 30 Years.

With a quarterly rebalancing, over the same period, the return would have been 8.09%.

How do returns and drawdowns change, implementing different rebalancing strategies?

Rebalancing Strategies

In order to keep risk under control, you should rebalance assets quotes from time to time, so to keep them at the original percentage of the asset allocation.

Rebalancing can be performed in several ways.

At fixed time intervals:
  • Yearly: Jan 1st
  • Half Yearly: Jan 1st, Jul 1st
  • Quarterly: Jan 1st, Apr 1st, Jul 1st, Oct 1st
When a component (at least one) diverges from its original weight beyond a certain threshold (e.g. 5% or 10%).

Portfolio Returns as of Sep 30, 2024

Implementing different rebalancing strategies, the Bogleheads Three Funds Portfolio guaranteed the following returns.

According to the available data source, we assume we built the portfolio on January 1970.

Portfolio returns are calculated in USD, assuming:
  • No fees or capital gain taxes
  • the reinvestment of dividends, if existing
BOGLEHEADS THREE FUNDS PORTFOLIO RETURNS
Period: January 1970 - September 2024
Annualized Returns
Swipe left to see all data
Return (%) and number of rebalances as of Sep 30, 2024
Rebalancing Strategy 1Y 5Y 10Y 30Y MAX
(~55Y)
No Rebalancing 32.71 (0) 13.18 (0) 10.75 (0) 8.78 (0) 9.80 (0)
Yearly Rebalancing 27.49 (1) 10.11 (5) 8.53 (10) 8.18 (30) 9.64 (55)
Half Yearly Rebalancing 27.37 (2) 10.13 (10) 8.53 (20) 8.09 (60) 9.57 (110)
Quarterly Rebalancing 27.30 (4) 10.22 (20) 8.58 (40) 8.12 (120) 9.55 (219)
5% Tolerance per asset 27.39 (0) 10.13 (2) 8.56 (4) 8.13 (14) 9.64 (28)
10% Tolerance per asset 28.97 (0) 10.65 (1) 8.86 (1) 8.54 (7) 9.67 (8)

In order to have complete information about the portfolio, please refer to the Bogleheads Three Funds Portfolio: ETF allocation and returns page.

Performances as of Sep 30, 2024

Historical returns and stats of Bogleheads Three Funds Portfolio, after implementing different rebalancing strategies.

BOGLEHEADS THREE FUNDS PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCES
Period: January 1970 - September 2024
Swipe left to see all data
Standard Deviation
Max Drawdown (%)
Rebalancing Strategy Return % Std Dev(%) Ret. / Std Dev MaxDD(%) Ret. / MaxDD
No Rebalancing 9.80 (0) 13.57 0.72 -48.31 0.20
Yearly Rebalancing 9.64 (55) 12.56 0.77 -43.68 0.22
Half Yearly Rebalancing 9.57 (110) 12.58 0.76 -44.13 0.22
Quarterly Rebalancing 9.55 (219) 12.62 0.76 -44.57 0.21
5% Tolerance per asset 9.64 (28) 12.65 0.76 -44.35 0.22
10% Tolerance per asset 9.67 (8) 12.72 0.76 -43.80 0.22
(*) Since Jan 1970 (~55 yrs) | Annualized Returns (and number of rebalances)

Drawdowns as of Sep 30, 2024

Historical Drawdowns of Bogleheads Three Funds Portfolio, after implementing different rebalancing strategies.

BOGLEHEADS THREE FUNDS PORTFOLIO DRAWDOWNS
Period: January 1970 - September 2024
Swipe left to see all data
Rebalancing
Tolerance per asset
No Rebalancing Yearly Half Yearly Quarterly 5% 10%
-48.31
Nov 2007 - Dec 2012
-43.68
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
-44.13
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
-44.57
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
-44.35
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
-43.80
Nov 2007 - Mar 2011
-38.97
Apr 2000 - Sep 2005
-34.07
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-34.52
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-34.53
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-34.28
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-33.74
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-33.74
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-33.38
Apr 2000 - Dec 2004
-33.95
Apr 2000 - Dec 2004
-33.65
Apr 2000 - Dec 2004
-33.94
Apr 2000 - Dec 2004
-32.95
Apr 2000 - Nov 2004
-24.54
Jan 2022 - Dec 2023
-23.18
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
-23.17
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
-23.16
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
-23.38
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
-23.71
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
-19.91
Jan 1990 - Oct 1991
-19.21
Sep 1987 - Jan 1989
-18.58
Sep 1987 - Jan 1989
-18.21
Sep 1987 - Dec 1988
-18.83
Sep 1987 - Jan 1989
-18.98
Sep 1987 - Dec 1988
5 Worst Drawdowns - Average
-33.09 -30.70 -30.87 -30.82 -30.96 -30.64
10 Worst Drawdowns - Average
-25.13 -23.29 -23.43 -23.43 -23.41 -23.83

For a deeper insight, please refer to the Bogleheads Three Funds Portfolio: ETF allocation and returns page.