Scott Burns Four Square Portfolio: Rebalancing Strategy

Data Source: from January 1985 to September 2024
Consolidated Returns as of 30 September 2024

Managing the Scott Burns Four Square Portfolio with a yearly rebalancing, you would have obtained a 7.52% compound annual return in the last 30 Years.

With a quarterly rebalancing, over the same period, the return would have been 7.00%.

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 Scott Burns Four Square Portfolio guaranteed the following returns.

According to the available data source, we assume we built the portfolio on January 1985.

Portfolio returns are calculated in USD, assuming:
  • No fees or capital gain taxes
  • the reinvestment of dividends, if existing
SCOTT BURNS FOUR SQUARE PORTFOLIO RETURNS
Period: January 1985 - 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
(~40Y)
No Rebalancing 27.15 (0) 9.82 (0) 8.10 (0) 7.52 (0) 8.95 (0)
Yearly Rebalancing 20.04 (1) 6.36 (5) 5.83 (10) 7.10 (30) 8.69 (40)
Half Yearly Rebalancing 19.81 (2) 6.40 (10) 5.84 (20) 7.00 (60) 8.62 (80)
Quarterly Rebalancing 19.77 (4) 6.53 (20) 5.91 (40) 7.07 (120) 8.67 (159)
5% Tolerance per asset 20.01 (0) 6.50 (2) 5.90 (3) 7.10 (12) 8.71 (18)
10% Tolerance per asset 21.57 (1) 6.79 (2) 6.13 (2) 7.18 (5) 8.70 (6)

In order to have complete information about the portfolio, please refer to the Scott Burns Four Square Portfolio: ETF allocation and returns page.

Performances as of Sep 30, 2024

Historical returns and stats of Scott Burns Four Square Portfolio, after implementing different rebalancing strategies.

SCOTT BURNS FOUR SQUARE PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCES
Period: January 1985 - 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 8.95 (0) 10.25 0.87 -35.42 0.25
Yearly Rebalancing 8.69 (40) 8.69 1.00 -29.95 0.29
Half Yearly Rebalancing 8.62 (80) 8.69 0.99 -30.63 0.28
Quarterly Rebalancing 8.67 (159) 8.74 0.99 -31.15 0.28
5% Tolerance per asset 8.71 (18) 8.82 0.99 -30.33 0.29
10% Tolerance per asset 8.70 (6) 9.03 0.96 -29.79 0.29
(*) Since Jan 1985 (~40 yrs) | Annualized Returns (and number of rebalances)

Drawdowns as of Sep 30, 2024

Historical Drawdowns of Scott Burns Four Square Portfolio, after implementing different rebalancing strategies.

SCOTT BURNS FOUR SQUARE PORTFOLIO DRAWDOWNS
Period: January 1985 - September 2024
Swipe left to see all data
Rebalancing
Tolerance per asset
No Rebalancing Yearly Half Yearly Quarterly 5% 10%
-35.42
Nov 2007 - Feb 2011
-29.95
Nov 2007 - Sep 2010
-30.63
Nov 2007 - Sep 2010
-31.15
Nov 2007 - Sep 2010
-30.33
Nov 2007 - Sep 2010
-29.79
Nov 2007 - Mar 2010
-22.27
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
-19.67
Jan 2022 - Jun 2024
-19.71
Jan 2022 - Jun 2024
-19.74
Jan 2022 - Jun 2024
-20.37
Jan 2022 - Jun 2024
-20.28
Jan 2022 - Mar 2024
-21.09
Apr 2000 - Jan 2004
-11.74
Sep 2000 - Aug 2003
-13.02
Sep 2000 - Sep 2003
-12.61
Sep 2000 - Aug 2003
-12.15
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020
-13.01
Jan 1990 - Feb 1991
-16.18
Jan 1990 - Sep 1991
-11.32
Sep 1987 - Sep 1988
-11.19
Jan 1990 - Feb 1991
-11.07
Jan 1990 - Feb 1991
-11.48
Sep 2000 - Aug 2003
-12.98
Apr 2000 - Oct 2003
-14.77
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020
-10.98
Feb 2020 - Jul 2020
-10.98
Feb 2020 - Jul 2020
-10.98
Feb 2020 - Jul 2020
-11.02
Jan 1990 - Feb 1991
-11.70
May 2011 - Feb 2012
5 Worst Drawdowns - Average
-21.95 -16.73 -17.11 -17.11 -17.07 -17.55
10 Worst Drawdowns - Average
-15.73 -12.34 -12.39 -12.30 -12.67 -13.09

For a deeper insight, please refer to the Scott Burns Four Square Portfolio: ETF allocation and returns page.