Stocks/Bonds 60/40 Portfolio: Rebalancing Strategy

Data Source: from January 1871 to November 2024
Consolidated Returns as of 30 November 2024

Managing the Stocks/Bonds 60/40 Portfolio with a yearly rebalancing, you would have obtained a 10.95% compound annual return in the last 30 Years.

With a quarterly rebalancing, over the same period, the return would have been 8.66%.

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 Nov 30, 2024

Implementing different rebalancing strategies, the Stocks/Bonds 60/40 Portfolio guaranteed the following returns.

According to the available data source, we assume we built the portfolio on January 1871.

Portfolio returns are calculated in USD, assuming:
  • No fees or capital gain taxes
  • the reinvestment of dividends, if existing
STOCKS/BONDS 60/40 PORTFOLIO RETURNS
Period: January 1871 - November 2024
Annualized Returns
Swipe left to see all data
Return (%) and number of rebalances as of Nov 30, 2024
Rebalancing Strategy 1Y 5Y 10Y 30Y MAX
(~154Y)
No Rebalancing 34.43 (0) 15.15 (0) 12.83 (0) 10.95 (0) 8.87 (0)
Yearly Rebalancing 23.36 (1) 9.25 (5) 8.45 (10) 8.78 (30) 7.73 (154)
Half Yearly Rebalancing 22.99 (2) 9.22 (10) 8.43 (20) 8.66 (60) 7.74 (308)
Quarterly Rebalancing 22.88 (4) 9.31 (20) 8.50 (40) 8.75 (120) 7.75 (616)
5% Tolerance per asset 23.61 (0) 9.29 (2) 8.51 (4) 8.80 (19) 7.74 (90)
10% Tolerance per asset 24.01 (1) 9.64 (2) 8.74 (2) 8.99 (8) 7.83 (30)

In order to have complete information about the portfolio, please refer to the Stocks/Bonds 60/40 Portfolio: ETF allocation and returns page.

Performances as of Nov 30, 2024

Historical returns and stats of Stocks/Bonds 60/40 Portfolio, after implementing different rebalancing strategies.

STOCKS/BONDS 60/40 PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCES
Period: January 1871 - November 2024
Swipe left to see all data
Standard Deviation
Max Drawdown (%)
Rebalancing Strategy Return % Std Dev(%) Ret. / Std Dev MaxDD(%) Ret. / MaxDD
No Rebalancing 8.87 (0) 15.02 0.59 -80.46 0.11
Yearly Rebalancing 7.73 (154) 10.20 0.76 -62.03 0.12
Half Yearly Rebalancing 7.74 (308) 10.34 0.75 -61.92 0.12
Quarterly Rebalancing 7.75 (616) 10.38 0.75 -62.39 0.12
5% Tolerance per asset 7.74 (90) 10.40 0.74 -63.77 0.12
10% Tolerance per asset 7.83 (30) 10.56 0.74 -63.33 0.12
(*) Since Jan 1871 (~154 yrs) | Annualized Returns (and number of rebalances)

Drawdowns as of Nov 30, 2024

Historical Drawdowns of Stocks/Bonds 60/40 Portfolio, after implementing different rebalancing strategies.

STOCKS/BONDS 60/40 PORTFOLIO DRAWDOWNS
Period: January 1871 - November 2024
Swipe left to see all data
Rebalancing
Tolerance per asset
No Rebalancing Yearly Half Yearly Quarterly 5% 10%
-80.46
Sep 1929 - Nov 1944
-62.03
Sep 1929 - Jul 1936
-61.92
Sep 1929 - Jan 1936
-62.39
Sep 1929 - Dec 1935
-63.77
Sep 1929 - Mar 1936
-63.33
Sep 1929 - Jun 1936
-50.70
Nov 2007 - Feb 2012
-31.73
Mar 1937 - Jan 1943
-32.21
Mar 1937 - Jan 1943
-32.54
Mar 1937 - Jan 1943
-32.41
Mar 1937 - Jan 1943
-32.60
Nov 2007 - Oct 2010
-45.55
Jan 1973 - Dec 1976
-30.55
Nov 2007 - Oct 2010
-31.30
Nov 2007 - Oct 2010
-31.82
Nov 2007 - Oct 2010
-31.92
Nov 2007 - Dec 2010
-32.08
Mar 1937 - Dec 1942
-43.82
Sep 2000 - Mar 2006
-27.28
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-28.10
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-28.11
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-28.42
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-29.53
Jan 1973 - Jan 1976
-29.88
Dec 1968 - Mar 1971
-21.56
Sep 2000 - Jan 2004
-22.57
Sep 2000 - Feb 2004
-21.94
Sep 2000 - Jan 2004
-22.23
Sep 2000 - Jan 2004
-21.63
Sep 2000 - Feb 2004
5 Worst Drawdowns - Average
-50.08 -34.63 -35.22 -35.36 -35.75 -35.83
10 Worst Drawdowns - Average
-37.40 -26.86 -27.08 -27.16 -27.47 -27.84

For a deeper insight, please refer to the Stocks/Bonds 60/40 Portfolio: ETF allocation and returns page.