What is your personal asset allocation?

[Re3iRtH]

What is your personal asset allocation using this ratio: equities/real estate/commodities/cash (for simplicity's sake). We can just stick to percentages as I understand a lot of folks are probably not comfortable sharing their net worth.

[VoteCthulu]

No bonds? By real estate do you only mean directly owned land, or REITS too?

Assuming the former (because I don't want to look up what % of each fund I own is in REITS), I guess my answer is 65.6 / 26.5 / 0 / 1.6 (with the last 6.3% in bonds).

This tells me two things I already knew: I bought too much house and I need to re-balance into bonds again soon.

[Re3iRtH]

No bonds? By real estate do you only mean directly owned land, or REITS too?

Assuming the former (because I don't want to look up what % of each fund I own is in REITS), I guess my answer is 65.6 / 26.5 / 0 / 1.6 (with the last 6.3% in bonds).

This tells me two things I already knew: I bought too much house and I need to re-balance into bonds again soon.

Ahhh, good point. I should include bonds.

No, REITs are basically paper. I am talking about actual houses or buildings that you own, and control.

So talking stocks / bonds / real estate / commodities / cash, I am:

8%, 0%, 76%, 0%, 16%

Gosh, that does seem quite unbalanced and nondiversified?The real estate growth happened rather quickly and unexpected.. with > 60% annalized IRR on some properties.

Too much house? No such thing (if it pays you every month!) :)

[VolcanicArts]

I will give you an estimate as I don't have the exact calculations. I'm more of an unconventional investor and dabble with a lot of stuff. 5% municipal bond etfs, 3% bullion (gold and silver), some real estate and constantly adding to it.  My portfolio allocation is 33% large cap, 12% small/mid cap, 15 % international, 38% fixed income, and 2% other/cash. I have a leveraged margin account and I go for as much dividend yield as possible with the minimal amount of risk possible. I get most of my dividend yield from the following classes: REITs, municipal bond closed end ETFs, BDCs, telecommunications, finance, TECH, and a little from energy/resource mixed ETFs. I am also currently hedged about 55% of my total portfolio value in 3x inverse short ETFs covering most asset classes to prevent catastrophic loss should the market suddenly have a large correction. A few I've done well on recently include MORL, BBVA, YYY, and TICC, as well as GHL (currently hold none sold all above 30). I recently bought some TEF for its dividend and international exposure, and also CTL to increase my telecommunications percentage. I had really good luck last year with PMF a muni bond ETF as I was able to get a consistent high tax free yield and sold near the top before it crashed luckily. My worst plays were in oil, I had a large percentage in it when it was over 100 per barrel, including some relatively new fracking companies that produced the sand needed for fracking and at the time paid a hefty yield. I got hosed for a while when the price of oil declined near 30. Needless to say I probably won't be touching anything in the oil sector ever again.

[Re3iRtH]

I will give you an estimate as I don't have the exact calculations. I'm more of an unconventional investor and dabble with a lot of stuff. 5% municipal bond etfs, 3% bullion (gold and silver), some real estate and constantly adding to it.  My portfolio allocation is 33% large cap, 12% small/mid cap, 15 % international, 38% fixed income, and 2% other/cash. I have a leveraged margin account and I go for as much dividend yield as possible with the minimal amount of risk possible. I get most of my dividend yield from the following classes: REITs, municipal bond closed end ETFs, BDCs, telecommunications, finance, TECH, and a little from energy/resource mixed ETFs. I am also currently hedged about 55% of my total portfolio value in 3x inverse short ETFs covering most asset classes to prevent catastrophic loss should the market suddenly have a large correction. A few I've done well on recently include MORL, BBVA, YYY, and TICC, as well as GHL (currently hold none sold all above 30). I recently bought some TEF for its dividend and international exposure, and also CTL to increase my telecommunications percentage. I had really good luck last year with PMF a muni bond ETF as I was able to get a consistent high tax free yield and sold near the top before it crashed luckily. My worst plays were in oil, I had a large percentage in it when it was over 100 per barrel, including some relatively new fracking companies that produced the sand needed for fracking and at the time paid a hefty yield. I got hosed for a while when the price of oil declined near 30. Needless to say I probably won't be touching anything in the oil sector ever again.

Thank you for sharing. For someone who knows absolutely nothing about ETFs, could you point to some resources that you like that would give a solid baseline? Cheers.

[Inquisitive1]

equities/real estate/commodities/cash  (excluding our house)
84% / 0 / 0 / 16%

Over time we are likely to gravitate toward 90% equities with essentially all of that in ETFs and one or two stock selections to keep things interesting.
Cash is a pain at the moment with low rates but it serves a sound purpose for us as we know we have 3-4 years of expenses in liquid form to ride out any market storm that occurs.

Cheers

[Imma]

Investments: 15%
Home: 60%
Cash: 25%

We are still at the beginning of our journey towards FIRE. Our first priority was to buy a home with a low mortgage, then building up an emergency fund and then investing. Our target in the end is 15% cash, 25% home and 60% investments.

[Faramir]

Excluding home equity that we live in:

61% stocks
10% bonds
21% real estate
6% P2P lending
2% cash

[h82goslw]

.....I had really good luck.....

Personally, these are words I would never want to use when it comes to investing for my future.  If investing is your full time job and you feel you are successful, more power to you.  If it's not your full time job, this approach is incredibly complex and, as you said, seems to depend a lot on luck.  The greatest thing I learned about investing is the Three Fund Portfolo espoused on bogleheads.org.  It's truly a "set it and forget it" approach to investing and it works fantastically. 
Again, if you are comfortable doing the type of investing that you listed in your post, I commend you for the commitment and time  you must have to put in to do this.

[aspiringnomad]

Excluding primary residence equity (which doesn't make a lot of sense):

     67    /    11   / 21 /        0            /  1
stocks / bonds / RE / commodities / cash

[leighb]

Stocks: 37%
Bonds: 3%
Real Estate (non primary): 53%
Cash: 7%

I've just started to buy bonds and I'm trying to sell some property to get to a better balance

[NorCal]

This is my normal asset allocation:

US Stocks: 45%
International Stocks: 20%
Fixed Income (includes some Preferred Shares): 25%
Other: 10% (33% US REIT, 33% International REIT, 33% Gold)

I am more aggressive than most with my allocations within these categories.  My US stocks are weighted 50% towards small-caps, International is weighted 50% Emerging Markets, and Fixed Income includes long-dated bonds and Preferred shares.

I also have some additional money in bond funds dedicated towards a future house down payment that I don't include in the above.

[Re3iRtH]

Stocks: 37%
Bonds: 3%
Real Estate (non primary): 53%
Cash: 7%

I've just started to buy bonds and I'm trying to sell some property to get to a better balance

Great! You and I are the only ones with >33% of our assets in real estate. I think its an underutilized asset class for sure. It can be used to achieve FI in years (or less), versus decades typically required for 'equities'.

I really don't like the term equities for stocks/mutual funds. I think a better term would be something like 'paper' or 'luminiferous ether' ;) Actually, when I think of paper I think of mortgage paper (notes), which is a far superior asset class IMO to stocks and mutual funds.

The luminiferous ether reference is from the documentary of sorts called "Everything and Nothing" I just saw. Its on Amazon Prime and I highly recommend it for anyone with even a little bit of interest in chemistry, physics, the cosmos, or people.

[aspiringnomad]

Stocks: 37%
Bonds: 3%
Real Estate (non primary): 53%
Cash: 7%

I've just started to buy bonds and I'm trying to sell some property to get to a better balance

Great! You and I are the only ones with >33% of our assets in real estate. I think its an underutilized asset class for sure. It can be used to achieve FI in years (or less), versus decades typically required for 'equities'.

I really don't like the term equities for stocks/mutual funds. I think a better term would be something like 'paper' or 'luminiferous ether' ;) Actually, when I think of paper I think of mortgage paper (notes), which is a far superior asset class IMO to stocks and mutual funds.

The luminiferous ether reference is from the documentary of sorts called "Everything and Nothing" I just saw. Its on Amazon Prime and I highly recommend it for anyone with even a little bit of interest in chemistry, physics, the cosmos, or people.

Setting aside leverage, equities (no scare quotes needed, that's what common stock is) are historically a much better investment than real estate. Real estate has traditionally tracked inflation, while the broad US stock market has returned ~7% after inflation. Equities are also much less hassle. And while some here have successfully leveraged real estate (particularly after the crash) to speed their FIRE date, many people here are able to FIRE within a single decade, give or take, by spending little and accumulating equities.

The documentary you recommended sounds interesting. I'll check it out. Here's something for you to check out:

http://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-terrible-investment/

[SpareChange]

Stocks:     43%
Bonds:      56%
Cash:          1%
Real Estate: 0%

[phil22]

equities:	74.98%
real estate:	0% (for now)
commodities:	0%
cash:	12.45%
bonds:	12.57%

not counting cryptocurrencies since those are "buy and hold" and not factored into rebalancing or eventual 4% rule withdrawals.  after FIRE'ing cash will likewise not factor into rebalancing and will instead just be maintained as a 1-2 year living expenses buffer rather than percentage of portfolio.  not counting cash, stocks/bonds is 85/15.

[Mr. Frugal Pharmacist]

If we're talking solely about nest egg, I'm at 100% stocks.

[arowback]

Stocks: 77%
Bonds: 6%
Cash: 17%
Real Estate: 0%

[skip207]

Rental property 37%
Pension 28%
Home equity 22%
Cash 7%
Other 6%

I include home equity as we deliberately bought a house which we hope will increase in value faster than others we could have bought and we fully intend to downsize fairly soon after FIRE so we will pull that money back out and as its our primary home its free of GCT (at the moment!!).

[Lyssa]

80% Equity
10% Reits
10% Commodities

Forced saving into a pension scheme heavy on bonds, hence included none in my personal portfolio. I don't include those in my usual net worth calculation since it will only start to pay out in my 60s and I intend to FIRE well before that.

[TomTX]

Stocks: 89%
Bonds: 2% (part of emergency fund, I-bond yielding >3% currently)
Real Estate (non primary): 0%
Cash: 9%

Cash is a combination of "float" in the checking account, emergency fund and stuff floating between different bank accounts for 60-90 days for the signup bonuses.

[leighb]

Stocks: 37%
Bonds: 3%
Real Estate (non primary): 53%
Cash: 7%

I've just started to buy bonds and I'm trying to sell some property to get to a better balance

Great! You and I are the only ones with >33% of our assets in real estate. I think its an underutilized asset class for sure. It can be used to achieve FI in years (or less), versus decades typically required for 'equities'.

I really don't like the term equities for stocks/mutual funds. I think a better term would be something like 'paper' or 'luminiferous ether' ;) Actually, when I think of paper I think of mortgage paper (notes), which is a far superior asset class IMO to stocks and mutual funds.

The luminiferous ether reference is from the documentary of sorts called "Everything and Nothing" I just saw. Its on Amazon Prime and I highly recommend it for anyone with even a little bit of interest in chemistry, physics, the cosmos, or people.

Setting aside leverage, equities (no scare quotes needed, that's what common stock is) are historically a much better investment than real estate. Real estate has traditionally tracked inflation, while the broad US stock market has returned ~7% after inflation. Equities are also much less hassle. And while some here have successfully leveraged real estate (particularly after the crash) to speed their FIRE date, many people here are able to FIRE within a single decade, give or take, by spending little and accumulating equities.

The documentary you recommended sounds interesting. I'll check it out. Here's something for you to check out:

http://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-terrible-investment/

I agree with the idea that equities are much less of a hassle. They are also less risky in a lot of ways. For me at least, real estate has created enough cash flow to exceed my monthly expenses. This has allowed for a semi-retired life, pretty quickly.

[Re3iRtH]

Stocks: 37%
Bonds: 3%
Real Estate (non primary): 53%
Cash: 7%

I've just started to buy bonds and I'm trying to sell some property to get to a better balance

Great! You and I are the only ones with >33% of our assets in real estate. I think its an underutilized asset class for sure. It can be used to achieve FI in years (or less), versus decades typically required for 'equities'.

I really don't like the term equities for stocks/mutual funds. I think a better term would be something like 'paper' or 'luminiferous ether' ;) Actually, when I think of paper I think of mortgage paper (notes), which is a far superior asset class IMO to stocks and mutual funds.

The luminiferous ether reference is from the documentary of sorts called "Everything and Nothing" I just saw. Its on Amazon Prime and I highly recommend it for anyone with even a little bit of interest in chemistry, physics, the cosmos, or people.

Setting aside leverage, equities (no scare quotes needed, that's what common stock is) are historically a much better investment than real estate. Real estate has traditionally tracked inflation, while the broad US stock market has returned ~7% after inflation. Equities are also much less hassle. And while some here have successfully leveraged real estate (particularly after the crash) to speed their FIRE date, many people here are able to FIRE within a single decade, give or take, by spending little and accumulating equities.

The documentary you recommended sounds interesting. I'll check it out. Here's something for you to check out:

http://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-terrible-investment/

I've read his blog and that article. I agree with him, your house ie. your PRIMARY RESIDENCE is a terrible investment. Which is why I currently rent. The houses I own pay me every month. I don't pay my mortgage, my tenants do.

You've just proved my point. With equities, if you save and penny pinch maybe you'll have a chance to FIRE in a decade or less. Does that sound like an attractive idea? Put your money where you really have no idea what you are investing in and HOPE and pray just maybe you'll get to retire in 10 years if you cut your quality of life now. Sounds just wonderful to me.

Case-Shiller doesn't apply because real estate is local. Real estate also gives you control over your investment, insider knowledge is legal, bank will loan you 80%, and there is such thing as value-add. Perhaps you should look into it, instead of telling yourself "But Chase Shiller said this so I will just put all my money in mutual funds and hope one day there will be enough to retire on".

Honolulu, San Francisco, and others have experienced 9% appreciation and 6% rent growth annually year over year for the last 40+ years. This includes the down times!

I am not even talking about purchasing below market or value add opportunities. Do me a favor, call your brokerage and tell them you want to buy apple at 70 cents on the dollar of what a share is selling for! See what they tell you. ;)

[2Birds1Stone]

Domestic Stock   38.7
International Stock   20.6
Bonds   15.9
Precious Metals   15.2
Cash   9.6
   

[Re3iRtH]

Domestic Stock   38.7
International Stock   20.6
Bonds   15.9
Precious Metals   15.2
Cash   9.6

Thats awesome. Stacking that gold and silver bouillon. Have you found a good resource that covers purchasing and storage of precious metals? I've never been able to wrap my head around the logistics of that.

[TomTX]

Domestic Stock   38.7
International Stock   20.6
Bonds   15.9
Precious Metals   15.2
Cash   9.6

Thats awesome. Stacking that gold and silver bouillon. Have you found a good resource that covers purchasing and storage of precious metals? I've never been able to wrap my head around the logistics of that.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/economy/2017/06/15/texas-just-first-state-start-gold-depository

[Laserjet3051]

Do not own a home and I do not consider my sizeable cash EF as part of my AA. That said, I am:

80% equities / 20% bonds

Of equities, I am 80% US / 20% developed international.

I've got VGSLX REIT in there, but you said you dont consider that real estate. I am 49 years old and NOT retired.

[VolcanicArts]

Domestic Stock   38.7
International Stock   20.6
Bonds   15.9
Precious Metals   15.2
Cash   9.6

Thats awesome. Stacking that gold and silver bouillon. Have you found a good resource that covers purchasing and storage of precious metals? I've never been able to wrap my head around the logistics of that.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/economy/2017/06/15/texas-just-first-state-start-gold-depository

Kitco will allow you to buy bullion pools and sell it back to them and the will store it for you. You can also buy 3x leverage bulls for silver and gold through brokerage USLV is the silver ticker, this way you don't have to worry about storage and can sell very close to spot price quickly. I personally prefer holding the physical product. I have found a few good places around where I live that I can sell back quickly for near spot price. Other option is just a safe deposit box. Good luck.

[FINate]

Real Estate (nonprimary) / Stocks / Bonds / Cash
52 / 38 / 5 / 5

A few years ago real estate was closer to 40% but we bought our investment property at the market low and it has appreciated substantially faster than our other assets. Considering selling because I wouldn't buy at these prices (i.e. I think it's overpriced), the only thing holding me back are the inefficiencies in taxes/fees.

Cash is a little higher than normal as the result of some recent transactions. Some of this going back into stocks.

[Ladychips]

Stocks -  60%
Bonds - 0% (I have a pension that I mentally count as bonds)
Real estate - 30%
Cash - 10%

[MustachioedPistachio]

If we're talking solely about nest egg, I'm at 100% stocks.

Yep, me too.

[runewell]

I'm almost 46 years old.  My net worth is allocated as follows:

58.5% US stocks (probably going to decrease this)
25.5% international stocks (probably going to increase this)
14.5% real estate (equity in primary residence assuming no transaction costs to sell)
1.5% cash

[2Birds1Stone]

Domestic Stock   38.7
International Stock   20.6
Bonds   15.9
Precious Metals   15.2
Cash   9.6

Thats awesome. Stacking that gold and silver bouillon. Have you found a good resource that covers purchasing and storage of precious metals? I've never been able to wrap my head around the logistics of that.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/economy/2017/06/15/texas-just-first-state-start-gold-depository

Kitco will allow you to buy bullion pools and sell it back to them and the will store it for you. You can also buy 3x leverage bulls for silver and gold through brokerage USLV is the silver ticker, this way you don't have to worry about storage and can sell very close to spot price quickly. I personally prefer holding the physical product. I have found a few good places around where I live that I can sell back quickly for near spot price. Other option is just a safe deposit box. Good luck.

I hold physical Ag/Au and keep it in a safe deposit box. Costs me $60/yr to store.

[OurTown]

60 stocks / 40 bonds.

[HeadedWest2029]

61% real estate (excluding primary residence), land rental
34% equities (78% domestic, 22% international)
4% bonds
1% cash (I consider online savings + checking - credit card balance, paid off of course. So net cash)

[effigy98]

42% Non Real Estate
  38% Total Market
  7% AMZN/TSLA/GOOG/Bitcoin/Eth
  15% Metals
  20% 20 year Treasury
  20% Other bonds
58% Real Estate

Housing in the Seattle area are crazy, I did not mean to have such a tilt to real estate, but the stock market seems just as inflated to me so I just leave the asset allocation as is. My allocations in individual stuff is mostly for some excitement so I do not get board and because I really believe in their disruption to society and want to support them.

[MilesTeg]

What is your personal asset allocation using this ratio: equities/real estate/commodities/cash (for simplicity's sake). We can just stick to percentages as I understand a lot of folks are probably not comfortable sharing their net worth.

(roughly)

stocks/bonks: 65%
real estate (incl primary residence): 29%
cash: 1%
other assets (precious metals kept on hand + major possessions that hold value + etc.): 5%

[MilesTeg]

Domestic Stock   38.7
International Stock   20.6
Bonds   15.9
Precious Metals   15.2
Cash   9.6

Thats awesome. Stacking that gold and silver bouillon. Have you found a good resource that covers purchasing and storage of precious metals? I've never been able to wrap my head around the logistics of that.

Buy minted gold coins from a reputable dealer (kitco is what I use). Store in a (bolted to a floor) safe (expect to pay four figures for a decent one) along with other valuables you might have (jewelry, firearms, etc.). Don't share with anyone that you have such things. At $1300/oz the logistics of storing significant values of gold is not too hard. One lb of 1oz american eagle gold coins (16) is ~$20k and is a 1.25" by ~2" "roll".

Minted coins are less efficient (you'll pay a per coin markup from any dealer) but much easier to resell, because they are a very well known/easy to validate medium, unlike bouillon, bars, etc. For the average person, gold coins are a hard investment unless you get very lucky (i.e. 2004-2012) because you'll always pay a markup (3-5%) to buy them from a dealer, and the dealers will never buy for more than 3-5% below the metal value so you have a lot of overhead. If you want to invest in precious metals, use an ETF instead. Buy physical metals only as a hedge against inflation/market collapse, etc.

And, if you want to prep for doomsday, the best metals you can invest in are lead, copper and zinc.

[VolcanicArts]

42% Non Real Estate
  38% Total Market
  7% AMZN/TSLA/GOOG/Bitcoin/Eth
  15% Metals
  20% 20 year Treasury
  20% Other bonds
58% Real Estate

Housing in the Seattle area are crazy, I did not mean to have such a tilt to real estate, but the stock market seems just as inflated to me so I just leave the asset allocation as is. My allocations in individual stuff is mostly for some excitement so I do not get board and because I really believe in their disruption to society and want to support them.

I didn't realize so many mustachians were also had a reasonable amount of their stache in precious metals. I'm considering increasing my bullion to 10 to 15% of my net worth within the next year. I think silver is pretty low, with a huge upside, and diversification in precious metals could help me weather a market storm if it does occur. Does anyone here have any thoughts on copper?

[Re3iRtH]

42% Non Real Estate
  38% Total Market
  7% AMZN/TSLA/GOOG/Bitcoin/Eth
  15% Metals
  20% 20 year Treasury
  20% Other bonds
58% Real Estate

Housing in the Seattle area are crazy, I did not mean to have such a tilt to real estate, but the stock market seems just as inflated to me so I just leave the asset allocation as is. My allocations in individual stuff is mostly for some excitement so I do not get board and because I really believe in their disruption to society and want to support them.

What is your strategy given the peaky RE prices in Seattle currently. Hold? Sell? Refinance and Hold?

[marshdesign]

20% stocks
40% cash
40% private equity and venture capital

[Sailor Sam]

10% Cash
10% Bonds
80% Stocks

[Fire2025]

I feel so "sally simple" heeheehee.  I'm 80% equities / 20% bonds.  And I plan to keep this allocation all the way to through.