US Portfolio (less than $10,000)
In the case of a smaller US retirement portfolio, you would keep it very simple with 3 asset classes:
-Domestic Stocks
-International Stocks
-Bonds
These could be done with the following ETF’s:
-Domestic Stocks:
-IVV or SPY: Two very popular and low fee US ETF’s that track the S&P500, they are both traded on US markets
-International Stocks:
EFA – Ishares ETF that tracks much of the developed world
VWO – Vanguard’s Emerging markets fund, traded on US markets
-Bonds
BND – Vanguard ETF that tracks the total bond market in the US (public, corporate, etc)
AGG – ETF that provides exposure to investment grade bond market
LQD – ETF that provides exposure to investment grade bond market
As you can see, there are many different possibilities even for a simple portfolio that only includes 3 ETF’s. I think the first step would be to select what you want in each of those asset classes. When you will combine that with your investor profile, you will get a very good idea of what to include in your portfolio. Here is the table again:
SPY/IVV EFA/VWO BND/LQD/AGG
Investor 1 - Most Conversative investor 10 0 90
Investor 2 15 0 85
Investor 3 20 0 80
Investor 4 25 5 70
Investor 5 30 10 60
Investor 6 35 15 50
Investor 7 40 20 40
Investor 8 45 25 30
Investor 9 50 30 20
Investor 10 - Most Aggressive investor 55 35 10