The Three-Fund Portfolio — First Portfolio Builder

§ 01

Fund	What it holds	Example ticker
US total stock market	Every US public company, large and small	VTI
International total stock market	Developed and emerging markets outside the US	VXUS
US total bond market	Thousands of investment-grade US bonds	BND

§ 02

A common starting mix by age: a 25-year-old might hold roughly 60% VTI / 30% VXUS / 10% BND; a 45-year-old 50 / 25 / 25; a 65-year-old 35 / 15 / 50 -- more bonds as the horizon shortens. These are starting points, not gospel: the bond slice is really a function of your time horizon and how well you sleep during a crash.

§ 03

In the **Portfolio** view, model a simple three-fund mix -- say 60% VTI, 30% VXUS, 10% BND -- and look at the blended picture. You now hold thousands of companies across just three holdings.

§ 04

The three-fund portfolio wins not because it is clever but because it is cheap, diversified, and boring enough to leave alone. William Bernstein's free pamphlet 'If You Can' argues that a young saver who simply buys these three funds and ignores the noise will beat most professionals over a lifetime.

§ 05

What's the main advantage of a three-fund portfolio over picking 20 individual stocks?

Five questions · AI feedback

Sit with the ideas.

A three-fund portfolio is VTI + VXUS + BND. What do those three cover, together?

Why:

Sit with the ideas.

Other lessons in this course.