What kind of stock/bond mix you looking at in retirement?

[Midpack]

I think pb4uski is the only one lower than me. I too am in more of a preservation mode with 35% equities. The rest is a MYGA, CD’s and cash. I may let the equity portion inch up over time but don’t imagine going over 50% equities. The main function of my portfolio is to cover inflation and lumpy expenses since my pension and SS cover all of my essential spending and most of my discretionary spending. My withdrawal rate is less than 1%.

Just for the record pb4uski is way more adept at bonds than most. Not that it's good/bad or a reason to hold less equity, just that he can probably generate more income with less risk in fixed income than 99% of us.

 

[FIREd]

I am FIRE’d and will turn 50 this year. My AA is roughly 50/50 equity/fixed income (in my case the fixed income is fixed value). Income from real estate easily covers my regular expenses, and I pull from the stock/bond portfolio as needed to pay for extras.

 

[FREE866]

Retired 7 years, current age 57. We have 77% stocks and plan is for this to drift higher as we age.
Despite our best efforts at blowing the dough our portfolio balance has increased 49.6% since we retired.

Nice. Noticing a few us are at the exact same point--57 years old and 7+ years retired. Such a gift!


I'm not exactly trying to "blow the dough" , but I spend what I want and the portfolio is up now over 70% since 1/6/2017 even including all the withdrawals for expenses. I feel asset allocation is predominantly a mental game at this point.

 

[Rianne]

We plan to remain 45/50 and continue to reinvest dividends. We'll begin to WD from the portfolio in 2025.

Edit: I did not include iBonds in our portfolio. I set those aside as a safety net.

 

[dmpi]

Retired 8 years ago. 2/3 stocks and 1/3 CDs, bonds & money market account. For me I'm at the sweet spot where I don't get too stressed out if the market crashes nor do I feel like I messed the boat if the market spike upward.

 

[pb4uski]

Just for the record pb4uski is way more adept at bonds than most. Not that it's good/bad or a reason to hold less equity, just that he can probably generate more income with less risk in fixed income than 99% of us.

Thanks for the kind words Midpack, but it isn't rocket science. I'll admit that I had a head start since I spent my career in insurance and was in charge of investment accounting for a life insurer that had a large bond portfolio and I learned a lot in that job. However, picking bonds is frighteningly easy especially if one uses the bond desk at your major brokerage firm.

 

[Alex The Great]

I've been 50% equities and 50% fixed income since retirement and re-balancing within 5% bands other than during the pandemic when I hit 60% stocks. I have enough, but growth is still necessary to keep up with inflation.

+1

 

[pjigar]

46% Stocks
25% Bonds
29% Real Estate

Real estate pays for our expenses and bonds (including MM) pays for our annual trips.

We are 60% equity and 40% Real Estate for over a decade and plan to keep it this way forever. We are FI but not RE.

 

[Al18]

Retired just over 5 years, currently:
47% equitys
53% fixed income

Not collecting SS yet

 

[ncbill]

90/10 now with the latter being a short-term Treasury fund.

Never bought nominal bonds for myself & probably never will.

Would consider I-bonds were it not for being stuck with Treasury Direct.

Helps that my withdrawal rate is under 3%.

 

[erkevin]

Age 60, retired 8 years ago. Current AA is 31% equities, 69% bonds, CDs, cash. Extremely conservative as my emotional risk tolerance is very low. When interest rates pull back and my fixed-income stuff no longer looks so attractive, Plan B (whatever that is) will be enacted. Pensions currently pay 100% of our expenses, but they are non-COLA so my portfolio may definitely be needed down the road. I plan on soc sec at 62, wife at 70.

 

[foxfirev5]

Roughly 50/50 equity/bond. The 50% equity is what's left after setting up LMP bond/TIPS ladders to fund the next 20 years. Hopefully this will result in a rising equity glidepath, although I doubt I would ever go over 60% equity.

 

[mikes425]

Roughly 50/50 equity/bond. The 50% equity is what's left after setting up LMP bond/TIPS ladders to fund the next 20 years. Hopefully this will result in a rising equity glidepath, although I doubt I would ever go over 60% equity.

50/50 here at semi-retired age 65. THESE are the days when that sucks. And there've been a LOT of them for my "balanced' AA anyway - in the last couple of years... where bond funds - predominantly Short term no less ...move in TANDEM with equities. Down. I've called it my going nowhere portfolio more than a few times. My bond fund AA incorporates several in TIPS. This has been a frustrating market to endure. Add to that, having boosted my Small Caps % at the end of '23...it's a perfect storm right now. I guess this is where I'm supposed to turn off CNBC and forget about the near term, or so I'm usually told. ; )

 

[pb4uski]

My investments in bonds and TIPs are with a held-to-maturity mindset so I can ignore market movements. When I invest I know my outlay today and what I will receive in interest and principal at maturity and the effective yield of the position and I'm a-ok with that.

I agree that the old bonds zig when stocks zag seems to be tenuous and unreliable today.

 

[foxfirev5]

My investments in bonds and TIPs are with a held-to-maturity mindset so I can ignore market movements. When I invest I know my outlay today and what I will receive in interest and principal at maturity and the effective yield of the position and I'm a-ok with that.

Yeah, the hold to maturity mindset has really put my mind at ease these last few years. I've slowly expanded my bond ladders after starting with a 5 year CD ladder in 2016. When yields went above 3% and TIPS went positive I accelerated the program. With enough set aside for future living expenses I can let the equities ride in the Roths for future LTC or preferrably the GK's.

 

[Closet_Gamer]

We're 80/20 and I'm 52.

I'm currently sorting out my plan to get it more balanced by the time we're in our early 60s.

I'm not sure where we will land. No higher that 60/40 but probably no lower than 40/60. As we get closer if rates do the right thing, we may set up an income annuity which would allow more risk back into the rest of the portfolio.

Useful thread!

 

[CardsFan]

We are 68/69, retired 8 years. AA is about 65/35. Roth's are 100% equity. The rest is about 50/50. We consider the Roth's long term (10-20 years) for our son, and don't see any reason we would tap those funds.

 

[HF63]

Retire for 8 years, and 1/3 stocks, 1/3 bonds and 1/3 cash.

 

[frayne]

I retired in 2005 and I'm now approaching 73 years of age. Throughout my retirement, I've maintained a portfolio allocation of approximately 60-70% in equities (primarily index funds) and the remaining balance in fixed income investments such as bonds, CDs, money market accounts, savings, and checking accounts. I sleep well at night regardless of what the markets do.

 

[cooch96]

I'm planning 100% equities plus 3-years worth of funds in CDs, bullion, and short term reserves. I currently have at least 4% bonds in my mega-corps controlled retirement account that I can't switch out until I terminate from the company.

I plan on using the cash in bear markets. If bond rates ever exceed 10%, I'll adjust my plan.

 

[Tom52]

We are retired 10 years, ages 71 and 70. We are invested about 45% stock funds and individual dividend paying stocks, 35% bond mutual funds, and 20% CDs and treasuries. Approx. 50% in pre tax and 50% in after tax. We are collecting Social Security but draw nothing from our pre tax investments. We only take interest and dividends from the after tax investments.

 

[ktdtx]

100% equities
BUT..I sold a business, owner finance for 15 years--we are halfway thru that payout. I call this a "bond equivalent" wrt predictable cash flow (I know the risks of owner finance). I also don't see the need for bonds when I can get equities, ETF's and Closed end funds that pay more....I know, a little more risk.

 

[38Chevy454]

I was 100% equities for almost all of my accumulation years. Then started lowering it down. My target AA is 70/30, but I am currently running around 85/15. Have small pension, so that enables me to run higher equities as I view that as sort of like fixed income.

 

[pacergal]

Retired since 2016, have secure income with pensions.
We have been anywhere from 50/50 to 90/10 before and after retirement, as I was finding my "sleep at night" number. We have settled on about 70/30.

 

[LateToFIRE]

Just now entering RE in my early 60's (hence the LateToFIRE handle). Been heavy on equities and real estate up to now. If I ignore the real estate, it's around 80%/20% stocks/bonds. Selling off much of the real estate now, but expect to maintain 70-80% stocks, with a decent cash buffer, say two years of expenses kept in cash to handle volatility risk. I may leg into this position slowly though, as stock market definitely feeling kinda heated right now.