Lazy portfolios

Taylor Larimore / Bogleheads forum, popularized ~2002

The most-cited DIY index portfolio. Three holdings cover the entire investable equity universe plus a broad bond stake, with no sector or factor tilts. Allocation between equity and bonds is set by individual risk tolerance; the version below is the standard age-50 "moderate" mix.

Scott Burns, Dallas Morning News, 1991

Even simpler than the 3-fund: split your savings 50/50 between a broad US stock fund and a broad bond fund and rebalance annually. Burns proposed it specifically as a benchmark for active managers to beat — most don't.

Harry Browne, "Fail-Safe Investing" (1999)

Equal weights to four assets selected to cover the four macroeconomic regimes Browne identified: prosperity (stocks), recession (cash), inflation (gold), and deflation (long-term bonds). Designed to never lose more than a small amount in any 12-month window, not to maximize return.

Tyler Larimer, Portfolio Charts (~2016)

A balanced-tilt extension of the Permanent Portfolio: 40% stocks (half total-market, half small-cap value), 40% Treasuries (half long-duration, half short-duration), 20% gold. Aims for similar drawdown protection while capturing more equity-side return.

Ray Dalio / Bridgewater, retail simplification of the institutional risk-parity strategy

Risk-parity allocation designed to balance economic-regime exposure rather than dollar-weighted exposure. The original institutional version uses leverage to equalize risk across asset classes; this is the unlevered retail approximation.

Tractate Bava Metzia, ~200 CE

The oldest documented asset-allocation rule: "let every man divide his money into three parts, and invest a third in land, a third in business, and let him keep a third in reserve." Modernized as one-third real estate, one-third equity, one-third bonds.