In April of this year, Kiplinger put together an article on 3 sample portfolio with 25 of its most favorable mutual funds. At the article publication time, the aggressive portfolio lost 6.5%, the moderate mix lost 7.0%, and the conservative model returned 0.8% over the past 12 months. Since we had such a great market in the last 6 months, it makes sense to run through the numbers and see how its recommended portfolios have performed.
Aggressive Portfolio
Aggressive portfolio is targeted for people with a long term horizon over 11+ years. This portfolio holds 85% in stock funds, with one bond fund.
- Dodge & Cox Stock Fund (DODGX): 20%
- Primecap Odyssey Growth Fund (POGRX): 20%
- TIAA-CREF Core Impact Bond Fund(TSBRX): 15%
- Parnassus Mid Cap Fund (PARMX): 15%
- Fidelity International Growth Fund (FIGFX): 10%
- Wasatch Small Cap Value Fund (WMCVX): 10%
- T. Rowe Price QM U.S. Small-Cap Growth Equity Fund (PRDSX): 10%
Moderate Portfolio
Moderate portfolio is targeted for people with a 6 – 10 year investment horizon, such as building up a tuition fund. This portfolio holds 70% in stock funds, and 30% in bond funds. The article says it allocate 35% to bond funds, but the detail numbers do not add up.
- Vanguard Equity-Income Fund (VEIPX ): 20%
- Fidelity International Growth Fund (FIGFX): 15%
- Primecap Odyssey Growth Fund (POGRX ): 15%
- T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value Fund (PRSVX): 10%
- Vanguard Wellington Fund (VWELX): 10%
- DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund (FMIJX): 15%
- TIAA-CREF Core Impact Bond Fund (TSBRX): 15%
Conservative Portfolio
Conservative portfolio is for investment timeframe less than 5 years. It holds 70% of assets in bonds and 30% in stocks.
- DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund (DLTNX): 25%
- Fidelity Strategic Income Fund (FSICX): 20%
- T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth Fund (PRDGX): 15%
- Vanguard Equity-Income Fund (VEIPX): 15%
- Vanguard Short-Term Investment Grade (VFSTX) Fund: 15%
- Fidelity New Markets Income Fund (FNMIX): 5%
- Vanguard High Yield Corporate Fund (VWEHX): 5%
When we run these portfolios through Portfolio Visualizer, the output is quiet inline with expectation. We are able to run through the data from 2013 to now.
| CAGR | Best Year | Worst Year | Sortino | |
| Aggressive | 10.70% | 30.38% | -6.08% | 1.19 |
| Moderate | 8.97% | 23.93% | -6.45% | 1.15 |
| Conservative | 6.05% | 14.50% | -2.46% | 1.30 |
It is interesting that Moderate Portfolio can’t beat Aggressive Portfolio on the upside, but somehow lost more on the downside. This is reflected in the Sortino score. Below is the graph itself.
Wondering if this model(s) are still current here in 2021???? Not sure when these were posted.
The model was posted on Apr 2020, here is the URL: https://www.kiplinger.com/article/investing/t033-c009-s001-kiplinger-25-model-portfolios.html… Here is my view of what makes sense in 2021: http://fundmojo.com/fed-liquidity-and-portfolio-implication/. Consult your financial planner though