What is your Asset Allocation if you have no pension?

[Steeler75]

40/45/15 with pensions that meet 85% of budgeted expenses. FIRE’d last year at 54, using cash to pay for annual Roth conversions before taking SS at 62. Rest of cash to be used as dry powder for any bear or pull back that may come along. I sleep well.

 

[FlaGator]

70/20/10 with the 10 equal to 3-4 years of expenses... ER'd 4 years ago, another 4 years before I plan to take SS.



And the more posts I read on this thread, the more I worry that 70% in equities is too high. Ulp...

I'm with you-70/30, up from 60/40 a few years ago. Long time to play, heirs are young. Now five years in, pushing 60. Glad to be in this position

 

[PatrickA5]

45/55. Down from 60/40 at start of 2019. Plan on leaving at this level going forward.

 

[kgtest]

We started retirement 12 years ago at 40/60 facing 10 years with no pension and no SS. I have never paid CG tax since I harvested massive losses in 2008-09. Those are gone and my pension and SS have started. So I plan to not re-balance on the upside until I get to at least 70/30.

A stark reminder that the timespan of an ER...spans multiple down and up cycles. Always want to have the appropriate flexibility for each cycle...buying low on a dip of +10 or +20 is always a good idea!

 

[teejayevans]

Technically I’m not sure, I’ve been told high yield bonds should be treated as stocks, not bonds.

 

[Perryinva]

I like this thread. Such varied responses!

 

[CRLLS]

No pension here. All were rolled over into IRA's years back. DW now collecting SS and I am collecting spousal. Will for a few more years before collecting on my record. We do not rebalance. It is what it is. I do have a small (very small) annuitized LI policy at ~ $2800/ yr.

79/16/5

 

[CaliKid]

No pension
Approximate allocations:
50% real estate (90% of that being investment and 10% being personal residence)
40% stocks (broad based - nothing too aggressive)
10% cash/misc. (CD's, emergency fund, small amount of gold, etc...)

 

[NW-Bound]

With conventional wisdom, you would think that if one has pension he can go high stock AA because he can withstand the market vagaries, and high stock AA gives you a better return over a long time.

But is that really true? Yes, 100% stock AA would get you beaucoup money if you throw it all in the ring in the last 10 years, but if you look out over 20 years or more, a balanced fund like Wellington with 60% stock can hold up very well against 100% stock. That's because Wellington does not crash hard like a 100% stock portfolio. It's the race of the tortoise and the hare.

And so, even though my WR is sufficiently low before I even draw SS, I do not care to go high stock AA. I am not afraid of volatility, but still want a higher return. However, a high-stock AA does not guarantee a high return.

 

[HI Bill]

85/8/7 at FIRE minus a few months.

 

[CardsFan]

We are retired, both 64, no pension (unless you count a micro-pension of $110/month starting next year).

Currently 55/45. That can float as high as 60/40, and as low as 50/50.

 

[gerntz]

60/30/10 E/G/F with E heading up the older we get. Risk going down by the day.

 

[Pointby2]

About 3-5 years from retirement:


10% cash/CD/savings
40% stocks
35% bonds
14% REITS/other

 

[Tom52]

We are 67 and 65 retired for 6 years. No pensions. We are currently 36/46/18. When I reach 70 and start SS we will easily cover all basic expenses with dividends, interest, and SS checks.

 

[Shabby]

Mid 50s and ER'd last Jan..no pensions.
~25% Equities / 75% Fixed Income (bond funds, CDs and MMs). Working to get equities to ~20% in the new year, and have some company stock that I wanted to sell in 2020 vs 2019 for tax reasons that should get us there.
We're obviously very conservative, but with no W-2 paychecks and being the ages we are, I have no desire to live through another 2008.

I am similar, early 50's, no pension, conservative and really don't wanna work again. So I am: 33-46-21 and beat myself up about it all the time. I think I am going to knock that Cash/MM position down about 10% if I can stop thinking about our President and all the bad things that could happen to our economy.

 

[RobbieB]

I don't want to buy any more bonds, but when I sell I sell only equities.

Which never moves the AA as the equities are smokin' -

 

[Dtail]

I am similar, early 50's, no pension, conservative and really don't wanna work again. So I am: 33-46-21 and beat myself up about it all the time. I think I am going to knock that Cash/MM position down about 10% if I can stop thinking about our President and all the bad things that could happen to our economy.

No reason to beat yourself up about it.
In my 2 years of retirement, I loaded up some of Nasdaq in June 2018, then sold it by the end of that year and got rid of the bond funds when the yield was 3.11%.
So... portfolio is still up 7% cumulative and am relaxing about my 55/37/8 AA.

 

[jj]

50/45/5

Stock % has drifted up from 45, but reluctant to realize capital gains to bring it back down again. Some very small pensions coming onstream, but they don't amount to more than 10% of budget.

I feel comfortable that we could weather most storms.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

I don't keep track of the asset % allocation. I keep 5 years fixed income on hand and invest the remainder in equities.

 

[Cayman]

45/10/45

Sleeps great & plays great for us.
DH and I are 52 y/o
We reduced our equity allocation in 2019 from 55%, the cash should cover more than 10 years of expenses if needed.

 

[audreyh1]

Technically I’m not sure, I’ve been told high yield bonds should be treated as stocks, not bonds.

Yes, they should! They are highly correlated to stocks and do very poorly when stocks crater. You are better off owning stocks instead.

 

[teejayevans]

Yes, they should! They are highly correlated to stocks and do very poorly when stocks crater. You are better off owning stocks instead.

Yeah, but it’s less volatile and it’s tax free because it’s in my Roth.

 

[54andchange]

95/3/2

Retired 2 years ago at age 53. No pension. Blue skies!

 

[capjak]

late 50s

retired 6 months non cola Pension pay 50% of expense

40/44/16 probably move to 45/45/10 one next several years

So have ability to tax more risk, but don't have need or desire.

I am focused on risk mitigation not growing/maximizing portfolio

 

[Eucerin]

I am similar, early 50's, no pension, conservative and really don't wanna work again. So I am: 33-46-21 and beat myself up about it all the time. I think I am going to knock that Cash/MM position down about 10% if I can stop thinking about our President and all the bad things that could happen to our economy.

You and 24601NoMore make me feel better.
I am also an ER and in my early 50's, I am at 36/33/31, I would like to scale back to 15% on the MM/cash position but the political climate is so unnerving, the market is keep shooting up.