Insights

Fun New Ways to Find a Great Portfolio

Updates

You may have noticed over the last week that many of the Portfolio Charts pages have been undergoing a bit of a renovation. I have definitely been busy!

The short story is that portfolio pages got more data, every chart received some helpful updates, and a few advanced features that were previously gated for members are now completely free. And it was all done with the goal of making it easier than ever to casually browse all types of portfolio options from any perspective.

No long article this time. Instead, let’s just talk about the cool new features rolling out at Portfolio Charts.

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Tour the Investing Horizon With the Global Explorer

Advanced, Chart Talk

One of the interesting side benefits of my old engineering life was the rare opportunity to see parts of the world many people may read about but never experience first hand. From dim February days in Stockholm to colorful night markets in Taipei, the world is so much bigger than the place you’re sitting right now.

If you only judge the world by what you experience in your normal daily routine, that myopic paradigm is probably going to hold you back at some point. We are all at the center of our own experience, but the universe does not revolve around us. The world is a big place, and sometimes it requires exploring its far reaches to truly appreciate our tiny home in the larger global stage.

I have been thinking about this a lot recently, such as my last article talking about the difference in investing outcomes in various home countries. That exercise reminded me that it might be a good time to update my old Global Withdrawal Rates research with new site charting capabilities.

As often happens when I start tinkering with new tools, the creative process opened up exciting new possibilities that weren’t previously practical but now are finally within reach. And the result this time ended up being a significant enough improvement that it justified an entirely new chart!

I call it the Global Explorer, and it’s a uniquely powerful tool for learning about asset allocation from a truly global perspective.

The Global Explorer is about way more than just ranking famous portfolios. It explores a wide world of options, tens of thousands of portfolios at a time, that your own close circle of financial friends may not have ever considered. So if you have ever wondered what types of portfolios are best suited for certain goals like accumulation, retirement, and risk mitigation — not just in the US or your own home country, but everywhere — then pull up a chair and allow me to share my full travel guide to universal portfolio construction.

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Rank the Top Countries in the Portfolio World Cup

Beginner

In terms of sheer spectacle, it’s hard to beat the World Cup.

On the pitch you have absolute legends like Messi making us wonder if time has stopped, Norse gods like Haaland roaming the earth, and superheroes like Mbappé dazzling with his otherwordly skills. There are stunning upsets like Paraguay topping powerhouse Germany, and heroic moments even in a loss like tiny Cape Verde pushing Argentina to the limit.

Beyond the beautiful game, there is also something magical about the mixed cultures of the World Cup that inspires everyone involved. There are world travelers marveling over free chips and salsa, awestruck at gas stations in Texas, and belting out American classics. And permeating it all is a grand sense of joyous national pride.

In investing, national pride is a bit of a touchy subject. Some people believe strongly in their local market and support investing close to home to support local businesses, while others see home country bias as a pernicious problem to be diversified away. In honor of the World Cup, I want to do something fun and lean into friendly competition while learning something new about how portfolio construction works in different countries.

Have you ever wondered which home country is easiest to grow your money in, and which is the most difficult?

Let’s set up a knockout tournament to find out!

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Language, Time, and the Beauty of Nonlinear Thinking

Psychology, Beginner

In the 2016 movie Arrival, a linguist named Louise Banks is recruited by the military to learn an alien language that even the brightest minds on earth are unable to interpret. The story mixes ominous sci-fi themes with a personal arc interwoven in cut scenes that seem incongruous at times, but that ultimately reveal something surprising about the nature of reality. Without giving away too much, Louise eventually learns that language wires our brains in a way that shapes our perception of time. And when one learns to speak and think in a new way, standard ideas we all take for granted like the linear nature of past, present, and future no longer seem so set in stone.

While it makes for a cool movie, viewers may be surprised to learn that the core concept is based on actual psychological phenomenon. The way we speak, write, and think affects how we interpret the world around us. From the implicit framing bias we subtly insert into discussions by the words we choose to the linear performance charts that flow from left to right like our natural western language, words not only have meaning. They influence the way we think.

When discussing investing and the nuances of backtesting methodologies, I have come to learn that some of the concepts are hard to explain to everyone. It’s not that it’s rocket science. I think sometimes it’s just a new language that not everyone understands, and the thought process it nurtures takes time to sink in. Like moving from a sentence written from left to right to truly understanding the timeless circular ink blots on the window, it’s more than just about knowledge. It’s about how our minds work.

So if you’re interested in getting a glimpse through the glass to a different way to perceive investing numbers, grab some popcorn and find a comfortable chair. This article is for you.

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How to Translate Portfolios to Any Home Country

Updates

Anyone who has traveled overseas has inevitably experienced one of the core differences in modern infrastructure — the simple power plug. Your favorite electronic device may be impeccably designed and thoroughly tested, but without an adapter that allows it to plug into local outlets it won’t do you much good. Translating the electrical and mechanical needs of the plug to the wall is a critical step in integrating your own devices into an international life.

Portfolio design works much the same way. The vast majority of portfolio ideas are written from the perspective of US-based investors, but for investors outside of the US it can quickly become obvious that the plug included in the box doesn’t fit the local outlet.

For example, “Domestic” and “International” mean very different things to an American investor and a Japanese investor. Many types of financial products from target date funds to world ex-US funds that portfolio authors take for granted in the US don’t exist at all in other markets. Even basic index definitions can be confusing to compare, with completely different index providers in Europe than in the US.

Layer on the effects of local exchange and inflation rates, and even the core data justifying an investing choice loses its original meaning. Describing portfolio ideas on the world stage is complicated.

I have spent a lot of time over the years thinking about this issue. From charts that translate portfolio data to the purchasing power of many different countries to an asset collection including localized ETF options, you’ll find more data for investors outside of the US on Portfolio Charts than on most similar online tools. Today I’m excited to announce a nice upgrade to the portfolios section to expand this approach.

Maybe you live outside of the US and want actionable info on the best portfolio ideas that US-based authors have to offer. Or maybe you’re an investor in the US who wants to harden their portfolios by testing the design intent out of sample in completely different markets. Either way, I’ve got you covered.

Put down the confusing bag of power adapters and pull up a chair. Let’s talk about how to interpret portfolio design intent in any country.

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Portfolio Charts Just Got a Huge Upgrade

Chart Talk, Updates

When I first started college as a young aspiring engineer ages ago, there was one particular thermodynamics professor who had an outsized impact on how I think about engineering design. In addition to being the kind of intimidatingly brilliant engineer they assign to weed-out classes who wrote the book he was teaching from, he also forced everyone to read his hand-bound manual on Microsoft Excel for engineers. While I can’t say I remember a whole lot about the Carnot cycle these days, that early Excel training stuck with me.

From building fancy iterative calculations to constructing well-labeled charts, he taught me not only how to work Excel but how to stretch it to do things most people don’t even know it’s capable of. As a young mechanical engineer, it basically became my programming language of choice. And anyone who has ever tinkered with the tools here at Portfolio Charts has experienced the fruits of that early education. Even if it wasn’t obvious, they were all built in Excel.

Of course, using a tool primarily designed for desktop spreadsheets as the foundation for web development has major limits. The interface can feel a little slow and clunky, there are technical limits to how many calculations a single spreadsheet can handle, and regardless of how much you try to finesse the UI it’s impossible to shake that classic spreadsheet feeling. There’s arguably a charm to it, but at some point it also becomes a barrier to new features. So for years I have had a list of things I’d love to do if only I could find the right tools to make them happen.

Well, apparently those tools have arrived. With the invention of highly-capable AI coding assistants, the barrier for a guy like me with lots of technical knowledge and a mind for design but minimum coding skills is all but gone. Getting the first working prototype back from Claude felt a lot like watching my first complex Excel model converge on a solution. It’s a game changer.

So today I am happy to announce the biggest single update to Portfolio Charts since I started it more than a decade ago. Every chart has been rebuilt from scratch. And they are way faster, much more powerful, and just plain fun to use.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the cool new features to look out for.

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Sail to a Good Life With the Richer Retirement Portfolio

Portfolio Talk, Retirement

As someone who has spent way more time than any normal person should researching the science and history of retirement math, I have always held a special place in my heart for the grandfather of safe withdrawal rates, the great Bill Bengen.

Back in the early 90’s when the state-of-the-art financial advice was to simply spend the average return of one’s portfolio in retirement, Bill had the foresight and technical know-how to test that assumption with actual data. As it turns out, the simple and seemingly reasonable advice which everyone took for granted was provably dangerous. But luckily, there was also a measurable spending amount which survived even the worst times in history.

And with that insight, the famous 4% retirement rule was born. If you have ever had an interest in retirement investing, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Bill Bengen was that impactful.

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Lessons From the Best Portfolios in 2025

Beginner, Portfolio Talk

The new year is officially here, which means it’s an exciting time of year for investing researchers.

The new portfolio data has arrived!

All of the namesake Portfolios and Charts here at Portfolio Charts now have preliminary updated numbers through the end of 2025. Collecting data from so many government sources takes a bit of time and everything won’t be final for another month or so, but there’s enough “close-enough” data that there’s no reason to delay. Be sure to check in on the asset allocation you have been eyeing, as it was a pretty remarkable year in a lot of ways.

To ring in the new year, I always like to look back at the portfolio performance rankings over the previous year. It’s not so much to chase recent performance, but simply to see what we can learn about asset allocation in general. And there were a few notable lessons! So let’s kick off the new year with a quick discussion of what we can learn from the best portfolios in 2025.

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What to Do When It’s Time to Rebalance

Beginner

Christmas is fast approaching, which means it’s the perfect time of year to take a break from not worrying about investing at all. Between shopping for gifts, sipping warm beverages, and binge watching cozy holiday movies (yes, Die Hard counts), this is when I also set aside some time to think about the annual investing ritual of rebalancing my portfolio.

Some years that’s easy, when asset percentages haven’t moved much you can just leave things alone and move on. And others are more complicated. With crazy gold gains this year necessitating a big sale and a potentially sizable tax bill, this year definitely qualifies as the latter.

First world problems, I know. 🙂

Well, I just finished my own rebalance and have also received quite a few emails recently asking about the same topic. So while it’s fresh on my own mind and possibly yours, too, let’s talk a bit about the art and science of how to rebalance a portfolio.

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