When learning to bake a cake you first have to understand the ingredients. Portfolio Charts focuses on low-cost index funds (sometimes called “trackers”) that provide convenient exposure to a wide variety of stocks, bonds, and real assets. Here you can learn how funds work, find an equivalent option for your own portfolio, and discover how professional investors use each asset to create a robust strategy that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Categories /// Regions /// Definitions /// Funds /// Portfolios
Categories
Portfolio assets can be classified into three general categories:
Each category contains a variety of index funds defined by region and asset class. Assets within these categories can be distinguished by whether they are limited to your domestic market or are international or global in nature. When you see the portfolio icons, solid colors represent domestic assets while lighter cross-hatched colors represent international or global assets.
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Regions
Portfolio Charts is a little different from most investing sites because it is not solely focused on US markets. The calculators include domestic stocks and bonds from your home country as well as several options for international stocks and global real assets. In addition, all numbers are automatically translated to domestic currency and inflation to track local purchasing power. The countries and regions covered include:
AUS : Australia
CAN : Canada
ESP : Spain
EUR : Europe
FRA : France
GER : Germany
ITA : Italy
JPN : Japan
NLD : Netherlands
SUI : Switzerland
SWE : Sweden
UK : United Kingdom
USA : United States
WLD DEV: World Developed — All developed countries weighted by market cap
WLD XUS : World ex-US — All developed countries excluding the United States
EM : Emerging Markets
Definitions
Portfolio Charts data tracks the most common high-level asset class definitions in the financial industry. So while individual index funds may vary and you should always check the contents of any fund you purchase, if it is a passive index that uses these terms then the tools here should model the asset reasonably well.
Domestic and International Stocks
Total Stock Market : The entire cap-weighted market with no size or value filter applied
Large Cap : The largest 70% of the market sorted by company size
Mid Cap : The next 15% sorted by company size
Small Cap : The smallest 15% sorted by company size (excluding the very smallest 2% that qualify as micro caps)
Value : The cheap half of the market sorted by book-to-market
Growth : The expensive half of the market sorted by book-to-market
Blend : The total market segment with no value or growth filter applied. Note that this differs from the Morningstar definition, which classifies “blend” as stocks that are neither growth nor value. Portfolio Charts uses the definition preferred by most index funds.
Mix and match the size and valuation filters and you’ll get ten different types of stock index funds. I use acronyms to save space, but here are the detailed definitions:
| TSM : Total Stock Market | ||
| LCV : Large Cap Value | LCB : Large Cap Blend | LCG : Large Cap Growth |
| MCV : Mid Cap Value | MCB : Mid Cap Blend | MCG : Mid Cap Growth |
| SCV : Small Cap Value | SCB : Small Cap Blend | SCG : Small Cap Growth |
Bonds
Portfolio Charts bond data tracks the returns of the highest-grade government treasuries, bunds, or gilts with very little default risk. Every bond fund is a little different, but the most important thing to look for is the weighted average maturity of the fund.
LT : Long Term — matures in 10-30 years
IT : Intermediate — matures in 3-10 years
ST : Short Term — matures in 1-3 years
BIL : Tbills / Cash — matures in < 3 months
10Y : constant maturity 10-year bond. A common measure of bond markets where more detailed yield curves are not available, this is somewhere between LT and IT in performance and can be a realistic substitute for both.
While the data does not explicitly contain corporate bonds, most high-grade corporate bonds will have very similar returns to government bonds of the same average maturity. This also applies to popular total bond market funds.
While Europe stocks include the UK and Switzerland, Europe bonds represent the common currency Euro area only. The numbers use all credit ratings and changing EU composition as defined by the European Union. Numbers prior to the Euro are measured in ECU.
All bond funds on Portfolio Charts are unhedged.
Real Assets
Real Assets are a special subset of investments that have a tangible physical component to their value. They are often global and are independent of any single market.*
COM : Commodities
Commodity funds invest in a wide variety of items such as energy, agriculture, metals, livestock, and timber through the use of futures, stocks, and other financial instruments.
REIT : Real Estate Investment Trusts
Real estate investment trusts are companies that own or finance income-producing real estate including residential mortgages, commercial properties, and even timber land.
(*) REIT data is based on the United States REIT market, although a good global REIT fund is also a good option. Because the US comprises over 60% of a typical global REIT fund, the numbers should be reasonably close in normal portfolio percentages.
GLD : Gold
Gold funds track the price of physical gold bullion, NOT gold miners. In fact, the numbers are the exact same if you purchase bullion coins or if you buy a gold ETF. There’s also a gold ETF called GLD, but the asset can work with any gold fund.
Funds
Index funds are the real-world financial instruments you purchase to build a portfolio. There are two types of index funds — ETFs, and index-tracking mutual funds. The main difference to the end user is how they are traded. ETFs are priced like stocks and are traded in real-time, while mutual funds are more like accounts and usually settle at the end of the day. But as long as they are tracking the same index, the underlying performance should be identical.
Index funds are offered by a wide variety of different fund providers, and availability varies by market and also by the brokerage you personally use to manage your investments. While the list is far from comprehensive, here are some of the most prominent fund providers to consider. Note that while the links take you to fund lists for investors in the United States or the UK, the providers also offer lists for many other markets. Look for the country setting at the top of the page.
Brokerages that offer branded index funds
| Fund Provider | ETF List | Mutual Fund List |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard | ETFs | Mutual Funds |
| Fidelity | ETFs | Mutual Funds |
| Schwab | ETFs | Mutual Funds |
Note that it is NOT automatically required that you invest with the brokerage to gain access to their branded index funds. For example, you can easily purchase a Vanguard ETF like VTI through Fidelity.
Dedicated ETF providers
These companies offer ETFs that you can purchase in any brokerage. iShares and SPDR are popular globally, while Xtrackers and Lyxor specialize in helping investors outside of the US.
Other fund resources I like
ETF Database: An excellent resource for ETFs available to US-based investors.
justETF: A full list of ETF options for European investors. Be sure to check the country setting at the top of the page.
Portfolios
Select an asset to see every portfolio that uses that type of fund.
