The Weird Portfolio by Value Stock Geek combines factor investing and risk parity concepts into an asset allocation designed to maximize returns and minimize stress.
Home Country
Portfolio Charts is able to translate portfolio information to the local currency, inflation, and available funds of many different countries. Choose the home country where you live, and it will update every section of the page.
Asset Allocation
How to build a Weird Portfolio
Asset Notes
1. Value Stock Geek specifically calls for 10% US REITs and 10% international REITs. Since I don’t have data for international REITs, I included them in the US allocation. Be sure to read his explanation to understand his full design intent.
Author
Value Stock Geek
Value Stock Geek is a DIY value investor who discusses investing in his newsletter, on his podcast, and on Twitter. He writes about his portfolio philosophy in his free online book The Weird Portfolio.
Overview
Value Stock Geek has an interesting and refreshingly honest approach to investing. Because he is a natural stock picker and value investor who enjoys researching individual companies, one might think that he’d not be the biggest fan of passive asset allocation. But to the contrary — the Weird Portfolio is his solution for establishing a secure investing foundation that allows him to invest in what he calls his “speculative” portfolio without worry.
True to his value investing moniker, the Weird Portfolio commits to small and value stock allocations over traditional cap-weighted funds. Beyond simply expanding into international markets, it also incorporates modern risk parity concepts with multiple volatile assets like gold, REITs, and long term treasuries to balance each other out and generate consistent returns in any economic condition.
With multiple complementary assets including international diversification and factor investing ideas, the Weird Portfolio may indeed seem strange in an old-school sense but is a decidedly contemporary mix of popular investing concepts.
Performance
Since 1970, an investor in the United States holding the Weird Portfolio earned an average 7.6% real return, with a baseline CAGR of 5.8% over 15 years. It supported a 6.2% safe withdrawal rate for 30 years and 5.3% indefinitely. Its worst peak-to-trough loss was 22%, and the longest a new investment spent below water was under 6 years.
Weird Portfolio Performance
| # | Metric | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| 7.6% | Average return | Mean annual return after inflation |
| 5.8% | Baseline real return (15 years) | What 15-year stretches returned in the weaker outcomes |
| 6.2% | Safe withdrawal rate (30 years) | Highest spending rate that lasted 30 years in the worst case |
| 5.3% | Long-term withdrawal rate | The SWR floor over very long retirements |
| 22% | Deepest drawdown | Worst peak-to-trough loss after inflation |
| 6 years | Longest drawdown | Longest a new investment stayed below what you put in |
| 11.1% | Volatility (standard deviation) | Year-to-year variation in returns |
Stats for all home countries
Summary Stats by Home Country
| Home country | Average | Baseline | SWR | LTWR | Deepest | Longest | Volatility |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia (aus) | 6.5% | 5.4% | 5.2% | 4.5% | 25% | 9 years | 11.2% |
| Canada (can) | 7.1% | 5.8% | 6.2% | 5.3% | 17% | 5 years | 9.4% |
| France (fra) | 7.9% | 6.9% | 5.7% | 5.1% | 28% | 7 years | 13.1% |
| Germany (deu) | 7.6% | 6.5% | 5.4% | 4.8% | 31% | 10 years | 13.6% |
| Italy (ita) | 7.9% | 6.8% | 6.4% | 5.7% | 28% | 7 years | 13.0% |
| Japan (jpn) | 7.0% | 3.5% | 4.8% | 4.1% | 33% | 9 years | 13.7% |
| Netherlands (nld) | 7.4% | 6.3% | 5.1% | 4.5% | 33% | 10 years | 13.8% |
| Spain (esp) | 7.1% | 5.8% | 4.8% | 4.2% | 32% | 10 years | 14.3% |
| Sweden (swe) | 8.6% | 7.7% | 6.0% | 5.5% | 25% | 8 years | 13.7% |
| Switzerland (che) | 6.8% | 5.6% | 4.3% | 3.7% | 42% | 11 years | 15.2% |
| United Kingdom (gbr) | 7.5% | 6.2% | 5.8% | 5.1% | 28% | 7 years | 12.2% |
| United States (usa) | 7.6% | 5.8% | 6.2% | 5.3% | 22% | 6 years | 11.1% |
To see this portfolio from a specific home country’s perspective, link readers to this page with ?home=COUNTRY added to the URL, using the codes shown in parentheses in the table above (e.g. ?home=aus). The portfolio itself is fixed by the page, so ?pk= has no effect here. More in the Guide for AI Assistants.
Charts
Different ways to visualize the Weird Portfolio
Comparisons
How the Weird Portfolio compares to other options
Alternatives
Portfolios with a similar structure or design intent
Ivy Portfolio — Very similar structure with less-tilted versions of each asset
Golden Butterfly — Similar economic philosophy with a few different assets
Larry Portfolio — Shared interest in factor investing and international stocks
Articles
Insights that mention the Weird Portfolio
Discussion
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