Bogleheads Four Funds Portfolio: Rebalancing Strategy
Managing the Bogleheads Four Funds Portfolio with a yearly rebalancing, you would have obtained a 8.87% compound annual return in the last 30 Years.
With a quarterly rebalancing, over the same period, the return would have been 8.19%.
How do returns and drawdowns change, implementing different rebalancing strategies?
Rebalancing Strategies
In order to keep risk under control, you should rebalance assets quotes from time to time, so to keep them at the original percentage of the asset allocation.
At fixed time intervals:
- Yearly: Jan 1st
- Half Yearly: Jan 1st, Jul 1st
- Quarterly: Jan 1st, Apr 1st, Jul 1st, Oct 1st
Portfolio Returns as of Jun 30, 2026
Implementing different rebalancing strategies, the Bogleheads Four Funds Portfolio guaranteed the following returns.
Portfolio returns are calculated in USD, assuming:
- No fees or capital gain taxes
- the reinvestment of dividends, if existing
| Return (%) and number of rebalances as of Jun 30, 2026 | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rebalancing Strategy | 1Y | 5Y | 10Y | 30Y |
MAX (~42Y) |
|||||
| No Rebalancing | 22.95 | (0) | 11.11 | (0) | 13.22 | (0) | 8.87 | (0) | 10.38 | (0) |
| Yearly Rebalancing | 20.67 | (1) | 9.10 | (5) | 11.07 | (10) | 8.28 | (30) | 10.05 | (42) |
| Half Yearly Rebalancing | 20.56 | (2) | 9.00 | (10) | 11.04 | (20) | 8.19 | (60) | 9.97 | (83) |
| Quarterly Rebalancing | 20.63 | (4) | 9.03 | (20) | 11.11 | (40) | 8.23 | (120) | 9.99 | (166) |
| 5% Tolerance per asset | 21.40 | (0) | 9.18 | (1) | 11.14 | (3) | 8.28 | (11) | 10.01 | (17) |
| 10% Tolerance per asset | 21.11 | (0) | 9.37 | (1) | 11.34 | (2) | 8.35 | (5) | 10.08 | (7) |
In order to have complete information about the portfolio, please refer to the Bogleheads Four Funds Portfolio: ETF allocation and returns page.
Performances as of Jun 30, 2026
Historical returns and stats of Bogleheads Four Funds Portfolio, after implementing different rebalancing strategies.
|
Standard Deviation
|
Max Drawdown (%)
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rebalancing Strategy | Return % | Std Dev(%) | Ret. / Std Dev | MaxDD(%) | Ret. / MaxDD | |
| No Rebalancing | 10.38 | (0) | 13.46 | 0.77 | -47.31 | 0.22 |
| Yearly Rebalancing | 10.05 | (42) | 12.28 | 0.82 | -44.08 | 0.23 |
| Half Yearly Rebalancing | 9.97 | (83) | 12.28 | 0.81 | -44.54 | 0.22 |
| Quarterly Rebalancing | 9.99 | (166) | 12.32 | 0.81 | -44.88 | 0.22 |
| 5% Tolerance per asset | 10.01 | (17) | 12.36 | 0.81 | -43.96 | 0.23 |
| 10% Tolerance per asset | 10.08 | (7) | 12.44 | 0.81 | -44.47 | 0.23 |
Drawdowns as of Jun 30, 2026
Historical Drawdowns of Bogleheads Four Funds Portfolio, after implementing different rebalancing strategies.
|
Rebalancing
|
Tolerance per asset
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Rebalancing | Yearly | Half Yearly | Quarterly | 5% | 10% |
|
-47.31
Nov 2007 - Sep 2012
|
-44.08
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
|
-44.54
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
|
-44.88
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
|
-43.96
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
|
-44.47
Nov 2007 - Apr 2011
|
|
-37.46
Apr 2000 - Jul 2005
|
-32.45
Apr 2000 - Nov 2004
|
-33.17
Apr 2000 - Nov 2004
|
-32.89
Apr 2000 - Nov 2004
|
-32.89
Apr 2000 - Nov 2004
|
-32.03
Apr 2000 - Dec 2004
|
|
-24.39
Jan 2022 - Dec 2023
|
-23.20
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
|
-23.18
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
|
-23.19
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
|
-23.35
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
|
-23.60
Jan 2022 - Feb 2024
|
|
-19.84
Jan 1990 - Oct 1991
|
-19.18
Sep 1987 - Jan 1989
|
-18.51
Sep 1987 - Jan 1989
|
-18.09
Sep 1987 - Dec 1988
|
-19.38
Sep 1987 - Jan 1989
|
-18.88
Sep 1987 - Dec 1988
|
|
-19.50
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020
|
-17.11
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020
|
-17.11
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020
|
-17.11
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020
|
-17.29
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020
|
-17.34
Jan 2020 - Jul 2020
|
| 5 Worst Drawdowns - Average | |||||
| -29.70 | -27.20 | -27.30 | -27.23 | -27.37 | -27.27 |
| 10 Worst Drawdowns - Average | |||||
| -20.93 | -20.04 | -20.08 | -20.02 | -20.25 | -20.45 |
For a deeper insight, please refer to the Bogleheads Four Funds Portfolio: ETF allocation and returns page.