Moving part of a stock allocation and a larger
portion of a bond allocation into alternatives could have led to increased returns for a portfolio.
For example, a significant
portion of the bond allocation (which is supposed to be the conservative part of the portfolio) was in high yield bonds, which are very risky.
To get the full diversification benefits, we recommend that you consider investing about 40 % of your stock allocation in international stocks and about 30 %
of your bond allocation in international bonds.
As I approach FI, and / or if interest rates increase, I may increase the size
of the bond allocation with new money, but for now I am keeping this at 75-80/20 -25.
I had a look at the Vanguard Lifestrategy funds and it appears they hold the
bulk of their bond allocation in the Vanguard Global Bond Index GBP which has an even shorter duration at 6.8 years.
You also improve the
diversification of your bond allocation with the addition of inflation - indexed Treasury bonds, an intriguing diversifier thanks to the guaranteed inflation protection, though less intriguing at today's modest yields.
We considered cases in which only a financial portfolio with stocks and bonds was used to support retirement, and cases in which 50
percent of the bond allocation in the median case (with a maximum of $ 500,000) was used today to purchase a DIA.