BND
Vanguard Total Bond Market
stock NASDAQ ETF

>I’m not looking to do anything crazy just a moderately aggressive portfolio.
With 20% in SCHD and BND I would say it is a pretty conservative portfolio for a 34-year-old, but maybe that's what you are comfortable with.
I'd like you to scroll down to "Growth of $10,000" in this link https://totalrealreturns.com/n/QQQ,VOO,SCHD,BND and with that in mind consider the opportunity cost of your portfolio over the next 31 years:
>Opportunity cost is the value of what you lose when you choose from two or more alternatives. It’s a core concept for both investing and life in general. When you invest, opportunity cost can be defined as the amount of money you might not earn by purchasing one asset instead of another.
>“Opportunity costs means “What else could I have done with my money?” and “Am I properly allocating my capital?” says Adem Selita, chief executive officer at The Debt Relief Company in New York, N.Y.
>Here’s another way to think about opportunity cost, from legendary value investor, Warren Buffett. **“The real cost of any purchase isn’t the actual dollar cost. Rather, it’s the opportunity cost—the value of the investment you didn’t make, because you used your funds to buy something else.”**

So I’m starting from Zero, snd plan on investing $15/day into a Roth IRA, so I can retire in 31 years.
I’m thinking of investing in
40% VOO
15% QQQM
15% VXUS
10% SCHD
10% BND
10% Individual Stock
How does this balance look long term?
I’m thinking that BND/SCHD will give me good foundation to make up for the crazy swings from tech.
QQQM/VOO obvious tech S & P 500, and etc
VXUS since they been doing better then US in 2025.
I’m not looking to do anything crazy just a moderately aggressive portfolio.
Eventually I plan on maxing out my ROTH IRA but right now this is all I can do.

So quick summary, retirement next year at age 52, moving abroad so expenses mapped out for living, and medical, etc.). What is thoughts on this somewhat simple portfolio in taxable:
* 30% VOO - broad market bucket
* 30% SCHG - tilt for growth US large cap
* 15% AVDV - tilt for growth international small cap
* 15% IDMO - tilt for growth international developed.
* 10% BND - this already covers 3 years of expenses
And a separate HYSA and cash for another 3 years (same percentage of BND but thats outside of the brokerage). So between BND and HYSA I have 6 years of expenses covered for bad bear runs before tapping growth stocks.
Safe withdrawals - I would do safe withdrawals from the growth, every 3 months (1/4 of the yearly expenses), depending on which performed the strongest that quarter. The SWR for expenses (before fun money) is 0.0375%. And if I use dividends to cover expenses, the actual selling of stock withdrawal rate is roughly 0.027 to 0.03% SWR.
Normally I would withdraw from whichever tilt does better, and that quarter is a bear dip, I would withdraw from the BND for that 1/4 of the year expenses (like a quarterly paycheck).
Most of the dividends from above are qualified mostly I believe, and stocks would be sold under long term cap gains, so married filing jointly, I would be basically at 0% tax rate (with the exception for the fraction of the dividend portion that is ordinary/short term gains).
Rebalance - Over the years those stocks above have held nav and grown. So when the market dips, (every 3 months or 6 months) I would sell the least impacted (it would still be at a gain, so not tax loss harvesting) and put that into the needed ticker to rebalance. So if that year I sold mostly from IDMO and AVDV as they did well...then when there is a dip, if VOO for example was only -3% dip vs IDMO -10% vs AVDV -10% (bear in mind its still a gain of the tax lot itself) ... then I would sell some of VOO to buy IDMO and AVDV to get then back up to the portfolio percentages above. So when the market swings back up, they would just get back their gains.
This is all in the taxable brokerage. I also have 401k that I will SOSEPP and do roth conversions (since in retirement I would already be in the lowest tax bracket for joint filing).
And in 11-14 years would start getting SS. The SS alone would more than cover expenses (using todays numbers with age 62 projected retirement).
I can't predict the future surprise costs, so I technically may not need to use sosepp/IRA in early retirement....but I will do the SOSEPP for 7 years. This would eat up the IRA mostly as I withdraw from it AND do roth conversions. But its very possible I might not have to touch the taxable brokerage above at all (pure growth with no withdrawals whatsoever except fun/leasure which is probably less than 1% SWR if that.
By 59, I could just stop the SOSEPP as the taxable would have grown possible substation (I moved abroad) and do roth conversions to fully move it over to Roth.
Assuming I actually spend from the taxable brokerage (original portfolio at the top).
1 - do those buckets sound okay (as I put emphasis on the tilt growth) with VOO, SCHG, AVDV and IDMO?
2 - does it make sense to spend from the growth tilts (voo less priority) and just rebalance on market dips as they eventually do go back up.
3 - the BND at face value at 10% is low in retirement, but combined with a seperate HYSA, I would have a net total of 6 years of expenses in a bear market. I could access as early as 11 years from now (51 currently). Does this make sense? or maybe the BND should go much higher, but I lose out on gains from VOO for example. I still want my overall portfolio to grow in my 50s (so I can enjoy life when not a bad bear market) and then in my mid 60's (once SS comes in) could move money to bonds to 'lock in gains'.

15% BND in my long-term portfolio
30% TLT in my investment portfolio to hedge against the margin that I'm using

This is a very specific type of bond fund, different from that recommended by the sidebar of this subreddit, or for that matter nearly every thread about bond funds. Why did you choose VLGSX?
I'm asking because you must have had a reason to choose it, has that reason been mitigated by something.
I would never recommend to sell "just because", but if it doesn't match your strategy any longer sell it and buy BND.

For the same reasons, I used VTEB in my taxable right up until retirement. After retiring I moved it as my marginal tax bracket plummeted. It worked well enough - performing mostly as an intermediate bond should.
More recently, CPAG came onto the market. It's a bond etf that tracks the AGG index (I.e. same thing BND tracks) but is designed to have no distributions and, assuming you hold for a year, will give you growth at capital gains rates. It comes with an expense ratio significantly more than BND, but the tax advantages of deferring income out of your high bracket and into capital gains may well make it worthwhile in the same way munis pay lower rates than regular bonds but can still be worth it.

Where are these semiconductor and Nasdaq tilts even coming from? Bogleheads don't tilt.
VOO+VXUS+BND is fine. VTI+VXUS+BND is more bogleheady. VT+BND is the same but simpler.

I have found that simplicity helps with being overwhelmed. If I were you, I would pick a stock and bond allocation and use VT + BND accordingly. Perhaps when you get more experience you can add GLDM, but probably unnecessary.

https://preview.redd.it/oy43lf4oks5g1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2f2cd6337f943bc6b9eacebc9ffd53a2b2a77be4
VT and chill here with 20% BND/Cash. VT world market still has high exposure to the Mag7…

/r/bogleheads
If you're looking to gamble 10% /r/wallstreetbets 90% /r/bogleheads
If you want to make a few dollars until you lose your pants 100% /r/wallstreetbets. I recommend NOT going this route. If you make a few good movies, it'll encourage you to continue betting until you lose everything. Many people enter a casino, win a few thousand bucks, and walk out empty handed because they gamble until it's gone. WSB will do that to you. For that reason, I also recommend not going the 10% WSB route either 😉
Boglehead philosopy is "invest in a few, broadly diversified funds." Such as VTI (US Market) and VXUS (International Market) and bonds. Here's a few examples:
Starting in 2000, if you put...
* $1 into SPY (S&P 500) it would be worth $7.50 today
* $1 per day into SPY, it would be worth $36,000 today
* $100 per month into SPY ($31,100 total), it would be worth $172,000 today
* $31,100 into SPY on day 1, it would be worth $232,000
*Note that today, the S&P 500 is widely considered "the benchmark" for comparing investment strategies. VOO and SPY are very similar, but VOO wasn't around in 2000 so I chose SPY.*
VTI didn't exist in 2000, and neither did VXUS or BND. Instead, let's look at VTSMX (US market), VGTSX (international market), and VBMFX (bonds) at 60%, 30%, and 10%
* $1 in 2000 would be $5.65 today
* $1 per day would be $25,000 today
* $100 per month would be $120,000 today
You might think, "Why invest in anything but SPY?" The US market has been on an amazing tear compared to the since around 2016. Up until that point, these portfolios were nearly identical.
But investing 100% in SPY or VOO is a completely valid path, especially if you're far from retirement.
The most important thing is to get as much into the account as early as you can (which is tough to do when your income is lower typically than later in life). The second most important thing is to continue contributing smaller amounts as you go. Both of these things are far easier to do than trying to play "catch up" when you hit 50 years old and are starting at 0 (but it's far better to start at 50 than to start at 60!)

You can’t compare an aggregate bond fund like BND to the PIMCO and Dodge & Cox funds. They serve completely different purposes and have completely reasonable ERs for what they provide.

30% in BND? Are you my grandma?

You can look at target date funds and use those as a guide for an allocation you are comfortable with. VT, VTI, VXUS are popular ETFs for equities. SGOV, VBIL, BND are popular for bonds or cash equivalents. Learn how taxes work for STCG, LTCG, dividends, and interest. Know the difference between retirement accounts and taxable brokerage accounts. That's all you really need to know.

Below is my 30 year plan for 2k a month. Wanted lowest expense ratios and a bit of diversification. I like it as I’m really going for “time in market, not timing the market” as my strategy.
• VOO: 65%
• VEA: 15%
• XLU: 10%
• BND: 10%

If you’re looking to use bonds as ballast, then intermediate treasuries in one of the best options because they are one of the most uncorrelated bonds to equities.
The State Street bond index is the equivalent to BND. It’s it follows the advocate bond index and is a fine choice.
I am a gigantic fan of PIMIX but it’s a very specialized fund and probably not the right one for you.

Agree. I have been running a portfolio with like 9 US Equity ETF's and after some time it becomes a bear to rebalance and maintain your original strategy.

Additionally similar to what the commenter above say's there is really no point to having to having a bunch of small percentage tilts. They are more likely to cause drag than deliver excess returns. If you don't want to go straight up Bogglehead (VTI or VOO plus VXUS and BND/BNDX) you can probably achieve what you want with a much simpler selection of 3 or 4 US Equity ETFs focused on some mix of large cap value and growth and mid growth and small value, etc.
Sector funds are bets and you can get great sector coverage in an index fund. Usually sector funds have high ER's and don't consistently pan out the way you think or hope they will. My wife for example holds the Winderhill Clean Energy ETF which lagged for years and now is finally picking up. Her Cannabis ETF tanked. Healthcare ETF's have also been lagging lately. Tech ETFs are go boom and bust with the MAG7s (mostly). If want in, just be prepared for volatility I think.
On International I choose to get Emerging through VXUS but supplement that with a tilt towards developed markets using IDMO and DIVI. Other people prefer to invest in separate funds for developed vs. emerging. There's no right or wrong answer. On most days, my combo beats VXUS alone (at least this past year). In terms of market share, international represents 40% of the market value. Many target date and allocation funds recommend 30%. Nothing wrong with going lower if you want but just be sure you are making an informed and intentional decision.
Good luck!

Across all my investments, all my accounts, 50% is VTI, 30% is BND, and 20% is VXUS. It will probably stay that way for the rest of my life.

I chose SGOV because it's exempt from state taxes, and I live in a high-tax state. I don't know enough about BND to say.

As long as the funds are low cost, broad market funds ( like the model of VTI/VXUS/BND but there are plenty of similar funds that work ) then this does!
Good luck!

Stupid question. In actual retirement, how would BRK.B be as a bonds replacement?
So i really won't sell it unless a bear and to avoid sequence of returns, I could perhaps sell BRK.B for the 4% SWR instead of the typical broad markets which would be temporarily hammered (1-6 years) in a bad bear market.
Such as 70% VT, 30% BRK.B instead of BND, then have some HYSA on the side for emergency.