Posts for tag #Portfolio
Portfolio Setup Summary
July 10, 2026
A retirement portfolio for income, built step by step in 8 posts: how I set my objectives, screened and picked ETFs, assembled the complete portfolio, and now manage it. This is my real portfolio, not a theoretical exercise - I started converting a large part of my assets into this exact setup in summer 2026.
Dry powder: handle with care
June 12, 2026
Dry powder is the cash inside your portfolio that you hold back for rebalancing and withdrawals - not the same as an emergency fund, which exists purely for survival. Holding too much cash drags on returns, so I cap mine at 10% and only deploy it using fixed rules. That takes the emotion out of my actions.
Part 1 - Portfolio objectives
June 6, 2026
My retirement portfolio objective: a 6% nominal return over 20 years, dropping to 3% income at a 5% or lower return. Built from 75% stocks, 10% bonds, and cash/gold, with five extra conditions: 40% EUR exposure, underweight US, overweight Asia and emerging markets, 2% distributions and no more than 10 products.
Part 2 - Which products do I want?
June 6, 2026
Turning my target allocation into actual ETFs means screening for five things: fund size and liquidity, low cost and tracking difference, physical replication, leading asset managers with well-known indices, and how transparent the provider is. These criteria then get layered onto my currency and regional constraints from Part 1.