This is the article displaying the portfolios by JL Collins. Here you will find a description, performance, and resources for the portfolios as well as detailed information on how to implement them yourself.
Contents
JL Collins portfolios, learn money in 1 minute 36 secs
JL Collins is a personal finance writer and author of the wonderful book The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life. It is highly recommended – also as an audiobook.
JL Collins is often interviewed on blogs and in the media. Almost everything that he says is grounded, logical and just makes sense. He often uses his dry humor to great effect.
And it is all done in that great raspy voice of his.
He gave a talk at the Google campus on how to manage your retirement. It is really good. Here’s is an example of his sharp wit and what you can expect.
Moderator (Rachel Smith): You’re in a room of above average intelligent people.
JL Collins: Perhaps, but not in investing.
In the talk and interview, he discusses money and investing. He covers how to think about money and build wealth. He talks about how to approach 401(k), 403(b), TSP, IRA and Roth accounts, TRFs (Target Retirement Funds), HSAs (Health Savings Accounts) and RMDs (Required Minimum Distributions). And of course, he discusses how the stock market works.
Here is JL Collins’s tribute to John Goodman from the movie The Gambler.
He sums up all the world’s investing and money advice in only 1 minute and 36 seconds. It is glorious.
Description of JL Collins portfolios
His basic portfolio consists of one fund, while his preservation portfolio adds a bond fund to the mix.
That fund is the total stock market. So, what is special about that?
Well, it is immensely hard to beat the total stock market. Read Meet Susan: The Most Important Question In Investing if you want to know why. Besides, it makes investing simple and very straight forward.
JL Collins is very much inspired by John Bogle so asset allocation is no surprise. John Bogle also recommends a 2 fund solution.
Let’s see how the portfolios of JL Collins perform.
Performance of JL Collins portfolios
| Portfolio name | Asset class count | 1 year return (2019) | Year to date | 10 year return | CAGR since 1989 | Drawdown | Risk Level | Expense ratio | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JL Collins, Simple Path To Wealth, Wealth Building Portfolio | 1 | 30.80% | 3.42% | 13.42% | 10.51% | -37.00% | 5 - very high risk | 0.03% | 1.77% |
| JL Collins, Simple Path To Wealth, Wealth Preservation Portfolio | 2 | 25.28% | 2.91% | 11.10% | 9.69% | -26.45% | 3 - medium risk | 0.03% | 1.86% |
Asset Allocation of JL Collins portfolios
JL Collins, Simple Path to Wealth, Wealth Building Portfolio
- 100.00% US Total Stock Market (VTI)
JL Collins, Simple Path to Wealth, Wealth Preservation Portfolio
- 75.00% US Total Stock Market (VTI)
- 25.00% Total US Bond Market (BND)
Check the best mutual funds and ETFs here.
Resources for JL Collins portfolios
His how-to-invest series on his blog is worth your time.
There are many other videos on youtube where you can JL Collins being interviewed. He also has a page on his site displaying where he has been interviewed.
JL Collins website.
And of course, the fantastic book that he self-published. It is wonderful and the kind of book you can hand out to family and friends knowing they will be better off.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that JL Collins’ investing advice makes sense. He is a no-nonsense (well almost) kind of guy with sound opinions about money and investing.
But what of his portfolio – is it too simple?