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This article displays the portfolio by Tim Maurer. Here you will find a description, performance, and resources for the portfolio as well as detailed information on how to implement it yourself.
Article Contents
- The Tim Maurer Simple Money Portfolio, Another BAM Home-Run?
- Description of the Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio
- Performance of Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio
- Building the portfolio(s)
- Asset Allocation for Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio
- How we select the right ETFs
- Resources for the Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio
- Suggestions for your next steps
- Conclusion
The Tim Maurer Simple Money Portfolio, Another BAM Home-Run?
I love writing about good guys in investing and personal finance. I consider Tim Maurer as a good guy in investing.
Tim Maurer is a Wealth Advisor and Director of Personal Finance for Buckingham and the BAM ALLIANCE. He also a regular contributor to CNBC, Forbes, and TIME/Money.
If you think BAM ALLIANCE and Buckingham sound familiar, it is because you know it from other prominent financial writers. Here are a few that we have featured on Portfolio Einstein:
- Larry Swedroe is the research director at Buckingham. We feature him in our article Larry Swedroe Portfolio: Nemesis of Low Returns. He is a fantastic educational writer. We have learned a ton from his many books. An example is his gem of a book on factor-based investing (smart-beta), Your Complete Guide to Factor-Based Investing: The Way Smart Money Invests Today.
- Dan Solin was a director at Buckingham. He is the author of the Smartest series of investing books, including The Smartest Investment Book You’ll Ever Read: The Proven Way to Beat the “Pros” and Take Control of Your Financial Future.
Tim Maurer has also written a fantastic book on personal finance. The book features the Simple Money Portfolio.
What is it with these guys at Buckingham? Do they all write good books?
It reminds me of Ritholtz Wealth Management, where all the employees have a side gig as book authors, have a blog, or, in other ways, engages with the investing community. I can’t imagine that being anything else than a very conscious strategy and recruitment metric by Barry Ritholtz. He is one smart cookie.
The reason why I highlight the extracurricular activities of these advisors is that I consider them as being above the rest. The reason why they write books, blogs, and engage with the investing community is that they can’t help themselves. They are passionate about personal finance and investing. That shows in their books and their blogs.
Just look at Tim Maurer’s blog. It is professional but at the same time very personal.
Guys like Tim Maurer, Larry Swedroe, Dan Solin, and the Ritzholz crew, Barry Ritholtz, Josh Brown, Michael Batnick, and Ben Carlson, are writing books and blogging because they care. They write because something compels them to do so.
Description of the Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio
The Tim Maurer portfolio is called the Simple Money Portfolio and comes from his website and his book Simple Money: A No-Nonsense Guide to Personal Finance.
The Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio is a variation on the standard 60/40 portfolio.
The portfolio tilts toward value and small-cap stocks. The portfolio is a theme that is seen in Larry Swedroe’s many portfolios.
It is also a theme we see in Dan Solin’s Super Simple portfolios.
We see the investing kinship with Tim Maurer’s colleagues at Buckingham Wealth Management.
Performance of Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio
| Name | Asset class count | Year to date | Return in 2019 | 10 year return | CAGR since 1989 (%) | Risk level | Expense ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Maurer Simple Money Portfolio | 7 | -10.16% | 16.2 | 6.91% | 7.84 | 2 | 0.12% |
Building the portfolio(s)
Below you can see the asset allocations for the portfolio(s). You can also see if the portfolio(s) has a socially responsible investing (ESG) variant portfolio. You can read more about socially responsible investing (ESG) investment portfolios in this post.
To build the portfolio(s) yourself, go to our best in class ETF page to see which ETF you should choose for a particular asset class. There you can also see which socially responsible investing ESG ETFs you should select.
Asset Allocation for Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio
Tim Maurer Simple Money Portfolio
- 7.50% US Large Cap Value (VTV)
- 7.50% US Large Cap (VV)
- 7.50% US Small Cap Value (VIOV)
- 7.50% US Small Cap (VIOO)
- 15.00% International Large Cap Value (EFV)
- 15.00% International Small Cap Blend (VSS)
- 40.00% Intermediate-Term Treasuries (VGIT)
How we select the right ETFs
There are a lot of ETFs out there. Most of them can be discarded because:
- They are too expensive
- They hold too few assets and are therefore too illiquid
- They do not meet the criteria for representing the asset class they are supposed to mirror.
We have carefully selected an ETF for each asset class that the portfolios on portfolioeinstein.com use. If you want to read more about our selection process and see what we consider the best ETFs please visit our article What Is The Best ETF?
If you are a European investor you need to buy European ETFs. We list 47 best ETFs in our article What Are The Best ETFs For European Investors? (Here Is 47).
As of 2020 we also track socially responsible investing ESG portfolios. Socially responsible investing (ESG) portfolios prioritize investing that puts an emphasis on environmental, social and corporate governance issues.
You can find the socially responsible investing ESG ETFs in the same article.
Resources for the Tim Maurer Simple Money portfolio
Below is a video by Tim Maurer, where he recommends the ten best personal finance books.
The list features some fantastic books. I know because I have read nine of them! Tim Maurer also gives a twenty-second quick and concise summary of each book.
Suggestions for your next steps
Finding the correct portfolio is hard. Maintaining your portfolio is also daunting. If you are still in doubt about which portfolio to choose, we suggest you read our article How To Invest Money: 5 Simple Steps That Work For Anyone
If you have already committed to a portfolio – good for you! If you need help maintaining the portfolio you will find our rebalance worksheet useful. Rebalancing your portfolio lowers your risk and may even provide higher returns in the long run.
You can find the rebalance worksheet in our article Here Is The Most Easy To Use Portfolio Rebalance Tool
Conclusion
You can tell I’m’m a big fan of Buckingham and the BAM Alliance. I’m’m also a big fan of Tim Maurer. His portfolio is conservative but targets the best performing asset classes.
Which books on Tim Maurer’s book list did you read?
