Meb Faber Trinity Portfolio
Meb Faber
In brief
A 50/50 blend of a diversified global asset allocation and a monthly trend-following sleeve.
Profile sources: Meb Faber Research
- Published
- Last reviewed
At a glance
11 asset sleeves
Evaluate the trend rules monthly; maintain the strategic half at its target weights.
Growth assets
20%
Bonds & reserves
25%
Other diversifiers
55%
Target allocation
What the portfolio holds
U.S. stocks — strategic half
VTIVTI
9%
Developed stocks — strategic half
VEAVEA
6.75%
Emerging stocks — strategic half
VWOVWO
2.25%
Corporate bonds — strategic half
LQDLQD
9.9%
Long U.S. Treasuries — strategic half
TLTTLT
6.75%
International bonds — strategic half
BNDXBNDX
7.2%
TIPS — strategic half
SCHPSCHP
0.9%
Commodities — strategic half
PDBCPDBC
2.5%
Gold — strategic half
IAUIAU
2.5%
REITs — strategic half
VNQVNQ
2.25%
Rules-based global trend sleeve
50%
Tickers are liquid U.S.-listed examples, not recommendations or exact historical fund selections.
Allocation sources: Meb Faber Research
Decision context
Potential advantages and trade-offs
These observations follow from the displayed allocation and implementation. They are not a recommendation or a prediction of future performance.
Potential advantages
- Spreads its target allocation across 11 distinct sleeves rather than relying on a single holding.
- Combines growth assets with bonds or reserves instead of depending on one broad asset class.
- Includes non-U.S. exposure, reducing exclusive dependence on one national market.
- Includes a diversifying sleeve outside conventional broad stocks and nominal bonds.
Important trade-offs
- The largest sleeve is 50% of the portfolio, so its behavior can dominate the result.
- 11 sleeves increase implementation, monitoring, and rebalancing complexity.
- Long-duration Treasury exposure can be highly sensitive to changes in long-term interest rates.
- Alternative sleeves can behave differently from familiar stock-and-bond benchmarks and may add fund cost or tracking differences.
Portfolio Visualizer
Compare historical performance
Compare this documented rules-based ETF proxy beside two familiar U.S. equity benchmarks. The comparison starts with $10,000 and uses monthly total-return data.
Growth of $10,000
Monthly total returns · maximum available history
Portfolio 1
Meb Faber Trinity Portfolio
Target allocation from this profile
Portfolio 2
S&P 500
SPY benchmark
Portfolio 3
Nasdaq-100
QQQ benchmark
This local rules-based chart is an ETF-proxy interpretation of the cited paper, not a reproduction of proprietary indexes. Results begin after the required lookback and latest common fund inception.
Implementation note
The local chart is a transparent ETF-proxy implementation of the white paper: it ranks the ten assets by trailing 12-month momentum, selects the top half, keeps each selected asset only when above its 10-month moving average, and sends failed slots to Treasury bills. It does not reproduce Cambria's proprietary indexes, execution, fees, or taxes.
Sources and context
Target allocations are educational examples, not personalized advice. Fund availability, taxes, trading costs, account type, time horizon, and capacity for loss can all change the appropriate implementation. Historical diversification does not guarantee future results.
Sources document the strategy, underlying methodology, or the representative funds used here. ETF tickers are illustrative U.S.-listed implementations and may differ from an originator’s original funds or current model.