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FactorAggressive risk

Paul Merriman Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio

Paul Merriman

In brief

Ten equal equity slices diversify by company size, value, geography, and real estate.

Profile sources: Paul Merriman

Published
Last reviewed

At a glance

10 asset sleeves

Rebalance annually.

Growth assets

10%

Bonds & reserves

0%

Other diversifiers

90%

Target allocation

What the portfolio holds

U.S. large blend

VOO

10%

U.S. large value

AVLV

10%

U.S. small blend

VB

10%

U.S. small value

AVUV

10%

U.S. REITs

VNQ

10%

International large blend

VEA

10%

International large value

AVIV

10%

International small blend

VSS

10%

International small value

AVDV

10%

Emerging markets

VWO

10%

Tickers are liquid U.S.-listed examples, not recommendations or exact historical fund selections.

Allocation sources: Paul Merriman

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 10 distinct sleeves rather than relying on a single holding.
  • Includes non-U.S. exposure, reducing exclusive dependence on one national market.
  • Includes a diversifying sleeve outside conventional broad stocks and nominal bonds.
  • Makes its factor tilts explicit rather than hiding them inside a broad-market allocation.

Important trade-offs

  • Aggressive risk means losses and drawdowns can be substantial even when the long-term thesis remains unchanged.
  • Approximately 100% of the displayed allocation is equity-like, leaving limited conventional bond ballast.
  • 10 sleeves increase implementation, monitoring, and rebalancing complexity.
  • Factor tilts can lag broad markets for long periods and require tolerance for persistent tracking error.

Portfolio Visualizer

Compare historical performance

Backtest this allocation beside two familiar U.S. equity benchmarks. The comparison starts with $10,000, reinvests dividends, and rebalances annually.

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Growth of $10,000

Monthly total returns · maximum available history

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10 holdings

Portfolio 1

Paul Merriman Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio

Target allocation from this profile

100%

Portfolio 2

S&P 500

SPY benchmark

100%

Portfolio 3

Nasdaq-100

QQQ benchmark

Portfolio Visualizer opens in a new tab because its site does not support embedded frames. Results begin at the latest common inception date for the selected funds.

Implementation note

This shows a representative 100% equity implementation; Merriman also publishes stock-bond variations.

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.