Lazy portfolio

3-Fund Portfolio

Taylor Larimore / Bogleheads forum, popularized ~2002

The most-cited DIY index portfolio. Three holdings cover the entire investable equity universe plus a broad bond stake, with no sector or factor tilts. Allocation between equity and bonds is set by individual risk tolerance; the version below is the standard age-50 "moderate" mix.

Allocation

48%

12%

40%

48% · US Total Market
12% · International Total
40% · US Aggregate Bond

Weighted expense ratio

0.032%

Across the 3 of 3 slices we could price.

Weighted tax efficiency

/100, weighted by allocation. Lower in heavy-bond portfolios.

Slices

Number of holdings — also the number of lots you rebalance.

Implementation

Weight	Role	Ticker	Fund	ER	AUM	Score
48%	US Total Market	VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares	0.030%	$2.30T	92
12%	International Total	VXUS	Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares	0.050%	$650.32B	93
40%	US Aggregate Bond	BND	Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund	0.030%	$397.86B	89

VTI · alternates: ITOT · ITOT is a tax-loss-harvesting partner — different index family, near-identical exposure.
VXUS · Total ex-US developed + emerging in one fund.
BND · alternates: AGG · AGG works equivalently; same Bloomberg-Agg-style benchmark family.

Editorial take

The 3-fund is the default starting point for a reason: it captures essentially every diversification benefit a passive investor can reach without paying for active management, accepts no concentration risk, and rebalances cleanly across just three lots. The most common refinement is to shift the international weight toward market-cap (~40% of equity instead of the 24% below).

Try the 3-Fund Portfolio in our tools

Tool · Placement

Split this portfolio across your accounts

Asset-location optimizer — fills tax-deferred with shelter-priority slices first, Roth with growth-priority next, taxable last. Estimated annual tax drag.

Tool · Backtester

Backtest this portfolio's last 5 years

Monthly total returns rebalanced monthly. Equity curve, CAGR, max drawdown.

Compare the slices

See holdings overlap and cost difference between any two of this portfolio's funds.

Open 3-Fund Portfolio holdings at a brokerage

All 3 slices in this portfolio trade commission-free at major brokerages.

Open at Fidelity

Affiliate links — opening an account through these earns PlainIndex a one-time referral. Scoring is computed before any affiliate consideration; see our methodology and funding disclosure.

Curated allocation. The funds listed are how this portfolio would be built using the catalog as it stands today; alternate tickers and notes are flagged inline.

PlainIndex publishes data and editorial commentary — nothing here is personalized investment advice. Read the methodology for how the scores referenced here are computed.