Wasik Nano
0.28%March 19 | MyPlanIQ portfolio symbol P_20508


John Wasik has been a professional journalist and author for 30 years specializing in personal finance, the environment, investing and social issues. John has proposed a Nano plan investment portfolio which employs just a handful of index or ETFs to cover virtually the entire world of bond and stock markets. This portfolio is supposed to be rebalanced annually.

John Wasik presents a classic asset allocation strategy with simple buy and hold.

  • 20% in Vanguard Total Stock Market VIPERS (VTI) – alternatives: SPY, IWM
  • 20% in Vanguard Total International (VGTSX) – alternatives: EFA, VEU, EEM, VWO, ADRE
  • 20% in Vanguard REIT VIPERS (VNQ) – alternatives: IYR, ICF
  • 20% in iShares Lehman TIPS Bond (TIP)
  • 20% in iShares Lehman Aggregate Bond (AGG) – alternative: BND

Things to note about the portfolio:

  • With 40% in fixed income, this would be considered moderate risk
  • With VGTSX covering both international and emerging markets (albeit in one fund) this would be something between a 4 and 5 asset class portfolio
  • VGTSX is not an ETF; while VGTSX can easily be replaced by VEU (Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF) we will keep VGTSX because it has a longer history for back testing


Return Calculator

Calculate Performance

Start date (MM/dd/yyyy)

End date   (MM/dd/yyyy)

Click here for interactive chart

Click here for comparison with other funds, portfolios or stocks

Rolling Returns

From 12/31/2004 to 03/19/2024, the worst annualized return of 3-year rolling returns is -6.28%.

From 12/31/2004 to 03/19/2024, the worst annualized return of 5-year rolling returns is 2.42%.

From 12/31/2004 to 03/19/2024, the worst annualized return of 10-year rolling returns is 5.09%.

Maximum Drawdown

Create a new model portfolio with personal personal risk profile for a brokerage account