Use the 90/10 Rule When You’re Tempted to Make a Speculative Investment (2024)

Use the 90/10 Rule When You’re Tempted to Make a Speculative Investment (3)

My investing life is pretty boring.

All of my money goes to low-cost, total stock market index funds. Most of this is automated and happens without me paying attention.

Investing in index funds is a really smart move over the long term, but it’s not sexy. It doesn’t have that “suddenly become a millionaire” potential that we all dream about.

Right now the speculative investments that everyone is dreaming about are cryptocurrencies. Even though they are experiencing wild swings at the time I’m writing this, their takeoff in 2020 made plenty of millionaires and multi-millionaires.

So what should you do?

You could bet the farm on Bitcoin, but that’s a risky proposition. You could avoid it altogether, but that’s tough if you’re constantly feeling the itch to invest.

My solution to this is called the 90/10 rule. It’s not one that I invented, but I read about it on medium.com. We’ll break down how to use this rule, but first, let’s review the distinction between speculating and investing.

You can think about “investing” as existing on a spectrum:

Use the 90/10 Rule When You’re Tempted to Make a Speculative Investment (2024)

FAQs

Use the 90/10 Rule When You’re Tempted to Make a Speculative Investment? ›

The easiest way to do it is with the 90/10 rule. It goes like this: 90% of your contributions go to safe, boring investments like low-cost total stock market index funds. The remaining 10% is yours to play with. If you want to buy Bitcoin, buy Bitcoin.

What is the 90 10 rule in investing? ›

The rule stipulates investing 90% of one's investment capital toward low-cost stock-based index funds and the remainder 10% to short-term government bonds. The strategy comes from Buffett stating that upon his death, his wife's trust would be allocated in this method.

What is a 90 10 portfolio? ›

Legendary investor Warren Buffett proposed the "90/10" strategy in his 2013 chairman's letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. The strategy calls for putting 90% of one's investment capital into low-cost stock index funds and the remaining 10% in low-risk government bonds.

What put 10% of cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund? ›

The Warren Buffett ETF Portfolio (90/10) is an investment strategy inspired by Warren Buffett's philosophy. It involves allocating 90% of funds to low-cost, passively managed S&P 500 index ETFs and 10% to government bonds, aiming for long-term growth with reduced risk and lower fees.

What is the 90 10 analysis? ›

The 90/10 Rule is simple. It means focusing 90 percent of our efforts on the 10 percent you and your stakeholders don't know. Because it's the 10 percent that leads to deeper insights and bigger opportunities. Insight professionals have unprecedented access to data about their customers.

What happens to the 90 percent in the 10 percent rule? ›

The ten percent rule states that each trophic level can only give 10% of its energy to the next level. The other 90% is used to live, grow, reproduce and is lost to the environment as heat. All energy pyramids start with energy from the Sun which is transferred to the first trophic level of producers.

What is 90% rule in trading? ›

The 90 rule in Forex is a commonly cited statistic that states that 90% of Forex traders lose 90% of their money in the first 90 days. This is a sobering statistic, but it is important to understand why it is true and how to avoid falling into the same trap.

What is the average return on a 90 10 portfolio? ›

The Bill Bernstein Sheltered Sam 90/10 Portfolio obtained a 8.92% compound annual return, with a 13.71% standard deviation, in the last 30 Years. The Warren Buffett Portfolio obtained a 10.09% compound annual return, with a 13.63% standard deviation, in the last 30 Years.

What does Warren Buffett recommend now? ›

He owns a small bit of each in his portfolio for Berkshire, too. The two investments held in Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio that Buffett recommends more than anything else are two S&P 500 index funds. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT: SPY) and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO).

What is the 10% portfolio rule? ›

It suggests that 10% of your portfolio should be allocated to high-risk, high-reward investments, 5% to medium-risk investments, and 3% to low-risk investments. By following this rule, you can spread your investment risk across different asset classes and investment types, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, and cash.

Is cash less risky than bonds? ›

Cash – including high-yield savings accounts, short CDs – money market funds, and bond funds, are all perceived as relatively “safe” investments but differ in terms of their risk level and return potential. Cash is the least risky of the three but offers the lowest potential return.

What are 10 year government bonds? ›

The 10-year Treasury note is a debt obligation issued by the U.S. government with a maturity of 10 years upon initial issuance. A 10-year Treasury note pays interest at a fixed rate every six months and pays the face value to the holder at maturity.

What is the 10 government bond yield in the US? ›

BondsYieldDay
US 10Y4.400.097%
US 4W5.350.010%
US 8W5.400.019%
US 3M5.360.016%
11 more rows

How do you use the 90 10 rule? ›

The 90/10 Rule is one of the most helpful concepts for life and time management. According to this principle: 10 percent of your activities will account for 90 percent of your results. This can change the way you set goals forever!

What is 90 10 solution? ›

One piece of advice that YC partner Paul Buchheit (PB) always gives in this case is to look for the “90/10 solution”. That is, look for a way in which you can accomplish 90% of what you want with only 10% of the work/effort/time. If you search hard for it, there is almost always a 90/10 solution available.

What is Warren Buffett 90 10 rule? ›

Warren Buffet's 2013 letter explains the 90/10 rule—put 90% of assets in S&P 500 index funds and the other 10% in short-term government bonds.

What is the 90 10 formula? ›

The 90-10 principle, or the Pareto Principle, asserts that approximately 90% of outcomes result from 10% of efforts. This concept originated from the observations of Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noted that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

What is the 60 30 10 rule in investing? ›

This reinventive basic rule to portfolio structure means allocating 60% to equities, 30% to bonds, and 10% to alternatives. The exact percentages may vary by portfolio, but the key idea is that Alternatives should be an integral part of every portfolio, in some percentage.

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