Investors with taxable or IRA brokerage accounts
We provide ETF model portfolios suitable for any brokerage for beginners.
We also provide fixed income bond fund based portfolios that have consistently outperformed even some of the best bond mutual funds.
How does our service work?
- Investors open an account or use an existing account in a brokerage such as Schwab, Fidelity or Etrade.
- Investors choose a model portfolio to follow. Use our easy-to-use Get Started Guide to follow or customize a portfolio with a personal risk profile. After that, the portfolio will be added to the dashboard and you are now following it.
- They then receive regular emails or notifications on how to rebalance the portfolio, usually at the end of a month. On the next trading day (the first trading day of the next month), they make trades/rebalancing in their own brokerage investment account to mimic the model portfolio --- mainly based on the percentage allocation to each fund.
Note: all of our portfolios invest in only ETFs or no-load no transaction fee mutual funds.
ETF Model Portfolios
What?
We provide two customizable ETF model portfolios based on two types of asset allocation strategies:
Strategic Asset Allocation: MyPlanIQ ETF Strategic Stock Allocation Moderate
- Description: Invest in a diversified portfolio of multiple assets, buy-and-hold without frequently changing the asset allocation weights.
- Suitable: For long-term (more than 15 years, preferably more than 20 years), want to be tax efficient and can withstand interim drawdown or loss as high as 50% or more.
- Pros:
- Less error-prone
- Infrequent rebalancing or transactions
- Tax efficient
- Cons:
- Interim loss or drawdown can be substantial
- Possible low returns for an extended period, such as 10 years or longer
Tactical Asset Allocation: MyPlanIQ ETF Tactical Stock Allocation Moderate
- Description: Invest in a diversified portfolio of multiple assets, dynamically adjust stock and bond allocations dynamicall to minimize losses during market stress.
- Suitable: For long-term (more than 10 years or preferably longer) capital. Investors are willing to rebalance as frequent as monthly.
- Pros:
- Reduce large interim loss or drawdown
- Less sensitive to investment entry point
- Likely to improve returns
- Cons
- Demand more frequent rebalancing or transactions
- Less tax efficient — more suitable in a tax-deferred account such as 401(k) or IRA
- Can experience a period of lower returns compared to a broad-based strategic allocation or a buy-and-hold benchmark, especially in some bull markets
See MyPlanIQ subscription service description for more details.
Representative Candidate ETFs
The candidate ETFs in this portfolio include the following ultra-low cost index ETFs and some total return bond ETFs:
| Asset Class | Ticker/Portfolio Name |
|---|---|
| US Stocks | VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) |
| US REITs | VNQ (Vanguard REIT ETF) |
| Intl’ Developed Market Stocks | VEA (Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF) |
| Emerging Market Stocks | VWO (Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF) |
| Intermediate Bonds | BND (Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF) |
| Total Return Bonds | BOND (PIMCO Total Return Active ETF) |
| Total Return Bonds | TOTL (SPDR® DoubleLine Total Return Tact ETF) |
| Intermediate Corp Bonds | VCIT (Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corp Bd ETF) |
| National Municipal Bonds (Tax-Exempt) | MUB (iShares National AMT-Free Muni Bond) |
| High Yield Municipal Bonds (Tax Exempt) | HYD (Market Vectors® High-Yield Municipal ETF) |
| …… | …… |
Latest ETF Model Portfolios Performance
The return data shown below all delayed by 3 months. Their latest dates are all the same: 01/31/2025.
| Name | YTD Return | Inception | 1Yr AR | 3Yr AR | 5Yr AR | 10Yr AR | 15Yr AR | 20Yr AR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MyPlanIQ ETF Strategic Stock Allocation Moderate | 2.28% | 9.31% | 10.03% | 5.70% | 7.71% | 7.92% | NA | NA |
| MyPlanIQ ETF Tactical Stock Allocation Moderate | 1.70% | 8.65% | 10.25% | 6.15% | 8.17% | 7.65% | 9.73% | 10.97% |
Benchmark index funds returns
The return data shown below all have the same latest date: 04/10/2025.
| Name | YTD Return | Inception | 1Yr AR | 3Yr AR | 5Yr AR | 10Yr AR | 15Yr AR | 20Yr AR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VBINX (VANGUARD BALANCED INDEX FUND INVESTOR SHARES) | -7.84% | 6.55% | -1.43% | 1.68% | 6.09% | 5.85% | 7.37% | 6.63% |
| DGSIX (GLOBAL ALLOCATION 60/40 PORTFOLIO GLOBAL ALLOCATION 60/40 PORTFOLIO - INSTITUTIONAL CLASS) | -4.73% | 5.41% | -2.41% | 1.02% | 5.78% | 4.27% | 5.52% | 5.33% |
Benefits of subscription
- FREE No-Risk one month trial for a basic subscription
- Choose to customize and follow asset allocation model portfolios for your 401k plans, IRA, or a taxable brokerage account
- Our asset allocation portfolios deliver better returns with less risk than a standard strategic asset allocation portfolio in the long term
- Choose to follow our fixed income portfolios that have outperformed some of the best bond funds
- Our well-received high-quality newsletters
- Detailed subscription plan comparison