[jIM_Ohio]

That was the study I referred to. I have an issue with the math which leads to the conclusion of the article. I drew my own conclusions.

The conclusion I drew is that I did not need to add REITs, commodities or cash/bonds in heavy doses until portfolio stability was my core objective.

The returns of the underlying assets were not good enough to suggest I add them while accumulating.

The issues I had is the first 2 or 3 examples were not real (why have only 1 asset class- large caps stocks in this example- in an accumulation/growth portfolio). I then had an issue with each piece of portfolio being equally weighted. I guess it made sense for the paper, but there is more to draw down than just the asset classes. Taxes and income producing investments also factor into my plan.

Cash drained down the 5 asset portfolio... IMO the study should have been about a 6 asset porfolio and added cash as a 7th variable to numerous 5 asset porfolio's and the 6th. The order the paper presented the asset classes makes me think REITs and commodities improve returns, yet I don't expect to get a 10% annual return from either asset class (long term).