Skip to content
Investment Visual

Ivy Portfolio

Mar 8, 2007 – Sep 23, 2026, Rebalanced annually

Backtest it
Ivy PortfolioS&P 500
Final balance$32,650$78,200
CAGR6.24%11.10%
Max drawdown−46.52%−55.19%
Sharpe ratio0.510.64

Allocation

  • VTIUS total stock market20%
  • VEUInternational stocks20%
  • VNQUS real estate20%
  • IEFIntermediate Treasuries20%
  • DBCCommodities20%

Loading the growth chart…

Growth of $10,000

  • Ivy Portfolio
  • S&P 500

Metrics

ReturnIvy PortfolioS&P 500
Final balance$32,650$78,200
Total return226.50%682.00%
CAGR6.24%11.10%
Calendar yearsIvy PortfolioS&P 500
Best year22.50%32.31%
Worst year−26.26%−36.80%
Positive years14 of 1815 of 18
RiskIvy PortfolioS&P 500
Max drawdown−46.52%−55.19%
Longest drawdown2.8 years4.9 years
Volatility (annualized)13.94%19.61%
Risk-adjustedIvy PortfolioS&P 500
Sharpe ratio0.510.64
Sortino ratio0.700.90
Calmar ratio0.130.20

Worst drawdowns

DeclinePeakBottomRecovered
−46.5%May 2008Mar 2009Feb 2011
−25.8%Feb 2020Mar 2020Nov 2020
−17.9%Apr 2022Sep 2022May 2024
−15.9%Jul 2014Jan 2016Jan 2017
−15.3%Apr 2011Oct 2011Feb 2012

Annual returns

YearIvy PortfolioS&P 500
2007*+7.99%+5.80%
2008−26.26%−36.80%
2009+21.25%+26.35%
2010+15.78%+15.06%
2011+1.73%+1.89%
2012+12.03%+15.99%
2013+7.24%+32.31%
2014+3.88%+13.46%
2015−5.61%+1.23%
2016+9.17%+12.00%
2017+12.19%+21.71%
2018−7.22%−4.57%
2019+20.26%+31.22%
2020+5.95%+18.33%
2021+22.50%+28.73%
2022−11.43%−18.18%
2023+10.24%+26.18%
2024+7.15%+24.89%
2025+13.77%+17.72%
2026*+15.47%+13.47%

* Partial year

About the Ivy Portfolio

In their 2009 book The Ivy Portfolio, Mebane Faber and Eric Richardson based this mix on the Harvard and Yale endowments. It splits the money equally between US stocks, foreign stocks, bonds, real estate and commodities.

The book also has a timing rule. At the end of each month, it moves an asset to cash if its price is below its 10-month average. This page skips the rule, holds all five and rebalances once a year.

The Ivy Portfolio returned 6.2% a year from Mar 2007 to Sep 2026, against 11.1% for the S&P 500. Its biggest drop was 46.5%, against 55.2% for the S&P 500. It took 2.8 years to recover. It beat the S&P 500 in 3 of 18 full years.

Uses daily closing prices with dividends reinvested. Fund fees are included, but not taxes or trading costs. The backtest starts on Mar 8, 2007, the first day all five funds have prices. The S&P 500 is SPY.

Other portfolios