The Investment Thingie

So if you're tucking money away for the house purchase or your sunset years, what investments did best in 2016?

If you were in Vanguard's Total Stock Market Fund, you frolicked, earning 12.66%. (The S & P 500 Index did almost as well: 11.93%).

And if you were in Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund? The take was 18.3% ... and Small Cap Value was even better at 24,78%

Vanguard Target Date Funds were varied, depending on what year you elected to be in. Vanguard Target Date 2050 (90% stocks/10% bonds) pulled down 8.85%, while Vanguard Target Date Income (30% stocks/70% bonds) earned 5.25%

Total U.S. Bond Market? The beast made 2.6% in 2016, not great, but then bonds are in people's portfolios to guard against big drops that come, from time to time, from the equity side of an individual's stash.

There are an almost infinite number of stock/bond asset allocations, everything from Harry Browne's Permanent Portfolio to the simple yet elegant Three-Fund Portfolio.

And whattayaknow? There are no "perfect" stock/bond allocation, one that will provide optimum returns year in and year out. Because at any given moment in time, one portfolio will do better than another portfolio. And it's hard to tell in advance which of the combinations will perform best. (Rats!)

The Bogleheads Financial Page provides the returns for eight of the most popular stock/bond allocations (often called "Lazy Portfolios") out there. So plunk your money down in the "Coffeehouse Portfolio" or the "Coward's Portfolio" and see what kind of income (if any) you earn in 2017.