I started my grand daughter investing at age 1 month. I told my son the quicker you get her a ss# the quicker I'll open a custodial account for her. He had her ss card within three weeks of birth.
Today she owns four funds. They are AMECX, ANCFX, CAIBX & SMCWX. According to Xray this portfolio bubbles at 5% cash, 15% bonds and 80% stocks. Within stocks it is about 65% domestic and 35% foreign with a growth tilt. From a style perspective it is about 70% large and 30% small/mid.

Great way to do it. Best approach is to do this and do it via 529.

@shipwreckedandalone: The below link just might be what your looking for about the pros, cons and benefits of an equally weighted index fund along with the performance details you seek. The reason I favor an equally weighted S&P 500 Index fund is because it provides good exposure to both large and mid cap stocks. I do not use VADAX for a complete investment strategy but I use it when I feel equity ballast is warranted on the equity side of my portfolio along with also using it as a special investment position (spiff) from time-to-time.
https://www.lynalden.com/equal-weighted-index-funds/
From the link here is a recap of the Pros & Cons of Equal Weighted Indices
Although equal weighted ones may or may not have truly better performance, especially when you stick to the broad market or the S&P 500, there are definitely some trade-offs.
Pros:
Under the largest sample sizes, their long-term performance appears to be superior.
They’re more diversified, rather than heavily concentrated into just the largest companies of the index.
They naturally take a value-approach, which some investors prefer.
Cons:
They have higher turnover, which leads to higher expense ratios and generally higher capital gains taxes.
They’re more volatile, and can fall more sharply during recessions.
They’re only available for certain indices, because they’re not as popular yet.
There are some interesting anomalies. For example if Apple were to split into two companies, a cap-weighted index would still have the same amount in it because the two parts would have about the same market cap when added together, while an equal-weighted one would double its exposure to it because it’s now two names and would invest in each equally.
Neutral:
Changing the way the index is weighted changes the sector balance.

If anyone can provide a white paper on which has better risk adjusted returns Equal Weight vs Mkt Cap Weight please post it. I was satisfied for a long time that the answer was equal Sharpe Ratios explained it...but of late that premise does not hold. Use the above VADAX as an example. GFC of 2008 showed a Max Draw of within 5% on the downside for each but there was substantial outperformance in CAGR on the upside for VADAX vs SPY since 1998. I would like to know Vanguards opinion. The main argument against EW was that higher costs to rebalance doesn't hold because costs are included in the CAGR. VADAX rebalances 4x yearly. I really cannot find an answer out there. I do not want an explanation as to why (smaller caps). I want to know which is better risk adjusted long term.

FYI: Global stocks edged higher Monday as renewed hopes for a trade deal between the U.S. and China helped boost sentiment.
In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.2%. That followed a rally across Asia, with China’s Shanghai Composite Index rising 2.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng adding 1.6%.
U.S. markets were closed for the Presidents Day holiday. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.1%. The Dow last week notched its eighth consecutive weekly gain, the longest winning streak since November 2017.
Regards,
Ted
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-edge-up-as-u-s-china-trade-talks-progress-11550478796
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-17/asia-stocks-set-to-climb-as-trade-optimism-grows-markets-wrap?srnd=premium
IBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-futures-current-stock-market-rally-ciena-stock-fiber-optic-stocks/
Reuters:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-markets/world-stocks-lifted-to-2-1-2-month-highs-by-trade-optimism-idUSKCN1Q700Z
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/18/europe-markets-us-china-trade-in-focus-oil-prices-hit-2019-high.html
U.K.:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/london-markets-lose-ground-from-last-weeks-surge-reckitt-benckiser-adds-4-2019-02-18/print
Europe:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-hover-at-4-month-highs-on-hopes-for-more-trade-progress-wirecard-surges-2019-02-18/print
Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-kick-higher-on-renewed-us-china-trade-hopes-2019-02-17/print
Bonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/15/us-bonds-trade-trump-and-fed-speeches-data-in-focus.html
Currencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/18/forex-markets-us-china-trade-greenback-in-focus.html
Oil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/18/oil-markets-china-auto-sales-us-china-trade-in-focus.html
Gold
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/18/gold-markets-us-china-trade-dollar-in-focus.html
WSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/us
Major ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitor
Current Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

Because the S&P 500 Index is a cap weighted index Old_Skeet uses an equally weighted S&P 500 Index fund (VADAX) for equity ballast, when warranted, and also for a special investment (spiff) position when desired. The fund rebalances quarterly.
To view the fund's fact sheet click on the link below and then VADAX Fact Sheet PDF.
https://www.google.com/search?q=vadax+fund+fact+sheet&oq=VADAX+Fact&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0.3802j0j7&client=tablet-android-alco&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

I started my grand daughter investing at age 1 month. I told my son the quicker you get her a ss# the quicker I'll open a custodial account for her. He had her ss card within three weeks of birth.
Today she owns four funds. They are AMECX, ANCFX, CAIBX & SMCWX. According to Xray this portfolio bubbles at 5% cash, 15% bonds and 80% stocks. Within stocks it is about 65% domestic and 35% foreign with a growth tilt. From a style perspective it is about 70% large and 30% small/mid.

This might be of interest.
https://www.theetfbully.com/2019/02/etf-tracker-newsletter-for-february-15-2019/

FYI: When Michelle Brownstein started a summer job at an apparel retailer in the late 1990s, her father made the then-teenager a deal: If she agreed to save a portion of her earnings in a Roth IRA, he would match her contributions.
In doing so, Brownstein’s dad explained, she would be able to stash away savings at a very low tax rate; benefit from decades of compounding; and, eventually, withdraw the money free and clear.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/roth-ira-for-teenagers-51550247933?mod=djem_b_Weekly barrons_daily_newsletter

FYI: I must admit, with all that I write about the S&P 500 Index, it looks weird to see it without the last zero, as it is in the title of this article. But that is not as weird as the sustained predicament with that index regarding its “concentration.” That is, the index which holds approximately 500 stocks is essentially ignoring half of them. You see, the S&P 500 is like many indexes (and thus the ETFs and mutual funds that track them) in that its holdings are allocated by the size of the stock (“market capitalization”). That means that as big companies get bigger, as the market as a whole moves higher, and as a few high-flyers emerge into “hot stocks,” the S&P 500 becomes far less democratic.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robisbitts2/2019/02/14/sp-500-more-like-the-sp-50/#47859ce2136e

@FD1000 what is your upper limit of stocks since you are in preservation mode? If MA goes below 50-200 day you toggle from 5 to 2%AA in stocks? 2-5% seems like it may as well be 0%. Of course if those are individual stocks...something with large upside or large capital gains I can see holding on. I am interested in trend following so using MA is interesting to me. Regards,Mike

@davidrmoran. Lost 20.5% from it's 9/20 high to it's 12/24 low.

In my main account at Schwab, I have 3 funds, but I do add some bond funds to make it 65/35, so technically not 3 funds. PRWCX, AUENX, VMVFX. Time will tell, I'm just letting it ride.

@FD1000
>> Last year, when the SP500 lost 20%
Not seeing that. When was that exactly?

EVBAX Is Unranked In The (MB) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:

EVBAX portfolio is similar to Loomis Sayles Bond fund. Invested with it early on and left when it turned out to be even more volatile than LS fund. Last year this fund lagged badly, -5.7%.

Actually, CAPE is wrong. CAPE can be off by years so why use it. Sure, eventually stocks will be down at some point, they always are. There is no indicator that can predict when prices reach tops or bottoms so the best way IMO to use a mechanical method.
The easiest way is using asset allocation rebalance. Suppose you have 60/40 stock/bonds, when they are off by 5% just rebalance. No need to listen or follow any adice/experts/indicators.
I use the following for years since portfolio preservation is the most important to me because I just need 4.5% annual return for the next several decades.
The only indicator that works in real time, 100% guarantee, must relate to the price. Here is my simple formula. When the price of the SP500 goes under 50 days MA(moving average) and stay there several days I reduce my stocks % to under 5%, when the price goes under 200 days MA my stocks % to under 2%. Then the reverse.
So, how did the above work last time? Since the top at 09/2018 to today, my portfolio is up more than 3%. Last year, when the SP500 lost 20%, my portfolio lost just -0.9%. My portfolio volatility on the worse days was only 5-10% of the SP500.

This article discusses why the author thinks an inflection point has been reached that will begin to draw the P/E ratio back down towards long term historic norms. The focus on interest rate trends ties into the argument Gundlach makes in a video I posted a few minutes ago....

Here’s the problem that the CAPE highlights. Earnings in the past two decades have been far outpacing GDP; in the current decade, they’ve beaten growth in national income by 1.2 points (3.2% versus 2%). That’s a reversal of long-term trends. Over our entire 60 year period, GDP rose at 3.3% annually, and profits trailed by 1.3 points, advancing at just 2%. So the rationale that P/Es are modest is based on the assumption that today’s earnings aren’t unusually high at all, and should continue growing from here, on a trajectory that outstrips national income.It won’t happen. It’s true that total corporate profits follow GDP over the long term, though they fluctuate above and below that benchmark along the way. Right now, earnings constitute an unusually higher share of national income. That’s because record-low interest rates have restrained cost of borrowing for the past several years, and companies have managed to produce more cars, steel and semiconductors while shedding workers and holding raises to a minimum. Now, rates are rising and so it pay and employment, forces that will crimp profits...The huge gap between the official PE of 19 and the CAPE at 30 signals that unsustainably high profits are artificially depressing the former and that profits are bound to stagnate at best, and more likely decline. The retreat appears to have already started.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cape-fear-bulls-wrong-shiller-151355864.html

According to Schwab:
Cash & Equivalents 99.51%
Government 0.49%
How exactly do you get to 6.5% that way?

As I charted STATX against RPHYX, ZEOIX and MINT, I noted a supernatural steadiness to its returns. It has returned 6.5% since inception, over the same period the others have returns something in the 3.5 - 5.5% range.
David

Yes, its that "supernatural steadiness" that really caught my eye. How do these guys manage to pull off what no other MF can?

The advisor, New York Alaska ETF Management, seems to have two employees, offices on the third floor of a nice though anonymous Las Vegas building (5550 Painted Mirage Rd) and about $90 million in assets. The founder's, Ofer Abarbanel, Linked In profile identifies him as "Founder, Prime Brokerage Ltd, Aug 2000 – Present. Contact Prime Brokerage Ltd is Israel's No.1 ranked Non-Bank Secured Credit Brokerage firm which specializes in Securities Lending, Covered Bonds, TRS, CDS and Repo transactions."
The manager, Nicholas Abbate, "has significant experience in capital markets [through] various roles at Knight Capital Group," but extensively as "a market maker in NASDAQ securities and Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB)/OTC Pink Securities in various sectors." He left KCG in 2010 and, for four years, was an independent real estate investor and developer.
As I charted STATX against RPHYX, ZEOIX and MINT, I noted a supernatural steadiness to its returns. It has returned 6.5% since inception, over the same period the others have returns something in the 3.5 - 5.5% range.
No opinion or recommendation, just a bit of additional data.
David

@johnN: FWIW ... I have not bailed from the markets nor have I jumped largely to cash.
Old_Skeet has raised some cash ... but, I have not bailed. I'm still with my "all weather" asset allocation of 20% cash, 40% income and 40% equity. Now being in my early 70's I felt it wise to increase my cash and income areas by about 5% each and throttle back my equity area by about 10%. This put me at 20/40/40. Within equities I'm tilted towards value.
With the strong upward run stocks have lately had has skewed my asset allocation and put me a little equity heavy. To solve this, I'm simply putting new money to work in my cash and income areas while I'm letting equities build.
At the end of the first quarter I may decided to rebalance if warranted. My rebalance threshold is + (or -) 2% from my target allocation for both my income and equity areas while I generally let cash float. With this, I could be up to 42% income and 42% equity and at 16% cash and not rebalance. Going the other way, I could be 38% income and 38% equity and 24% cash (or somewhere in between) and not rebalance being inside the upper and lower limits of my gardrails. Thus my asset allocation along with my gardrail stops has become part of my risk management tool kit while allowing for some asset valuation movement without triggering a portfolio rebalance.