My Asset Allocation List: Putting Everything I Own into 8 Baskets

Why I Keep This List

Over the past year, I’ve looked at a lot of assets.

US stock ETFs, A-share ETFs, QDII funds, bonds, gold, REITs, crypto assets, active funds — there are a lot of names. Look at ticker symbols alone and it’s easy to get confused.

These days I prefer to group them into a few broad categories. That makes things much clearer: some assets are a core position, some are for growth, some are for cash management, some are defensive, and some are just small opportunistic bets.

This list isn’t about buying everything on it. It just puts the assets I’ve paid attention to in one place, so I can make trade-offs later.

The 8 Baskets

This way of grouping is more useful than looking at individual holdings.

Take VGT, the Nasdaq, semiconductors, and the STAR 50: different names, but much of the time they’re solving the same problem — tech growth. SGOV, YinHua RiLi, short-term financing ETFs, and short-term bond funds are all roughly solving the cash management problem too.

What I care about is the role an asset plays in the portfolio, not whether it went up recently.

How I Look at Each One

1. Global Broad Market: Start with a Core Position

This kind of asset isn’t exciting, but it matters. It solves the most basic problem: participating in long-term market growth without picking stocks every day.

The point of broad-market funds isn’t to get rich quick. It’s to give the portfolio a base that doesn’t need constant tinkering.

2. Tech Growth: The Engine of the Portfolio

Tech assets provide growth elasticity. They can rise fast, and they can fall hard.

I treat them as the engine, but I won’t let them carry the entire household portfolio alone.

The biggest danger with tech assets is adding more the more bullish you get. Being right about the direction doesn’t mean the position can grow without limit.

3. Cash Flow Assets: Earning Money Without Relying on Price Gains

Some assets don’t attract people with a story. They make money through dividends, rent, and toll-like rights.

These assets won’t look good every year, but they have a place in a household portfolio.

Dividend stocks and REITs can fall too. They’re not a safe deposit box. It’s just that their source of returns differs from tech stocks, which keeps the portfolio from being one-dimensional.

4. Fixed Income Stabilizers: Hold Short-Term Money, Reduce Volatility

Fixed income sounds boring, but it matters a lot in a household portfolio.

When markets are good, everyone thinks it’s slow. When markets are bad, you find out what it’s for.

The biggest role of fixed income isn’t the yield. It’s giving yourself room to maneuver. If the market falls, income changes, or the family needs money, you’re not forced to sell stocks.

5. Inflation Hedges: Keep a Slot for Special Environments

Gold, commodities, and nonferrous metals may not suit large long-term positions, but they’re useful in certain environments.

Gold leans defensive; commodities lean cyclical. Don’t lump the two together.

6. Regional Diversification: Don’t Bet on a Single Market

Regional diversification doesn’t mean buying a little of every country. It means not tying your assets entirely to one market.

Regional assets are the easiest to chase at highs. The better approach is to decide in advance whether you want the exposure, rather than wanting to buy only after it has run up.

7. Asymmetric Opportunities: Small Positions on the Future

This kind of asset can rise dramatically — or end up being worth nothing.

So it suits small positions, not the core of a household portfolio.

The most important thing with these assets isn’t picking the most accurate names. It’s keeping position sizes under control.

8. Active Enhancement: Does the Fund Manager Actually Have Skill?

Active funds aren’t off the table, but they shouldn’t be mythologized either.

They have exactly one purpose: can the fund manager beat the corresponding index over the long run?

Active funds need regular review. If a fund can’t beat its index over the long run, there’s no reason to pay higher fees just for the word “active.”

My Take

Once you own a lot of assets, the most likely problem isn’t missing opportunities. It’s duplicated exposure.

See a new AI ETF, and it may already overlap with VGT, the Nasdaq, and semiconductors. See a new short-term bond fund, and it may be doing the same job as SGOV, YinHua RiLi, and short-term financing ETFs. See a new crypto project, and you first need to be clear whether it’s infrastructure, an application, a platform ecosystem, or just a hot name.

For me, investing isn’t about owning more tickers.

For an asset to earn a place in the portfolio, I at least need to be able to explain its position. If I can’t explain it, I put it aside for now.