Use the 90/10 Rule When You’re Tempted to Make a Speculative Investment (2024)

Use the 90/10 Rule When You’re Tempted to Make a Speculative Investment (3)

My investing life is pretty boring.

All of my money goes to low-cost, total stock market index funds. Most of this is automated and happens without me paying attention.

Investing in index funds is a really smart move over the long term, but it’s not sexy. It doesn’t have that “suddenly become a millionaire” potential that we all dream about.

Right now the speculative investments that everyone is dreaming about are cryptocurrencies. Even though they are experiencing wild swings at the time I’m writing this, their takeoff in 2020 made plenty of millionaires and multi-millionaires.

So what should you do?

You could bet the farm on Bitcoin, but that’s a risky proposition. You could avoid it altogether, but that’s tough if you’re constantly feeling the itch to invest.

My solution to this is called the 90/10 rule. It’s not one that I invented, but I read about it on medium.com. We’ll break down how to use this rule, but first, let’s review the distinction between speculating and investing.

You can think about “investing” as existing on a spectrum:

Use the 90/10 Rule When You’re Tempted to Make a Speculative Investment (2024)

FAQs

Use the 90/10 Rule When You’re Tempted to Make a Speculative Investment? ›

The easiest way to do it is with the 90/10 rule. It goes like this: 90% of your contributions go to safe, boring investments like low-cost total stock market index funds. The remaining 10% is yours to play with. If you want to buy Bitcoin, buy Bitcoin.

What is the 90 10 investment strategy? ›

Warren Buffet's 2013 letter explains the 90/10 rule—put 90% of assets in S&P 500 index funds and the other 10% in short-term government bonds.

What is the 90 10 rule in finance? ›

The rule stipulates investing 90% of one's investment capital toward low-cost stock-based index funds and the remainder 10% to short-term government bonds. The strategy comes from Buffett stating that upon his death, his wife's trust would be allocated in this method.

What is the 90 rule of investing? ›

Understanding the Rule of 90

The Rule of 90 is a grim statistic that serves as a sobering reminder of the difficulty of trading. According to this rule, 90% of novice traders will experience significant losses within their first 90 days of trading, ultimately wiping out 90% of their initial capital.

Are 90% stocks and 10% bonds good? ›

An Example of the 90/10 Strategy

Like Treasury notes and bonds, which have longer maturities, they are generally considered the safest of all investments. To calculate the performance of a 90/10 portfolio, you would multiply each portion by its return for the year.

What is the meaning of 90 10? ›

The 90/10 Rule is one of the most helpful concepts for life and time management. According to this principle: 10 percent of your activities will account for 90 percent of your results. This can change the way you set goals forever!

What is the 90 10 analysis? ›

The 90/10 Rule is simple. It means focusing 90 percent of our efforts on the 10 percent you and your stakeholders don't know. Because it's the 10 percent that leads to deeper insights and bigger opportunities. Insight professionals have unprecedented access to data about their customers.

What is the 90 rule in business? ›

Many successful early-stage startups follow the 90/10 Rule: do what gets you 90% of the solution with 10% of the effort. This rule emphasizes the need for efficiency and prioritization in your business operations.

What is the 10 rule in personal finance? ›

The 10% rule is a savings tip that suggests you set aside 10% of your gross monthly income for retirement or emergencies. If you still need to start a savings account, this is a great way to build up your savings. You should create a monthly budget before starting your savings journey.

What's the 90/10 rule for dogs? ›

When it comes to where dog's get their daily calories, we recommend following the 90/10 rule: 90% of calories from a complete and balanced diet, 10% from treats! Treats can be considered the splurge, but more often, the actual act of giving a treat means more to the dog than the actual treat itself.

What is Warren Buffett's golden rule? ›

Buffett's headline rule is “don't lose money” and his second rule is “don't forget rule one”. This might sound obvious. Of course, it is. But it's important to look at the message within.

Do 90% of millionaires make over $100,000 a year? ›

Dave Ramsey recently conducted a study of over 10,000 millionaires. Although some millionaires have high-paying jobs, only 31% average $100,000 per year during their careers. The keys to becoming a millionaire are spending wisely and investing consistently.

How does Warren Buffett invest? ›

Warren Buffett's investment strategy has remained relatively consistent over the decades, centered around the principle of value investing. This approach involves finding undervalued companies with strong potential for growth and investing in them for the long term.

What did Warren Buffett tell his wife to invest in? ›

“One bequest provides that cash will be delivered to a trustee for my wife's benefit,” he wrote. “My advice to the trustee could not be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund.” Buffett recommended using Vanguard's S&P 500 index fund.

What bonds does Warren Buffett buy? ›

Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio includes a significant amount of short-term bonds, despite its leader's infamous public position. Speaking to CNBC's Becky Quick on Aug. 3, 2023, Buffett admitted: “Berkshire bought $10 billion in U.S. Treasurys last Monday. We bought $10 billion in Treasurys this Monday.

What does Warren Buffett recommend for retirement? ›

Buffett's retirement strategy, known as the 90/10 strategy, involves allocating 90% of retirement funds to a low-cost S&P 500 index fund and the remaining 10% to low-risk short-term government bonds.

What is the 70 20 10 rule for investing? ›

The 70-20-10 budget formula divides your after-tax income into three buckets: 70% for living expenses, 20% for savings and debt, and 10% for additional savings and donations. By allocating your available income into these three distinct categories, you can better manage your money on a daily basis.

What is the 70/20/10 rule for trading? ›

Part one of the rule said that in the next 12 months, the return you got on a stock was 70% determined by what the U.S. stock market did, 20% was determined by how the industry group did and 10% was based on how undervalued and successful the individual company was.

What is the 60 30 10 rule in investing? ›

This reinventive basic rule to portfolio structure means allocating 60% to equities, 30% to bonds, and 10% to alternatives. The exact percentages may vary by portfolio, but the key idea is that Alternatives should be an integral part of every portfolio, in some percentage.

What is the 80 20 investment strategy? ›

In investing, the 80-20 rule generally holds that 20% of the holdings in a portfolio are responsible for 80% of the portfolio's growth. On the flip side, 20% of a portfolio's holdings could be responsible for 80% of its losses.

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