The most important investing decision you'll make.
Studies suggest your asset allocation explains roughly 90% of your portfolio's behavior. Try a few mixes — see how the expected return, volatility, and outcome range shift.
More stocks usually mean a higher expected return — and bigger drops along the way. The right mix depends on your time horizon and how much volatility you can sit through without selling.
Educational only. These are simplified long-run assumptions, not predictions or recommendations. Real returns are not guaranteed and will be reduced by taxes, fees, and inflation.
How to read this
The "pessimistic" and "optimistic" numbers are a 90% range — meaning historically, roughly 9 in 10 outcomes would land between them. They aren't worst-case or best-case, just educational guideposts. Real markets occasionally do worse than the pessimistic case (1929, 2008) and occasionally better than the optimistic case.
More on this in the asset allocation lesson.