Desert Portfolio vs HBPP

[ppnewbie]

I have been investigating the Desert Portfolio a bit. I've looked into a version that KBG mentioned 40% VTI, 40% LTT, 20% GLD. Using portfoliovisualizer it seems to do quite well with lower downside and higher upside than the PP. But when I look at portfoliocharts and put in the above allocation, it seems like it has a much higher drawdowns.

Is this a better PP? It does seem like its slightly more correlated with the Stock Market which I'm not sure is a good thing.
Also, Am I reading portfoliocharts correctly? Would appreciate to hears anyone's experience with this portfolio (40% VTI (TSM), 40% LTT, 20% GLD).

Thanks!

[pmward]

I have been investigating the Desert Portfolio a bit. I've looked into a version that KBG mentioned 40% VTI, 40% LTT, 20% GLD. Using portfoliovisualizer it seems to do quite well with lower downside and higher upside than the PP. But when I look at portfoliocharts and put in the above allocation, it seems like it has a much higher drawdowns.

Is this a better PP? It does seem like its slightly more correlated with the Stock Market which I'm not sure is a good thing.
Also, Am I reading portfoliocharts correctly? Would appreciate to hears anyone's experience with this portfolio (40% VTI (TSM), 40% LTT, 20% GLD).

Thanks!

You have more stocks and a longer duration on the bonds, so yeah it should be a bit more volatile and return a bit more than the PP. I think it's a fine variation all in all. That isn't exactly the desert portfolio though, desert is (if I remember offhand) 30stock, 60 intermediate bond, 10 gold. If you're exploring PP variations make sure you check these out as well:

Golden Butterfly: https://portfoliocharts.com/portfolio/golden-butterfly/
Pinwheel: https://portfoliocharts.com/portfolio/p ... portfolio/
All Seasons: https://portfoliocharts.com/portfolio/a ... portfolio/

The differences you see between portfolio charts and portfolio visualizer are that portfolio charts shows inflation adjusted real returns, and looks at all potential start dates. Portfoliovisualizer shows nominal returns and only one start date. So in portfoliovisualizer the 70s always look less scary, as inflation destroyed the stocks and bonds in real terms, but the damage is mostly hidden in a nominal chart. This hidden damage on a nominal chart is why people underestimate inflation these days. Why worry about inflation when you look at a nominal chart and all looks fine? Out of sight, out of mind, right? Haha. Portfoliocharts is a more accurate representation of what you actually would have gotten out of the portfolio in real terms. We focus mostly on real returns here, because we all are knowledgeable enough to know that the after inflation return is what we actually received, not the nominal return.