Ivy Portfolio (Mebane Faber)
Created by Mebane Faber
An equal-weight, five-asset take on how elite university endowments diversify.
What is it?
The Ivy Portfolio takes its name from investment manager Mebane Faber's book of the same title, which studied how large university endowments — Yale and Harvard in particular — diversify across asset classes. The simplified, individual-investor version splits assets equally across five sleeves at 20% each: US stocks, international stocks, bonds, REITs, and commodities.
The philosophy
Faber's observation was that elite endowments consistently outperformed typical individual and institutional portfolios over long periods, and a large part of the reason was structural: endowments held far more diversified portfolios, with meaningful allocations to real assets like real estate and commodities that most retail investors ignored entirely in favor of a plain stock/bond mix. The Ivy Portfolio distills that insight into an equal-weight allocation that any individual investor can replicate with publicly traded ETFs, without needing access to the private equity, hedge funds, or venture capital that endowments also use.
How it works
US stocks (20%) and international stocks (20%) provide globally diversified equity growth. Bonds (20%) add stability and a buffer during equity downturns. REITs (20%) contribute real estate exposure, a return driver largely uncorrelated with either stocks or bonds over full cycles. Commodities (20%) round out the mix as the portfolio's primary inflation hedge, tending to perform best exactly when inflation surprises hurt both stocks and bonds. The equal-weighting is intentional simplicity: no single asset class is allowed to dominate the portfolio's outcome.
Who is it for?
This strategy suits investors who want endowment-style diversification into real assets — real estate and commodities — without the complexity or illiquidity of private markets, and who are comfortable with a moderate, balanced risk profile (roughly 40% growth equities, 20% real estate, 20% commodities, 20% bonds). It works well for investors who specifically want measurable inflation protection built into a core allocation rather than added as an afterthought.
Key strengths & trade-offs
Its strength is genuine diversification across four distinct return drivers — equities, bonds, real estate, and commodities — which has historically reduced portfolio volatility relative to a stock/bond-only mix. Its trade-off is that a 20% allocation to commodities is a significant drag during long stretches when commodity prices are flat or falling, as they were for much of the 2010s, and the portfolio's equal-weight design means it never overweights whichever asset class is currently working best.
Risk Level
Rebalancing
annual
Number of Assets
5
Best For
Long-term investors wanting a smoother ride than all-equity
Current Allocation
| US Large Cap | 20% |
| Total International | 20% |
| US Total Bond Market | 20% |
| REITs | 20% |
| Commodities | 20% |
Performance: 20.1-Year Backtest
Data for Commodities starts 2006. Simulation covers 20.1 years.
$10,000 initial investment → $29,719
Annual Returns
| Strategy | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ivy Portfolio (Mebane Faber) | +1.4% | +1.7% | -33.1% | +29.7% | +22.2% | +2.2% | +9.7% | +3.5% | +5.1% | -9.0% | +14.5% | +13.5% | -2.2% | +10.5% | +7.0% | +20.4% | -4.4% | +3.6% | +10.9% | +15.5% | +6.9% |
Key Metrics
ETFs in This Strategy
Based on historical data. Past performance does not guarantee future results. This site is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.