This portfolio backtesting tool allows you to construct one or more portfolios based on the selected asset class level allocations in order to analyze and backtest portfolio returns, risk characteristics, drawdowns, and rolling returns. You can compare up to three different portfolios against the selected benchmark, and you can also specify any periodic contribution or withdrawal cashflows and the preferred portfolio rebalancing strategy.
You can also use the portfolio backtesting tool to build and compare portfolios based on specific mutual funds, ETFs, and stocks.
* The number in parentheses shows the calculated value taking into account the periodic withdrawals.
Trailing Returns
Trailing Returns
Name
Total Return
Annualized Return
Annualized Standard Deviation
3 Month
Year To Date
1 year
3 year
5 year
10 year
Full
3 year
5 year
Portfolio 1
3.03%
17.77%
17.77%
7.83%
5.84%
7.69%
9.96%
5.65%
5.85%
Portfolio 2
3.74%
16.74%
16.74%
7.32%
5.72%
7.27%
9.86%
5.59%
5.53%
Trailing return and volatility are as of last full calendar month ending December 2019
Notes on results:
IMPORTANT: The projections or other information generated by Portfolio Visualizer regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results. Results may vary with each use and over time.
The results do not constitute investment advice or recommendation, are provided solely for informational purposes, and are not an offer to buy or sell any securities. All use is subject to terms of service.
Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Asset allocation and diversification strategies do not guarantee a profit or protect against a loss.
Hypothetical returns do not reflect trading costs, transaction fees, commissions, or actual taxes due on investment returns.
The results are based on information from a variety of sources we consider reliable, but we do not represent that the information is accurate or complete.
Portfolio model information represents a blended portfolio consisting of the model's underlying positions and assigned weights provided by the user and rebalanced at the specified schedule. The results were constructed using net of fee mutual fund performance. Portfolio Visualizer does not provide preferential treatment to any specific security or investment.
The results are based on the total return of assets and assume that all received dividends and distributions are reinvested.
Compound annualized growth rate (CAGR) is the annualized geometric mean return of the portfolio. It is calculated from the portfolio start and end balance and is thus impacted by any cashflows.
The time-weighted rate of return (TWRR) is a measure of the compound rate of growth in a portfolio. This is calculated from the holding period returns (e.g. monthly returns), and TWRR will thus not be impacted by cashflows. If there are no external cashflows, TWRR will equal CAGR.
The money-weighted rate of return (MWRR) is the internal rate of return (IRR) taking into account cashflows. This is the discount rate at which the present value of cash inflows equals the present value of cash outflows.
Standard deviation (Stdev) is used to measure the dispersion of returns around the mean and is often used as a measure of risk. A higher standard deviation implies greater the dispersion of data points around the mean.
Sharpe Ratio is a measure of risk-adjusted performance of the portfolio, and it is calculated by dividing the mean monthly excess return of the portfolio over the risk-free rate by the standard deviation of excess return, and the displayed value is annualized.
Sortino Ratio is a measure of risk-adjusted return which is a modification of the Sharpe Ratio. While the latter is the ratio of average returns in excess of a risk-free rate divided by the standard deviation of those excess returns, the Sortino Ratio has the same denominator divided by the standard deviation of returns below the risk-free rate.
Treynor Ratio is a measure of risk-adjusted performance of the portfolio. It is similar to the Sharpe Ratio, but it uses portfolio beta (systematic risk) as the risk metric in the denominator.
Calmar Ratio is a measure of risk-adjusted performance of the portfolio. It is calculated as the annualized return over the past 36 months divided by the maximum drawdown over the past 36 months based on monthly returns.
Risk-free returns are calculated based on the Federal Reserve 3-Month Treasury Bill (secondary market) rates.
Downside deviation measures the downside volatility of the portfolio returns unlike standard deviation, which includes both upside and downside deviations. Downside deviation is calculated based on negative returns that hurt the portfolio performance.
Correlation measures to what degree the returns of the two assets move in relation to each other. Correlation coefficient is a numerical value between -1 and +1. If one variable goes up by a certain amount, the correlation coefficient indicates which way the other variable moves and by how much. Asset correlations are calculated based on monthly returns.
Skewness is a measure of the asymmetry of the probability distribution or returns from a normal Gaussian distribution shape about its mean. Negative skewness is associated with the left (typically negative returns) tail of the distribution extending further than the right tail; and positive skewness is associated with the right (typically positive returns) tail of the distribution extending further than the left tail.
Excess kurtosis is a measure of whether a data distribution is peaked or flat relative to a normal distribution. Distributions with high kurtosis tend to have a distinct peak near the mean, decline rather rapidly, and have heavy or fat tails.
A drawdown refers to the decline in value of a single investment or an investment portfolio from a relative peak value to a relative trough. A maximum drawdown (Max Drawdown) is the maximum observed loss from a peak to a trough of a portfolio before a new peak is attained. Drawdown values are calculated based on monthly returns.
Value at Risk (VaR) measures the scale of loss at a given confidence level. If the 5% VaR is -3% the portfolio return is expected to be greater than -3% 95% of the time and less than -3% 5% of the time. Value at Risk can be calculated directly based on historical returns based on a given percentile or analytically based on the mean and standard deviation of the returns.
Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) measures the scale of the expected loss once the specific Value at Risk (VaR) breakpoint has been breached, i.e., it calculates the average tail loss by taking a weighted average between the value at risk and losses exceeding the value at risk.
Beta is a measure of systematic risk and measures the volatility of a particular investment relative to the market or its benchmark. Alpha measures the active return of the investment compared to the market benchmark return. R-squared is the percentage of a portfolio's movements that can be explained by movements in the selected benchmark index.
Active return is the investment return minus the return of its benchmark. For periods longer than 12 months this is displayed as annualized value, i.e., annualized investment return minus annualized benchmark return.
Tracking error, also known as active risk, is the standard deviation of active return. This is displayed as annualized value based on the standard deviation of monthly active returns.
Information ratio is the active return divided by the tracking error. It measures whether the investment outperformed its benchmark consistently.
Gain/Loss ratio is a measure of downside risk, and it is calculated as the average positive return in up periods divided by the average negative return in down periods.
Upside Capture Ratio measures how well the fund performed relative to the benchmark when the market was up, and Downside Capture Ratio measures how well the fund performed relative to the benchmark when the market was down. An upside capture ratio greater than 100 would indicate that the fund outperformed its benchmark when the market was up, and a downside capture ratio below 100 would indicate that the fund lost less than its benchmark when the market was down. To calculate upside capture ratio a new series from the portfolio returns is constructed by dropping all time periods where the benchmark return is less than equal to zero. The up capture is then the quotient of the annualized return of the resulting manager series, divided by the annualized return of the resulting benchmark series. The downside capture ratio is calculated analogously.
All risk measures for the portfolio and portfolio assets are calculated based on monthly returns.
Drawdown analysis is calculated based on monthly returns excluding cashflows.
The results assume annual rebalancing of portfolio assets to match the specified allocation.
Inflation adjusted annual withdrawal of $40,000 was applied at the end of each period. This is reflected in the CAGR and maximum drawdown shown above.
Annual returns for the configured portfolios
Year
Inflation
Cashflow
Portfolio 1
Portfolio 2
US Stock Market
US Small Cap Value
Short Term Treasury
Long Term Treasury
Gold
Intermediate Term Treasury
Return
Balance
Return
Balance
1978
9.02%
-$43,607
13.30%
$1,089,416
13.40%
$1,090,403
8.45%
19.25%
3.35%
-1.55%
37.01%
1.15%
1979
13.29%
-$49,404
38.92%
$1,463,962
39.86%
$1,475,644
24.25%
37.80%
8.08%
-2.10%
126.55%
5.35%
1980
12.52%
-$55,588
15.58%
$1,636,533
15.98%
$1,655,798
33.15%
25.77%
8.81%
-4.99%
15.19%
2.88%
1981
8.92%
-$60,548
-1.23%
$1,555,884
-0.45%
$1,587,838
-4.15%
15.69%
14.26%
0.65%
-32.60%
9.41%
1982
3.83%
-$62,866
28.31%
$1,933,430
26.92%
$1,952,349
20.50%
36.87%
22.12%
47.10%
14.94%
31.13%
1983
3.79%
-$65,250
11.13%
$2,083,437
11.88%
$2,119,072
22.66%
42.61%
8.00%
-1.29%
-16.31%
5.22%
1984
3.95%
-$67,826
3.75%
$2,093,710
3.71%
$2,129,770
2.19%
5.69%
14.01%
16.24%
-19.38%
15.01%
1985
3.80%
-$70,402
25.09%
$2,548,676
23.84%
$2,567,198
31.27%
37.46%
13.83%
36.90%
6.00%
22.24%
1986
1.10%
-$71,175
17.75%
$2,929,834
15.55%
$2,895,111
14.57%
13.99%
10.35%
30.87%
18.96%
15.10%
1987
4.43%
-$74,332
5.10%
$3,004,892
5.35%
$2,975,627
2.61%
-3.51%
4.78%
-2.92%
24.53%
1.55%
1988
4.42%
-$77,617
9.18%
$3,203,000
8.31%
$3,145,395
17.32%
29.00%
5.67%
9.15%
-15.26%
5.26%
1989
4.65%
-$81,224
14.78%
$3,595,166
14.71%
$3,526,709
28.12%
19.21%
11.48%
17.93%
-2.84%
14.52%
1990
6.11%
-$86,183
-2.51%
$3,418,846
-1.86%
$3,374,840
-6.08%
-19.05%
9.92%
5.78%
-3.11%
9.46%
1991
3.06%
-$88,824
19.14%
$3,984,506
19.75%
$3,952,403
32.39%
42.96%
11.49%
17.43%
-8.56%
15.97%
1992
2.90%
-$91,401
9.15%
$4,257,719
9.43%
$4,233,786
9.11%
28.23%
6.75%
7.41%
-5.73%
7.78%
1993
2.75%
-$93,913
14.50%
$4,781,106
14.45%
$4,751,778
10.62%
21.10%
6.31%
16.78%
17.68%
11.43%
1994
2.67%
-$96,425
-1.98%
$4,589,798
-2.21%
$4,550,244
-0.17%
-0.07%
-0.48%
-7.04%
-2.17%
-4.33%
1995
2.54%
-$98,873
21.86%
$5,494,114
21.59%
$5,433,927
35.79%
30.32%
12.11%
30.09%
0.98%
20.44%
1996
3.32%
-$102,158
8.18%
$5,841,604
8.32%
$5,784,099
20.96%
21.41%
4.39%
-1.26%
-4.59%
1.92%
1997
1.70%
-$103,897
13.09%
$6,502,198
12.59%
$6,408,365
30.99%
35.44%
6.51%
13.90%
-21.41%
8.96%
1998
1.61%
-$105,572
8.03%
$6,919,067
8.19%
$6,827,926
23.26%
-2.68%
7.36%
13.05%
-0.83%
10.61%
1999
2.68%
-$108,406
4.24%
$7,104,088
4.19%
$7,005,886
23.81%
3.35%
1.85%
-8.66%
0.85%
-3.52%
2000
3.39%
-$112,078
6.88%
$7,481,006
6.78%
$7,369,129
-10.57%
21.88%
8.83%
19.72%
-5.44%
14.03%
2001
1.55%
-$113,817
3.12%
$7,600,340
3.71%
$7,529,041
-10.97%
13.70%
7.80%
4.31%
0.75%
7.55%
2002
2.38%
-$116,522
3.02%
$7,713,445
3.74%
$7,694,252
-20.96%
-14.20%
8.02%
16.67%
25.57%
14.15%
2003
1.88%
-$118,712
18.70%
$9,037,031
18.63%
$9,009,255
31.35%
37.19%
2.38%
2.68%
19.89%
2.37%
2004
3.26%
-$122,577
9.77%
$9,797,664
9.50%
$9,742,956
12.52%
23.55%
1.03%
7.12%
4.65%
3.40%
2005
3.42%
-$126,764
7.64%
$10,419,191
6.89%
$10,287,337
5.98%
6.07%
1.77%
6.61%
17.76%
2.31%
2006
2.54%
-$129,984
12.56%
$11,598,086
12.72%
$11,465,400
15.51%
19.24%
3.77%
1.74%
22.55%
3.14%
2007
4.08%
-$135,290
9.20%
$12,529,768
9.77%
$12,449,827
5.49%
-7.07%
7.89%
9.24%
30.45%
9.98%
2008
0.09%
-$135,413
-7.00%
$11,517,838
-7.51%
$11,379,968
-37.04%
-32.05%
6.68%
22.51%
4.92%
13.32%
2009
2.72%
-$139,098
14.49%
$13,047,571
15.93%
$13,054,230
28.70%
30.34%
1.44%
-12.06%
24.03%
-1.69%
2010
1.50%
-$141,179
16.55%
$15,065,646
17.18%
$15,155,270
17.09%
24.82%
2.63%
8.93%
29.27%
7.35%
2011
2.96%
-$145,361
7.58%
$16,062,234
5.19%
$15,796,295
0.96%
-4.16%
2.26%
29.28%
9.57%
9.79%
2012
1.74%
-$147,892
9.11%
$17,378,312
9.35%
$17,125,852
16.25%
18.56%
0.69%
3.46%
6.60%
2.67%
2013
1.50%
-$150,113
5.66%
$18,211,895
7.05%
$18,183,190
33.35%
36.41%
-0.10%
-13.03%
-28.33%
-3.09%
2014
0.76%
-$151,248
9.32%
$19,758,759
5.85%
$19,096,260
12.43%
10.39%
0.71%
25.27%
-2.19%
4.32%
2015
0.73%
-$152,352
-3.25%
$18,964,796
-2.43%
$18,479,940
0.29%
-4.77%
0.45%
-1.54%
-10.67%
1.50%
2016
2.07%
-$155,512
9.48%
$20,607,958
9.52%
$20,083,161
12.53%
24.65%
1.00%
1.21%
8.03%
1.19%
2017
2.11%
-$158,792
10.90%
$22,696,221
9.74%
$21,880,222
21.05%
11.67%
0.40%
8.59%
12.81%
1.58%
2018
1.91%
-$161,825
-4.02%
$21,622,532
-3.51%
$20,951,242
-5.26%
-12.34%
1.35%
-1.90%
-1.94%
1.00%
2019
2.29%
-$165,523
17.77%
$25,298,639
16.74%
$24,292,609
30.65%
22.61%
3.59%
14.13%
17.86%
6.29%
Portfolio return and risk metrics
Metric
Portfolio 1
Portfolio 2
Arithmetic Mean (monthly)
0.82%
0.81%
Arithmetic Mean (annualized)
10.33%
10.22%
Geometric Mean (monthly)
0.79%
0.79%
Geometric Mean (annualized)
9.96%
9.86%
Standard Deviation (monthly)
2.37%
2.36%
Standard Deviation (annualized)
8.22%
8.17%
Downside Deviation (monthly)
1.35%
1.34%
Maximum Drawdown
-16.64%
-16.91%
Stock Market Correlation
0.78
0.79
Beta(*)
0.42
0.43
Alpha (annualized)
4.70%
4.58%
R2
60.77%
62.10%
Sharpe Ratio
0.65
0.65
Sortino Ratio
1.00
0.99
Treynor Ratio (%)
12.66
12.39
Calmar Ratio
1.46
1.44
Active Return
-1.65%
-1.74%
Tracking Error
10.11%
10.02%
Information Ratio
-0.16
-0.17
Skewness
-0.39
-0.38
Excess Kurtosis
3.07
3.07
Historical Value-at-Risk (5%)
-2.57%
-2.55%
Analytical Value-at-Risk (5%)
-3.08%
-3.06%
Conditional Value-at-Risk (5%)
-4.49%
-4.50%
Upside Capture Ratio (%)
50.10
49.99
Downside Capture Ratio (%)
31.28
31.67
Safe Withdrawal Rate
7.54%
7.52%
Perpetual Withdrawal Rate
5.93%
5.84%
Positive Periods
335 out of 504 (66.47%)
335 out of 504 (66.47%)
Gain/Loss Ratio
1.26
1.26
* US stock market is used as the benchmark for calculations. Value-at-risk metrics are based on monthly values.
Drawdowns for Historical Market Stress Periods
Drawdowns for Historical Market Stress Periods
Stress Period
Start
End
Portfolio 1
Portfolio 2
Black Monday Period
Sep 1987
Nov 1987
-10.93%
-10.87%
Asian Crisis
Jul 1997
Jan 1998
-1.80%
-1.90%
Russian Debt Default
Jul 1998
Oct 1998
-8.79%
-8.71%
Dotcom Crash
Mar 2000
Oct 2002
-6.84%
-6.50%
Subprime Crisis
Nov 2007
Mar 2009
-16.64%
-16.91%
Drawdowns for Portfolio 1
Drawdowns for Portfolio 1 (worst 10)
Rank
Start
End
Length
Recovery By
Recovery Time
Underwater Period
Drawdown
1
Mar 2008
Feb 2009
1 year
Sep 2009
7 months
1 year 7 months
-16.64%
2
Feb 1980
Mar 1980
2 months
Jun 1980
3 months
5 months
-13.73%
3
Sep 1987
Nov 1987
3 months
Jan 1989
1 year 2 months
1 year 5 months
-10.93%
4
May 1998
Aug 1998
4 months
Dec 1998
4 months
8 months
-9.44%
5
Dec 1980
Sep 1981
10 months
Nov 1981
2 months
1 year
-9.09%
6
Jan 1990
Oct 1990
10 months
Feb 1991
4 months
1 year 2 months
-7.94%
7
Dec 1981
Mar 1982
4 months
Aug 1982
5 months
9 months
-7.77%
8
Oct 1978
Nov 1978
2 months
Jan 1979
2 months
4 months
-7.41%
9
Jun 2002
Jul 2002
2 months
May 2003
10 months
1 year
-6.84%
10
Oct 1979
Oct 1979
1 month
Dec 1979
2 months
3 months
-6.53%
Worst 10 drawdowns included above
Drawdowns for Portfolio 2
Drawdowns for Portfolio 2 (worst 10)
Rank
Start
End
Length
Recovery By
Recovery Time
Underwater Period
Drawdown
1
Mar 2008
Feb 2009
1 year
Sep 2009
7 months
1 year 7 months
-16.91%
2
Feb 1980
Mar 1980
2 months
Jun 1980
3 months
5 months
-13.95%
3
Sep 1987
Nov 1987
3 months
Jan 1989
1 year 2 months
1 year 5 months
-10.87%
4
May 1998
Aug 1998
4 months
Dec 1998
4 months
8 months
-9.61%
5
Dec 1980
Sep 1981
10 months
Nov 1981
2 months
1 year
-8.55%
6
Dec 1981
Mar 1982
4 months
Aug 1982
5 months
9 months
-8.19%
7
Oct 1978
Nov 1978
2 months
Jan 1979
2 months
4 months
-7.40%
8
Jan 1990
Oct 1990
10 months
Feb 1991
4 months
1 year 2 months
-6.98%
9
Oct 1979
Oct 1979
1 month
Dec 1979
2 months
3 months
-6.67%
10
Jun 2002
Jul 2002
2 months
May 2003
10 months
1 year
-6.50%
Worst 10 drawdowns included above
Portfolio Assets
Performance statistics for portfolio components
Name
CAGR
Stdev
Best Year
Worst Year
Max Drawdown
Sharpe Ratio
Sortino Ratio
Market Correlation
US Stock Market
11.60%
15.11%
35.79%
-37.04%
-50.89%
0.51
0.73
1.00
US Small Cap Value
14.39%
17.31%
42.96%
-32.05%
-56.13%
0.61
0.87
0.89
Short Term Treasury
5.93%
3.13%
22.12%
-0.48%
-4.26%
0.45
0.74
0.06
Long Term Treasury
8.43%
11.06%
47.10%
-13.03%
-23.12%
0.38
0.62
0.04
Gold
5.26%
18.80%
126.55%
-32.60%
-61.78%
0.13
0.20
0.04
Intermediate Term Treasury
7.11%
5.96%
31.13%
-4.33%
-10.70%
0.44
0.68
0.06
Portfolio Asset Performance
Performance of portfolio assets
Name
Total Return
Annualized Return
3 Month
Year To Date
1 year
3 year
5 year
10 year
US Stock Market
8.97%
30.65%
30.65%
14.43%
11.08%
13.30%
US Small Cap Value
7.13%
22.61%
22.61%
6.27%
7.34%
11.77%
Short Term Treasury
0.35%
3.59%
3.59%
1.77%
1.35%
1.29%
Long Term Treasury
-4.44%
14.13%
14.13%
6.73%
3.91%
6.76%
Gold
2.90%
17.86%
17.86%
9.24%
4.70%
2.91%
Intermediate Term Treasury
-0.57%
6.29%
6.29%
2.93%
2.29%
3.20%
Trailing returns as of last calendar month ending December 2019
Monthly Correlations
Correlations for the portfolio assets
Name
US Stock Market
US Small Cap Value
Short Term Treasury
Long Term Treasury
Gold
Intermediate Term Treasury
Portfolio 1
Portfolio 2
US Stock Market
1.00
0.89
0.06
0.04
0.04
0.06
0.78
0.79
US Small Cap Value
0.89
1.00
0.06
0.00
0.04
0.04
0.78
0.79
Short Term Treasury
0.06
0.06
1.00
0.72
0.09
0.92
0.36
0.36
Long Term Treasury
0.04
0.00
0.72
1.00
0.06
0.89
0.37
0.31
Gold
0.04
0.04
0.09
0.06
1.00
0.10
0.52
0.53
Intermediate Term Treasury
0.06
0.04
0.92
0.89
0.10
1.00
0.39
0.38
Portfolio Return Decomposition
Portfolio return decomposition
Name
Portfolio 1
Portfolio 2
US Stock Market
$8,138,778
$8,023,821
US Small Cap Value
$8,513,927
$8,421,494
Short Term Treasury
$2,497,377
Long Term Treasury
$5,416,262
Gold
$4,267,837
$4,228,534
Intermediate Term Treasury
$7,154,302
Return attribution decomposes portfolio gains into its constituent parts and identifies the contribution to returns by each of the assets.
Portfolio Risk Decomposition
Portfolio risk decomposition
Name
Portfolio 1
Portfolio 2
US Stock Market
29.23%
29.73%
US Small Cap Value
33.31%
34.02%
Short Term Treasury
2.76%
Long Term Treasury
10.19%
Gold
24.50%
24.98%
Intermediate Term Treasury
11.27%
Risk attribution decomposes portfolio risk into its constituent parts and identifies the contribution to overall volatility by each of the assets.