Let's take a look at how my Set-It and Forget-It Portfolio did last year. It was another banner year for most stocks last year with the S&P 500 going up over 20% for the second year in a row. Here is how the six funds in this portfolio performed last year.

For some background information take a look at my previous post from September 2023 on this.

Due to my personal situation I have made some changes to my Bond/Stock mix (which I will get into in another post in a few days), and currently have my Bond Ratios much higher, but my Stock Target Mix still follows this system.

Remember the Dividends (Yield)

The charts below don't include the yields that the funds give out each year in the form of dividends, regardless if the fund wend up or down. That should also be included in our evaluation of these ETFs.

Disclosure

Yeah, yeah. Just because I am doing this, it doesn't mean you should. See your financial adviser for that kind of advice.

VTI - 1 Year and 5 Year Charts

Since this fund mirrors the S&P500, there is no surprise that it went up over 23% last year.

This is the fund that I am most concerned about due to its very high growth which (in my opinion) will have a hard time continuing to grow. This is because the Shiller PE Ratio is at such as high level. See the chart for this below, and check it out at yourself at this link. Historically this is much lower.

BND - 1 Year and 5 Year Charts

Bonds continued to be under pressure with the short term rates staying relatively flat. The index was down 1.7% last year, but I actually made over 4% on all my bond holdings. Here is how my approach differed buying actual bonds, rather than buying the BND ETF.

Short Term Treasury Bonds

VXUS - 1 Year and 5 Year Charts

The VXUS had more moderate returns with a gain of 3% last year.

VWO - 1 Year and 5 Year Charts

The VWO ETF had a gain of 8.5% last year.

VNQ - 1 Year and 5 Year Charts

The VNQ was almost flat in 2024 with a loss of 0.2%.

VBR - 1 Year and 5 Year Charts

The VBR ETF went up over 10% last year.

5-Year Bond Yields

Here are the yields for the 5-Year bond from 2020 to 2024. The 5-Year bond went over 4% in September 2022, and has stayed up near that level currently at around 4.41%. There is no clear direction as where the 5-Year bond prices will go from here as there is much uncertainty in the market with the change from the Biden to the Trump administration.

Instead of buying the BND ETF, I am buying actual bonds.
https://ycharts.com/indicators/5_year_treasury_rate

Shiller PE Ratio