Not really much "work" in my rebalancing workflow.
I rebalance in two accounts. One account is our Transamerica VA. Our VA is the only place where we still have Total Bond Market Index, which I am exiting in favor of treasury bond funds. In the rare occasion when I need to reduce bond fund holdings, and increase equity fund holdings. I just do an exchange in the VA. A couple of mouse clicks, done.
Because of the continued bull market in equities, I have rebalanced far more often by reducing equity holdings (VTI) and increasing Short-term Treasury Index mutual fund bond holdings. The only place I rebalance outside our VA account is in my TIRA account. Though we have international equities via VEA (Developed Markets), I won't rebalance into VEA until it hits 25% of our equity holdings, only 20% now. With a couple of mouse clicks, rebalancing is done.
To determine when to rebalance, and how much to rebalance, I check
Portfolio Watch for portfolio AA. By using Vanguard's Yodlee program, all our investments (Vanguard holdings, I-bond holdings, and Transamerica VA holdings) are captured in
Portfolio Watch. I can double-check how much to rebalance using the modeling in
Portfolio Watch, assuming it still functions as it did previously. If not, I have my trusty calculator.
All in all, rebalancing for our portfolio is so easy, even a caveman could do it! Sorry, Geico!
Total Bond Market Index to Total Stock Market Index in VA.
OR
Total Stock Market Index to Short-term Treasury Index in TIRA.
Broken Man 1999
“If I cannot drink Bourbon and smoke cigars in Heaven then I shall not go." - Mark Twain