Common questions

What's the right asset allocation for me?

There isn't a single right answer, and this tool deliberately doesn't hand you one. The mix of stocks, bonds, and cash that fits you depends on your timeline, what the money is for, and how you actually behave when values drop — which is exactly what the lab lets you observe. You set the allocation; the lab shows you what living with it for ten simulated years looks like.

Why do the sliders start at all cash instead of a suggested mix?

Because a default is a quiet recommendation, and this tool doesn't make recommendations. Starting from cash means every percentage in your plan is a choice you made, not one you accepted. That matters later: when the lab shows you where you drifted from your plan, the plan has to have been yours for the drift to mean anything.

What does it mean if I drifted from my plan?

It's information, not failure — and it's the most common result. Drift is the gap between the allocation you said you wanted and the one your decisions produced, and it usually has a signature: some people move toward cash after every rough quarter, others keep adding to whatever just went up. Seeing your signature in a simulation, where it costs nothing, is the point of the lab.

Why walk through ten years one quarter at a time instead of just showing me the outcome?

Because the outcome hides the experience. A decade compressed into one chart makes staying the course look easy — you can see the recovery coming. Living the same decade quarter by quarter, without knowing what's next, is where your actual tendencies show up: the urge to act in bad quarters, the restlessness in flat ones. The lab is slow on purpose; the middle is the lesson.

Should I change my allocation when the market drops?

There's no universal answer — investors with different timelines and temperaments reasonably do different things, and this tool won't tell you which to be. What it can do is show you what you did: the lab pauses at moments like sharp drops and building drift, and keeps a record of how you respond. Whether those responses match the plan you set is a more useful thing to learn than any general rule.

Does the simulation predict how my real portfolio would perform?

No. It walks your allocation through historical market sequences — what has happened, not what will happen next. Past returns don't repeat on schedule, and no simulation can price in your real life. What tends to transfer isn't the ending balance; it's knowing how you behave inside a decade of ups and downs, which is the variable you bring to any market.