Synopsis
For the last few decades, the conventional wisdom in investing has been to put your money in low-cost index funds, let them compound over time, and ride them into retirement, where you pick up your bag of money. Often, that isn’t what happens. Over the course of an investing lifetime, there will be enormous ups and downs, big bear markets, and people will be unable to withstand the volatility and liquidate their investments at the worst possible time.
If volatility is the enemy, then the goal should be to construct a portfolio that gives you something close to the stock market index, but with a lot less volatility—that is the Awesome Portfolio. With a very simple mix of stocks, bonds, cash, gold, and real estate, you can come close to the returns of the index, while cutting one’s volatility almost in half, and dramatically reducing the drawdowns. It is the portfolio for people who want to sleep at night, and not ever have to worry about what their investments are doing.
Jared Dillian, a seasoned Wall Street veteran and financial thought leader, dives deep into the philosophy and rationale behind the Awesome Portfolio, and digs into the historical returns and the mathematics behind why the portfolio works. It’s a new way of thinking about investing for retirement, and will revolutionize the financial advisory industry.
Details
08 September 2026
9781804094082About the author
Jared Dillian is the editor of The Daily Dirtnap, a daily market newsletter for investment professionals, continuously published since 2008. He graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1996 with a B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science, from the University of San Francisco in 2001 with an MBA, concentration in Finance, and from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2023 with an MFA in Writing. Jared worked for a small floor market maker on the Pacific Options Exchange from 1999 to 2000, and was a trader for Lehman Brothers from 2001 to 2008, specializing in index arbitrage and ETF trading. Additionally, Jared was an adjunct professor in the business program at Coastal Carolina University.
Jared is also an investment strategist at Mauldin Economics, and previously contributed to Bloomberg Opinion, Forbes and TheStreet.com. His media appearances include MSNBC, Fox Business, Bloomberg TV, BNN, The New York Times, LA Times, Business Insider, Marketwatch, Yahoo! Finance, and dozens of local and syndicated radio programs. From 2019-2021, he was the host of The Jared Dillian Show, a nationally syndicated radio show on personal finance, and is now the host of the Be Smart podcast. In his spare time, Jared is a progressive house DJ and speaks frequently on mental health issues at financial institutions.
He is the author of Street Freak: Money And Madness At Lehman Brothers, which was named Businessweek's #1 general business book of 2011; the novel All The Evil of This World, published in 2016; Those Bastards: 69 Essays, and No Worries: How To Live a Stress Free Financial Life.
Books by Jared Dillian
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