The Couch Potato strategy can be adapted in many ways.

We’ve listed some examples below and demonstrated how you would allocate your assets for each strategy.

To figure out exactly which securities you should buy, see Building blocks for the names of specific ETFs and mutual funds.

Classic Couch Potato

The original and the simplest. You split your money into three equal parts and invest as outlined below. Once a year, you rebalance to get back to your original asset allocation:

1) Canadian equity (33.3%)
2) U.S. equity (33.3%)
3) Canadian bond (33.3%)

Global Couch Potato

This portfolio is more diversified than the Classic, and thus should have less risk. It spans the world by splitting your money into five equal piles. Two of those piles go into Canadian bonds; the remainder are invested in Canadian, U.S. and international stocks:

1) Canadian equity (20%)
2) U.S. equity (20%)
3) International equity (20%)
4)+ 5) Canadian bond (40%)

High-Yield Couch Potato