A gone-fishing portfolio is a portfolio of just a few stocks which should weather the ups and downs of the market fairly well while only rebalancing twice a year. We recommend a gone-fishing portfolio for people who are just getting started with investing.

For those who would like assistance with investing, rebalancing, and managing their portfolio, our Do-It-Yourself service level may be a better fit.

For people with more invested assets or who are in or near retirement, we recommend professional management and financial planning. For that reason, our calculators do not make recommendations beyond age 70.

Our standard gone-fishing portfolio can be used at any custodian. It is best at custodians where there are no transactions fees for Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). We also have a Vanguard-specific portfolio due to the Vanguard brand loyalty of some of our readership.

If you are just getting started with investing and have not yet selected a custodian, we recommend opening accounts with Charles Schwab. Charles Schwab and many other custodians have no transaction fees for U.S. security trades and have no minimum account requirements. For these and many other reasons, we recommend selecting Charles Schwab as your custodian and using the Default Gone-Fishing Portfolio.

Here are all of our gone-fishing portfolios for 2026:

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This year, we made only minor changes to the Vanguard-specific gone-fishing portfolio and to our standard gone-fishing portfolio.

Exposure to China Lingers

As we mentioned in the past two years, the potential threat of a war with China over Taiwan lingers. China may try to seize Taiwan or may not. The United States may go to war with China or may not. It may be a big deal or it might be nothing.

During the war on Ukraine, the United States banned Americans from buying Russian stocks and bonds. If a conflict with China escalates, one of our main concerns is that the U.S. might put similar investment controls on Chinese investments. To offset this risk, we added an ex-China fund to our main Emerging Market strategy in 2023, and increased our allocations in March of 2024.

We have maintained both allocations under the wisdom of making half a mistake.

That has proved a good decision. In 1-year returns ending December 31, 2024, Emerging Markets outperformed Emerging Markets ex-China by 10.1%. Then, in 1-year returns ending December 31, 2025, Emerging Markets ex-China outperformed Emerging Markets by 8.4%.

This year, we have a new recommended Emerging Markets excluding China fund to recommend for both gone-fishing portfolios: Vanguard Emerging Markets ex-China ETF (VEXC). VEXC has a lower expense ratio (0.07% vs. XCEM’s 0.16%) and uses our preferred definition of emerging markets (FTSE vs. XCEM’s use of MSCI).

For investors who don’t mind complexity, you could use a 50-50 allocation between these two funds. For investors who would prefer simplicity, you can select one or the other depending on your feelings about the threat of China. You can read more about this topic in “Executive Summary of the Possible Taiwan Conflict (June 2023).”

In the past two years, if we had to pick, our recommendation was choosing Emerging Markets excluding China (now VEXC). We suspect that you can capture roughly the same return with less geopolitical risk. To stay abreast of our latest thinking, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and watch for articles about Emerging Markets.

Freedom Stays the Same

There is always a bit of tension in the foreign allocation of our gone-fishing portfolio. Our complete freedom investing strategy involves twelve different countries in a roughly equal weight. Obviously, using twelve ETFs to represent foreign stocks is too many for a simple portfolio. However, investing in just four of the countries produces a wilder return.

Previously, we decided to invest in the four countries with the highest four-year average composite freedom scores. This year, we have continued that decision.

During the 2025 Index of Economic Freedom Update, the four countries with the highest four-year average composite freedom scores changed slightly. They are now: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland.

Singapore dropped to 6th and outside of the gone-fishing portfolio while Sweden and Norway both saw an increase in their composite freedom scores.

Reminder: Stay the Course

We have a saying, “It is always a good time to have a balanced portfolio.” While the worries of the world can make investing a terrible spectator sport, you can choose not to watch. You don’t have to watch the news or your portfolio’s reaction to the news. Seven out of ten years are up.

We strive to utilize a portfolio strategy that does not require market timing to be successful. We think the contrarian effect of rebalancing on a historically justifiable portfolio gives the best chance of weathering the market ups and downs.

For this reason, our advice is to stay the course. It is always a good time to have a balanced portfolio.

Photo by Carmel Arquelau on Unsplash. Image has been cropped.