A boring rebalancing calendar that works
We tested monthly, quarterly and threshold-only rebalancing on a simple three-asset portfolio. The winner was the least exciting: check twice a year, act only if an allocation drifted more than five percentage points.
The rule is easy to keep, generates few transactions and removes most of the temptation to tinker. In the spreadsheet it is a single comparison per row.
| Strategy | Trades / year | Max drawdown |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | 12 | −21% |
| Quarterly | 4 | −21% |
| Twice a year, 5% band | 1.3 | −20% |
Pick a date you will remember, put it in the calendar and stop thinking about it in between.