Hi Readers,

I apologize for not publishing my quarterly reports in over a year and this Q3 report is over a month old.  My reports have taken a back seat to other priorities, such as moving into and updating our new home, traveling to Bali and Singapore to visit friends living there, Cape Cod with family, the lobster producing capital of the world, the Beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine (which I had never visited before), as well as Las Vegas to see Lady Gaga’s fabulous concert and a short but fun trip to our neighboring but beautiful city San Diego (attented a financial conference as I am on the LAUSD advisary committee). It’s been a busy year, and plenty for retirees in our stage of life, but that is what retirement living is about. Thanks to my portfolio, which continues to perform, we can enjoy our retirement years.

But with the help of ChatGPD, I am back with a vengeance! I gave ChatGPD my portfolio returns in this table I created:

I asked it to compare the returns of my carefully designed portfolio to the year-to-date stock market performance, and it said:

My portfolio returned 10.6% year-to-date through September 30, 2025. This is a solid return for a balanced portfolio that holds not just stocks, but also bonds, a TIAA Traditional annuity, and a money market fund. The U.S. stock market did well, and I captured some of that with the Total Stock Market fund. International stocks did even better this year, and that helped boost the portfolio’s overall return. My bonds, money market fund, and TIAA Traditional didn’t grow as fast as stocks, but they provided stability and steady income, which keeps the portfolio from swinging wildly during uncertain times. The idea all along has been balance: participate in growth, while protecting what I’ve already saved. This year’s return demonstrates that the long-term “slow and steady, low-cost, and diversified” approach remains effective.

This return reflects a balanced portfolio, not an all-equity (stocks) one. In other words, you did not chase the highest-performing assets (like Total International at +26%), but you also didn’t sit in cash and miss the market lift. You held a thoughtful mix across U.S. stocks, international stocks, bonds, a money market fund, a TIAA Traditional fixed annuity allocation, and a small iBond position.

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How It Stacks Up Against the Market Environment

During this period:

• U.S. Stocks (VTI) were strong, up 14.3%, driven mostly by large-cap tech and steady earnings.

• International Stocks (VTIAX) were very strong, up 26.5%, helped by a weaker dollar and improving manufacturing activity overseas.

• Bonds were positive but modest, rising 1.5%–4% depending on duration and credit exposure, helped by easing interest-rate pressures.

• Cash & Money Markets earned 4%+, reflecting still-elevated short-term yields.

• TIAA Traditional continued to be a stable anchor, paying 5.25% fixed, with a calculated YTD return of 5.25%.

• iBond return of 1.4% YTD is normal because inflation resets have been moderating.

Your 10.6% result, therefore, shows very strong performance relative to your risk level.

If your portfolio had been:

• All U.S. stocks: return would be closer to 14%

• All International stocks: return could be 26%

• All Bonds: return would be 3–4%

Your performance sits exactly where a well-diversified, risk-balanced allocation should be: capturing gains from equities while smoothing the volatility with bonds, annuity holdings, and money market stability.

 

ChatGPD summaries: Your allocation did what it was designed to do.

 

My response to this report: HECK YES! Thank you, ChatGPD; you are spot on, as I have been saying for years in my reports. Diversification, keep costs low (see following table), find the balance between stocks and bonds that fits your risk tolerance and need for your money, and STAY THE COURSE. Ignore ALL THE NOISE of our political, economic, social, cultural, international, and everyday obsessions with too MUCH information. 2025 had regurgitated PLENTY OF NOISE OMG! I repeat, ignore all of it.

 

Having said that, I will admit that I have an advantage as my portfolio is designed for a retiree well into my retirement years with 60% in bonds. However, if you are under 40 years old, if the stock market crashes and you continue to contribute to your 401(k), 403(b), or 457(b) and Roth accounts, you will be purchasing shares at a lower price. There is an argument that a full-blown market crash will present an opportunity to buy shares of the Total Stock Market Index and the Total International Stock Market Index at a discounted rate. If you are contributing to a Target Date Fund, the same applies. By the time you retire in 20 years or more, your portfolio will have had time to recover. 

 

 

Asset Allocation is the most crucial feature of my portfolio, and it should be yours too. I am only sharing what I do, it is not intended for anybody to change their portfolio. Your AA is highly dependent on your risk tolerance and other factors, which I know only with myself, not you or anybody else. My reports aim to demonstrate how a diversified portfolio performs in comparison to domestic and international stock and bond markets. That’s all! Please note that I do not give advice, and nothing on my website should be interpreted as such. 

Look for the end of the 2025 report, which is expected to be released in early January 2026. 

Best of fortunes,

Steve 

Steve Bio 

Stephen A. Schullo, Ph.D. didn’t set out to become a retirement-plan advocate. He was just trying to be a good teacher.

Steve taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 24 years and, like so many educators, he trusted that the retirement plans offered at work were designed to help him retire with dignity. Instead, he discovered something very different: layers of high fees, sales commissions, confusing products, and a system that seemed to benefit everyone except the teachers it was supposed to serve.

That discovery changed the direction of his professional life.

Working in the classroom by day, Steve began learning everything he could about investing at night, eventually earning a Ph.D. from UCLA in 1996. He started writing retirement articles for the United Teacher newspaper, helping colleagues untangle the maze of Tax-Sheltered Annuities and 403(b) vendors. Over 13 years, his writing reached tens of thousands of educators across the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Along the way, he co-founded 403bAware, a teacher self-help group where colleagues met after school, asked questions, compared statements, and learned how to recognize high-cost products. He became part of an online community of thoughtful investors, contributing more than 7,500 posts since 1997. His advocacy has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, and he has testified at California legislative hearings. His union honored him with its “Unsung Hero” award for retirement-plan advocacy.

Steve’s personal financial journey is also a love story. Together with his late spouse, Dan Robertson, they wrote the book Late Bloomer Millionaires, a candid account of how two ordinary public educators, after years of being sold high-cost annuities, finally discovered low-cost index investing and built financial independence later in life. The book is part memoir, part roadmap, and fully a testament to partnership, perseverance, learning, and grace. Dan’s optimism, wit, and steady presence remain at the heart of Steve’s work today.

For the past thirteen years, Steve has served as a volunteer “Member-at-Large” (and former co-chair) on LAUSD’s Investment Advisory Committee, which oversees the district’s 403(b) and 457(b) plans for more than 55,000 current and former employees. Today, those plans hold over $2.8 billion in assets, and the committee continues to push for transparency, responsible stewardship, and low-cost investment access for all employees.

Steve launched this blog in 2012 to share what he learned the hard way:
• Teachers are not “bad with money.”
• The system was built to confuse us.
• When educators help educators, we change the outcome.

He is part of a small but spirited national network of teacher advocates who gather at 403bwise.org, where we support one another, share resources, and work toward reform.

Because every educator deserves a retirement plan that honors the work of a lifetime.