| Asset Class | Rating in IRAs | Rating In Taxable | Cost (ER) | Experts Opinion | Comments |
| Stocks |
| Total US | A | A | A | A | Total US Stock Market. Low cost, tax efficient, well diversified, universally recommended. |
| US Small Value | B+ | B | A- | B | Historically small and value stocks have outperformed. The future may or may not repeat. Optional. |
| Total Intl | A | A | A- | A | It's critical you diversify beyond the US. Some funds lack Emerging Market. See Fund Ratings. |
| Intl Small | B | B- | B- | A- | Further diversify with a international small cap, if you don't mind the cost. |
| Intl Value | B | B- | B | B | Capture the value premium (if it continues to exist) internationally. |
| Real Estate |
| US REIT | B+ | C+ | A | B | Separate asset class or just a sector fund? |
| Bonds |
| Conventional Bond/MUNI | A | A | A | A | The bedrock of your portfolio. Bondholders sleep well at night |
| TIPS (Inflation Adjusted) | A | B- | A | A- | Government bonds with inflation protection. What's not to like? |
| High Yield (Junk) Bonds | C+ | C | A | C | Take your equity risk on the stock side. Keep your bonds risk free. |
| Unhedged Foreign Bonds | C | D | C+ | C | Unhedged funds offer currency risk and low yields. Most experts: Keep your bonds domestic. |
| Hedged Foreign Bonds | C | D | D | C | High Fee, low yield relative to US funds. Maybe ok if foreign risk free rates rise enough. |
| Commodity Related |
| Commodities Futures | B- | C | C | B- | High fee, complex funds. A modest amount may smooth fund returns. |
| Precious Metal Stocks | B | C | B | B | Avoid sector funds generally, some experts OK a small amount of PME. Few open fund choices. |
| Gold/Metals | B- | C | C+ | B- | Strictly optional. Shouldn't rise in value faster than inflation over the long term. A small amount may diversify |
| Other Funds |
| Foreign Real Estate | C | C | C | D | High fee sector fund, usually contains companies involved in real estate, not true REITs. |
| Midcap Funds | B | B | A | C | Nothing wrong with midcap per se, some studies show they do well in some countries. |
| Small Cap Funds | B | B | A | B | Nothing wrong with small cap, but might as well go small value. |
| Microcap | B- | B- | C | B | You might catch more of a small premium with these tiny stocks. But expensive. |
| High Dividend Funds | C | C | B+ | D | No evidence than dividend stocks outperform. Value stocks do. |
| Growth Funds | D | D | A | D | Growth underperforms historically. |
| Active (Non Index) Funds | D | D | D | D | These vary from decent to awful. But most underperform, under-diversfy, and style drift. Wise investors index. |
| Sector Funds | D | D | C | D | You just can't know if one sector will outerperform another. Own the whole market. |
| Country Funds | D | D | C | D | See Sector Funds above. Same with countries. |
| Concentrated Stock Funds | D | D | C | D | These are funds with less than 100 or so risky securities. Low diversification equals high risk. |
| Currency Funds | F | F | F | F | Betting on currency movements is a sure road to poor investment performance. |
| Short Funds | F | F | F | F | Betting against the market is an even surer road to ruin. |
| Single Commodity | F | F | F | F | High expense, low expected return, low diversification, you're smarter than that. |
| Inverse Funds | F | F | F | F | These go up (sometimes) when the market goes down. If you need to lose of money in a hurry, head to Vegas. |
| Funds will funny names | F | F | F | F | The "Macroshares Oil Up Tradable Shares" fund? Keep it simple. |