You’d actually make more money if you ignored the experts and messed with your investment portfolio 94% less often.
SSRN · March 13, 2026 · 6305438
Why it matters
While most financial advisors recommend resetting your investment mix on a strict calendar schedule, this study found that waiting until your assets drift by a specific 5% threshold is more effective. By avoiding the 'ritual' of monthly rebalancing, investors capture more market momentum and significantly reduce the fees that eat away at long-term wealth.
From the abstract
Standard portfolio rebalancing is traditionally viewed as a periodic maintenance task, a ritualized adjustment to return a portfolio to its original risk mandate. Most institutional and retail frameworks rely on calendar-based protocols, monthly, quarterly, or annual resets, regardless of the underlying market volatility or the magnitude of asset drift. This paper challenges the efficiency of such time-dependent conventions. We propose the Safety Tripwire, a state-dependent control mechanism tha