Is this time different for the 60/40 portfolio?

THE 60/40 portfolio (60 per cent global equities, 40 per cent global bonds) has delivered 8 per cent in annual returns over the past decade.

The average return in the past five years was 7.4 per cent. The 10-year, 15-year and 35-year periods gravitate towards the 7 per cent mark, sometimes rising to 8 per cent or falling closer to 6 per cent.

In the past 35 years, the 60/40 portfolio is up 833 per cent. Those are some pretty impressive numbers and seem to go against most people’s expectations.