Portfolio Insights: Equity Gains vs Defensive Paths

Welcome to Portfolio Insights, your monthly performance overview of our Classic and Smart portfolios.

Markets advanced in the third quarter as equities extended gains and bonds added stability. Our portfolios reflected this spectrum of outcomes.

Within the Classic set, equity-heavy allocations carried momentum. The US Buffett-Inspired advanced 7.4% in the third quarter and closed September up 13.6% YTD. Its global counterpart, the Global Buffett-Inspired, moved 6.9% and reached 17.2% YTD, pacing in line with AOA’s 16.2%. Balanced allocations offered steadier progress. The US 60/40 returned 5.7% and the Global 60/40 5.2%, broadly near AOM’s 4.2% for the quarter. On the defensive side, the Conservative model gained 3.5% and Browne-Inspired 4.3%, keeping their year-to-date totals near 8–10%. Worth noting, the Sharia Compliant portfolio delivered one of the stronger quarterly prints at 7.7%, yet its 10.6% YTD sits below most growth-oriented peers. In short, the dispersion across Classic portfolios followed a clear gradient: the more equity risk they carried, the closer they tracked benchmarks like SPY, which rose 8.1% in the quarter and 14.7% YTD.

Smart strategies told a more varied story. At the top end, US Leverage Growth gained 10.5% in the quarter and 19.4% YTD, outpacing both SPY and AOA. Aggressive Plus also amplified equity exposure, adding 9.3% in 3Q and 13.5% YTD. Tactical Rotation stood out with 8.1% in the quarter, though its YTD at 8.2% reflects a flatter path earlier in the year. At the other end, Conservative Plus produced just 2.0% and 3.6% YTD, aligning more closely with AGG’s profile. Between these poles, thematic blends offered nuance. Innovation Ventures & Crypto posted 6.0% in the quarter and 12.6% YTD—comfortably ahead of AOM’s 11.1% but shy of AOR’s 13.7%. Style & Market Cap Rotation provided a contrasting picture: 5.3% in the quarter yet only 2.1% for the year. The takeaway here is dispersion. Some Smart portfolios magnified the equity rally, others anchored to bond-like outcomes, and a few landed in the middle, bridging growth with diversification.

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Takeaways

We see that patience and discipline remain central. Our systematic approach favors long-term investing, not short-term noise or rapid shifts.

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Happy Long-Term Investing!

Romain Gandon, CEO & Founder of Quantlake
🔗 LinkedIn

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