See the model portfolio we publish when markets turn — one clear, five-minute move a month that puts protecting your savings first.
Retirement Edge publishes one research-backed model portfolio each month for your 401(k), TSP, or brokerage account — built to move toward defensive holdings when the data turns down, not chase every rally. It follows objective rules rather than forecasts or emotion. Most months need no change; when one's warranted, it takes about five minutes, and you stay in control of every decision.
Sign up free today. Reserve your founding rate by 5:00 PM Eastern, October 1 — lock it in at launch and start your 60-day free trial.
The hardest part of investing isn't the math — it's the quiet worry that you should be doing something, and not knowing what. A rules-based process answers that for you.
Five minutes on the first trading day. That's the whole commitment.
When the allocation holds, you do nothing — and that's the right call.
You'll never again wonder whether now is the moment to act. The process tells you.
A steep drop in the years right around retirement does lasting damage — you have fewer years to recover, and withdrawals lock the losses in. Yet target-date funds and default allocations leave you fully exposed and tell you to stay the course, even as the market falls.
Your allocation is fixed and never adjusted — so when the market falls, you fall with it, in full.
Without a rule to follow, fear and panic drive selling at the worst possible moment — near the bottom.
Default funds ride every downturn all the way down. A single bad year near retirement can undo a decade of saving.
Instead of "set and forget," what if your account turned defensive when conditions deteriorated — and stayed invested when they didn't?
Retirement Edge publishes one clear model portfolio each month, based on objective rules rather than emotion or forecasting. When the market environment weakens, the rules shift toward safer holdings; when it strengthens, they lean back into growth. Protecting capital comes first — a disciplined process, distilled into a single decision you can act on yourself.
Monthly analysis of market conditions and risk indicators
One clear, plain-English model portfolio
You decide and implement in ~5 minutes
Any strategy looks good in a bull market. What matters for your retirement is how it behaves when markets fall. Each strategy was tested through 20 years of history — including the 2008 and 2020 crashes. Note the worst-year figure on each card: that's the downside protection in action. Alpha Edge earned the highest returns with the widest year-to-year variation — though in the backtest that variation ran mostly to the upside, and its worst year was still positive. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Private 401(k) Plans
Jan 2006–Dec 2025 · Portfolio Visualizer
Federal TSP Accounts
Jan 2006–Dec 2025 · Portfolio Visualizer
ETF & Brokerage
Widest year-to-year variation of the three, mostly to the upside in the backtest · Jan 2006–Dec 2025 · Portfolio Visualizer
All results backtested historically using Portfolio Visualizer · Jan 2006–Dec 2025 · $10,000 starting balance · includes 2008, 2020, and all market corrections. Benchmarks shown (Fidelity Freedom 2030, TSP L 2030) are conservative target-date funds, included for reference; they carry a different risk profile than the strategies above. Retirement Edge is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Fidelity Investments or FMR LLC; the Fidelity Freedom 2030 fund (FFFEX) is named only to identify the benchmark. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
The monthly update publishes on the first trading day. Review it, decide whether to act, and submit one fund transfer if needed. Most months require no change.
Published on the first trading day of each month
If the allocation changes, submit one transfer
The whole process takes about five minutes
The model adjusts about once per quarter
Rather than one-size-fits-all advice, Retirement Edge offers three separate model portfolios — each designed for a different account type. See which one fits, then keep scrolling for plans, pricing, and answers.
Monthly updates for workplace retirement plans that shift toward safer holdings when markets weaken. Works with any provider — Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, Empower, and others.
Specialized model portfolios that use the G Fund's principal protection to defend capital when the model turns cautious. Works with all TSP account types — Traditional, Roth, and agency.
Index-based model portfolios that rotate into defensive assets like Treasuries and gold when needed. Across the 2006–2025 backtest its worst calendar year was +1.50%. Simple everyday ETFs; no leverage, options, or derivatives.
The monthly update publishes but typically changes about once a quarter. Most months you'll see no change at all — you're not trading frequently. TSP allows two free interfund transfers per month.
About five minutes. You log in, review the monthly update, and if it's different from last month, submit one fund transfer. Most months there's no change, so you're just confirming and moving on.
No. Retirement Edge is a financial research publisher, not a registered investment adviser. We publish research. You make every decision independently. (Publisher exemption: Section 202(a)(11)(D) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.)
Yes. We offer specialized model portfolios for 401(k) plans, TSP accounts, and index/ETF portfolios. Choose the strategy that matches your account type, and the model portfolios apply directly.
20 years of backtested performance sourced from Portfolio Visualizer, including 2008, 2020, and every market correction in between. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results, but the approach has been tested through multiple market cycles.
You simply review the published update, confirm there's no change, and you're done. No action required. This happens most months — the allocation only changes about once per quarter.
No minimum. The approach works at any account size — $1,000 or $1 million. The principles and model portfolios are identical regardless of your balance.
It will — and we'll be transparent about it. No research model beats every month. Retirement Edge is designed for 10–20-year horizons. The 20-year backtest includes recessions and crashes — the results reflect all of them, not just the good years.
Signing up before launch is free. That locks in the founding discount (20% off your first year) and your 60-day free trial. The trial itself starts at launch, and you're not charged during the 60 days. Cancel any time before the trial ends and you're never charged. If you continue, billing begins on day 61 as a one-year annual subscription at the founding rate.
No. If you've ever submitted an interfund transfer or logged into your retirement account portal, you have every skill you need. The process is straightforward.
In 2008, we watched people we cared about lose years of savings — and we took losses of our own. What stung most wasn't that the market fell; it was how much was lost, and how much of that came from guessing when to get out and when to get back in. It didn’t work, and the damage was real. We became determined to find a disciplined way to lose less in the bad years — and we set out to build it.
Between us, we bring 50 years of combined experience in demanding professional fields — one of us holds a professional doctorate; the other is a military veteran with an MBA who runs the business side and manages his own TSP. We aren't planners paid to keep you invested. We built this for the ordinary investor, using computer analysis and decades of market data applied to the established funds already in your accounts — and we invest our own retirement exactly this way, across a TSP, a 401(k), and an independent brokerage.
Backtested 2006–2025. In every case the approach outperformed the standard strategies most investors rely on, measured against 20 years of real market history — including 2008, 2020, and 2022. Backtested and hypothetical; past performance does not guarantee future results.
— The founders of Retirement Edge
Every plan includes the monthly update and full access to historical data. Reserve your founding rate now — 20% off your first year.
Founding rate — 20% off year one · $276 billed annually
Founding rate — 20% off year one · $468 billed annually
Founding rate — 20% off year one · $1,428 billed annually
Run your own projections, see exactly how the monthly update works, and explore the tools built for each account type.
The monthly update, step by step — and what you actually do each month.
Learn the processProject your index or brokerage portfolio to retirement in 60 seconds.
Run the numbersSee how your 401(k) could grow with a disciplined, rules-based model.
Project my 401(k)Federal employees: model your C, S, I, F, and G fund allocation.
Project my TSPChoose the model portfolio designed for your account type. Learn how a disciplined, rules-based approach aims to protect your savings in downturns while keeping you invested for growth.
Reserve your founding rate now — 20% off your first year.