The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is up 0.25% to 8,908.1 points on Friday, representing an 8.6% lift in the year to date.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index (SP: .INX) fell 1% to 6,822.34 points overnight, with US shares now up 16% in the year to date.
Markets have been volatile, with US tariffs causing chaos and the gold price streaking to record highs amid economic uncertainty.
Interest rates are falling in most developed nations, although the threat of inflation reigniting remains present.
Amid all the white noise, experts continue to encourage amateur investors like us to stay the course.
They say we need to keep things simple and focus on the big picture of long-term wealth creation.
Online trading platform provider, Stake, reminds us of three simple investing strategies adopted by the world's best investors in its 2025 Ambition Report.
Let's take a look at each of them.
Image source: Getty Images
Warren Buffett's 90/10 strategy
Warren Buffett, the 'Oracle of Omaha', is lauded as the world's most successful investor.
For amateur investors who want a low-fuss investment strategy, Buffett recommends allocating 90% of your portfolio to a low-cost S&P 500 index fund or ETF and 10% to short-term government bonds.
Stake says:
You might choose this strategy if you're looking for a simple, low-cost way to participate in the long-term growth of the U.S. stock market without needing to research individual companies.
It's ideal for those who prefer a 'set and forget' approach, with a higher tolerance for risk, since a large portion is in stocks.
Stake reports that the iShares S&P 500 AUD ETF (ASX: IVV) was the most bought ASX ETF among its customers in 2H FY25.
Dalio's all-weather portfolio
Billionaire Ray Dalio is a 50-year investment veteran.
He founded Bridgewater Associates out of his New York apartment in 1985 and grew it into the world's biggest hedge fund.
Stake says Dalio's investing strategy is designed to perform well in all economic environments through asset diversification.
This includes shares, long-term bonds, intermediate-term bonds, gold, and commodities. The goal is to minimise risk and protect capital.
According to the Ambition Report:
Suitable if your main goal is portfolio stability, even in significant downturns.
It's designed to be less volatile than a stock-heavy portfolio and to perform consistently whether the economy is growing, in a recession, or experiencing inflation or deflation.
Bogle's three-fund portfolio
The late Jack Bogle founded Vanguard Group and is considered the world's pioneering advocate for passive index fund investing.
Index fund investing developed in the 1960s. It was a low-cost alternative to active fund managers, who rarely outperformed the broader market with their individual stock picking strategies anyway, and charged high fees for their portfolio management services.
These days, most investors passively invest via exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which track a wide variety of indexes.
ETFs seek to mirror the performance of the indexes they track, after fees.
Bogle recommended a long-term investing strategy centred around passive investment through three types of index funds, with dividends reinvested. He told amateur investors to steer clear of stock picking themselves.
Those three types of funds were a total US stock market fund, a total international market fund, and a total bond market fund.
He recommended allocating funds to all three in proportion to an individual investor's risk tolerance.
Stake recommends this investing strategy for people who want broad global diversification with an easy-to-manage portfolio.
Stake says:
It balances exposure to both US and international markets with the stability of bonds, all while keeping costs low.
