Most people who ask “how should I split this money up” get one of two unhelpful answers: a single hot ticker, or a lecture about asset allocation with no numbers in it. This tool sits in between. Tell it how much you have and how much volatility you can stomach, and it shows you a concrete split across sectors, priced at today’s quotes, down to the share count and the cash left over.
The sectors are the ones we cover: chips and big tech, software, healthcare, defense, and the power infrastructure the AI build-out runs on. Every mix holds index funds, because owning hundreds of companies at once is the one part of a portfolio that does not depend on any single call being right: 60% of the conservative mix, 50% of the balanced one, and 30% even of the aggressive one. That index money is split across separate S&P 500, mid cap and small cap funds, which hold different companies rather than more of the same ones. The conservative mix leaves small caps out, because they are the slice that falls hardest when the market turns, and the aggressive mix splits its index money evenly across all three.
You can also put your own names in it. Add a ticker and it slots into whichever sector it belongs to, taking that sector’s allocation rather than being piled on top of everything else. Add three names from the same corner of the market and the tool will build it, then tell you plainly how concentrated you just made yourself.
Risk profile
Half in index funds across large, mid and small caps, the rest spread across technology, healthcare, defense and power, with a small speculative sleeve.
Add your own stocks (optional, up to 5)
A stock you add takes over its sector rather than being added on top, so two chip names share the big tech allocation instead of doubling it. That is the point: it keeps a favourite name from quietly becoming half the portfolio.
Positions
9
Invested
$9,948.85
Cash left over
$51.15
Sleeves
9
Broad market core39%Big tech and AI compute13%Software and SaaS10%Mid cap core9%Defense and aerospace7%Healthcare6%High beta and speculative6%Small cap core6%Energy and data center power4%
Whole shares only, priced at the last quote. The leftover cash is what whole-share rounding leaves behind; a broker that supports fractional shares would deploy most of it. This is an illustration of one way to spread money across sectors, not a recommendation to buy any of these securities.
What the three risk profiles actually change
The profiles are not cosmetic. Each one assigns a different weight to every sector, so the same dollar amount produces a genuinely different portfolio.
Sector
Conservative
Balanced
Aggressive
Broad market core
45%
35%
10%
Mid cap core
15%
9%
10%
Small cap core
0%
6%
10%
Big tech and AI compute
13%
13%
16%
Software and SaaS
7%
10%
12%
Healthcare
10%
8%
6%
Defense and aerospace
7%
8%
7%
Energy and data center power
3%
5%
9%
High beta and speculative
0%
6%
20%
What is in each sector
Broad market core: A low-cost index fund holding hundreds of companies at once. This is the ballast: it is the part of the mix that is not a bet on any single company being right.
Mid cap core: An index fund holding the mid-sized companies the S&P 500 leaves out. Different companies than the large-cap core rather than more of the same, which is what makes it added breadth instead of overlap.
Small cap core: An index fund holding small companies. Historically the highest-returning slice of the index world over long periods, and also the one with the deepest drawdowns, which is why the conservative mix leaves it out entirely.
Big tech and AI compute: The largest, most profitable technology companies. Often described as high beta, but most of these actually trade close to the market's own volatility because they are so large.
Software and SaaS: Subscription software businesses. Recurring revenue makes the numbers steadier than hardware, but valuations move hard on growth rates.
Healthcare: Insurers, drugmakers and medical device companies. Demand does not track the economic cycle much, which is why it tends to hold up when technology sells off.
Defense and aerospace: Primes and smaller suppliers. Revenue comes from multi-year government budgets rather than consumers, so the cycle here runs on its own clock.
Energy and data center power: Utilities, grid equipment and cooling. Electricity has become the real constraint on new AI build-outs, so this sits upstream of the technology trade.
High beta and speculative: Small, story-driven names that move several times as much as the market in both directions. This is the sleeve that can go to zero, which is why it is sized last and smallest.
What this tool does not do
It does not know anything about you. It has no view on your tax situation, your time horizon, your income, your debts, or what you already own, and those matter far more than which five or ten tickers you pick. It does not rebalance, it does not tell you when to sell, and it does not screen the names on fundamentals. The list of candidates in each sector is an editorial choice we made by hand, not the output of a model ranking stocks.
If you want to go deeper on any individual name before acting on anything, run it through our Stock Scorer, or check the insider trading tracker to see whether the people running the company are buying it.
This page is for educational purposes only. It is not investment advice, not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, and it does not account for commissions, taxes, or your personal circumstances. Always do your own research and consider talking to a licensed financial advisor.
FAQ
How does the portfolio builder work?
Enter the amount you want to invest and pick a risk profile. The tool splits that money across nine sectors we track (an S&P 500 index fund, a mid cap index fund, a small cap index fund, big tech, software, healthcare, defense, energy and power, and speculative growth), draws a name from each sector, and prices it at the latest quote to show how many whole shares the money buys. Changing the risk profile changes how much weight each sector gets, and the conservative mix drops the small cap and speculative sectors entirely.
Is this investment advice?
No. It is an illustration of how a dollar amount would divide across sectors, not a recommendation to buy any specific security. The names come from a fixed list we curate by hand as an editorial choice. Nothing here reads your financial situation, your tax position, your time horizon, or what you already own, all of which matter more than any list of tickers. Talk to a licensed financial advisor before investing.
Can I add my own stocks?
Yes. Type any US ticker into the picks box and it goes into the portfolio at the current price. We look up which sector it belongs to and slot it there, so an added chip name lands in big tech and an added drugmaker lands in healthcare. Anything that does not map onto one of our nine sectors, like a bank or a consumer brand, goes into a separate 'Your picks' group so it still gets a sensible slice.
Does adding my own stock make the portfolio bigger?
No, and that is the deliberate part. A stock you add replaces our pick inside its sector rather than being added on top of it. If you add three chip names, all three share the big tech allocation between them instead of tripling it. The whole reason to size a favourite name inside a portfolio is to stop it from becoming the portfolio.
What if all my picks are in the same sector?
The tool builds it and then tells you. If two or more of your picks land in the same sector, a concentration note appears under the chart pointing out that they are splitting that sector's allocation between them rather than adding up, which means nothing else in the portfolio covers that corner of the market. You also get a note if any single company ends up at 25 percent or more of the money. Neither one stops you, they just make the trade-off visible.
Why are Alphabet and Amazon not counted as high beta?
Beta measures how much a stock moves relative to the market. Alphabet and Amazon are two of the largest companies in the world and are heavily weighted inside the index itself, so they tend to move close to the market rather than several times it. Both sit in the big tech sleeve here. The high beta sleeve is reserved for smaller, story-driven names that genuinely swing multiples of the market in both directions.
Why does the tool leave cash left over?
It buys whole shares only. If a sector is allotted 1,200 dollars and one share costs 500, it buys two shares and leaves 200 behind. Brokers that support fractional shares would put that remainder to work. We show it rather than hiding it because the rounding is real, and on smaller amounts it can be a meaningful slice of the total.
What does the insider buying note under a ticker mean?
It is a count of open-market purchases by that company's own officers and directors from SEC Form 4 filings over the last six months, summed in dollars. We track these continuously on our insider trading page. Insider buying is context, not a verdict, and it is deliberately not used to pick or weight anything in the portfolio.
Why do I get different tickers each time I press the button?
Each sector holds several names we consider reasonable representatives of it, and the tool draws from that pool rather than always returning the same one. The draw is tied to the link in your address bar, so sharing or bookmarking the page brings back the exact portfolio you were looking at.
How many positions should a portfolio have?
There is no single right answer, but research on diversification generally finds that most of the benefit of spreading risk shows up in the first 15 to 25 holdings, and that a portfolio of five or six names is still heavily exposed to any one of them going wrong. This tool produces roughly eight to twelve positions depending on the amount and profile, which is why every mix holds index funds: 60% in the conservative one, 50% in the balanced one and 30% even in the aggressive one. That index money is split across separate S&P 500, mid cap and small cap funds so they hold different companies rather than more of the same. The conservative mix skips small caps because they fall hardest in a bad year, while the aggressive mix splits its index money evenly across all three.