[osti]

That's the biggest problem I have with the recommendation to buy indices as if indices grow at >8% annually is an natural law.

Many (most) indices of countries in the world performed way less than 8%. US performed exceptionally well over almost a century so people are starting to take it as a natural law. If I buy US index, I'm still putting a directional bet on US stock market performing at an exceptional rate.

[throw0101a]

One can buy "all-in-one" index-of-index funds that have all US equities, all EU, etc. In Canada (which sub-thread stated with), see VEQT or XEQT (100% equities), VGRO/XGRO (80/20), VBAL/XBAL (60/40), VCNS/XCNS (40/60).

You can probably find an 'asset allocation' fund in most countries; e.g., in the US:

* https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-fun...

There are also (more dynamic) 'target date' funds, where the bond allocation increases over time.

[osti]

Yeah, and those have underpermed historically and it's definitely not recommended by most people.