Copernicus Portfolio Update: 14 September 2026

Construction

Copernicus continues to be the top performing portfolio tracked here on the ITA blog.  Two changes I made since the last review were to replace VIG with shares of RSP and SGOV.  SGOV is a short-term treasury and will overlap with SCHO.  RSP is an S&P 500 ETF, but instead of cap weighted it is an equal weight security.  In other words, RSP gives equal weight to all 500 stocks found in the S&P 500.  RSP modifies dependence on the “Big Seven Stocks” while VOO is very dependent on these few giant stocks.

Readers will see the Copernicus is now heavily concentrated in short-term treasuries.  Should the U.S. Equities market move up,  Copernicus will suffer.  However, should we see a market correction, and this is highly probable, the Copernicus will benefit.  It is well worth tracking the Risk Ratios found in the last screenshot of each Copernicus blog post.  These risk values will provide clues as to which direction the portfolio is moving.  Right now the Copernicus is weakening compared to the general market moves.

Copernicus Holdings

Ten (10) shares of RSP were added and I sold off all shares of VIG and replaced it with shares of SGOV.  Nearly 70% of the portfolio is now invested in short-term treasuries.  This is a very conservative portfolio as currently constructed.

Copernicus Performance Data

Since 12/31/2021, or nearly five years of operation, the Copernicus has outperformed all benchmarks by a wide margin.  Large investments in 2022, when the market was a poor performer, paid off over the past four years.

Now that the market is overbought I am cutting back on equities and patiently waiting for the next buying opportunity.

Copernicus Risk Ratios

The current Copernicus is not performing as well as it was a year ago.  This is to be expected considering the very conservative asset allocation model.  This could go on for a few years, but we are going to eventually see a correction or even a recession.

The Treynor spiked up due to replacing VIG with a low volatile ETF, SGOV.  Once more, I am not a fan of the Treynor Ratio as it is too dependent on the portfolio beta, which currently is a very low 0.151.

Watch for the Fed announcement this week.  If interest rates go up will will see a market decline.

Comments are always welcome.