Craig Israelsen
Areas of Expertise: asset allocation, portfolio design, investment analysis
Website: www.7TwelvePortfolio.com
Book: "7Twelve: A Diversified Investment Portfolio with a Plan," (John Wiley & Sons, 2010)
Topics Presented in Speeches: "Building a Better Balanced Portfolio" and "7Twelve: A Diversified Portfolio Core"
Email: craig@7TwelvePortfolio.com
Biography:
Craig L. Israelsen, Ph.D., is a contributing editor to the AAII Journal. He teaches as an executive-in-residence in the Personal Financial Planning Program at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He holds a Ph.D. in family resource management from Brigham Young University. He received a B.S. in agribusiness and an M.S. in agricultural economics from Utah State University. He was on the faculty of the University of Missouri-Columbia for 14 years, where he taught personal and family finance in the personal financial planning department. He also taught family finance at Brigham Young University for nine years.
Primary among his research interests is the analysis of mutual funds and the design of investment portfolios. He writes monthly for Financial Planning Magazine and is a regular contributor to the Journal of Indexes and Horsesmouth.com. His research has also been published in the Journal of Financial Planning, Journal of Asset Management (U.K.), Journal of Performance Measurement, Asia Financial Planning Journal (Singapore), Journal of Family and Economic Issues and Financial Counseling and Planning.
His research has been cited in the Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Forbes, SmartMoney Magazine, Kiplinger Retirement Report, Advisor Perspectives, Dow Jones MarketWatch, Family Circle Magazine, Bottom Line Personal and the Saturday Evening Post.
His is a principal at Target Date Analytics LLC, a firm that has developed indexes for the benchmarking and evaluation of target date/lifecycle funds. He is also the developer of the 7Twelve Portfolio and the author of three books. His most recent book is titled, "7Twelve: A Diversified Investment Portfolio with a Plan" (Wiley, 2010).
He is married to Tamara Trimble. They have seven children (Sara, Andrew, Heidi, Mark, Nathan, Emma and Jared). Hobbies include running, biking, swimming, woodworking and family vacations. He has competed in the Boston Marathon five times, but has never won.
Craig Israelsen Ph.D., is a contributing editor to the AAII Journal. He teaches as an executive-in-residence in the Personal Financial Planning Program at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He is also the developer of the 7Twelve Portfolio (www.7twelveportfolio.com) and the author of three books, including “7Twelve: A Diversified Investment Portfolio With a Plan” (John Wiley & Sons, 2010).
Recent Articles
Mapping the Safe Zone of Retirement Withdrawal Rates
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION,RETIRED INVESTOR ● June 2026
Equal Weighting Across Market-Cap Sizes Beats a Total Market Fund
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION,RETIRED INVESTOR ● April 2026
How to Test Retirement Decisions Before You Make Them
WEBINARS ● WEBINAR,PLATINUM,RETIREMENT ● February 2026
Understanding the Performance Measurement Enigma
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,RETIRED INVESTOR ● October 2025
Revisiting the Use of ETFs to Construct an S&P 500 Portfolio
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS,RETIRED INVESTOR ● June 2025
Want More Retirement Income? Lower Your Portfolio Fees
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,RETIRED INVESTOR ● April 2025
A Data-Driven Approach to Retirement Planning
WEBINARS ● WEBINAR,PLATINUM,RETIREMENT ● March 2025
Striking the Right Balance Between Growth and Value Stocks
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION,VALUE INVESTING,GROWTH INVESTING ● October 2024
Comparing Three Withdrawal Strategies for Your Retirement Portfolio
RETIREMENT NEWSLETTER ● MONTHLY,FEATURE,RETIRED,WITHDRAWAL STRATEGIES ● June 2024
How Best to Mitigate Sequence Risk at Retirement
AAII JOURNAL ● FEATURE,ASSET ALLOCATION,TRANSITION TO RETIREMENT,PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES ● June 2024
Tempering the Risks of Market-Cap Weighting
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION ● April 2024
Retirement Roundup: A Quick Tour of Retirement Investing Themes
WEBINARS ● WEBINAR,PLATINUM,RETIREMENT ● March 2024
The Relationship Between Stock Market Volatility and Returns
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,MARKET ACTIONS,RISK ● October 2023
Key Numbers for Your Retirement Prep Checklist
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,RETIREMENT PLANNING ● June 2023
Measuring Performance 10 Years at a Time
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES ● April 2023
Why You Should Consider Volatility When Building a Portfolio
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION,RISK ● October 2022
Dealing With Inflation in a Retirement Portfolio
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,RETIRED INVESTOR,INFLATION ● June 2022
Retirement Allocation Comparison With Vanguard Funds
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,RETIRED INVESTOR ● April 2022
Good Portfolio Teammates Boost Returns and Reduce Downside
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,MUTUAL FUNDS,2021 INVESTOR CONFERENCE 360 ● October 2021
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,2021 INVESTOR CONFERENCE 360 ● June 2021
The Impact of Asset Allocation on Retirement Income
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION,RETIRED INVESTOR ● April 2021
The Benefits of Building Your Own S&P 500 Portfolio Sector by Sector
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,RETIRED INVESTOR ● November 2020
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,INFLATION ● September 2020
Retirement Portfolio Analysis: A Multi-Decade Review
WEBINARS ● PAST ● June 2020
Helping Kids and Grandkids Become Investors
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,FEATURE ● April 2020
Benchmarking: The Art of the Science
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES ● November 2019
Clarifying the Purpose of Diversification
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION ● September 2019
Stepping, Gradually, Back Into the Market
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES ● April 2019
The Impact of Saving Versus Return on Wealth
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES ● May 2018
The Impact of Expense Ratios on Retirement Income
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,MUTUAL FUNDS,EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS,RETIREMENT PLANNING ● September 2017
Asset Allocation, RMDs and Portfolio Survival
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION,RETIRED INVESTOR ● April 2017
Asset Returns During High and Low Inflationary Periods
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,ASSET ALLOCATION,INFLATION ● December 2016
Retirement Portfolio Survival: A 90-Year Study
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,RETIRED INVESTOR ● May 2016
The Mathematics of Retirement Portfolios
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,RETIREMENT PLANNING ● January 2016
The Importance of Diversification in Retirement Portfolios
AAII JOURNAL ● PORTFOLIO STRATEGIES,FEATURE,RETIREMENT PLANNING ● April 2015
Should You Maintain an Allocation to Bonds When Current Rates Are Low?
AAII JOURNAL ● FEATURE,BONDS ● May 2013