State Street Global Advisors, the firm behind the SPDR family of ETFs, has filed for a new fund that would track the UC Investments 90/10 Endowment Strategy Index. The product would essentially bottle the University of California’s investment approach and sell it to retail investors.
The concept is straightforward: roughly 90% equities, 10% bonds or cash. No exotic hedge fund allocations, no private equity sleeves, no venture capital carve-outs. Just a passive, index-based strategy modeled after one of the largest institutional investors in the country.
The UC investment model, explained
The University of California’s investment operation manages somewhere in the neighborhood of $180 to $190 billion in total assets. The combined endowment alone sits at approximately $29.5 billion, split between a $22.6 billion General Endowment Pool and a $6.9 billion Blue and Gold Endowment Pool.
Under Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher, UC Investments has deliberately zigged while most of the endowment world zagged. While Harvard, Yale, and Stanford built their reputations on the so-called “endowment model,” heavy on alternative investments and illiquid assets, UC went the other direction. Public equities. Bonds. Low fees. Radical simplicity.
The Blue and Gold pool is the clearest expression of this philosophy. Launched in 2019 with just $250 million, it follows an 80/20 split between equities and fixed income. That pool has since grown to roughly $7 billion. For fiscal year 2024-25, it delivered a 15.8% return.
The proposed 90/10 ETF would push the equity allocation even higher than the Blue and Gold pool, tilting further toward growth with only a thin fixed-income cushion.
Why this matters beyond academia
The filing represents a direct challenge to the conventional wisdom that sophisticated investors need complicated portfolios. The endowment model popularized by Yale’s David Swensen, which emphasized alternatives like private equity, venture capital, and timber, has been the gold standard for institutional investing for decades.
SPDR and UC Investments already have a working relationship. The two have previously collaborated on sustainable investment products, which aligns with UC’s longstanding commitment to fossil fuel and tobacco divestment.
No ticker symbol, expense ratio, or target launch date have been disclosed yet.
What this means for investors
The 90/10 allocation is inherently aggressive. A portfolio with 90% in equities carries substantial downside risk during market corrections. During a year like 2022, when both stocks and bonds sold off simultaneously, a 90/10 portfolio would have offered very little cushion.
UC’s core endowment products have shown no direct involvement with digital assets, and the 90/10 strategy appears firmly rooted in traditional equities and fixed income.