2015 will be over before we know it and despite a great deal of jostling in the stock and bond markets, the net effect has been very little real gains for diversified portfolios. A look at a typical 60/40 mix of stocks and bonds in the iShares Growth Allocation ETF (AOR) is currently sitting at a total return of just 0.33% this year.Not the worst outcome and there is a little bit of time left to improve on that number, but certainly nothing to write home about. 

This balanced mix of stocks and bonds is a very common asset allocation structure in the investment world.You find it in everything from multi-billion dollar endowments to hedge funds, retirement plans, and individual investor portfolios.Everyone loves to quote the percentage gain in the S&P 500 Index, but at the end of the day, most realistic portfolios are closer in alignment to a mix of multiple asset classes.The goal of this diversification is to reduce the overall risk profile (or draw down) of the capital invested.

The last time AOR achieved such meager results was 2011, when it posted a gain of just 1.16%.Nevertheless, that was followed by a gain of 11.36% in 2012, 15.92% in 2013, and 6.22% in 2014.

There is hope for the future, BUT the continual sector rotation carousel seems to be creating a lack of cohesive growth in stocks.When you couple that with the real threat of rising interest rates weighing on bond prices, you have a recipe for weakening gains and overall frustration across the investment landscape.

There are individual publicly traded companies that have achieved phenomenal growth this year.For example, Amazon Inc. (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX) have more that doubled their share prices in 2015.However, those success stories are isolated anomalies in the broader context of the U.S. stock market.Counteracting those high flying headliners are disasters like the 30% drop in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and 40% decline in Alcoa Inc. (AA), just to name a few.