Almost 45 trying to determine where I want to be bond vs equity mix now that there is rate

The bond market has changed dramatically in the last few years with the amount of debt we have now.

It is experiencing historical draw downs that we have not seen before.

Bond prices are trading at 2013 levels

You are only 45, stay in the S&P 500 (even though only 10 of the companies are responsible for 90% of the growth) and consider a small portion of your portfolio to a hard asset that can't be printed out of this air (gold/BTC)

Seriously, at 45 there is no reason to have any money in bonds. If you were 70, my opinion on the matter would change slightly.

Some data shows over decades “small” caps outperform “large” caps.

I have 403b/457 in low cost funds.
Basically split into small cap, mid cap, and real estate.

I have a lot of money in individual stocks in other accounts. Majority is mega cap like Apple, Altria, Verizon, Proctor and Gamble, JNJ, etc.

I keep a good chunk of cash in money market and CDs in case I want a car or a trip or a major expense occurs.

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Also my 6 month emergency is all Treasury ladders do I segregate that or count towards my total mix?

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Segregate that. The whole point of an emergency fund is near instant liquidity in the event of an “emergency”, right?

So if you’re laddered in Treasury bills for that purpose, it would create a skew if you counted that in the total mix as you decide on appropriate allocations over time. At your age, in your (true) investment accounts, there’s little need for much if any bond allocation. Throwing in a light percentage of notes, preferred class and/or healthy dividend paying equities isn’t a bad idea. But again, at your age, I’d still lean toward having the heaviest allocation in growth equity products like ETFs and maybe some commons that don’t individually exceed 10% of the portfolio.