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Lower Cost ETFs: SPY vs VOO, QQQ vs QQQM, GLD vs GLDM, etc
4-asset portfolio that outperforms the market with less risk
Banks are a melting pot and SAfe heavens are back.
Parent wants to buy gold but his accountant suggest $GLDM.
Anyone invested in a gold or other commodity ETF?
Thoughts on this attempted Dragon Portfolio?
thoughts on my return stacked leveraged ETF portfolios?
Thoughts on my return stacked leveraged portfolios?
thoughts on my return stacked and leveraged portfolios?
Good morning! 🌞 #premarket #watchlist 02/23 $GLDM - reverse split, $TEN- Be Acquired by Apollo Funds, $REVB - no news, $MULN -no news , $IMPP - no news, oil sector, $REGI - no news, $HIMS - earnings... Also check afterhours runners and low float stocks in my app!
Mentions
If you like the idea of holding gold assets but don’t want to physically hold it, you could sell it and use the proceeds to buy something like GLD or GLDM.
I reckon GLDM. Low expense ratio, quite a big fund. Here are some options - GLDM came out top in this analysis: [https://www.sharestep.co/pub?tid=ts\_56e53grw](https://www.sharestep.co/pub?tid=ts_56e53grw)
Serious? Split it in two. Dump 1k into something like vanguard, 1/3 into VT or VTI, 1/6 in BND, 1/6 in GLDM, and leave the remainder in JAAA as a cash like position at 5.48% APY. Ignore it for as long as you can. Have fun with the other 1k. Whatever that means.
I feel weird putting my 2026 Roth into GLDM but here we are.
* VTI: 40% * KMLM: 20% * DBMF: 20% * GLDM: 10% * TLT: 10% Gets close to S&P returns with 1/3 the drawdown. https://testfol.io/?s=5lit5gboz6a
GLDM has a lower expense ratio than GLD if you’re gonna hold gold for a significant amount of time.
Bond market high yield is pressuring the lending rates that affects the credit economy! In next 3 to 6 months, If stock crashes , precious metals go up. If stock goes up, precious metals goes down I do not believe in gold and silver crashes! The chances for SPX crash is higher ( due to long term lending rates ) than gold market. When GOLD was selling at $2500 per ounce, I was telling it is bound to go, placed many coins orders, but none of my friends believed ! Silver and gold pull back was healthy ( last 2 days ), bought some GLDM and SLV, holding long.
Had a great year: 25.09 and left the Mag 7 and S& P behind doing it. Had big gains realized last year and changed gears. Basically 1/3 us stocks 1/3 foreign gold plated stocks and the rest in metal. IRa only has 5 diff stocks and some GLDM and VXUS. Gold was the big win this year.Foreign currency gains spanked as a bonus.
I’m in the same boat. Moved a chunk into GLDM in July and October to hedge inflation. Where am I supposed to put it then?
Well done on the RKLB. Having rode PLTR and MSTR from 2022 misery to 1000% + gains, it is HARD to sell a huge winner and time it right. Being near retirement age, I am sure glad I pivoted those kinds of gains out of MSTR and PLTR and into GLDM, NOC, BNS and DAL early this year. I kept some PLTR as of course there is more upside there.
I would argue automated investing plans are a good way to keep scratching the itch and potentially set them up for retirement. 50% QQQM, 20% VOO, 10% SMH, 10% IXUS, 10% GLDM. Keep current funds in money market cash, have it automatically fully invest with 3 years via weekly fractional buys and reinvest dividends.
Cash out, keep it all in money market fund. Then setup an AUTOMATED weekly investment (fidelity vanguard they all have it) that fully invests all the money within 3 years (54 weeks times 3x). Put it into 50% QQQM, 20% VOO, 10% SMH, 10% IXUS, 10% GLDM Log in daily or weekly and watch the gains (or losses) via automated investing. You're in the market but not. If you want to make a change modify the automated investing plan. It'll limit you mostly to ETFs anyway. At the end of the 3rd year have the automated plan pull out weekly from your savings and continue investing. This will scratch the itch that you're in the market while lowering your risk and probably result in you having several mil by retirement. You've done good. Take a break and let the money compound now automatically.
The consensus is holding a ticker like GLDM is better than physical gold. You don’t have to worry about counterfeiting, or safekeeping. And it’s way easier to sell when you need to. You pay a small expense ratio for buying ETFs like GLDM, but physical gold usually involves upfront premiums, anywhere from 2-5%. Way higher than GLDM’s 0.10% expenses ratio. Profit Margins: Are They the Same? No, profit margins aren’t identical due to the differing costs and structures. Both derive profits primarily from gold price appreciation (or losses from depreciation), but: • ETFs: Your net return is gold’s price change minus the expense ratio and any trading fees. For example, if gold rises 10% in a year, GLD might return ~9.6% after its 0.4% fee (assuming no other costs). Over long periods, low-fee options like GLDM (0.10%) preserve more of the upside, making them cost-effective for passive holding. They tend to have narrower margins eaten by fees but higher overall efficiency for frequent trading. • Physical Gold: Profits are gold’s price change minus buy/sell spreads (e.g., 3–8% round-trip), storage/insurance (~0.5–1% annually), and any taxes/fees. A 10% gold rise might net you only 5–8% after costs, especially for smaller amounts or short holds. However, for very long-term storage (e.g., decades) without frequent trading, physical gold could edge out if you avoid high ongoing fees—but this assumes minimal storage costs and no theft/loss. In general, ETFs often provide better net returns for most investors due to lower total costs and ease, especially over shorter horizons or for diversification. Physical gold might appeal if you value tangibility and are willing to absorb higher transaction/friction costs. Historical comparisons show ETFs tracking physical gold closely, but physical can underperform net of expenses in many scenarios.
I just don’t understand this. Why sell? Just dca into VT/VOO/bonds (or SPUS/UMMA/GLDM if you are muslim like me)
Roth IRA: FXAIX, SCHG, VXUS, GLDM Brokerage: Mix of individual stocks including Google and NVDA, Coca Cola but will eventually just DCA into VTI, VXUS and QQQM after maxing out my IRA
My 1st Portfolio I’m 30 and new to investing, and I’ve been literally overwhelmed by all the options that are available for me to invest in. After a lot of research i have decided to stick to ETFs for the moment.. Please help me analyze my portfolio.. My monthly DCA budget would be 200 USD (300 usd exceptional case) . Portfolio X 1. VOO 2. VXUS 3. BND 4. GLDM 5. SMH I want to include QQQM and SCHD too but I’m not sure because of the overlap..
GLDM has lower fees but lower liquidity and no options if you prefer that.
VTI: 40% KMLM: 20% DBMF: 20% GLDM: 10% TLT: 10% Gets close to S&P returns with 1/3 the drawdown. https://testfol.io/?s=5lit5gboz6a
Swap GLD for GLDM. Same thing but lower expense ratio.
GLDM ETF is the way to go. That has the lowest expense ratio of all the gold funds. You get exact price exposure to gold easily. Physical gold tends to have a large markup, and you’ll have to sell at a discount. The ETF’s are way better. Stay away from the miners. Gold itself is very volatile. Gold miners are even more volatile.
GLD does hold physical gold. GLDM is the same but much cheaper (0.1% expense ratio) PHYS costs 0.35% If you’re holding in an IRA the tax rate is immaterial and so GLDM is your best bet.
GLD and IAU are the same as GLDM and IAUM but more expensive to hold
With $1.6 million, storing is an issue. Better to buy GLDM or GLD and hold in your broker account. Physical gold, selling (liquidity) is an issue, storage and security is an issue.
Something like: 80% VONE 16% BND 2% GLDM 2% SMH
In my “fun money” brokerage account for learning and investing, a big part of my outperformance above S&P500/Nasdaq this year was rotating away from US equities in April and reinvesting in VXUS, BND, and several international and domestic high dividend vanguard ETFs with DRIP to stack gains during chop and sideways market. Recently I’ve entered positions in GLDM and VGMPX for precious metal and mining exposure, and I have a smaller position in VT to not totally miss US market performance. I’ve made decent profits with coreweave puts and SQQQ calls. I haven’t touched my longer term portfolio that I put money from selling a company into a bunch of broadly diversified Dimensional ETFs, or my 401k rollover IRA, which is in a bunch of annuities that track the Russell 2000 and SPY with downside protection.
A better hedge is just GLDM 🤷🏾♂️ But jokes aside, you should check Google’s AI capex. It is not free of sin.
update: hey all, thanks again for the super helpful replies. i've learned a lot lol. in case anyone's ever in the same boat as i was, i went with Priority Gold just to start things off, will probably look into ETFs such as GLD and GLDM next
Yeah I just bought more GLDM today. It's just math inflation will really kick in when QE begins
Just bought another 40k of GLDM. QE on the horizon it's a no brainer
I went from almost entirely US Total Market (VTI) to 60% US total market, 5% Emerging Small cap value (AVDV), 10% gold (GLDM) and silver (SLV), 17.5% US small cap value (AVUV) and the remaining a few international picks (IEUR, VXUS, EWG, EWU)
Where’s your 10% GLD or GLDM hedge?
QQQM is good. I would drop the single stocks and replace them with similarly volatile (but high expected return) instruments like crypto, precious metals and/or leveraged large cap (IBIT, GLDM, BTGD, BEGS, QQUP, QLD etc) A safer place to park your money but still get decent returns is STRC, especially if you're a crypto believer
already replied to you in another comment, GLDM is okay, but i'd stick with GLD if i were you just because the liquidity alone makes it smoother to buy/sell whenever
GLDM’s fine if you just want low fees, but GLD’s way more liquid. makes a big difference if you ever plan to trade or move in/out quickly
Everyone is going to tell you not to put it in the market at all but the reality is you could put some of it in the market and do just fine. It doesn't have to be all stocks. I've been in a similar boat to you before and due to how long it took to find a house, my money was just rotting in the HYSA when it could have instead gained significantly with even a very defensive portfolio. Check out the 12 month inflation adjusted returns for [this portfolio](https://testfol.io/?s=dC058E4qMfh): * VTI: 30% * GLDM: 25% * TLT: 15% * KMLM: 30 All these stats are adjusted for inflation, back tested since 1992: * CAGR: 6.33% * Deepest drawdown: -15.42% 2 Worst year return: -7.5% (great financial crisis) * 25th percentile return: 1.5% * 50th percentile return: 6.4 This simple portfolio has a 12 month lump sum win rate of 77.5%. So, yes, you would be down 22.5% of the time with it. Is that a risk you're interested in taking? Only you can say.
what do you think about GLDM tho? seems to be the better option than GLD, but i'm not sure
okay thanks! thinking between GLD and GLDM right now, seem to be the most recommended here
i get that. tho GLDM’s good for the fees, GLD’s liquidity makes it a safer bet if you’re hopping in and out like that
but that 0.3% fee difference can get eaten up fast if you’re dealing with wider spreads or lower volume on GLDM. depends if you’re trading size or just holding small
SO? Quantify the impact of above on the retail buyer. GLD Expense Ratio (net) 0.40% GLDM Expense Ratio (net) 0.10%
Not to diminish the amazing result (28% annual returns), but for those of us investing in SPXL, UPRO, SSO, etc. today, I think it is worth noting that this success was largely due to investing when the levered ETF had crashed 70-80%. That's the time to go all. Otherwise, it's best to build a portfolio like 40% UPRO, 30% ZROZ, 30% GLDM and target returns that beat the S&P by just a couple percent annualized. Would be interested in OP and others' perspective, but the huge cajones was going all in on massive leverage when everyone though the world was ending. Having cajones today and thinking the result (without a hedged portfolio) will be the same in a decade or two is probably wrong. Wait for the crash and go hedged until then. Even then, worth noting OP suffered a 76% drawdown on a $930k balance in early 2020. He'd made enough from 2010 to 2020 in the levered position to still be ahead vs just having invested in SPY or VOO, but tough to watch $700k evaporate in a month. [https://testfol.io/?s=52fT0SdC39B](https://testfol.io/?s=52fT0SdC39B)
I’m fairly new to investing, started about 6 months ago. I’m 30, with a low-to-medium risk appetite, and looking to invest with a 15–20 year horizon in mind. After that, I plan to shift to a lower-risk profile as I approach my target retirement age. For context, I’m not based in US. I’ve invested around USD 10k so far, and plan to contribute about USD 1k monthly. My current portfolio allocation is: VOO: 30% QQQM: 20% VXUS: 20% SCHD: 10% DBS/D05: 10% BND: 5% GLDM: 5% I’m wondering if this setup is too safe as I don't have any high volatility or small cap stock? It's mostly large cap ETF and some dividend stocks. I have also received feedback that my portfolio is too risky as my 5% bond allocation and 5% gold will not save me if the AI bubble bursts. I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions for improvement. I'm happy to share more details behind my choices if you’re curious!
I’m fairly new to investing, started about 6 months ago. I’m 30, with a low-to-medium risk appetite, and looking to invest with a 15–20 year horizon in mind. After that, I plan to shift to a lower-risk profile as I approach my target retirement age. For context, I’m not based in US. I’ve invested around USD 10k so far, and plan to contribute about USD 1k monthly. My current portfolio allocation is: VOO: 30% QQQM: 20% VXUS: 20% SCHD: 10% DBS/D05: 10% BND: 5% GLDM: 5% I’m wondering if this setup is too safe as I don't have any high volatility or small cap stock? It's mostly large cap ETF and some dividend stocks. I have also received feedback that my portfolio is too risky as my 5% bond allocation and 5% gold will not save me if the AI bubble bursts. I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions for improvement. I'm happy to share more details behind my choices if you’re curious!
I use GLDM as my primary means to include gold as well, but I would recommend constraining your buy now to a third of your target amount, as gold is trading at record highs, and it's correlation to other risk assets is increasing. Spread the rest of your buys over the next 4+ years, and you might get some of it much cheaper. If it keeps going up, well you put a chunk of skin in the game. I would prefer not to hold any gold, because there is little economic demand for it and it doesn't do anything (except look shiny and not rust), but other people value it more than me, so I like it for lowering the risk of my portfolio (lack of correlation to other assets, like stocks and bonds).
How do you get taxed as income and not capital gains (with GLDM)? It doesn't make sense.
Futures With GLDM, if you hold for under a year, you get taxed at your ordinary income rate. If you hold for over a year, you get taxed at 28% (or your ordinary income rate if that's lower). With futures, you get taxed at 60% long-term capital rate and 40% short-term. You can leverage up to 20x (be very careful about this). And futures are super liquid, about 10x the trading volume of gold ETFs.
GLD also has 4x the expense ratio of GLDM's.
GLD or GLDM are fine, don't overthink it. GLDM is only a 288 mln float. GLD is 363 mln. So GLD is a little more liquid, but probably not enough to really worry about. GLDM is a good option if you can't buy fractional shares.
GLD and GLDM are both 100% backed by physical gold, even kept in the same JP Morgan vault in London. GLDM just has a cheaper share price and much a lower (0.10 vs 0.40) expense ratio. IAUM is another one, with a very-slightly lower expense ratio (0.09) There's no more efficient way to gain exposure to gold than physical gold ETFs like the above. There are more heavily-leveraged ways to do it with gold futures, but if you want to hold for a long time, you'll have to deal with roll costs because gold is usually in contango. The same applies to gold futures ETFs. It might make sense if you're holding them in a taxable account since gold isn't eligible for long term capital gains treatment (instead you pay at the collectible rate: your ordinary income tax rate capped at 28% if long-term, otherwise at the ordinary income tax rate if short-term), while gold futures are always taxed as 60% long-term & 40% short term. But in a tax-advantaged account, physical gold is a better alternative in my view.
Trading - GLD (more liquid) Investing - GLDM (4x lower yearly fees)
Is it worth messing with GLDM? Not quite as impressive value per share as GLD. Been eyeing it though as an easier entry point for pocket change.
I don’t understand why adults give any credence to this word salad and call it economic policy. We have a lot of stupidity in the US I keep placing money in GLDM for that reason.
Nothing wrong with owning some gold, but performing chasing rarely ends well. Check into gold ETFs like GLDM or SGOL instead of only physical. And do not underestimate how much you lose to selling margins when trying to sell physical gold.
I’m in the same boat with Nvidia. It got out of hand but I’m not sad I let it ride this long. This year I started to sell off small bits and pieces even though it didn’t FEEL good, i know it IS good to do. Redirected 75% of those profits to VT, and GLDM (gold). Still sitting on 25% of the Nvidia I have sold this year as cash.
VOO and chill works if your only risk is market volatility, but not if the risk is political or currency instability. VOO = 100% U.S. large caps, so you’re fully tied to the U.S. economy and the dollar. If you actually want political-risk protection, diversification matters: - VOO (40%): U.S. growth core - VXUS (20%): global exposure outside the U.S. - GLDM / IAU (15%) – gold hedge - BIL / SHV (10%) – cash & liquidity - STIP / TIP (10%) – inflation-protected bonds - SCHD / JEPI (5%) – dividend income buffer That mix keeps upside exposure but cushions geopolitical shocks. Not financial advice, just risk management 101.
VT is definitely a solid one ETF solution, globally diversified, 60% US and 40% international, covers nearly 9,000 stocks, and yields around 2%. But for real political-risk protection, it’s still 100% equity exposure. If the goal is to hedge instability, I’d still mix VT with: GLDM or IAU: inflation & crisis hedge BIL or SHV: cash-like stability STIP or TIP: inflation-protected bonds SCHD or JEPI: dividend income & lower volatility So maybe 60% VT + 40% hedges for a balance between growth and protection. Not financial advice, just fundamentals talking.
Are you me? I do almost the same thing. Most of my money in ETFs (VTI, VXUS, VTV, VIG, VGIT) but I swing trade on the side with gold lol but I use GLDM.
Sold all my gold shares today (GLDM) at $80.20. Most of my cost-basis in the $40s. Felt awesome as well. Can't wait to buy back in.
1. I think it greatly depends. Living with your parents with few expenses? Maybe 1-3 months. Are you the only breadwinner in a family of 5? Maybe 1 year at least. 2. I put about 10% of my investments in XHLF for this exact reason in my brokerage. If you do put some aside to 'buy the dip', I suggest you have it in _something_ gaining you interest in the interim. On the other have, nothing wrong with dollar cost averaging into investments you feel confident in. 3. Depends. I have a traditional IRA, a Roth, and a brokerage each with different goals. My Roth is just GLDM, AMZN, and VGT, about equal shares of each. I should add VOO, and probably SCHD, but I don't have much in there ATM. The goal here is just growth with some preservation. My IRA is mostly dividend assets I believe in, including SCHD, though with some growth and preservation in there as well (even a bit of TQQQ for some spice). This will likely be my main source of income in retirement, and I'm really just focused on that. My brokerage is mixed, with individual stocks I believe in (e.g. AEM, AMAT) and high income yielding ETFs that I might lean on in hard economic times (e.g. QQQI). But, this is just me. It's _essential_ you think about what you want out of these products before deciding how to invest. 4. I basically listen to Buffett and instigate stocks he has confidence in to see if they will work for me. 5. Real Estate if you have the money and patience to deal with tenants.
GLDM is the mini Shares and GLD is the main index.
So I’m supposed to buy more GLDM because the stupidity will not stop. Got it.
If you have less than 500k in GLD and don't constantly buy and sell it probably best to use GLDM for the lower fee in my opinion
GLDM is what I use. I also like SGOL.
GLDM for gold, much lower expense than GLD. Gold isn’t going anywhere.
Invest in ETFs that the hold metal like GLD or GLDM. That way you have a liquid way to profit from the metal without the burden of physically carrying it or protecting it while also being able to sell easily.
No, that isn't the different. GLD is a futures fund. GLDM is a gold miners fund. I'm all about GLDM, personally.
IIRC the only difference is no options. So yeah. Buy GLDM if you're just buying shares.
GLDM if buying shares, GLD if buying options, GOLD if you want to actually own something real that can’t be deleted from your account one day because the price went up too much for retail plebs.
Sell the options and buy GLDM shares
GLDM caters more to retail buyers. It has a smaller net expense ratio (0.1 vs 0.4%/year) but doesn't allow options. Other than that they're functionally the same with each GLDM share just representing a smaller amount of gold each GLD unit
Any reason to get GLD over the cheaper GLDM?
I would caution you about miners. Miners generally go up when gold goes up and down when gold goes down but the correlation is not 1:1 and miners are sometimes poorly run or have bad quarterly results unrelated to price of gold. If you want exposure to gold then buy gold. As for ETF vs physical both should track the spot price of gold. Personally I like physical because it has no counterparty risk. Gold isn't that great of an investment but physical gold has an advantage of having no counterparty risk. However if you want a SPOT ETF like GLDM I think that is fine.
It doesn’t really matter as long as this bull run will continue. It’s a good time to be invested. I was a “poor” until Trump crashed the market in April, then I bought the dip with my little savings. It’s been good ever since. You have to go with the flow. Markets down? Buy a boatload of GLD/GLDM.
that’s why they made GLDM for poors to play with
My $400 GLDM is outperforming my $2000 VOO
GLDM is at $82 premarket up from $81.36…
I got in GLDM last month but not sure it will continue to go up or start to plateau. Think it would depend on if SCOTUS overturns tariffs and what the China deal will end up being.
That’s what I’m thinking too. Gold barely budged on the news and went up in AH which gives me hope. I have 250 shares of GLDM
The bot says I should post this here, so going to give it a try: How is cost basis and gain/loss calculated and why does it not make any sense to me? So this has never made sense to me and I've never been able to get an answer that satisfied my curiosity. Sorry if this is a stupid question... So this is a real world situation. I have an old 401K that I rolled into a traditional IRA. That transaction was complete on 1/2 of 2025 so effectively the beginning of the year. It deposited 68,300 into that account. Schwab shows its current balance at 81,500 which is a gain of 13,200. It shows a cost basis of 69000. Schwab somehow calculates this out to a 13.4% gain of $9300. There are no significant dividends being paid and no other contributions. It's been moved around some when I sold all of the SCHG (30% of total) that it was originally put into and moved into GLDM. However nothing has been sold at a loss, all transactions were green. How on EARTH is Schwab coming up with these numbers? Is there some super-secret mumbo-jumbo mojo that brokers use to calculate this? It seems pretty blatantly inaccurate in this case and I've NO idea why an actual gain of 13k is listed as a gain of 9k. I'm sure there's a reason, but for the life of me I can't figure it out.
Physical gold is less optimal unless you are preparing for a global financial collapse that dislocates paper gold prices to physical gold, yet does not also result in a societal collapse and descent into lawlessness where no barter economy is possible. You buy GLD or GLDM
Other way around. Also, it looks like GLDM does have lower expense ratio though!
GLDM is just a smaller version of GLD. Mini size but performs the same but with only .10 expense
What’s the difference between GLD and GLDM?
I started buying GLDM last year when we got Trumpdy Dumpty again. One of my best performing investments and since we probably gonna get a decade of stagflation, I’m not selling!
“For some reason” lol my friend sit back, read, educate yourself, come up with a plan, and stick to it. Personally I’ve been moving towards ~40% total world equities (VT), 15% gold (GLDM), 15% bitcoin, and the rest split between some single plays like NLR (nuclear ETF), RDDT, UNH, and slowly selling down Nvidia I’ve held onto for quite a while
I am working my way towards 50% in VT, 10% in GLDM / physical gold / 10% IBIT, remaining 30% growth / speculative like NLR (nuclear ETF), Reddit, Google, UNH, etc
Unless trading options and need a deep liquid market for that....GLDM is a much cheaper fee version of GLD.
GLD, GLDM, IAU are all gold ETFs.
My advice... Low to no fee S&P 500 like FXAIX or broader market exposure like FZROX. GLD or GLDM for holding value of investments (5-10%). Buy in a routine manner when markets are up or down. Dollar cost averaging. Use an S&P 500 calculator to see what to expect over time. It keeps you focused. Keep 10% of your wealth for rainy day fund. Buy cars you can afford to buy with cash. Pay off your credit card every month (when eligible). Develop a budget and monitor your monthly spending against it. Live within your means. Don't lend friends or family money. Don't share your wealth information with them. Focus on developing marketable skills. Do this for 10+ years to develop good habits and you'll likely be on a path to retire early. Just my 2 cents. I'm not a financial planner or a licensed broker.
Any reason to pick GLD over GLDM?
GLDM is the way to go in times like this. It’s never the wrong answer.
Learn about specific investments and stack dip cash in SPAXX or Gold (GLDM is my fav for ez cheap in and out). Stuff that Roth with 8k every January of fresh stocks you learned about and believe in. Gold. Real estate is a whole nuther world, REITs or physical. Avoid options. Crypto has a huge learning curve, 2 cycles at least and ETH or BTC only. Metal trading will eat you too. ETFs are ez to be an average investor, but who wants average? You make wealth with concentration in great investments. You diversify to hold the profits.