IJR

Glad-Lie8324

You can’t really go wrong with either of these, but here’s some things to consider: Pros of VOO: -marginally simpler to manage since you won’t have to rebalance  -the S&P 500 (which VOO tracks) has profitability and other inclusion criteria that make it have (arguably) higher quality companies than a total market index.  Arguments against VOO: the current market is heavily weighted towards US large cap tech, which have considerably outperformed in the last 20 years compared to large caps historically. Will this outperformance continue? That’s anyone’s guess.  Pros of VTI:  -diverse holdings that are likely to appreciate even if large cap tech fails to deliver over the next 10-20 years.  Arguments against: -there’s an argument that total market funds are over diversified. In other words, you waste a portion of your portfolio on the bottom of the barrel companies. It’s not a huge portion since this is market cap weighted, but still. You’d probably be better off with VOO and a small cap index like IJR (S&P small cap index with profitability requirements and exclusion criteria). You get the benefits of diversification and probably a smaller drop in expected returns.  Pros of Bonds:  -If you are planning on retiring in the next 10-15 years, maybe even 20, then bonds can be a great tool in your portfolio. They will lower your returns when compared to 100% stocks, but they will raise your risk adjusted returns when mixed in. So you will make a more consistent, but modest return on your money whereas stocks alone will give a bit of a roller coaster that climbs higher in the end.  Cons of bonds: -they lower your expected returns. If you are comfortable taking on more risk, 100% stocks is a better allocation if you’re young and plan to work for 30 more years (and assuming you have the risk tolerance to not panic sell during a downturn. Easier said than done, but very doable).  A couple financial principles: -Diversification typically lowers your expected returns, but typically RAISES your risk adjusted returns. Meaning, you’re likely to have lower returns but you’re you have a tighter spread of possible returns. I.e. if you invest in Google, you might expect an annualized return over 10 years of say 15%. But it’s entirely conceivable that a disruptor like ChatGPT takes a lot of their business and Google returns -30% over that time. A portfolio of 10 companies has significantly lower downside risk, but also less upside potential. Meaning your expected returns may only be 10%, but you’re much more likely to hit that 10% then Google is to hit their 20%. Hopefully that makes sense.  -the positive effects of diversification are realized with a relatively small basket of companies. Surprisingly, just 30 companies is usually sufficient to eliminate most idiosyncratic (company specific) risk. In my opinion, there’s not a huge benefit of diversifying beyond the S&P 500 unless you’re taking about international markets. VTI just has lower returns than VOO over many years and a pretty similar risk profile.  My recommendation: Set an auto buy for VOO with the max you can afford every paycheck. If diversification keep you up at night, do a 70/30 split between VOO/VXUS. Can even go up to 50/50 if you’re not bullish on US business for the next 30 years, but I’m bullish on the US. Ignore VTI, it’s basically the same as VOO but with more bloat you don’t need. 

Mikerk

IWM & IJR been pumping

FrankDrebinOnReddit

100% ETFs. 92.5% equity ETFs. 7.5% physical gold ETF (IAUM). The equity ETFs (as a % of total portfolio): 52.5% S&P 500 market weighted (SPYM). 10% percent S&P 500 quality (QUAL). 10% mid-caps (SPMD). 5% small-caps (IJR). 15% broad internationals (VXUS).

harrison_wintergreen

drop QQQ, add IJR https://imgur.com/a/ijr-vs-qqq-2000-to-2025-7OOKO5j https://contrarianoutlook.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SPY-Midcap-Smallcap-20yr-Chart.png

JohnnyGoSka

That shit seems all over the place. Imo the simplest aggressive portfolio of etfs should be 55% VOO 30% IXUS 10% IJH 5% IJR If you want some crypto exposure pull 2% from VOO 1% from the rest and put it in your favorite btc etf. This is easy auto win portfolio in this bull market. Up 44% in 3 years.

RakesProgress

Small Cap IJR is on a tear. Will continue. I like to juice the trade by picking the best. And by best I mean worst. Give me the worst stock in that index. The one that no one wants. Why? All the index buying makes it rip. My pick: Mr. Cooper. $COOP. Mortgage servicing. Gross. Second is Kenvue. $KVUE. I mean, you either believe in the science or you don't. Either way, that's cool. I just think she' s been beat down too much.

harrison_wintergreen

>Am I correct to have a sense of urgency not leaving this type of cash in CD’s perhaps. what's the time horizon? if you'll need this money in less than about 5 years just leave in CDs. if it's 5+ years, think about investing at least part of it. it's not all or nothing. you could invest half the cash, and leave the other cash in the bank. >despite the overvalued markets there are more options than VOO or VTI, which are at high valuations historically. VOOV, FNDX or SCHD has a much more attractive valuation than VOO. small cap stocks are also more reasonably valued (IJR, AVUV, SCHA), ditto for international broadly speaking. >how would you diversify? much more international, and probably more bonds. possibly diversify into more reasonably valued options. at current market valuations like CAPE ratio, the US market is likely to have disappointing returns in the next 10-12 years while international stocks are likely to perform better. Bonds are also likely to perform pretty well. The projections from Research Affiliates for the next 10 years are pretty typical, and historically their forecasts have been more accurate than not. you can see for yourself that international stocks are likely going to perform better than US stocks. https://tinyurl.com/336v3yvd >I’m 46, and not yet ready for bonds see above. Bonds beat the S&P 500 from 2000 to 2020, so you're not guaranteed to get the best long-term results from stocks. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/business/bonds-beat-stocks-over-20-years.html

Bluwudawg

Calls on small 🧢 IJR, does anyone else like that? Supposedly a catchup into them over the next couple months as opposed to the rally which has been overweight to the biggest stonks

harrison_wintergreen

no reason to buy different S&P 500 ETFs. might want to consider an international ETF (VXUS) https://www.blackrock.com/us/financial-professionals/literature/investor-education/why-bother-with-international-stocks.pdf and a US small company ETF (IJR) https://contrarianoutlook.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SPY-Midcap-Smallcap-20yr-Chart.png

CollectsLlamas

SPY, QQQ, VXUS should be good places to start. Maybe IJR too for some small cap exposure

BagOBricks

I sold it all on Monday. I rolled some of it into a higher strike and the rest into IJR while I figure out what to do.

Forsaken-Mark-1898

VO is doing pretty good this year so its a solid option. I went with IJH for the Mid-Cap and IJR for the Small Cap.

95Daphne

Interesting that the US10Y is at 4.08 after it tried twice to lose 4% and failed yesterday and that IWM is only up a half percent compared to QQQ 1.8% this week. This may be totally wrong, but I suspect the cut may bottom yields again this year and the well may have been milked in IWM/IJR.

benisbroker

I love $IJR. I throw 50% of my take home pay into it each month. I hope to retire with a cabin in the woods

HalcyonDias

IWM is up 5.94% YTD. IJR is up 2.44%. CALF is down -2.32%, though. If you have an small cap index fund and it’s down currently, you need to get rid of that fund ASAP.

JohnnyGoSka

Voo - 55% IJH - 10% IJR - 5% IXUS - 30% Here's correct ratios. Sorry about that.

benisbroker

Honestly i welcome a recession. I want to load up on $IJR

95Daphne

It appears we've finally gotten a "at no point did they buy the dip hard on tech" day. I suspect that plays in as a clue unlike the random days in recent months where it lagged. But a reminder here by me: it hasn't been tech that has hurt the most on inflation/rates will remain firm fears since the first quarter of 2023, it's been IWM/IJR (small caps). And my bad on my first post today. I should've just left it as a thought. 

EntranceSure9408

What’s the thought behind having IJR and IJH when they seem very similar?

JohnnyGoSka

If you just want to pile money in and not have to follow things id do VOO - 50% IXUS - 30% IJH - 20% IJR - 10% My etf portfolio is exactly this allocation and despite the red day im up 36% YTD. I swear investing has never been easier.

harrison_wintergreen

>hasn’t NASDAQ been outperforming the SP 500 for decades? depends on which period of time you examine. Nasdaq crashed much harder than S&P 500 after the dot-com bubble https://imgur.com/a/spy-vs-qqq-1999-to-2010-MiRyXPV QQQ has a strong recent history, but it's not guaranteed to be the best performing option in all periods of time. DODGX beat QQQ from 1999 to 2022. https://imgur.com/a/qqq-vs-dodgx-u02pQTk IJR beat QQQ from 2000 to 2020. https://imgur.com/a/ijr-vs-qqq-2000-to-2025-7OOKO5j >but why does that even scare investors off If society is so tech focused anyway? society is also food focused, are you buying stock in Hormel or Smuckers?

RedLegionGaming

I’ve redone my portfolio a bit since then, swapped IJR for AVUV, VIG and VYM -> DIVB/DGRO. Also included some SPMO and SCHG for growth. I like that they’re growth oriented and somewhat more diverse than QQQ/VGT.

vietnam1224

18 yr, US citizen, and currently have ≈ $1100 in my Roth 401k plan not-including the $15 I’ve made on interest since starting contributions in January — my current investments are VOO 25%, IWF 10%, SGOL 20% VSGDX 15%, FNCL 15%, and IJR 15% based on the auto-generated split from the website my employer uses and slight adjustments by me — are there any changes that should be made or should I be mostly fine since I have a while before retiring and I’ll be adding more money to it as time goes on? P.S. Gold is to offset other losses as it’s been my most stable stock when compared to how the others have shifted due to things like international relations (not sure if either of the “t-words” are banned on this sub)

harrison_wintergreen

VOO and QQQ are not the only investment options on the planet. IJR, the S&P 600 for smaller US companies, beat QQQ for 20+ years: https://imgur.com/a/ijr-vs-qqq-2000-to-2025-7OOKO5j DODGX, the Dodge and Cox Stock Fund, also beat QQQ for 20+ years: https://imgur.com/a/qqq-vs-dodgx-u02pQTk

Curlymoeonwater

They do fractionals; I have things like QQQ and IJR that are accumulating fractionals.

benisbroker

$IJR

Far_Lifeguard_5027

QQQM is going to be 100% tech. SCHD is going to have all of what's in QQQM but is more large cap heavy than VOO, so I'm not sure you need both. I'd go with something like 10% QQQM (tech growth), 40% VOO (S&P 500), 30% VXUS (Total international), and 20% of Russel 2000 ETF like IWM, or a small cap ETF like IJR/AVUV/XSMO/VIOO to offset your large caps and get some small cap exposure. I have an indexed annuity, and my CPA set me up in these 4 markets: QQQ/VOO/VXUS/Russel 2000. So it seems appropriate to have exposure to growth, blend, international, and the bottom 2000/small cap stocks.

IronyElSupremo

What started as a value move from the US to Europe last year gained momentum as cybersecurity, their own home bias, etc. became added concerns. Modern Europe, however, favors its own large caps to fund social spending, so I’m mostly in their large cap/mid cap “luxury” export space (w/just a token amount in their small caps .. though that’s the same for me worldwide IJR + VSS). Looking at companies like SAP (DE) being in demand, though it’ll likely be a decade or 2 before Europe can be completely independent of US Big Tech. European pharmaceuticals are probably going to be another bright spot and of course luxury exports. Big thing may be EU banks if they decide to deregulate globally.

Yukas911

Small caps companies are listed. Small cap ETFs, too, like AVUV, VB, IJR...

95Daphne

Considering that the Dow is price-weighted, it's being affected heavily by the United Health mess. EDOW, which is the equal weight version, essentially places it just a slight tick behind its 2 large cap peers in correlation to its record instead of being behind sizably. To compare, it'd be about 3% higher if UNH hadn't crashed nearly 40% from earlier in the year. It's fine that it's lagging anyway. During the fake rallies in 2022, it would be the Dow that would be the closest to a previous ATH and that didn't work out. The fact that the Nasdaq is leading (and has jumped past retracement spots that would halt it if this was not a flash bear market) makes the move from early April legit. What also makes it legit is the stance we saw from early April was abandoned ("austerity for the greater good of the US, and tariff everyone up to their eyeballs"). The main beef you can have is with the Russell 2000/IJR, but really you can argue outside of 2020 and early 2021...this dates back to Trump v1.0 in 2018. The fun thing is that I've seen some options posted that suggest the pain/disappointment will continue in smalls while the show rolls on for tech.

95Daphne

Yeah, if we don't get a risk off event, it's probably going to be hard to get 10's under 4.2% and 30's under 4.5%ish unless the Fed starts really buying bonds and there isn't any reason for them to get involved at this moment. It's turned out that US bigs are fine with the way things stand there after it looked like tech would never go up again if rates were higher for a full year in 2022, but many IWM/IJR companies aren't.

ChairmanMeow1986

VT, VTI, VXUS, QQQ, SCHD IJR/IIJH or Russell index is what Id go for

harrison_wintergreen

the investor Larry Swedroe's recommended portfolio is 30% small cap value stocks and the remainder in intermediate bonds. He argues this portfolio has superior risk-adjusted returns. I'm heavily invested with small caps, 20% or more across all the retirement accounts. Because I'm old enough to remember times like this, and I know it will eventually happen again: https://contrarianoutlook.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SPY-Midcap-Smallcap-20yr-Chart.png >I've attemped to "hedge" this a bit by going decently into small caps, hedging reduces risk. small cap stocks are more risky than large cap, so it's not exactly a hedge to invest heavily in small caps. it's actually increasing your risk. >And every year I see my 401k underperform the S&P. if your portfolio is dramatically different from the S&P 500, don't expect it to perform like the S&P 500. >Seeing the "ultra volatile big tech" down 2% on the day, and just knowing the small caps are gonna be down 2.5-3%. Seeing my account up 1% and knowing my small caps might barely be breaking even. there's no reason to check your portfolio daily or obsess over such short-term fluctuations. >Even now, IWM is down 6% YTD IWM is not the only small cap ETF on the planet, and you're comparing apples to oranges. >my qqq position is already back green. IJR, the S&P 600 small caps, beat QQQ for the last 25 years. https://imgur.com/a/ijr-vs-qqq-2000-to-2025-7OOKO5j

harrison_wintergreen

QQQ and VOO are OK by themselves. but they're not the only investments on the planet, and they won't always be the best performing options. - DODGX beat QQQ 1999 to 2020 https://imgur.com/a/spy-vs-lexcx-1999-to-2025-o6H41CG - IJR beat QQQ 2000 to 2025 https://imgur.com/a/ijr-vs-qqq-2000-to-2025-7OOKO5j - LEXCX beat SPY from 1999 to 2025 https://imgur.com/a/spy-vs-lexcx-1999-to-2025-o6H41CG

ChairmanMeow1986

It depends on your risk tolerance really. VOO (SPY is also a S&P500 etf) and chill is popular. More risk and a tech concentration could be QQQ (Nasdeq 100). VTI is an argument over VOO for mid/small cap exposure. The Russell 1000/2000 growth and value are arguable, as well as IJR/IJH for small/mid cap diversification. Had over to r/Bogleheads, they'll add something like VXUS and SCHD for diversification. If you want diversification something like 15% VOO, 15% VTI, 5-10% Russell 1000/2000 growth, 5-10% Russell 2000 value (or IJH/IJR, all 4 at 5% maybe), 20% SCHD (dividends), 20%VXUS (All world), and 10% Bonds (BND or Treasuries)/Gold (GLD)/ or single stock picks. This would give you a good allocation mix for a diversified ETF portfolio if you want more than VOO and chill, but don't know what you are doing.

OrdinaryReasonable63

I find it odd that IJR, which is profitable small caps, has been underperforming IWM, which is about 40% unprofitable companies. More meme stocks in IWM? 

ChairmanMeow1986

The S&P 500 is solid like a cash position, it has achieved an all time high in the last 14/15 years, presenting you with an opportunity to take money out of the market/re-allocate etc. If you're mostly investing long term a core position is warranted. QQQ100is tech focused, IJR and IJH for small medium cap, and I like the Russel 1000 for growth. This is a decent ETF exposure distribution. Add SCHD (reddits dividend sub), although the JEPI/etc boys, give good qualified dividends and let you harvest underlying loss at the same time. Maybe better suited to taking profits with offsetting losses.

briggssteel

My perspective here. I tried the trading thing in 2021, buying a bunch of individual stocks, studying charts and all that. After a year of doing that I lost overall. Luckily not too much because I didn’t put a ton in. It stressed me out trying to figure out when to buy/sell, and knowing I’d have to deal with all those taxes on the trades really stresses me out. I finally got a retirement Roth IRA through Vanguard. I invest in mainly a retirement mutual fund and VOO (an ETF following the S&P 500 similar to SPY). I’ve got a few other investments in VT (World Stock) and IJR (Small Caps) but it’s mostly in the first two. I dollar cost average every week and after 4 years my account is doing great. All my stress is gone because I know that through ups and downs of the market I’m getting at minimum an 8% return on investment with compounding interest. You and some people on here may be great at beating the market, but the vast majority of people suck at it. My advice is focus on a retirement account with safe mutual funds and ETFs. It’s way more boring than day trading, but you’ll be less stressed and will highly likely end up making way more than trying to beat the market.

Red_Bullion

Well you should already be 20%-40% in FZILX or FTIHX so that's a start. You could put something in US small caps. IJR and AVUV are popular. They're liable to crash even harder than large caps though if the US market tanks.

IlIllIlllIlllIllllI

Schwab Taxable- 100% SCHG Schwab Roth IRA- 50% SPY, 20% VXUS, 10% IJH, 10% IJR, 10% SGOV Robinhood taxable- ~60% VOO, ~20% QQQ, then about 20% mixed between a handful of individual stocks (mostly Apple, ARM, Intel) 401k- 100% JP Morgan large cap growth R6 Contributing 15% of my paycheck to 401k, then I max my Roth, then throw any leftovers from my budget each month into Schwab/RH taxable.

Fantastic-Surprise34

That’s the issue. The 3 ETF’s I have do overlap the stocks some. I have IVV, IJH, and IJR. If I sold the stocks I could put the resulting cash into these ETF’s. I just don’t know if all that is worth it tax wise, expense wise, and return wise. Maybe just hold what I have as you’ve suggested.

Shoddy-Theory9142

You could stick to 100% VOO and end up just fine, first of all. However you are concentrated into US large caps only, and you’re recommendations for other funds is spot on. Id recommend some small cap for sure. Yes the SP500 has returned about 13% the past 10 years and even higher in the past 4 years, but keep in mind that long-term small caps have outperformed large caps to a tune of about 12% vs 8% annual return. Small caps have lagged large recently and I personally think they will catch back up to long term averages. At the end of the day, the largest companies can only grow so much and small caps are where there’s truly upside on return in the long term and these riskier small companies should be returning more. Also agree some international exposure is warranted, in January 2025 the US SP500 was outperformed by most other developed capital markets particularly the EU. Similar story to small caps where these have lagged the past 4-5 years but it’s good diversification to have especially with how high valuations are on US stocks right now (Market Shiller P/E is around 37-38 still, Dotcom bubble started at 41). Dividends arent a bad idea, but you’re young enough to skip them, I still personally do about 5% in schd (Im 28). Tech funds like QQQ will give you more risk and is good diversification, same with bitcoin as an inflation hedge. The one thing you never mentioned are leveraged funds. Now, personally Im not buying these at today’s prices (too high for me), but you can sprinkle in some $SSO (2x SP500) or TEXL (3x tech fund) to crank up your risk and return if desired. If you’re unfamiliar with leveraged funds, they are funds created to return some multiple of daily returns. So SSO for example will return about +2% on a day the SP500 is up 1%, but also same to the downside. When the market is way down (for me this was Spring 2020 and Fall 2022, I load into these by replacing about 40% of my regular SP500 allocation with the 2x. Finally - I think not doing like 5% bitcoin is a mistake. Id suggest this simple etf portfolio, this is similar to mine without individual stocks that I also do: 45% VOO SP500 20% AVUV or IJR Small Caps 15% VXUS or IXUS Broad International exposure 5% EMG Emerging Markets 5% QQQ or similar 1x growth tech fund 5% SCHD Dividends growth 5% Bitcoin Why I have the right to suggest this to you: Was a finance major, work in finance, advise for friends and family, and my 124% 5 year return is beating the 99% 5 year SP500 return currently using a similar strategy! (I did invest in NVIDIA in 2021, that’s mostly why Im outperforming though…). Happy investing! *This is not financial advice*

Operation-FuturePuss

How far back? IJH, IJR and SPY will take you back to August 2000 for comparisons

FewStrike9243

Short IWM, long IJR.

SmarterThanYouBud

!banbet IJR 125 3d

fuqnug

Newbie. My current portfolio. Should I move over to fidelity? 28m this is my current portfolio: 52.25% VOO, 9.5% IJH, 4.75% IJR, 28.5% IXUS, 5% BITO. Have been investing since Sept ‘21 through Acorns. Used them as intended. Set my portfolio to aggressive and forgot about it. 4 years later my portfolio value is $13,300 and I’m up 31% overall. • Taxable account • $1 monthly fee I have been thinking about switching over to fidelity and adjusting my portfolio to something more aggressive and growth oriented. I was thinking of something like: SCGH, VTI, IUS FZILX. New to investing, but these seemed like pretty solid ETFs. If not, I would love to hear recommendations on ones that I could look into to help build a better portfolio. My main reason for switching to Fidelity is that I don’t have a Roth IRA yet and was planning on opening one with a split of FZROX/FZILX. So wanted to go ahead and also switch my taxable account over. I also feel like my acorns portfolio isn’t as aggressive as I want it to be giving I plan to invest for the next 30+years and don’t mind taking risk until l hit a point where I feel I need to start being more conservative. Is it even worth me moving over to fidelity and completely changing my portfolio to like the one I gave above or should I just stick with the current one on acorns? I know there will be tax implications etc, but if I’m ever going to move over I feel like the time to do it is when my balance is relatively small. Sorry for long post. Hope it was easy to read at least lol

LawyerNotYours19

Might consider IJR as an alternative.  It’s got lower fees and less bad weight.

peter1371

New to investing. VOO SCHD QQQM IJR Is this a good growth retirement portfolio? Any suggestions? Thank you

Nemarus_Investor

IWM appears to be one of the worst at first glance. IJR (basic S&P 600 ETF) has 10 year returns of 8.96% and 5 year of 9.13%, while IWM has 7.88% and 8.39%. This may be a result of IWM not filtering for profitability.

Forecydian

When you have an allocation at 5% or less it basically becomes negligible to affecting rate of return , at least for funds , if it were individual stocks which could return 20% or more than it can affect your overall cagr. Also VB is the largest market cap of small cap funds https://www.morningstar.com/funds/why-how-index-us-small-caps, I would do either 100% AVUV/ DFSV for your small cap part, or have a core small core fund like IJR or SCHA then add SCV. To replace VOOG and tech , use QQQ VOO 35% QQQ 25% AVUV 40%

gamers542

ITOT is better for diversification. IVV and VOO are OK but don't make it your entire portfolio. I prefer IVV though. Not a fan of Vanguard. XSMO doesn't provide enough diversification either as it's only 117 or so stocks. Also what momentum factors do they value? If you can't answer that, then stay away from that one too. IJR/ IJS or AVUV are better for small caps generally, especially small cap value. Even VB/VBR is an option that is better than XSMO.

cloverstack

Looks like both GEO and CXW are components of the S&P 600 (small-cap index) and Russell 2000. Biggest ETF holder in both cases is IJR.

Freightliner15

I was somewhat tempted to use Acorns. I was going to have VOO, IJH, IJR and IXUS. Not a bad portfolio.

Dull-Cap1566

* **Consider consolidating FSKAX** (broader exposure) and removing **SPLG** for simplicity. * **Move PG to CMA** and focus your Roth on growth funds. * **Diversify CMA** beyond tech-heavy holdings (e.g., QQQM and AMD). * **IJH and IJR** are good, but FSKAX might already cover small/mid-caps. * Diversify with international funds or other sectors. Anyways you're off to a great start!

SlickRick4101980

I would go with SPLG over FSKAX. That's just my preference. Either one is fine but you don't need both. I don't hold any small cap or mid cap. Again, just my preference. IJH and IJR are good funds though. They are a little more volatile and higher risk but could have higher reward. PG is a good company but I prefer not to own individual stocks, only ETFs. QQQM is a good one. I don't think you're doing a bad job. You're on the right track. The decision is ultimately up to you.

BlueWhale515

Hello! 18 years old with a maxed out ROTH IRA and a cash management account open with fidelity. I have 22k to put somewhere where it can grow, whether that’s investing it certain stocks or putting my money somewhere it can appreciate. I would like something with tax advantages. Any stocks I would buy would be long term (preferably). I currently have QQQM, FZROX, and AMD In my cash management account. FSKAX, IJH, IJR, PG, QQQM, and SPLG in my ROTH IRA. Please help me out and give suggestions!

ICantEvenTellAnymore

Thanks for sharing. To sum up, focusing on any individual sectors is a bad idea (makes a portfolio too "messy?"), and so I should drop the gold, infrastructure, energy, financial, and REIT funds as well as the midcap fund and dividend funds (GPIX & EVT).   Then I should do these replacements because they are superior (less risky? likely to perform better?):    ** bonds  AGG instead of VWAHX  ** large cap  FNDX instead of VWELX  ** small cap  IJR instead of AVUV  ** global/international  IEFA instead of VT  ** broad market  AOA instead of VTSAX

Major-Bookkeeper-565

Positions=Age 61. Day traded in 2004 using a million bucks. Went bankrupt. Currently married with a paid off $600,000 house. Working in a job with two pensions. 100% long VFIAX, VGT, IJR. Plan on working at a job I love until 75. Zero debt. Learned in 2004 after 1000 trades in 90 days worth $10,000,000 in value to never day trade again. Main position is experience. Main position is to help others not gamble their money away.

Major-Bookkeeper-565

We like small caps IJR and VGT not individual stock picking.

SirLouisI

And if the china theme is not your thing, small caps have room to run. IJR

comoetent

Here's what I've been think about recently. It's just gonna be a blurb so bear with me. IWM and IJR would be my plays. My thesis is this. With the cuts small/ midcaps reflexively look attractive since they're the majority holders of variable rate corp debt. The rotation outta tech continues so I'm meh on Qs. Logic being if my AAPL outperformed, trim some off the top and put it to work somewhere else. That somewhere else is IWM/IWR/IRJ. SPY is interesting, i think the spy 493 will perform well, but since it's market weight the 7 will weight it down. RSP here? Maybe? The Chip/AI stocks ex. NVDA charts look terrible so maybe the hype there has dissipated? pull the trigger on Regional banks like RF cuse they benefit from cuts too? Buy some LEAPS on TLT? OR were already in recession and the market has sniffed it out, Qs have lower highs, the SPY turns over soon after? Idk too much to think about

Cruian

Have you considered simply combining VOO/IJR/IJH into VTI or ITOT or SCHB? These 3 funds are all total US market style. They'll hold all 3 market cap segments at their respective weights. >International Exposure? I’ve heard mixed advice about adding international stocks. I’m currently 100% U.S.-focused. Is that okay for a Roth IRA, or should I be looking to diversify more globally? US only is single country risk, which is an *uncompensated* risk: one that doesn't bring higher expected long term returns. Uncompensated risk should be avoided whenever possible. Compensated vs uncompensated risk: * https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/uncompensated-risk/ * https://www.pwlcapital.com/is-investing-risky-yes-and-no/ (Bold mine): >Uncompensated risk is very different; it is the risk specific to an individual company, sector, **or country.** Many people try to use the excuse that S&P 500 companies do lots of business overseas, but that isn't the international coverage that actually matters. * https://www.dimensional.com/us-en/insights/global-diversification-still-requires-international-securities - Companies will act more like the market of their home country, so foreign revenue isn't the international exposure that actually matters * The purpose of the international holdings is to be covered during the orange periods of the graph here https://www.mymoneyblog.com/us-vs-international-stocks-cycles-outperformance.html Plus that's true of large companies in most countries. There are many market sectors where foreign companies are some of the key players and do lots of business within the US, but that doesn't mean we can go 100% IXUS. Going global can both help with returns and volatility.

Lord_Humongous768

IUSV track the S&P 900 Value index, IJH, IJR for mid and small caps

Altruistic_Suspect39

Hi guys. I'm a 22-year-old recent college grad working in finance. I'm living at home for as long as I can (hopefully until I can afford a home) with no expenses, and I cover my spending money through bartending on the side. I make $1,945 biweekly, and I'm currently allocating $1,000 into a brokerage account, $600 into high-yield savings/CDs, and $345 into an emergency fund. My plan is to start contributing to a 401(k) in October and contribute the max (and get matched by my employer), but I'm debating whether I should redirect the $345 from my emergency fund into a Roth IRA instead. I’d like to be able to draw from my brokerage around age 40-50 as passive income. I'm currently using DCA to build up my brokerage account. I'm looking at having around 10 stocks, and the rest in ETFs. My currently portfolio consists of MSFT, ADBE, MRNA, AMZN, PG, QQQ, IJR, VOO, VWO. Should I shift my emergency fund contributions into the Roth IRA, or would I be spreading my investments too thin? Additionally, how should I balance these accounts, and what should I prioritize in each? I'm just not sure if, at my age, I should be putting all that money in VOO or something instead of stocks. I know having basically zero expenses is a huge advantage right now, so I'm trying to make the most of it. Any advice would be appreciated.

mdukey

Yep. 7% is in Apple, and 6% in Microsoft, 3% nividia and 3% amazon. So it's not very diversified at all. In my opinion, the forthcomming tech crash (when, not if it happens, as all bubbles pop, might be soon, might be 3 years away) money will flow out of the mega caps into small caps, so the world etf or a small cap etf would be where you want to be, and at that point you will beat the spy500. Perhaps you could find a small cap ETF like IJR in your broker?

CosmicSpiral

> I also am not liking this rotation to small caps. I dont know how to value STONKZ. Until I see movement in the IWM/IJR that is not short covering (i.e. we need significant institution inflow), I'm not calling a rotation. Retail alone can't force a sea change.

ChillyAnalyst

A lot of interest in small caps lately, a lot of excitement being generated around the idea that rate cuts are substantial tailwinds. I was interested in the relative performance of various ETFs about 8 months into the year. Here is a table of the 8 largest small cap ETFs by AUM. Note this is delayed data as of Thursday close. Since a lot of movement occurred Friday, I will try to put up another one tomorrow. Still should give you an idea of relative performance and it appears rankings between them did not change too much, [they all did great Friday.](https://i.imgur.com/UExjX7q.png) |**Symbol**|**ETF Name**|**Total Assets ($MM)**|**YTD Price Change**|**Avg. Daily Volume**| :-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:| |IJR|iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF|$84,851|5.15%|3,539,714| |IWM|iShares Russell 2000 ETF|$68,282|6.97%|31,931,624| |VB|Vanguard Small Cap ETF|$58,188|7.55%|601,177| |VBR|Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF|$29,433|8.32%|409,989| |SCHA|Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF|$17,571|5.84%|856,555| |VBK|Vanguard Small Cap Growth ETF|$17,542|6.59%|291,578| |AVUV|Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF|$12,682|3.99%|735,970| |IWO|iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF|$11,666|8.78%|411,345| Very different benchmark and a poor comparison but S&P 500 is 18.1% YTD.

ChillyAnalyst

A lot of interest in small caps lately, the thesis being that cuts are good for them. I was interested in the relative performance of various ETFs about 8 months into the year. Here is a table of the 8 largest small cap ETFs by AUM. Note this is delayed data as of Thursday close. Since a lot of movement occurred Friday, I will try to put up another one tomorrow. Still should give you an idea of relative performance and it appears rankings between them did not change too much, [they all did great Friday.](https://i.imgur.com/UExjX7q.png) |**Symbol**|**ETF Name**|**Total Assets ($MM)**|**YTD Price Change**|**Avg. Daily Volume**| :-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:| |IJR|iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF|$84,851|5.15%|3,539,714| |IWM|iShares Russell 2000 ETF|$68,282|6.97%|31,931,624| |VB|Vanguard Small Cap ETF|$58,188|7.55%|601,177| |VBR|Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF|$29,433|8.32%|409,989| |SCHA|Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF|$17,571|5.84%|856,555| |VBK|Vanguard Small Cap Growth ETF|$17,542|6.59%|291,578| |AVUV|Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF|$12,682|3.99%|735,970| |IWO|iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF|$11,666|8.78%|411,345| Very different benchmark and a poor comparison but S&P 500 is 18.1% YTD.

ChillyAnalyst

A lot of interest in small caps lately, the thesis being that cuts are good for them. I was interested in the relative performance of various ETFs about 8 months into the year. Here is a table of the 8 largest small cap ETFs by AUM. Note this is delayed data as of Thursday close. Since a lot of movement occurred Friday, I will try to put up another one tomorrow. Still should give you an idea of relative performance and it appears relative rankings did not change too much: [https://i.imgur.com/UExjX7q.png](https://i.imgur.com/UExjX7q.png) || || |**Symbol** |**ETF Name** |**Total Assets ($MM)** |**YTD Price Change** |**Avg. Daily Volume** | |IJR|iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF|$84,851|5.15%|3,539,714| |IWM|iShares Russell 2000 ETF|$68,282|6.97%|31,931,624| |VB|Vanguard Small Cap ETF|$58,188|7.55%|601,177| |VBR|Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF|$29,433|8.32%|409,989| |SCHA|Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF|$17,571|5.84%|856,555| |VBK|Vanguard Small Cap Growth ETF|$17,542|6.59%|291,578| |AVUV|Avantis U.S. Small Cap Value ETF|$12,682|3.99%|735,970| |IWO|iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF|$11,666|8.78%|411,345|

pipasnipa

For low cost index look at etfs using the SP600 as a benchmark. It screens for quality. Look at IJR For actively managed small cap value, look at AVUV. Slightly higher expenses but has heavily outperformed the rest of small cap the last few years. Lots of research on small cap value outperforming large cap in long run

BlackBastado-2124

IJR🤑🤑🤑

TheRealRozayBlanco

I bought a small cap fund, specifically IJR. I specified S&P 600 rather than just small caps because I know there are issues with the russell 2000 and that is what people typically think of when small caps are mentioned. I will be sure to fully write out iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF in the future.

rejeremiad

QQQM suffering from recency bias, look at 2001 2002 performance. There is plenty of AAPL NVDA GOOG in VOO. Don't need SCHD or COWZ. No international? No emerging markets? Why not core mid and small cap like IJH IJR?

iredditsomewhere123

In the past, I have seen this portfolio swing drastically up and down. Each time it goes down, I think I should have cashed out when I was getting 30+% ROI. I know the "time in the market," "cash out when you have a better investing strategy or need," etc. I don't need the money now, and I don't have any other investment plans. But I don't want to regret not getting the 25% + ROI, and I'm unsure if this will be sustained. This is a genuine question: Should I continue to add recurring to this portfolio, cash out now, and put it in a bank with 5% returns until the next market drops, or invest in a different portfolio? Current gains: 26% return; portfolio: $258K Funds in acorns with daily $100 investing: VOO - $142K IJH - 25K IJR - 13K IXUS - 77K Thanks!

Different-Picture-32

Is this too complicated for my Roth IRA. Should I simply to just a couple etfs? IVV - 41% VEA - 15% BND - 10% VWO - 9% SPMO - 7% IJR - 6% SPYG - 6% SPHQ- 6%

Merrymak3r

That makes sense. I am just getting started investing, and everything I have been reading has been "ETFs for beginners"... but the idea of trusting any of my money with Elon kind of makes my skin crawl. If there was an SPY - TSLA, I would be all onboard for that. Right now, I have settled on IJR + Mag 6 + 12 large/mid caps that I know a lot about their business model and love the companies products and use them professionally daily. I just question if I get wrecked for not being diversified enough, as I'm not willing to expose myself to any fund holding TSLA.

NoTeslaForMe

You have VOO, so when you say "small caps," I'm hearing "everything not in VOO." That's VXF. 0.05% expense ratio, just a notch over ISCB and under IJR, but without any (mainly mid-cap) companies missing. Or, if you want to remain disproportionately in VOO, you could just get VTI to include a little VXF-equivalent at a lower expense ratio. If you want to start playing the value versus growth game or pay a premium for non-index funds (like AVUV), that's a different story.

Skepticalpositivity9

IJR

Me-Myself-I787

This is why IJR is better than IWM.

Me-Myself-I787

You wanna invest in smallcaps? Buy IJR, not IWM. IJR actually has some quality screening.

tek_invest

I have been investing for last 6 months and below is my current portfolio allocation. I am in my 30s and would like to have a long term investment journey for next 10 to 20 years. Please suggest if I need to rebalance my portfolio and also whether I can add IJR to invest in small caps etf. Also, is it too early for me to invest in individual stocks? I have invested around 8000 AUD so far with below allocation. VAS - 22% (Core) VGS - 24% (Core) IVV - 26% (Core) NDQ - 15% (Satellite) IXJ - 8% (Satellite) IEM - 5% (Satellite)

diqster

Different (but similar) index -- I prefer IJR over IWM.

ThinkingOfTheOldDays

no options activity on IJR really. sucks, because I have a huge long position.

Endgameplays

not enough respect here for IJR and AVUV.

Endgameplays

pft. I have 6 figures in **IWM, AVUV, IJR and FCPGX.** Imagine not having diversified ETF holdings.

LanceX2

I own 18% IJR and IJH i. my Roths. Loving last few days

ThinkingOfTheOldDays

IJR and IJH have been printing as well. 

vinayitis

IWM vs IJR Which one the best ?

ThinkingOfTheOldDays

I have a huge position in IJR, by the way. 

turned_into_a_newt

People here are telling you the FA is terrible because the S&P500 is up 25% in the last three years, while you're only up 6%. But keep in mind that from July 1, 2021 to today: * Emerging markets ($EEM) are down 17% * Developed markets ex-us ($VEA) are down 5% * Bond markets ($BND) are down 17% * Small cap US ($IJR) is down 3% * Vanguard total world market ($VT) is up 8% So a portfolio which is more diversified than just the S&P 500 would have significantly underperformed. That doesn't mean it was the wrong portfolio ex-ante. Definitely interrogate the FA, other people here have raised good points, but make sure you're comparing his/her performance to the appropriate benchmark.

HolaMolaBola

Yes, you got it. I would add that instead of waiting the 30 days sitting in cash, you can do the true tax-loss harvest thing, which is to switch to a different horse immediately so you remain invested (in something similar, not identical). And after 30 days you'll can decide to stick with the new horse or switch back to the old one. This can be like selling CocaCola and buying PepsiCo. Or, with ETFs it's a lot easier. Pair VOO with VTI. Pair IJR with IWM. Pair IEFA with EFA. Pair IEMG with EEM. etc.

time-BW-product

I think that vertical is exactly how you should play it with the short at the target price. The bigger you make the spread off that short the more conservative it will be. I’d rather do this with CBOE RUT vs IWM. It’s cash settled so you can hold it to expiration and it will have better tax treatment for your holding duration. The problem is the position sizing will be 10x bigger than IWM. You might want to think about the underlying. I’ve read rut has some performance issues compared to say IJR.

Blahkbustuh

The things the stock market values highly and chases is growth and the potential for growth. I think a lot of what the smaller companies do isn't high growth things. It's more like commodity-type stuff or they are in mature industries. I'm looking at Fidelity's core small cap ETF, IJR and one of the biggest holdings is Abercrombie & Fitch which is clothing retail, then Mueller Industries, which is metal pipe fittings for water and gas systems, a home builder, then metals companies, Sealed Air Corp--packaging, some financial stuff, Alaska Air, etc. These companies do things and make stuff but it's not like any of these are going to come out with a revolutionary new product, there is only so much demand Abercrombie & Fitch, or for metal fabricated parts, there are only so many air travel passengers on the West Coast, the developed world all has water and gas utilities already, there are only so many packages being mailed. The industries they're in is mature. Expanding their businesses at this point means discovering whole new Earths we didn't notice before to expand to. The big tech companies on the other hand can dream up and roll out a whole new product or technology or service, or apply new features to their existing stuff and create whole new revenues, like the big tech companies adding AI to stuff the last year. A few years ago Apple grew its revenue a lot by expanding cloud storage and charging people for it (a service)--something that simple creates billions in value for Apple. Even if much of the stuff the big tech companies talk about is vaporware, like Tesla and self-driving, the stock market is seeking and pricing stocks on the potential that these things could materialize.

Lord_Humongous768

IJR tracks the S&P 600 index which includes both growth and value, well diversified, and has a high quality screen.  The fund is well suited to building out a core position in portfolio design.  Read up on the index if your new to investing in small caps.

Xzyrvex

Why IJR and not something like AVUV?

Lord_Humongous768

I buy IJR and hold. Add to the portfolio when they are on sale. I like the S&P 600 index. 15 years until retirement.  Small companies may not have economies of scale, but I think they can and do innovate.

Lord_Humongous768

Yep. I've been adding to my small cap and mid cap positions. I'm a fan of both IJR, and IJH. Holding for 15+ years.

95Daphne

I'm late but it currently appears that the only thing pushing stocks around for now (until Friday probably) is vanna flows or (better put for me probably as I don't exactly understand vanna) vol contraction, meaning we're in the midst of summertime like trading. It supports large caps better than smalls, which is why the large cap averages are up and IWM/IJR is down.

No_Disaster9918

You may want some small cap mid cap funds. More focused emerging markets (including asia + south america) This is what I'm aiming for: || || |Ticker|Country|3y|10y|Incept.|Weighting|Return| |IVV - S&P 500|USA|18.20%|16.09%|6.73%|20%|3.22%| |IEM|India / China Equities|-2.04%|5.37%|7.71%|15%|1.63%| |IOZ - ASX 200 ETF|AU|9.17%|7.77%|8.01%|15%|1.20%| |IEU|Europe|12.28%|7.01%|3.84%|10%|0.90%| |IJH - Core S&P Mid Cap|USA|12.62%|12.73%|8.80%|10%|0.88%| |IXJ - Global Healthcare ETF|USA|14.42%|12.12%|6.51%|10%|1.21%| |IJR - S&P Small-Cap ETF|USA|8.04%|11.84%|8.90%|0%|0.00%| |IOO - iShares Global 100|USA|16.12%|14.49%|5.19%|20%|2.90%| |||||Return|100%|11.94%|

ConcertPurple9858

Update: I’ve got half my port in VOO and The Rest in a share of IJR thank you fellas