IVV

5punkmeister

Yeah I had a lot in IVV I'm not excited about this....

SukottoHyu

For starters, research what broker you want to use because brokers will have varying fees. Trading platforms such as Robinhood and Trading 212 are more appropriate because they have marginal fees and are ideal for buying and selling effortlessly. Traditional investment platforms such as CommSec are structured differently, have larger fees, and are more appropriate for investing large sums of money over a very long period. Investing through your bank will also be more costly. In short, use trading platforms instead. Also consider that types of investments you want to make because not all brokers support the same investments and it will vary by region. One you choose a platform, invest in an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index. This will be something like VOO, VUAG, IVV etc; these "tags" are ticker symbols for the ETF which make it easy to identify the investment. There are many different kinds of ETFs that track the S&P 500 index such as "acc" and "dist" and "hedged" Vanguard, Invesco..., but as a complete beginner, just pick one, they are all mostly the same. This is the most reliable investment you can make because in the long run you are guaranteed to make returns, it averages out at around 10% returns per year (slightly less if measuring in real returns). But honestly you can expect more than 10%. While your money is in an ETF working for you, open a practice account and play around for a couple of years, because you are very young, and even older experienced investors make mistakes. While you are trading on a practice account, do some research, find out what "hedged" is etc. Look at how the market behaves, learn about stocks, ETFs, fundamental analysis, technical analysis... Look at different investment strategies. When you are older and more experienced, you can start thinking about buying stocks and look at what your long-term investment goals are and how you plan to balance and diversify your portfolio. Start simple. Good luck.

UpDown

Thats obvious not bad compared to IVV, but it was 9 or 10 last year.

D_Pablo67

Step 1 is to start a Roth IRA and invest in broad market ETFs like VOO, SPY, IVV and QQQ until you reach $20,000. Then start researching top companies that will grow over the next five years and invest in about five of them. Once you get there, look at buying a home. Adding some gold after that is fine. Rental properties can be good, but start with stock investments and buying a home first. Insurance is not an investment.

nigelboid

Given that you are the breadwinner and that you have a steady income, I am targeting my advice to you and not your parents. First, money market funds and bonds are nearly identical since most money market funds invest in bonds then take a cut. Bonds will keep your income generally just above inflation with fluctuations. Given current trajectories, bonds will deliver relatively small returns over the next year or two. In your shoes, I would dump all the money into a diversified index fund. $ACWI seems to be slightly better positioned than $IVV in our current geopolitical environment, but the two mostly overlap each other. If you do not like iShares, most other ETF and mutual fund purveyors have analog funds with equally small fees ($SPY, $VTI, etc.). If you do not want to own, I agree that real estate and the associated mortgage would not be a good idea. Real estate is illiquid, comes with huge fees, and tends to disappoint on returns.

5punkmeister

IVV is literally like 10% of my portfolio right now. No one gets puts on gold and silver at the tipping point of a major global recession. There's like 0% chance this shit is going anywhere but, up for the next I prolly 2-5 years.

SirGlass

Is its higher expense ratio worth the dividend avoidance? Doing some quick napkin math on a 100k investment VOO will produce approx 1.3% dividends or 1300 of dividend what assuming you are in the 15% bracket will cost you $195 XDIV expense ratio is 0.085%; not from the looks of it it holds funds like IVV or SPY or VOO what also has a 0.03% expense ratio so the 0.085% is the extra you are paying to not get dividends if you held VOO On a 100k that is $800, to me you are paying $800 to avoid like $200 of taxes?

moSNAP

If you are a penny pincher instead of VOO or IVV, go SWPPX if you're at Schwab or FXAIX if you're at Fidelity 0.02% SWPPX/FXAIX vs 0.03% IVV/VOO Mutual Funds give less anxiety, imo and you can just buy plain dollar amounts. The con is you won't get updated prices until later on in the day.

ServerTechie

For my kids UTMA all I do is IVV. It’s good enough, I only contribute $5 a week each so I didn’t want dilution, I contribute way more to their 529 accounts for college, and since UTMA is technically a brokerage account I didn’t want to deal with foreign dividend tax fillings.

D_Pablo67

Best investor education website: www.aaii.com which is the American Association of Individual Investors. Best books on investing in individual stocks and the stock market in general: One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch. Beating the Street by Peter Lynch, his sequel to One Up On Wall Street. Winning on Wall Street by Martin Zweig. He was an investing legend in the 1980s (died young). He has some really interesting analysis about how to understand how interest rate changes affect markets and how to track corporate earnings trends on old fashioned index cards. Adventure Capitalist by Jim Rogers. He is a really interesting guy and legendary international investor. His first book “Investment Biker” is about riding around China on a motorcycle in the 1980s and buying stocks over the counter. Adventure Capitalist is the sequel driving around the world in 2000. Reading it is more for developing knowledge of the world and understanding his perspective than practical advice. Key concepts to master: What is compounding and why does it work? What is the S&P 500 and why does it out perform most stock pickers? How to invest in ETFs like VOO, IVV and SPY? Ask your parents to set up a new Trump Account for you. Then can contribute $5,000 starting July 4, 2026 and they must invest in a broad based index fund. If you want to understand accounting and how to read and manipulate financial statements, read “Unaccountable Accounting” by Abraham Brilloff, the father of modern day accounting and forensic accounting. He writes about how management try to manipulate financial statements and thus investor sentiment. He has accounting jokes. “How is a balance sheet like a bikini?” You need to read the beginning of the book for the answer.

D_Pablo67

I am 58 and still have my stock market investments 80-85% individual stocks and ETFs and half my net worth in rental real estate. I like the balance. For stocks, an S&P 500 ETF like VOO, IVV or SPY is fine.

CartographerTrue1386

$VOO / $SPY / $IVV and similar ETFs all hold the same securities (stocks) found in the S&P. A lot of words to say “yes.” Haha

Ok-Educator5253

VOO, IVV, SCHG, VT, VTI, QQQM You want to capture the growth of the market as a whole for most of your money.

Varrooom

Sorry for the late reply. If you have no plans for the money for the next five years then an SP500 Index fund is your best bet. There’s VOO, SPY, and IVV. If you want an SP500 ETF with a tad more growth in it then VOOG and IVW are good too. I own IVW. I had it for over 15 years and I am happy with it.

Heyhayheigh

Yea. You can do this VOO vs SPLG vs IVV for example. Same thing with tax loss harvesting. I would argue it is just best to focus on accumulate, and you will probably promote bad behavior and call it “harvesting”, but in theory, yes.

kiwimancy

Not sure where you got those numbers. Are they in USD? IWLD in returned 16.76% in AUD for the 5 year period through 2025, while IVV returned 17.64%.

GuyNext

Only index ETF like VOO, SPY, IVV. Unless you know how to trade actively with options and stop loss, it’s not worth it. You will lose lot of money otherwise.

Shock223

> But why is it talked about so much more than SPY or IVV or SCHG? Because of first mover advantage. Jack Bogle made the concept popular, got the concept to the masses, and "Voo and Chill" continues to remain the statement. Now there are other options out there but it was the first and the most well known.

Ok-Educator5253

But why is it talked about so much more than SPY or IVV or SCHG? Is it just because Vanguard is more popular?

Varrooom

VOO is an SP500 Index ETF with some stocks that pay dividends. VOOG is the same with more stocks that are focused on growth than on dividends. It’s not much difference since both have the same top ten holdings. You don’t need to worry about the AI holdings or it being tech heavy. The companies in the fund meet strict performance criteria or wouldn’t be in there. They have deep pockets, large cash balances, and strong fundamentals. VOOG is a big fund with 2 trillion in assets. You’re 29 so you need growth. So VOOG is perfect. The return is just a little better. I have IVW which is the same as VOOG but it has $66 billion in assets. I just like it due to its smaller size. Easier for the portfolio manager to manage cuz it’s not so big. The holdings are very similar to VOOG. I had it for over 10 years. The company is called iShares. IVV and IVW is like VOO and VOOG.

Former_Tomato9667

I hedge against institutional fraud and failure with funds from different managers, e.g. mix of VOO and IVV. It’s a bit tinfoil-hat-y but I don’t have a lot of faith in regulatory protection these days.

Schifty

10 losses, biggest win was 3k with IVV during the tariff downturn

Horror-Appeal-190

Consistency. If I can make 20 bucks a day even, its a good day. What blows me up is thinking I can do it again in the same day or because muh feels. Blew up my account numerous times. You can turn 100 into thousands. If you cant, then just invest in the market.IVV, VOO, etc.

MattieShoes

> however they don’t have that index fund SWPPX > /ETF No trade fees on ETFs so you could use any ETF you want. Back in the trade fee days, they offered $0 trades of IVV. > Schwab doesn’t have VTI You can absolutely invest in VTI at Schwab. > neither of these 3 brokerages use the term “index fund” but only have ETF. They all offer ETFs and mutual funds. "Index fund" is just a term for a fund that follows an index rather than trying to pick winners. It could be used for mutual fund or ETFs. > Are there any benefits to using one brokerage than the other? Not significant ones -- mostly comes down to preference.

crazybutthole

If you buy SPYM - it has the lowest fee of all SP500 ETFs and it also has the lowest shares price ($80 approx) So it is exactly the same as VOO or IVV or any other sp500 fund except their shares are a lower price.

Chemical-Fun3692

thanks so much for this reassurance! I think SCHX mirrors the Dow Jones instead of S&P 500. Is there a downside to buying VOO or IVV or SPLG on Schwab rather than buy them on Vanguard? I think VOO is Vanguard only so not sure if it has a higher expense ratio on Schwab

SirGlass

An "Index fund" is just any fund that follows an index. Index funds can be an ETF or a Mutual fund. Now schwab does have SWPPX what is an S&P500 index fund setup as a mutual fund Schwab does not have their own S&P500 ETF, however at schwab you can buy VOO or IVV o SPLG no issues. SCHX is a very similar index , the returns are going to be near identical . SCHX holds about 750 largest companies vs the largest 500 but they are going to perform 99% the same, its not worth worrying about the small differences

SnS2500

\> "what's the point?" If you can't beat the S&P500 with your equities, yes, you are doing it wrong. Just buy VOO/IVV/SPYM. But also, you have to include your cash in your calculations of your portfolio return. Obviously if you are 99% cash and your portfolio beats VOO for the other 1%, that's not saying much.

MattieShoes

The S&P 500 is an *index* -- just an on-paper listing of 500(ish) of the largest US stocks. They make sure all sectors of the market are represented, and they weight the stocks by market cap. S&P 500 funds just copy what that index says. There are MANY S&P 500 index funds. I don't know how many, but I assume without checking that there are well over 100 of them. For the most part, it doesn't matter which you choose because their holdings will be nearly identical, their performance will be nearly identical. The list (off the top of my head) of why you might care: 1. Expense ratios. These basically get subtracted from your return each year. SPY has 0.09%, VOO has 0.03%, so in theory, VOO should outperform SPY by 0.06% each year. But there's so much random noise because maybe they rebalance on a slightly different schedule, on different days, etc. that it's almost irrelevant for such low expense ratios. It is something to look out for if some financial advisor dude is pushing an S&P 500 index fund with like 0.7% expense ratios though, because that's insane. 2. ETF vs mutual fund. Again basically the same performance, but one might prefer one to another. 3. if mutual fund, are there trade fees? For instance, I have Schwab. I cannot trade Vanguard's S&P 500 mutual fund (VFIAX) for free. I can Schwab's S&P 500 mutual fund (SWPPX) for free though. So if I wanted mutual fund over ETF, SWPPX would be the one for me. If I didn't care about mutual funds, I could buy any ETF for zero trade fees, so IVV, VOO, whatever, all fine. 4. If I want to play options games like selling covered calls on my S&P 500 fund holdings, I'd want SPY, full stop. VTI is also an index fund, but it's a different index. Instead of including 500 of the largest US stocks spread across all market sectors, it has several thousand US stocks spread across all market sectors. But since it is also weighted by market cap, that means those 500 largest that comprise the S&P 500 also make up the majority of this other index VTI uses... three fourths? I'd have to look, but that's a reasonable ballpark. And the several thousand smaller companies tend to follow the same trends as those 500 largest ones, so their returns are... not identical, but nearly identical. In theory, VTI will outperform if small cap companies outperform those mega-giant companies, and VOO would outperform if those giants outperform smaller companies. But in practice, it's mostly just all cancelled out over the long term. TL;DR: VOO or VTI, doesn't matter.

Pendleton1910

They track the exact same index. Functionally identical, SPY has an expense ratio of .09% and VOO is .03%. Thus the slight edge to VOO, IVV, and SPYM. SPYM is .02% but lower trading volume and wider price spreads. In other words be careful with SPYM market orders, better to use limit order to be safe.

brewgeoff

Here are a few tools that you could use to examine this problem but none of them will be perfect. The classic example are the SPIVA studies but those compare the real world after-fee performance of active managers to the frictionless hypothetical performance of the index. They also seem less concerned with how appropriate the benchmark may be as a measurement of a fund. So, one step better than SPIVA would be to compare active managers against the performance of a real-world index fund that serves as an appropriate benchmark. (IVV/VOO for US large blend, IEFA or VEA for international developed etc.) This is the level you can easily achieve for analysis using a tool like Morningstar or a heatmap. Morningstar allows you to compare an index fund against its peers in a category. A heatmap tool could provide risk-adjusted performance comparisons or pure performance comparisons but these are typically available to financial professionals. Going beyond this level would require you to determine which finds actually seek to outperform their benchmark long term… which is squishy at best. Some funds include language such as “seeks to outperform XYZ benchmark” or “seems to provide a smoother return over a full market cycle compared to XYZ benchmark” which can signal that they are trying to compete or trying to provide *risk adjusted* returns. Unfortunately, many funds give no specific language either way. There are other problems like funds closing over time, management philosophies changing, style drift and a half-dozen other variables that could confound your data. If I recall correctly Ben Felix or one of his guests did mention that pre-fee performance of active managers is actually very competitive or maybe even bears the index? None of this gets you closer to your goal of a proper benchmarking study. As someone who has also considered this problem (and has access to more data/resources than a retail investor I have found it difficult to solve but I hope some academic puts it to the test in a rigorous way. My general takeaway from the time I spent pursuing this question is that different parts of the market favor different styles: US large blend is so efficient that a pure index works great. Factor based investing seems to work well for small caps. Active managers hold up better in international markets but the index still does very well. Bonds seem to be the one area where active management can find an edge.

ForeverInTheSun82647

VOO is one of the best passive ETFs out there. That and IVV from Blackrock.

Horror-Appeal-190

Sell DOGE, lol. As far as picks, I think you got some good ones. If you do get back green please just put like 90% into VOO/VXUS or IVV/IXUS SOFI and HOOD are actually good choices, but bro if you just would have bought VOO and VXUS you'd actually be up 20% on your account. You can't out stock pick the market as you can see here.

GuyNext

Index ETF like VOO, IVV, SPY. Anything else would need DCA or at least put options to safeguard the investment. Without stop loss on Individual stocks, you may end up bag holder.

crazybutthole

have you considered being realistic? if you want to invest in america - just buy Sp500 (voo/spym/IVV) whatever is available to you if you need some silly guarantee this the right move? if you pick three random companies like asts RKLB ASTS and SOFI - and i can pick sp500? i think i will win. (just my opinion - i might be wrong - i love SOFI)

flat_top

Easiest fund to replicate. FXAIX is the fidelity equivalent mutual fund. VOO and IVV are popular ETFs.  

PalpitationSmooth992

Gold and oil up bond volume after hours is nuts large amounts of VOO SPY and IVV getting dumped all signs point to -1% day tomorrow

RaiderDaave

No one talks about IVV which has same expense as VOO

Fuzzy_Strawberry4792

Yeah the main thing is FXAIX only trades at market close while IVV you can buy/sell anytime during market hours. For long term buy and hold that doesn't really matter though - just set up auto investing with FXAIX and forget about it

Ok-Constant6488

They’re basically the same bet (S&P 500). The ETF or mutual fund wrapper is a minor difference. FXAIX (mutual fund) \* Lower ER (0.015% vs IVV \~0.03%) \* Great for set-and-forget: automatic investing, exact dollar amounts \* Trades once/day at NAV (less “messing with it”) IVV (ETF) \* Often a bit more tax-efficient in a taxable account (ETF structure tends to avoid capital-gains distributions) \* Trades intraday, has bid/ask spread (tiny cost, but real) \* More portable if you switch brokerages If you want to have more details gave a look at this comparison , got my partial insights from there [https://pinklion.xyz/tools/etf-compare/FXAIX/IVV](https://pinklion.xyz/tools/etf-compare/FXAIX/IVV) **Rule of thumb** **\* IRA/401k/Roth:** pick **FXAIX** (cheaper + easy automation). **\* Taxable brokerage:** **IVV** can be slightly better for taxes/portability; difference is usually small if you just buy/hold. Either is totally fine long-term the bigger driver is staying invested.

rocknroller2000

One thing to consider is that mutual funds, especially brokerage house ones like fxaix, are not portable to other brokers. Should you ever need to , or desire to move those funds to a different brokerage, your only option is to sell them and deal with any tax implications as a result of that sale. With most s&p etfs like IVV or VOO (my personal preference), etc, they are completely transportable between firms.

SnS2500

IVV is better for taxes. ETFs are a growing phenomenon, mutual funds are a shrinking one. Besides that, this is this most trivial choice you will make in your entire life.

Machine8851

FXAIX is a little cheaper and the performance is updated after the bell. IVV is an ETF so you see everything in real time. I prefer FXAIX a little more.

Jajuyns

FXAIX: Lower expense ratio and very easy to automate, making it a strong choice for long-term, hands-off investing—especially in retirement accounts or if you plan to stay with Fidelity.IVV: Slightly more tax-efficient by structure, tradable intraday, and easier to move between brokerages—better suited for taxable accounts or investors who want flexibility.

airbud9

You are confusing a few terms. They are both index funds, and both following the same index (S&P 500). FXAIX is a mutual fund while IVV is an ETF. There are some differences with the ETF and mutual fund distinction but in a practical sense it makes very little difference. The two funds should perform extremely similar before expenses and FXAIX is .015 basis point cheaper of an expense ratio.

CHL9

I would do IVV/SPLM, QQQM, or SCHG. If there’s a crash in the timeframe you get it I’d scoop TQQQ. 

Gorgenapper

I don't know how people don't at least build up a large position in low cost ETFs like VOO or IVV **before** doing stupid plays. Get compound growth working for you as the slow and steady backup plan first, I mean, why does it have to be all or nothing? 95% into ETFs like a good boy, and 5% into absolutely stupid 0DTEs in the off chance you bet right.

AlfredoAllenPoe

Both are fine. The tiny margin is negligible as they track the same index. VOO is just bigger than IVV, so more people are going to recommend it. More people are familiar with VOO than IVV. Traditionally, SPY was the main S&P 500 fund, but they have higher fees. VOO was the first fund to undercut SPY, so they are the most popular. It's the lingering effects of their Blue Ocean advantage.

SharestepAI

Why specifically Vanguard's VOO, and not, for example, iShares IVV, which serves an identical purpose, has an identical expense ratio, and has even returned a tiny margin higher over 1y?

Lakeview121

VGT is a good fund. I’d leave it there and diversify funds going forward. Maybe go with an s@p500 index fund going forward, like VOO or IVV.

PalpitationSmooth992

holy after hours 17m VOO 15m IVV 5m SOXL 2m QQQ the rest is leveraged inverse etfs weed crypto and small cap stocks top is in for large cap tech especially semis 2026 the year of the RUSSELL

NegotiationWest6381

Honestly from everything I’ve looked into regular independent investors can’t buy into OpenAI directly. It’s not a public company, and the only people getting a piece are huge firms like Microsoft and SoftBank through private funding rounds. The closest way for us “normal people” to get in on it is just buying Microsoft (MSFT)since they’re the biggest investor and basically tied at the hip with OpenAI. If you want even easier exposure ETFs like VOO, IVV, QQQ, or VTI all hold Microsoft as one of their top positions so you get indirect OpenAI exposure that way. But yea there’s no legit way for retail investors to buy OpenAI shares directly right now. Anything claiming they can get you OpenAI stock is most likely a scam.

MarkT1065

SPY is 0.09% expense ratio. IVV is 0.03%. SPY is for options. You said "core holding", so go with the lower expense alternative.

MarkT1065

SPY is for options and IVV is for holding due to expense ratios. .009 vs .003

MarkT1065

You said "core", so not SPY because it's expense ratio is 0.009 whereas IVV is 0.003. SPY is for options trading.

CycleApprehensive539

>The SP500 index funds need to buy roughly 16 million shares (approx. $7B) by Dec 19. **They can't buy yet**, so arb desks will be buying Monday to warehousefor them. Does he mean these guys are buying by Dec 19th? * VOO * IVV * SPY * FXAIX * SWPPX * VFIAX But they can't buy it yet? Can someone or u/dowgy demystify this? Thanks

TheInkDon1

Good question: I'm in between. Let me explain. Over the past 20 years I've sworn off stocks for ETFs so many times I can't count. And always for the same reason: *single-issue risk.* What it that? Musk tweets something stupid, Tesla drops 10%. Oracle doesn't meet expected earnings, it drops 15%. Enron, "the smartest guys in the room", weren't: bankruptcy. **So since March I've only done ETFs.** If you ever catch me trading a single stock, I want you to shoot me. Please. And sure some ETFs have big drops, but they're ones I don't touch: crypto and cannabis. Other than that, ETFs just don't move that quickly. And why? Because they're baskets of stocks, right? (For the most part.) So if an ETF holds 100 stocks, and one goes to zero, how much should the ETF drop? Just 1%. (Aside from sector-sympathy that might drag some of the others down too.) Why don't I use SPY and QQQ and the like? 1 - because I'm not an indexer by nature, because: 2 - I like to find things *that are going up*, and trade those. But don't get me wrong, if SPY or QQQ were going up fast enough to screen-in to how I screen, then I'd trade them. I recently traded IWM, the Russell 2000, because of that. Now maybe let me expand your mind a bit: *Do you know how many ETFs there are in the US?* **4,300!** Four **THOUSAND** and three hundred. But you only hear about a dozen of them, don't you? VT, VTI, SCHD, VOO, IVV, VXUS, maybe ITOT, like that. *Did you know that* [momentum in equity prices persists](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0927538X18303998?via%3Dihub#preview-section-references)*?* It does. For 1, 2, 3, even 6 months or more. Now, what if we put those 2 things together and looked for **ETFs with momentum**? And then instead of *buying* them, buy **LEAPS Calls** on them. Deep ITM LEAPS Calls act as *share substitutes* and give us **leverage**. Let me know if you're interested in hearing more.

AluminiumCaffeine

Feels good to crush IVV ofc, but it is a little grinding to have put so many hours of work and research into trading only to squeak by the MSCI ex-us this year, although to be fair I crushed them last 4 years so this is their rebound year lol... +30% ytd on ex-us who would have though

bizlososphy

Hey, congrats to your parents on the inheritance. Since they're comfortable with volatility and aiming for S&P 500-ish returns, dollar-cost averaging into a low-fee S&P 500 index fund (like IVV or SPY) within their Schwab account over the next year is probably the simplest, most cost-effective strategy. Paying an advisor for that seems unnecessary, tbh. One thought: if they're open to slightly more hands-on investing for potentially higher returns (and understand the illiquidity), some private equity or real estate syndications can be interesting for accredited investors. Just throwing it out there – it's kinda what I do. Good luck!

Ok-Lie-1582

I agree Fidelity of Schwab are better options and stick with Indexed ETFs, not individual stocks. Here’s a few of those that make up most of my Fidelity portfolio: IVV, IWY, FNCMX. It’s normal for them to ask for a social security number. As stated above, it’s needed for KYC (Know-Your-Customer which basically means the investment firm knows who you are). And a social security number is needed for Tax forms, since you are going to have to report your wins/losses to the IRS when you sell anything. So that’s another fun thing to look forward to. Best of luck getting started!

Prestigious-War3630

# What are the best stocks/ETFs should I focus on starting from next year? For some context, I'm a 16 year old Australian that's looking to invest some money into the ASX, but I'm very new to investing and have only done some research on what the stock market is like, all the different types of things I can buy, how buying and selling works etc. I have also looked into some ETFs that I think are quite good (VAS, VGS, SEMI, IVV, VHY), but now I have more money to deposit into my account, I want to begin to buy some stocks. I currently have a casual job that earns me around 300 per month, and my main goal is long term investing, and making the money growth over a long time, like 20-30 years, or maybe even 'till retirement. I have a low-moderate risk tolerance, which is why I have only chosen ETFs so far. I'm not sure where to start though, and what type of research to do. Should I look into bigger companies like NBA, BHP, Wesfarmers etc., or pick out some different types of investments like commodities for example. I'm still looking towards ETFs cause I know they're lower risk and generally grow over time, but I also want to expose my money to something higher risk with long term growth potential. The past year gold has been flying, and I've seen some people say that it will continue to have a bullish trend, so I'm also considering that as well. ASX: GOLD ETF is the primary one. Overall, I just want some help on what to buy for steady, but also occasional risked growth, especially stocks and which sector is best to buy. I'm currently still doing research, but it would also be great if anyone could help me on what type of research to do, like analyzing historical performances, or deeper statistics something like that. Thanks

throwawayainteasy

Please, tell me if ITOT is down 10%, and I sell it and immediately use the proceeds to buy IVV, how have I done anything but reduced my taxes for the year? ITOT and IVV perform nearly the same since they track very similar indices. It sounds right now like you don't understand how tax loss harvesting with index funds works.

throwawayainteasy

That is moronic advice. I sell ITOT or IVV and immediately buy the other. That locks in the losses for tax purposes while not impating my overall gains to any significant degree.

SirGlass

All the other popular ETFs are open ended funds , VOO, VTI , VUG , SCHD , IVV, ITOT, SCHB, SCHX this really just brings QQQ inline with the other most popular ETFs I really see no reason to vote no on it especially if you hold one of the above funds you already own open ended fund what QQQ wants to convert too. It cuts the expense ratio 10% ; its seems weird to complain they should have cut it more then vote no and pay a higher expense ratio

Ok_Cartoonist6749

IVV SP=0.13 Easy =13 to 20 with Float 3M n Rev=14M Fundamentals NOV 12 ER: REV increase 7% to 4.3n net loss down 27%. From non compliance to 2.5M equity compliance. Forward Guidance :On-LINE Pharmacy Q1 2026 with substantial Rev increase. Technical MC =450K EV=14.65 Rev 3.5M Annual=15.5M Cash = 3M O/S=3M Float=3M DEBT=14M. IF U N YOUR FAMILY LOVE PETS THAN CONTRIBUTE $1OO IN IVP.

GringottsWizardBank

Go with the max risk profile. It’s still quite a conservative portfolio with a roughly 5% bond allocation. The holdings in these accounts are actually quite good. Good companies with healthy balance sheets that should compound over time and a nice 30% anchor in IVV and some international exposure. People will nitpick but you can do much much worse with your money. I’ve even backtested the current portfolio makeup and it would have outperformed the market over the last 5 years.

aaron-roger

5% gold 10% cash 25% bonds 30% IVV 30% some dogshit mutual funds my parent company gets a cut for putting you into, that'll be 1% of AUM thank you

Flatrock

Yeah when I say my US holdings I mean the ETF XUU, which is simply a US index fund in Canadian dollars (it mostly holds ITOT and IVV)

sooner-1125

You are 25… just buy QQQM and IVV and let it ride bruh. Dollar cost average into your 401k. This is 40 year money. Relax

Rich-Contribution-84

When I (and most people say “VOO” casually in this context, we typically mean “The S&P 500” generally. VOO or SPY or IVV or a mutual fund like VFIAX, it really doesn’t matter - if you’re wanting to own the S&P. If you have a Vanguard account you can just set your bank to auto deposit $100 or $1,000 or $5,000 or whatever each paycheck into your account and set it to auto purchase whatever you like. If you want it to buy a specific dollar amount every paycheck, you’ll be buying fractional shares so you’ll want to do mutual funds or do an automatic investment plan. If you’re having trouble setting this up, call your broker. If you have a Fidelity account you’ll want to do FXAIX or whatever depending on what broker you use. Even better, do this in your 401(k) as a starting point for matching funds if that’s an option through work. Your 401(k) may or may not have a direct version of VOO but you can find other broad market index funds, almost certainly, in your plan.

Obvious-Hair-6778

Buy S&P ETF like IVV. The whole markets down.

Any-Log-6706

Not about it being dumb or not, you took a profit. But hopefully it’s not based on things such as rumors, headlines, “news”, etc. Saying this because imagine in 1997 when told some of us to sell AAPL (at a cost basis now of about 20 cents) because it wasn’t worth anything. I know some who did and regretted. Some did jump back in later at a higher cost basis. This isn’t the .com bubble. These companies are not the sock puppet Pets.com companies, but instead solid ones that have been around. Back during the .com days a solid company known as Corning invested heavily in infrastructure. They were called dumb, but who’s laughing now? Michael Burry today, back in the 1990s there were guys like Henry Blodget. They had a one-hit wonder and the media companies have ad space/time to sell, so they need those headlines. Ordinary capital gains at 12% since April for these companies, cool. That’ll be a net of maybe what, 9% perhaps. Maybe you’ll boost your tax bracket overall with this sale, there’s that potential consequence. But next time maybe try index ETFs instead. You could’ve made 35% since April with IVV.

rafaelrc7

Sorry, guys. I bought IVV

LickMyToesUntilIRun

Yeah absolutely not. S&P 500 like SCHX or IVV.

LessAd8017

VOO and SPY are the same thing so just VOO. QQQ is "inside" of SPY thus inside of VOO so don't do that either. IVV is just SPY therefore just VOO so don't do that either. Actually, just go back to the drawing board and try again.

Sticking_to_Decaf

=STOCKHISTORY("IVV", Settings!$D$2-7, Settings!$D$2) This returns a table of the closing prices of IVV between the dates in cells Settings!$D$2-7 and Settings!$D$2. Output is two columns and looks roughly like this: Date Close 10/23/2025 $          674.97 10/24/2025  $          680.52 10/27/2025 $          688.60 10/28/2025 $          690.34 10/29/2025 $          690.71 10/30/2025 $          683.23 I use =LOOKUP(Settings!$D$2+1, STOCKHISTORY(B2, Settings!$D$2-7, Settings!$D$2+1)) Cell B2 contains the stock ticker (like IVV). Settings!$D$2-7 and Settings!$D$2+1 give the last week or so of closing prices available. The LOOKUP function pulls just the numerical close price out of the table so that cell has only the last price. So for IVV in cell B2 the output is just $683.23. And =IFERROR(AVERAGE(STOCKHISTORY(B2, EDATE(Settings!$D$2, -9), Settings!$D$2, 0, 0, 1)), "Invalid Ticker or No Data") returns the 9-month moving average for the ticker in cell B2 with the 9-month lookback period starting with the date in Settings!$D$2, -9. For IVV the output shows 612.209.

Sticking_to_Decaf

=STOCKHISTORY("IVV", Settings!$D$2-7, Settings!$D$2) This returns a table of the closing prices of IVV between the dates in cells Settings!$D$2-7 and Settings!$D$2. Output looks like this: || || |Date|Close| |10/23/2025| $          674.97| |10/24/2025| $          680.52| |10/27/2025| $          688.60| |10/28/2025| $          690.34| |10/29/2025| $          690.71| |10/30/2025| $          683.23| I use =LOOKUP(Settings!$D$2+1, STOCKHISTORY(B2, Settings!$D$2-7, Settings!$D$2+1)) Cell B2 contains the stock ticker (like IVV). Settings!$D$2-7 and Settings!$D$2+1 give the last week or so of closing prices available. The LOOKUP function pulls just the numerical close price out of the table so that cell has only the last price. So for IVV in cell B2 the output is just $683.23. And =IFERROR(AVERAGE(STOCKHISTORY(B2, EDATE(Settings!$D$2, -9), Settings!$D$2, 0, 0, 1)), "Invalid Ticker or No Data") returns the 9-month moving average for the ticker in cell B2 with the 9-month lookback period starting with the date in Settings!$D$2, -9. For IVV the output shows 612.209.

tyler_jewell

If you don't mind capping your upside, consider buying a deep ITM covered call. Using IVV as an example, you can buy a covered call expiring in 14 months at a $335 strike for about $322. You would earn about $9 in dividends over the coming year as qualified dividends. So $13 in profit, $9 in dividends would be just under a 7% rate of return. And, you would have about 50% downside protection from a stock market drop. If the market crashed in the next year you would own IVV at half its value and your capital would still be preserved. The only challenge that you have to manage is the dividend distributions. If the upcoming dividend is larger than the remaining intrinsic call value remaining then your shares will be called away before you get the dividend. This is easily managed by rolling the call value out further in time.

throwawayainteasy

People keep talking about perpetual bubbles and the market being irrational and all but... Is this just normal and expected given the rise of passive index investing? IVV and VOO and the like are some of the biggest funds now. And because of it, normal market mechanics like "price discovery" aren't as impactful as they used to be because so many people "buy the whole index" no matter what. Sure, there might be big short term movements like on Liberation Day.or during COVID, but both were relatively short and neither were catastrophic. Extended duration down markets might not be feasible anymore. What I'm saying is Bears might be going extinct. Jack Bogle killed them.

dbasea

Given your limited time and long runway, I’d simplify by capping any single stock to <5% and gradually moving those into broad, low-cost funds (either a target-date fund in the plan or a 2–3 ETF core: total US, total international, and bonds), cut overlap (IVV/VOO, QQQ/QQQM), watch the heavy tech/SMH tilt, and set auto-rebalancing; you can find more info at mr-profit com.

Awkward_Basis7533

People own stocks as part of a portfolio right? So what’s the difference between $100K in IVV/QQQ and $100K spread around as you choose w $6K in PLTR? Voting rights.

Awkward_Basis7533

Got it. So if it’s in a fund you’re absolved of responsibility? You know that the SPY500 is the 6th largest institutional holder of PLTR holding 27M shares right? You’re ok being complicit in little bites (say unknowingly) but it’s wrong if you do it willfully? But let’s say now you know - are you going to get out? It’s even heavier in VTSAX, QQQ, IVV, etc. Broad market funds are trying to make $$ we’re just our own fund managers. Anyone claiming any moral high ground is either A. Correct or B. Not making anything. It’s just too muddy.

PantsMicGee

Congrats! You have 500k to park in VTI/VOO/IVV and chill.  You also have free tax on gains for life or 3MM, whichever is the lesser.  Enjoy!

Str8truth

Many investors have started to rotate out of large cap funds and into small and mid cap funds, because the large caps have gotten so highly valued. Also, the prospect of lower interest rates is brightening the outlook for smaller companies that rely more on debt financing than equity financing. FMDE is a solid mid cap fund. I recently bought its small cap sister fund, FESM. I like that these funds are actively managed, not just tracking an index, because I think you need to be choosy when investing in smaller companies. IVV and SPY track the S&P 500, which is an index of large cap stocks. So many people buy shares in those stocks that their share prices have gotten expensive relative to the companies' profitability and growth. Many investors are broadening their portfolios to smaller companies and non-US stocks.

SnS2500

\> What’s appealing about FMDE vs IVV or SPY? It's a different group of stocks, midcaps versus large caps. If the advisor thinks midcaps will outperform going forward, that is their job, to decide stuff for you. However, while picking midcaps for some of your holdings is a reasonable idea, you could ask why FMDE versus FRTY. FRTY has done +27% the past year to FMDE's +9%. XMMO is another option.

Open-Fieldbook

# Portfolio Considerations[](http://localhost:8501/chat#portfolio-considerations) **Given your concern about position count, consider consolidating around your highest-conviction ideas.** $RIG (offshore drilling) faces structural headwinds from energy transition policies and volatile oil prices—this position appears speculative rather than strategic. **Selling $RIG could fund additional $IVV accumulation**, restoring your core allocation while maintaining exposure to energy through the S&P 500's diversified holdings. **Your planned $XPEL position deserves scrutiny before initiation.** At a P/E near 37 and P/S around 5.8, you're paying a significant premium for a company with 11% net margins in a specialized but competitive automotive aftermarket. While $XPEL demonstrates strong fundamentals (ROE of 21%, minimal debt), the valuation leaves little room for execution missteps. Consider whether this capital might better serve you in $FOA or $ABL—existing positions where you've already done the diligence. **Rebuilding $IVV should be your priority.** Your admission of feeling "bad" about the sale signals psychological discomfort with your current risk profile. Dollar-cost averaging back into the S&P 500 over 60-90 days provides downside protection while maintaining exposure to any year-end rally. \- Open Fieldbook Intelligence Team

MintTrappe

Buy S&P 500 ETFs and forget about them. Seriously at least half of your money should go there and \~$7k (max it out) going into a Roth IRA, if you don't have one, open one now. Don't chase the high you will not achieve this again, keep gambling to 15% of your position at most. Uranium ETFs probably aren't going to pay as well/consistently as IVV, VOO, SPY so you should limit your position. Keep stacking, don't rush, don't get greedy or overconfident.

PM_YOUR_LADY_BOOB

In 15 years. That's just barely higher than high yield savings. Still a pretty bad ETF. Over that same time period, SPY, VTI, VT, IVV, & QQQ have significantly outperformed VXUS.

therealjerseytom

"S&P 500" isn't a stock; it's a collection of 500 different companies. Rather than you investing in each of them individually, there are companies out there that bundle them together for you. SPY, VOO, IVV, FXAIX, etc all track that index of companies. There are also variations on the theme, but SPMO and SPYI are not tracking the index itself.

MaximinusRats

I don't know what an "equity curve" is, but you can reduce volatility to almost nothing by combining a broad ETF like IVV with a t-bill fund - try 10% IVV and 90% t-bills. Its long-term CAGR will be more than 1%.

VastUnlikely9591

Hold and $695 IVV call(Highly Unlikely.)

GayPerry_86

Chat disagrees Short answer: the S&P 500 has outperformed the rest of the world over the last 5 years. • S&P 500 (IVV) 5-yr average annual total return: ~16.6% (USD, dividends reinvested, to Aug 31, 2025).  • Rest of world (ACWI ex-U.S., ACWX) 5-yr average annual total return: ~10.1% (USD, dividends reinvested, to Aug 31, 2025).  • Cumulatively, that’s roughly ~111% for the S&P 500 vs ~62% for ACWI ex-U.S. over 5 years. 

Yo_Biff

I'm a few years older than you. Started saving for retirement around 42. I'll start by saying anything you put away is better than nothing, and it doesn't have to be complicated. I would suggest reading, ***"The Psychology of Money"***, by Morgan Housel. Not an investing book perse, but a good primer on how to be a rational investor. I believe you should absolutely start with an IRA. Whether you go Traditional or Roth would depend entirely on your marginal tax rate. You can open an IRA account with Schwab, Fidelity, etc fairly quickly. As of 2025, you can contribute up to $7,000 per year. **Important** - self managing an IRA is pretty simple, but you have to transfer the money into the account and *invest the money*. You may wish to explore a a Self-Employed 401K plan too. However, the IRA is the simplest starting point, in my opinion. Low-cost, broad index funds/ETFs have been demonstrated over time to be the easiest way to invest. This involves buying funds that track things like the S&P 500, the total US market, international markets, etc. Examples of tickers for the S&P 500 are VOO, IVV, or SWPPX. I would suggest reading, ***"The Little Book of Common Sense Investing"***, by John Bogle. Whole Life Insurance is not a way I would personally go. High cost/fees. Traditionally, lower returns on investment. Really more suitable for very high income earners, in my opinion. Cryptocurrency is not a way I would go personally with retirement savings. Extremely speculative. Highly volatile. Difficult to understand. Basically, how many people do you know who gamble at casinos and get rich? That is investing in crypto for novice investors. You do need to get some idea of how much money you *need* in retirement, then how much money you *want* in retirement. You can set up a log in with the SSA to find out what your estimated Social Security benefits would be at retirement. There are calculators online that will help you estimate your needs. I personally like this one: [Financial Mentor - Retirement Calc](https://www.financialmentor.com/calculator/best-retirement-calculator). Fair warning, it can be a little titchy on a smart phone browser.

Superb_Advisor7885

IVV

svj1021

My understanding is that the S&P500 is denominated in dollars, while IVVB11 is in reais (BRL). IVVB11 specifically buys and holds IVV Blackrock's equivalent of VOO in the NYSE). This means that IVVB11 will follow the S&P500's movements, but also follow the changes in the dollar-BRL exchange rate. In this case, the S&P500 climbed 14.5% YTD, but the dollar also fell in value by close to that amount (vs the BRL) at the same time.  So the end result of those opposing effects is that IVVB11 is near 0% YTD in BRL.

JoeJimba

I posted this previously [Imgur: The magic of the Internet](https://imgur.com/a/UaPMVAo) Only changes since then are I got small positions in JXN, ROOT, RIG, and DLO and bought more FOA, CAAP, HTLD. Also sold a bunch of my IVV (S&P 500) which I feel bad about but gambling on more short term gains on more exciting stocks. May be starting a position in XPEL soon, stocks I am open to buying more of are FOA, ABL, CAAP, DLO, HTLD and ROOT, and I want to build back up my IVV.

lordturdhead

More annoying they won’t offer more options for ETFs in retirement and automated investing accounts. No VOO, no IVV, limited factor options, basically no momentum ETFs etc… extremely limited.

McKoijion

Someone doublecheck this for me: 1. Monthly and quarterly options contracts expire today. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/triplewitchinghour.asp https://cdn.cboe.com/resources/options/Cboe2025OPTIONSCalendar.pdf 2. Robinhood and AppLovin will be in the S&P 500 before trading starts on Monday. https://www.investopedia.com/robinhood-applovin-and-emcor-stocks-trade-higher-on-news-of-s-and-p-500-inclusion-11805185 3. Vanguard, BlackRock, and StateStreet need to make massive institutional purchases of HOOD and APP for VOO, IVV, and SPY after options contracts expire this afternoon, regardless of price.

BobtheChemist

RSP is the simplest equal weighted ETF, it would have much less of ther tech stocks compared to the IVV or such.

SirGlass

>but others say "Holding too much of your portfolio in one investment, even a diversified one, can leave you overexposed to risk. This does not really make sense , most target date funds do not hold "One investment" they hold usually some mix of USA stocks , foreign stocks , bonds This is not "One investment" it may be one mutual fund but it holds all sorts of different investments Its perfectly fine to invest in one fund as long as the fund is diversified like a target date fund is. Fore example take two portfolios 1 . VT 2. Split between VTI , VOO, QQQ, SCHG, SCHD , SPLG, IVV, VYM what one is more diversified , 1 2. holds a bunch of overlapping funds that concentrate on USA large cap stocks, just holding a bunch of funds is not diversification , you have to look at what the underlying funds hold VT is a world index fund that holds almost every public company on earth, 2 is a bunch of funds that only hold USA companies and concentrated on large cap companies. 2 is actually less diversified despite holding a bunch of funds