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I’m looking to add another stock or two to my portfolio, any recommendations?
[Discussion] How will AI and Large Language Models affect retail trading and investing?
[Discussion] How will AI and Large Language Models Impact Trading and Investing?
Would it be a bad idea investing in the same investments in a Roth IRA and a regular brokerage account?
Is it ok to never have bonds if you start investing early?
Anything I should know about investing in Vanguard ETFs on Fidelity?
What would you all recommend for second year of IRA?
Let's go! For most, the best investment route is to just purchase a S&P500 index fund/ETF and hold on (*while adding to it often and extra when markets are in a down-cycle). Vanguard's VOO and VFINX have low expense ratios % and are great choices! VTI / VTSMX are also good (total market) options.
Let's go! For most, the best investment route is to just purchase a S&P500 index fund/ETF and hold on (*while adding to it often and extra when markets are in a down-cycle). Vanguard's VOO and VFINX have low expense ratios % and are great choices! VTI / VTSMX are also good (total market) options.
Let's go! For most, the best investment route is to just purchase a S&P500 index fund/ETF and hold on (*while adding to it often and extra when markets are in a down-cycle). Vanguard's VOO and VFINX have low expense ratios % and are great choices! VTI / VTSMX are also good (total market) options.
I hit $100,000 in Broad Market Index Funds (mostly VOO and VTI) this Jan
QQQ or VOO which one will you choose ?
Question about ETFs: What happens if the provider goes under as a business?
Wife's IRA has positions in high-expense ratio funds. Sell and buy VOO?
i want to start investing and i don't know where to begin
Looking to invest savings in VTX and VOO. What should I invest more in.
After watching Nvda go up up and up some more, i dove in at 600 a share. 🤔😳
What stock/suggestion have you gotten from this sub that actually WORKED?
As a whole this sub is overly negative on taking profits and building a cash position
What to do with $300,000 just sitting in my checking account?
What stocks(s) did y’all buy recently and when was it?
100% stocks is not universally good advice. Stock market indexes are not always the right benchmark for your performance.
Is FZIPX same as AVUV? Looking for Low ER small cap ETF
Is putting $50 into VOO every 2 weeks (for the next 20 years) a good or bad idea?
What index fund do I pick for my Roth IRA?
12m Emergency : 100% CD/Tbills vs ~25-75% VOO & rest in CD/Tbills?
Is it normal for the index funds to be weighted this heavily by mega caps?
Where to invest 10k leveraged from CC cash advance (5% fee)?
As a non-US resident is it worth getting Ireland-domiciled ETFs?
Advice for a 27 year old trying to leave the nest?????
Any advantage to buying VOO through Vanguard rather than Schwab?
What are y'all's plays on tomorrow's CPI news? Any calls being made?
Looking for long-term investment suggestions, 30yo • $1-2k / mo.
What is the difference between some EFTs like Vanguard S&P 500?
Mentions
Sell now, invest the earnings in VOO, and never play options again.
Look - I do think you're getting \*wrecked\* by some of the comments, but they're also not wrong. You're background whining about more or less being an incel and 'woe is me,' before the market losses, and I get it - life can be a bitch. However: 1. You're young. You've got plenty of time to improve your life and to make better choices. 2. You're employed. A ton of people aren't - a someone who has been hiring in tech over the past years, it's been damned obvious the entire market (including hiring in AI unless you have a \*very\* special/unique pedigree (e.g. leaving Deepmind or a few others) has been utter crap for at least 3 years now. 4 years ago, couldn't get submissions. 2.5-3 years ago would get 300 submissions in 2-3 days. Make yourself seen in a \*useful\* way at work. 3. I see you've already posted about 'maybe coming back in a bit and trying again' - this doesn't sound like 'lesson learned,' it sounds like 'once I have enough money to gamble, I'll do it again.' It's your call, but hey, S&P is up 18% or so and VXUS even more - you could have taken the cash, or profits and dumped 90% of it into VTI or SPYM/VOO and VXUS or DFIV and had - <something>. I won't even ask if you've got retirement accounts, but there's a reason for the mantra of emergency savings, pay off high interest debts, max retirement allocations, etc. before brokerage or trading accounts. RE: no friends, no dates, blah blah. Try to take a look at yourself from the outside. Are you obsessed with trading that any convos you have are about that, or do you actually listen to other people? Do you give monologues or actually interact when you engage with others? Do you bathe, shave, wear clean clothes, etc. ? These are all things you can work on. Look at Meetup groups or equivalents, hopefully for something besides options trading. Get out of the house/apartment/etc. It's ALL work, man, but the endless 'woe is me' is a self-perpetuating cycle, and even real friends can get tired of hearing about it if everything they get from you is negatives. You can take lessons from the past, but nothing good comes of obsessing over it as it can't be changed, but you can change in how you look at things, and plans for the future. If you want to jump back on the options train, how about limiting it to for example, 10% of your holdings max, no matter what happens? It's all on you if you take any sane lessons away from this, and use it to improve your own future, or stay in the 'woe is me, maybe I get fired, no one likes me' mentality. And you're not the only one - many of us have had serious ups and downs in their lives, and had to 'adjust' as to 'now what?' I've moved across 10 states or so not knowing a soul - a whole lot of lonely 'new starts from scratch' with accompanying moments of loneliness and 'wtf am I doing?' at times. Came damned close to losing a house, temporarily lost a career in one of the big crashes, but you don't give up - you take the lumps, the lessons learned, and move the F on. Good luck!
Need advice. Have been maxing out my Roth IRA for several years, and now finished grad school and have a job where I have enough to also invest in a brokerage account. I invest in VOO, VXUS, and BND for my Roth, and will likely do mainly VOO, VXUS, and maybe QQQ for brokerage (still researching). I have around $30k I want to pull from savings to invest as well. Should I lump sum invest all of it now, or spread out throughout the year (e.g., invest weekly/monthly)? Will also be investing a portion of my income monthly into the brokerage as well. Does anyone have any advice? What are some great ETFs to invest in for a brokerage account? General pointers/advice appreciated as well. (27 years old, employed with $110k salary, not super risk-seeking, and looking for medium/long term).
Need advice. Have been maxing out my Roth IRA for several years, and now finished grad school and have a job where I have enough to also invest in a brokerage account. I invest in VOO, VXUS, and BND for my Roth, and will likely do mainly VOO, VXUS, and maybe QQQ for brokerage (still researching). I have around $30k I want to pull from savings to invest as well. Should I lump sum invest all of it now, or spread out throughout the year (e.g., invest weekly/monthly)? Will also be investing a portion of my income monthly into the brokerage as well. Does anyone have any advice? What are some great ETFs to invest in for a brokerage account? General pointers/advice appreciated as well. (27 years old, no debt, employed with $110k income, not super risk-seeking, and looking for medium/long term).
You do realize prices don’t magically go down right? Prices going down fast means lots of people sold, you get that right? The covid crash happened because a ton of people sold. Yea, they bought again before year end. But if Covid would have happened in July/August instead of early march, I doubt it would have recovered before year end. It is also irrelevant. If someone doesn’t need a money manager, great. I wish everyone would VOO and chill. That is such a small part of what I do as an advisor. It is more about planning and helping people stick to the plan. Increase effort. Motivation. I was just pointing out managers won’t beat the index, they’re not designed to. Comparing their balanced (watered down) portfolio return to 100% aggressive equity is nonsensical. That is my only point.
TSSD expense ration, .65%, VOO expense ratio, .03%.
VOO is up almost 18%, nothing sad about that. Particularly compared to 2022, which was 18% in the opposite direction.
Just do VOO or vt you idiot
Have you considered DCA into VOO over a course of 20 years?
Wow man ridiculous over the top post considering you lost 500 bucks, or nothing as some have commented. You can't sweat what ifs. I sold RKLB for a small loss at $7 and lost more than $500 and didn't lose my shit. In fact I rarely think about it. Shit happens with trading. You're young. Aside from play money, put most of your investment funds in QQQ or VOO and you will be set. I can only wish I had your trading opportunities when I was your age.
I agree with the other user pointing out that VT is the entire stock market. So you're doubling up on VOO and VXUS by sticking with VT. Personally, I would probably just toss that money into VOO or spit it amongst VXUS and VOO at you desired balance. Others may have different opinions.
What's the point of holding VT when you already have VOO and VSUS?
Thoughts on my current ETF split: VGT 11% - VOO 51% - VXUS 24% - VT 14%
I’ll even let you say you lost the 100k but at the end of the day that’s a drop in the bucket over your lifetime. You learned a hard lesson and hopefully you won’t have to learn it again. Life isn’t defined by your losses it’s defined by your ability to persevere despite hardship. Get up get your ass back to work so you don’t get fired and start investing in normal things VOO and BTC you’ll be alright. Good luck out there you got knocked down but you’re not out.
Contact Robinhood support. Tell them to permanently disable options on your account. I know it sucks but I promise people have lost much much more. VOO and chill when in doubt zoom out. You Got this my friend
VOO and chill or you lose the rest
Happy I bought GOOG in the throes of the anti trust despair. Feeling like theyre well positioned. SOFI and ASTS have been also been doing well but leary about adding to any of those. RDDT for me is one of those stocks Im waiting for a significant dip to buy into but never comes. Thanks for the input! Going back to your original comment maybe I put some more into VOO and continue leaving some for an actual drop in the market. Idk I feel like space and AI are already overbought even here. Hard to throw more money in and bring up the cost basis. Have a fuck ton of GRAB actually but its been a bit of a dog but im waiting for it to actually move.
The goal of money managers isn’t to beat the index, for most it is to employ the investment thesis, the criteria: safety, diversification. Anything they add besides VOO is for balance. Basically watering down the portfolio. Why would this give greater return? I wish everyone was VOO and chill, they don’t have the stomach, they will panic sell. A 2022 comes around and they will sell. Watch this sub around feb march this year, the endless “I’ve been investing 30 years, this time it’s different”. The only difference is the money is big and so is the emotions.
Ok pretend im not new and im talking about dry powder. With actual investments doing well and heavy focus on VOO. Now what
Already invested my guy just talking about the money market fund dry powder. Have plenty of VOO.
The 1998 LTCM collapse proved that leverage combined with concentration is a mathematical certainty for ruin. You've mistaken a high-beta windfall for professional skill. That's a harsh realization. So, treating $70k as a fresh start in VOO is your only viable path. Because the market doesn't owe you a recovery. Which means preservation is now your most aggressive play.
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.
I'm up .025% in my individual account that I started in 2021, not including 2 bankrupt companies that I lost out on 🫠 We're going to try MAG7 and VOO this year and try and lay off the hype stocks...
Thanks for your contribution for making the market return much better than the average investor’s performance. Without you we won’t be able to just VOO and chill and still outperform 90% of investors in the long run.
Side note but I see people say VOO and forget all the time, is VOO better than SPY or QQQ? Or is it all damn near the same thing over time
That is a horrible idea, Jesus. You anticipate significant growth based on preliminary research? 😂 I’m sorry, but you don’t know shit about what’s going to happen. The growth you saw last year is done for. You missed the boat. Put your money in VOO, mate. I literally just have VOO and other mutual funds, buy a bit every month, and every time there was a drop this year, I bought extra. I experienced a 25% portfolio growth from 2 stocks alone.
If you're heavy into VOO, be prepared for another lesson.
Keep it very simple and never own anything that you wouldn’t feel good about owning if it dropped 20-40% for an extended period. Good solid companies will come out of recessions stronger. Just invest in VOO of FXAIX and keep investing during down periods and you will do very well.
Imagine $200k in VOO for 30 years. $3.2+ million. Imagine if it was in an Roth IRA as well 📈
People *saying* "VOO and chill" and people *doing* "VOO and chill" are two very different things. Plenty of investors out there shit their pants and panic sell, as we saw in April, convinced "No no no this time it's different we've never had the President intentionally destroying the dollar and economy before! Run!" And there are plenty of retail investors out there who just buy random things. Don't forget that institutional investors with mountains of money aren't on the "VOO and chill" strategy either.
I feel like VOO and VTI and the SCHD of 25/26 It is a great investment.
I understand. I turned $50,000 into over $300,000 during SPAC craze / Covid… when everything reversed over a 3 to 4 weeks span. I was too slow to react and let it get down to about $170,000. I then went Blue Chip and VOO, VXUS. It has taken 3+ years to get back to $290,000. Mentally draining at the time, but hopefully I have a long life ahead of me to keep investing wisely.
Lets say some how index funds were no longer a thing, you either had to pick stock or use active managers who picked stock Not much would change, as a whole people in aggregate would probably be invested much like someone who buys VOO/VTI Some people complain its too tech heavy , but honestly ask people if they hold any individual stocks, and the ones that do tend to be holding nvidia , amazon , apple, microsoft , meta and google
You're going to get a bunch of "VOO is king" responses, but it makes sense to add international exposure. Especially considering US vs Intl overperformance tends to happen in multiple years strung in a row and the US has been killing Intl for roughly 15 years. Also, historical S&P performance hasn't been kind when the index PE ratio has been at this level. Historically, it's seen a 3-ish% annualized return during the following 5-10 year period.
VOO is one of the best passive ETFs out there. That and IVV from Blackrock.
Ideally, you wouldn’t put 100% into VOO/VTI. You would want to mix in international funds and bonds. If you do that, it should cushion the blow from a US recession
If there's a US recession, everyone's portfolio is going to take a hit, it's just a question of whether you have international stocks, bonds, commodities, cash, or other investments in your portfolio. For your US equity exposure VOO is fine.
Short of storing actual goods in a basement or warehouse somewhere , there exists the possibility that any financial asset may not actually provide the standard of living we expect come retirement. I don't see VOO/VTI as being any worse than anything else
What really helped me grow my portfolio faster was to download a compound interest calculator. Play around with it and you learn what grows your account fastest. Consistent contributions and time. After a while Of playing with the possibilities, I really didn't want to spend money on stupid things anymore. $583 a month in a Roth IRA from here on out for you until retirement, if invested in VOO, will result in $5.3 million, generating $530k a year to Live on, in addition to the proceeds from your 401k and SS.
One option is to attack from both fronts. 1. Put $2500/mon to principle 2. Put $2500/mon into the market (VOO, etc) When you see the market pull back 5% or so, you double down on the market that month and forego the extra principal payment. Conversely, when you see the market rip for a couple weeks, you double down on the principle payment and forego the investment that month. When you can pay off the house with whats in the brokerage account, do so. Remember: You basically have to beat ~8.5% returns/year to make investing it worth, taking into account you're paying 6.8% interest, plus the fact most people can deduct their mortgage interest (assuming its a primary residence) from gross earnings on income tax returns, and the taxes you have to pay on your capital gains from investing. That's why I try to split the difference then take advantage of any pullbacks and invest a little extra when its down 5+ %.
The entire country has been trending toward larger companies for a while. Larger companies buy up smaller companies. People like trends - and to be involved with what other people are doing / buying. Also, the number of laws and regulations makes the cost and complexity of starting a business more difficult. For example, if you start a company and have a few employees - congrats, now you need to figure out how the healthcare system works! That’s enough to deter me from starting a business. I don’t foresee a situation where this changes any time soon. That’s why VOO continues to just crush it. Plus, these large companies that are largely American have been increasing sales abroad. So their growth is far beyond the US’s borders
Wonder what SPY or VOO was on that day
You aren't down 80%, you are down 12.5%. You also weren't investing, you were gambling. Anytime I see a post with a majority (or entirety)) of their account in leveraged options, I see someone gambling. All is good until it isn't. Put your money in VOO and walk away before you wreck yourself. I had do to the same. It felt great to win and terrible to lose.
First off - the fact that you can write this, own it, and ask for help takes more guts than most people have, that's remarkable. A a few things that might help: You already made the hardest decision, moving to VOO and stepping back from active trading is exactly right. Most people in your position double down trying to "win it back" and make it worse, you didn't and that matters. The money isn't gone forever. $70k in VOO growing at historical averages gets you back to $150k+ in 10 years without doing anything. You're not starting from zero and you still have capital and time. The real damage is psychological, not financial- the panic attacks, the phone addiction, the marriage strain - that's what needs fixing first. The portfolio will recover on autopilot. Some practical things that helped me step back: \- delete the brokerage app from your phone, check once a week on desktop. \- stop watching futures, seriously, it's self-harm at this point. \- set a calendar reminder for 6 months from now to "check portfolio." until then, just auto-contribute and don't look. On forgiving yourself: you didn't do anything evil, you made aggressive bets that didn't work., it happens. The market has humbled smarter people than you and me, one bad year doesn't define you. Probably you're 30s or 40s I'm guessing? You have decades of earning and compounding ahead. The fact that you're posting this, asking for help, and already made changes - you're further along than you think.
Those stocks are lumped into various ETFs already. Three are long term winners with good, measured upside and QS and HYLN are the future of energy in the world for our lifetimes. There's more guarantee in these five than there is risk and I'd be happy to bet on that. Set a reminder and check back in a year and let's compare. For every year this portfolio is down vs the aforementioned VOO or VTI (betting broadly and solely on U.S. markets with our debt?), I'll donate $100 to the charity of your choice in your name. If this portfolio is up, donate $50 to The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $50 to Shriners Hospital under a moniker of my choosing.
You look kinda regarded to be honest. Sell everything and go into VOO if you don't wanna look like a complete idiot. If you had to own individual stock like a degen, stick to mag 7 only.
VOO and some QQQM. Leave alone and keep adding. Go about your life.
Oh I only moved to SGOV in mid-November. I have a few thoughts as to how/when I'll re-enter into VOO or VT.
Just put it on the VOO/ VTI and add over time. And if you cant do that and are too much of a degen cash out and buy physical assets (gold, silver hell a rolex) and just put that shit in a safe to convert when you really need the money. All if these will grow over time and are very liquid.
If you learned your lesson sell your stupid bitcoin and just hold VOO
I've always wondered why people such as yourself subscribe to and comment in investing and market subs. If you want to DCA into VOO and chill, that's great. But if you're that one-dimensional in your approach, what's the point of all these communities? You could literally copy and paste that into every post in every investing community. I'm not content on the other hand. I don't have a 20 year horizon; as I stated, I live off my investments, so I have a 1 month horizon. I think any reasonable investor with experience would see the mid-term risk/reward of DCAing or holding right now isn't great, and there are better opportunities out there.
I put a portion of my income every month into stocks, no matter what. VOO is my default but for past few months I’ve been doing CMF (live in CA) and VEA/VWO instead. I’m looking at treasuries for Q1 2026.
But there is a clear path...$583 a month (the amount needed to max out a Roth) in VOO every month of your work life from 20-65 will get you around $5.3 million. It's just math, but no young people are interested in getting rich slowly, so they blow any chance of wealth by YOLOing. We teach compound interest in middle school, but very few students realize the real world ramifications. It's too bad we glamorize the day traders more than we glamorize Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger and their wisdom
This was my first year of trading. I’m 17 and was just playing with some money I’ve saved for years. Decided to be a lil silly and bought mostly NVDA and some VOO. Even though I’m up 30 percent I’m going to be rethinking my investment strategies now that I have a regular income and can open a Roth. It was fun gambling while it lasted. I can’t help but feel like I’ve been incredibly spoiled this year. Can’t wait to be in a bear market lol
Not too dissimilar. VOO, VUG, AVGO, Small GME play, some in money market funds, some in my old company ESPP I never cashed out of. 401k not included
To park some money? Terrible choice. VOO could go down 10% in a week, I don't think that money would be parked for other opportunities in that.
Pay it off. I am a defense minded person, if your home is paid off, in a worst case scenario happens and you lose your job and have difficulty finding another job, you living expenses will be pretty minimal and it would be easy to maintain your standard of living. It will also make it so much easier to retire. Put the 5k directly to the mortgage and skip in vesting. You could even split it and do 4k towards mortgage and 1k in VOO.
Realistically he'll break even in a couple of months just investing in index funds like VOO and QQQ. Then it will be like nothing ever happened. Which means... try options again!!
But in reality you’re only down 12%. 70k in a portfolio is still pretty damn good. I would follow what others have said and throw 80% of what you currently have in VOO or something and then play with the rest. You’ll be glad you did
IMO it makes no sense to pay it off in 4 years. Yes 6.8% is hard to swallow. Historically the last 70 years, the S&P has an annualized return great than 10% Find some middle ground. Instead of paying off the mortgage in 4 years. Pay it off in 10 or 15 years while still investing. Also, what will be your tax burden if you sell off VOO in a few years to pay off your mortgage.
Sounds more like a gambling addiction to me. OP: you might not be cut out for this life. Put 80% of your assets into VOO. Never take that out. Play with the remainder if you must, but don't put new money into it
VOO and chill or take my last 100k and try options. Never done them before and I don’t have another 100k
VOO, RKLB, IREN, ONDS - 35.39% so far in 2025. Heading into 2026 with the same setup.
LEAPS calls only offer one advantage, and many disadvantages, over just buying SPY shares, or if you want to go more concentrated, QQQ. You don't have to buy 100 shares, you can buy whatever you can afford and then DCA more in over time. The one advantage is leverage, so unless the one and only thing you care about is leverage, enough to put up with all the disadvantages, just buy shares. The CSP trade you described is called The Wheel. The Wheel is just a bull stock trade with more steps. It performs worse than just holding shares in a bull market. It performs slightly better than shares in a bear or flat market. So my advice is just stick your 5% back into reliable ETFs. I'm not sure what "slow growth" means -- kind of sounds like bad ETFs to me -- but if they are good ones, just reinvest. The good ones would be SPY, VOO, VTI, VXUS, VT, or QQQ. If you don't have shares in any of those, you are probably leaving money on the table.
I am officially moving everything into Ike VOO or just SPY. I quit Officially slammedbro
Run the scenarios in a spreadsheet and be sure to account for income taxes from your VOO investment when you pull out that $238K or less. You would probably be better off paying your home down some at a faster rate and continuing to invest some. I'd suggest you consider an S&P and Nasdaq index fund ETF. I'd also think you have maxed out all of the possible contributions to tax free vehicles such as 401K's, SEP's, etc. You can beat your mortgage interest rate in the market with index funds fairly easily if you do a little research and you do not need to pay a lot for those funds either. Just buy the QQQ or the TQQQ (3X) and let it ride for the NASDAQ and the SPY for the S&P. There are a lot of products out there that make a good sales pitch, and they perform quite differently, so check carefully. My suggestion would be to be patient and ensure you get your house paid off in 10-15 years and invest heavily.
Of my accounts on Robinhood: Strategies Taxable 20%, Strategies Roth 20%, Self Managed Roth 66%(HOOD&AEO). Work 401k in VOO 19%
With the S&P up about 18%, and with so much of it buoyed by big names, it’s almost hard to have not made money in stocks in 2025. The only investor segment who probably ended down are the ones messing with speculative options and/or the 25 year old Yield Max bros who spent the year yelling about how stupid “VOO and chill” is.
You can become a multi-millionaire by retirement by just investing a percentage of each paycheck (10-25%, start low if you need to but it has more growing power the earlier you start so do whatever you can) into a well-diversified index fund and letting it compound over time. VOO if you want to bet on the 500 most powerful US companies, VT if you want to invest globally so you come out on top no matter what nations rise to power. You don't need to spend your days sweating your individual stock picks, you don't need to be watching finance headlines, you don't need to panic when the news reports that the individual company you're heavily invested in uses parts that cause cancer, just set it and forget it. You'll see stories about people who made instant 5x-10x gains picking individual stocks but you won't see the more numerous stories of people who lost money being individual stock pickers.
What I did early on with my money saved up was invest in an S&P 500 fund/etf.. It did great for years, but I wanted more than that. So I hit the books and learned how to find good stocks. Then after around one year of reading, that is when I only got confident in picking stocks. My portfolio only started to significantly beat the market once I learned how to pick my own companies. Looking back, I am glad I learned how to pick stocks, because that is the only way you can have a chance to beat the benchmark by +10% or more without trading options. My portfolio right now is 10% VOO then 90% stocks. As for mistakes, stick with fundamentally sound companies and have patience.
I’m not a fan of CPB or SCHD. If you want defensive stocks, look at Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. FRT, O and EPD are all dividend aristocrats (raised dividends over 25 consecutive years) and have a high dividend yield. Additionally, I would not de-emphasize VOO out of fear of an AI bubble. S&P 500 is a consistent winner over decades. If you fear a crash or inflation, buy gold or gold miners as a hedge. You are asking the right questions. You will be fine.
Okay thanks. About VOO, I actually do not like its heavy exposure to tech stocks because I think the AI bubble is bound to pop at some point. So I’ve opted to hold SCHD long term since that is comprised of more defensive stocks and prioritizes dividends growth. But since I am still a young man with (hopefully) lots of time left, I hold NVDA alone as my tech exposure since that is the heavy hitter in that industry. I think that alone would capture the majority of % gains that I would see from the industry as a whole. Last question. What do you think about holding CPB long term? I know it’s historically a major US food company, but recently it’s sort of been forced to adjust its business strategy and re-balance its product offering portfolio. But for long term, I like to think that it is bound to recover at some point because of brand strength and its wide moat. Do you have any thoughts on this?
I'm a big fan of dollar cost averaging I use a 3 fund port QQQM SCHD VOO I put money in each on a weekly basis. Just about all of my cash is in the SPAXX fidelity cash I just set up the auto purchase. I'm hesitant to drop all the cash into and fund all at once in the event if a market/economic downturn of in the event of an emergency. You could probably do a solid $3k per week and get a good average over the next year plus.
Congrats, you’ve worked hard. If I were in your position, I’d first read through the personal finance subreddit wiki to understand where you stand and where to invest 401k, Roth IRA, taxable accounts, etc. Answering your question, assuming you have no high interest debt or recent major goals like buying a house, I would slowly invest $1,000–$2,000 per month into VOO or VTI (you can add VXUS if you want international exposure). Do this until your savings balance drops to $150k, then re-evaluate whether you want to continue or adjust the plan. I personally don't like picking stocks as I prefer owning ETFs. If you want small portion, no more than 10% of your total balance, tops 15%. Best advise is to be consistent in investing and don't over complicate you plan. The more you touch it, the more you get anxious. Just set it up and check up on it quarter or yearly.
This commenter is giving you bad advice. Listen to the other commenters talking about investing in ETF/mutual funds that follow the market like VOO or VTI. These funds track the overall market and in the long run have always gone up averaging roughly 10% per year. Individual stocks can start to be gambling and even people who spend hours and hours each week tracking the market can fail spectacularly. Check out r/boggleheads
VOO is green past 5 days, month, and year. Maybe you suck at selecting stocks
You wouldn’t have known anything. You would’ve assumed. VOO hasn’t existed for decades. It’s 16 years old. S&p500 took from 2001-2013 to become profitable. That’s why it’s super easy to say in hindsight. There are periods where paying off a home is the winner. It’s always a small gamble even if the long term data is in your favor
This is really less about math and more about how much certainty you want. A 6.8% mortgage payoff is a guaranteed return and being debt free by 2030 is a huge quality of life win. The market might perform better, but it might also not, especially within a short timeframe. A simple middle ground is splitting it, put some extra toward the mortgage for peace of mind and some into VOO so you stay invested. Either way, you’re in a strong position and it’s hard to regret buying certainty and freedom early.
Id use 10k for asymetrical risk and the rest in VOO with maybe a 100 shares in qqq but 90% in VOO for ever!!!!!
WSB is still light years ahead of /r/stocks. Dudes in stocks sub will downvote any talk of individual stocks, and circlejerk on VOO.
Stick it in VOO and forget about it until retirement
Check the statements. What you describe is transfer agent language. Is this account at computer share? You’re likely PAYING for receiving dividends. Open a Fidelity account and have them help you pull the stock into there. Have Fidelity explain the difference between Roth and such. In general you want to buy VOO on auto weekly basis. Whatever you can afford. Sell only when you have an urgent bill to pay for. Work to increase that weekly. That’s the basics. Everything grows from that basic foundation. If you make good money: find a trustworthy pro. Best of luck.
> If you put in even a little bit of work you can absolutely beat just a pure VT or pure VOO dca buy and hold forever strategy X to doubt
Which platform you use in uae to invest in VOO or S&P 500.
Good question, it’s not that VTI is “magic,” it’s just the most boring-effective option for rebuilding long-term wealth. VTI tracks the entire U.S. stock market (large, mid, small, and micro caps), not just the S&P 500. That means: • You still get all the big names in VOO/SPY • You also capture smaller companies that often drive long-term growth • You don’t have to guess which segment will outperform next Over long periods, the performance difference between VTI and VOO/SPY is usually small, but VTI slightly reduces concentration risk and removes the need to rebalance or rotate later. Why Reddit pushes it so hard: • Extremely low expense ratio • Broad diversification in a single fund • Historically strong returns without needing timing or active decisions • Easy “set it and forget it” behavior (which matters more than people admit) VOO/SPY are great if you want S&P 500 exposure specifically. VTI is recommended more often because it’s the simplest way to say: “I don’t want to make another bet; I just want the whole market.” For someone rebuilding and prioritizing consistency over complexity, that simplicity is the real advantage.
Good question…it’s not that VTI is “magic,” it’s just the most boring-effective option for rebuilding long-term wealth. VTI tracks the entire U.S. stock market (large, mid, small, and micro caps), not just the S&P 500. That means: • You still get all the big names in VOO/SPY • You also capture smaller companies that often drive long-term growth • You don’t have to guess which segment will outperform next Over long periods, the performance difference between VTI and VOO/SPY is usually small, but VTI slightly reduces concentration risk and removes the need to rebalance or rotate later. Why its pushed it so hard: • Extremely low expense ratio • Broad diversification in a single fund • Historically strong returns without needing timing or active decisions • Easy “set it and forget it” behavior (which matters more than people admit) VOO/SPY are great if you want S&P 500 exposure specifically. VTI is recommended more often because it’s the simplest way to say: “I don’t want to make another bet, I just want the whole market.” For someone rebuilding and prioritizing consistency over complexity, that simplicity is the real advantage.
I am happy for you starting so early - but in my opinion you did it backwards. I think its better that in the taxable account you go 65% VOO 35% QQQM and just buy and hold forever so you don't pay taxes until you sell for gains. In the Roth is where you can have 8-10 ETF/funds and a few individual stocks and do some (rebalancing / trading) without having to pay capital gains.
>There is no alpha anymore, not in the US market anyway. I don't think that's true. If you put in even a little bit of work you can absolutely beat just a pure VT or pure VOO dca buy and hold forever strategy, (in a tax advantaged account where there's no penalty for frequent trades) In a taxable account it's very hard because on top of having to win trades you also have to pay taxes on gains, so in my taxable brokerage I basically bogle head it.
I'm not talking about hindsight though... I'm talking about a few years ago it was noon that i'm sorry that I didn't explain it well in my first comment... I didn't mean using hindsight. If I were using hindsight, it would be over twenty percent on average of the past few years. I was saying that over the past decades VOO has performed over 14 percent on average, which is something that I would I have known in 2019 if I were knowledgeable
But if he invest in VOO until $238, he’ll owe long term capital gains. Pay it off
Put it into VOO. Use that to open a securty backed line of credit for 200k invest 50k of your SBLOC back into VOO and refinance every year and do the same thing over and over. You will never run out of money.
How are people saying that 6.8% is high when VOO returned almost 15% over the last 10 years. How is this not basic math?!?!?
Exactly! I respect all the J.C. aligned philosophies, but the whole echo chamber portrays the discussion about alpha generation or trends or anything else in that regard hopeless. It’s like a cult copy pasting the same old lines again and again, I mean, sure, but can we for once try to foster the creative discussions leaving the “buy and hold VOO” aside?
I’m 58. If you believe VOO’s high concentration in information technology and communication services, capturing the MAG 7, adding some of these stocks always you to diversify and still own great companies. Read about these companies on Yahoo Finance or other sites and start slow. You can also join the American Association of Individual Investors for excellent investor education and model portfolios.
As a bear, I deserve to lose money 😭. How can I buy puts while my 401k is 100% VOO. I’m rooting for myself to lose money 😭😭😭