VOO

Hot_Frosting_7101

S&P averages about 10% return per year with reinvested dividends which VOO and SPY do.  That is a long term average that holds for the last 50 years or so. At that rate, your money will double every seven years.  Obviously markets go up and down and we have had significant crashes in the last 25 years but it averages out to doubling every 7 years. That means with VOO your money will likely be invested in the range of 2x in 7 years, 4x in 14, 8x in 21, 16x in 28, 32x in 35, …. So if long term average holds, even with just VOO you will have 32 times what you have today at age 53. And of course you will continue to put money in along the way.

Candid_Payment_4094

VOO

Pristine-Flan-9661

I can't stand my boring VOO.

Novel-Top9151

Here is a little spreadsheet that shows how this account has little to no tax benefit if converting to a roth at the 22% income tax bracket. (assuming 15% long term capital gains tax rate for the comparative brokerage account and tax efficient etfs). The 530A imposes a lot of restrictions for not much benefit. For example, you can contribute as much as you want in a year to a brokerage account, making it compound much faster in the early years. It will depend on your specific situation (most importantly your child's ability to pull off an advantageous roth conversion) but I will not be using this account to avoid the fraction of a percent tax drag with VOO. [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vEtTk4pNNBVtBeIPQ2if1bQ9gLAiI5rh7DIA7pWnH10/edit?gid=0#gid=0](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vEtTk4pNNBVtBeIPQ2if1bQ9gLAiI5rh7DIA7pWnH10/edit?gid=0#gid=0)

FewUnderstanding2214

VOO went down like 10% last week it could go down more

ChamberofSarcasm

This. Put $450k into VOO and go away for one year. It'll likely be $500k. In another year it'll be $550k. You're back and you didn't have to do anything.

Efficient-Fudge-3515

How about you stop saying “get it back” and accept the fact that it’s gone, and just throw all your money into VOO. If you want the best advice, this is it.

Ebonvvings

Once OP gets in VOO, it corrects another -18%

Dismal-Access7599

Buddy VOO owns PLTR

Bob_the_peasant

Everyone here has a mil in VOO which is why we can stomach losing 30k in a minute candle The real question is what do you have outside of VOO in options

CharmingThirdTime

VOO & Chill for u now. A strong year can get you the 18% back. Last years return was 20%

Money-Place1869

Listen dude… Stop right now and don’t look back. You can take 1000-2000 out and trade with that but you’ve probably just been getting lucky so far in all honesty put your money in VOO and don’t be a moron. Trust me when I tell you it’s not worth it. Learn to trade with a small amount first don’t trade with a large sum in your account, make a totally separate account for trading!!! In the beginning… you need to learn, patience and discipline when trades don’t go your way as well as how to navigate and cut losses otherwise you’re gonna ruin your life.

No-Most2405

Selling all stocks for profit and going into QQQ VOO and GLD for the year

Bob_the_peasant

Is there any broker out there that just leaves you the fuck alone when you have a large value account? Fidelity asked me to trim my cost basis $387 shares on Microsoft and sell my calls + leaps on Microsoft at a loss and just shove it all into their version of SPY / VOO. Glad I ignored them but it’s gross that they made me think about it

Particular-Pen2135

VOO 8/7 $697.5 call up 25,700% lol

arolloftide

I'm gonna pretend I bought puts as a hedge for my VOO like a responsible investor instead gambling for big tendies.

LargeChungoidObject

Brother just VOO it now, the "goal" is not a necessity.

officialcrimsonchin

At over 200k, I would be prioritizing traditional contributions to your 401k before Roth. Investing wise, it sounds fine. QQQ is fine although it’s a big bet on tech. I would recommend VOO being a larger portion of your portfolio than QQQ.

lombardo141

Just stop trading my guy. You suck at it. Keep working like you have been doing an by VOO. Why don’t these idiots learn ? Jesus Christ 🤦‍♂️

Bryjeter2

VOO and chill before you lose it all. Consider what you lost a lesson learned and move on.

c4plasticsurgury

If the money wont be for an immediate use for you or your family (when you pass). I think you should go long VTI or VOO and try to get maximum gains over a long term. I don't know the age of the family your leaving it for but say you are leaving it for a 30 year old niece or something along those lines. I think you should be aggressive with the money. Best case would be to make a trust with an aggressive portfolio and when that 30 yr old takes control of the money it more than likely will be a bigger lump of money than if you put it into bonds.

siberano

I would sell them all today, invest the original 560 back into VOO, keep a bit for taxes and get something useful for 2k. Maybe a weekend getaway. Probably you won’t sell and then on Friday you’ll be thinking why you didn’t sell when they are worth close to 0

tothemoon_probably

All proceeds to go VOO anyway, send it

need20goodmen

Me when Im -20% down: Pls pls back to breakeven and I will just buy VOO Me at breakeven: 0 DTE BACK ON THE MENU

Affectionate_Run3921

Do your thing, but for what it is worth… I would not start with a strategy like this I would just regularly buy VOO. Follow stocks as businesses. Understand how they make money. Follow the markets. See how things move. Do that for a few years. All the best

Theolino54

So I should sell them and buy non thematic etfs like Msci world usd or VOO

CheeseSteak17

VOO (i.e. your last selection if that’s what’s available in your country) and chill. Don’t try to get specific stocks yet. Focus on enjoying the transition into your 20s. Good on you for starting early.

Nibblesweasel

VOO and chill. Start small with like 200 a month, I guarantee you'll have made all your money beack in a decade. Except now you don't have to waste time staring at charts.

Happy-n-Healthy

As a holder of VOO I'm I allowed to celebrate with all you Bag7 holders?

Evening_Hawk_7470

For the specific pairs you named, the differences are smaller than the discussion suggests. VOO versus VTI is large cap versus total market, and since total market is roughly 80% large cap by weight they track closely. FZROX versus VTI is a fee and portability question rather than a strategy one: zero expense ratio, but Fidelity proprietary, so you cannot transfer it in kind to another brokerage. If you ever leave Fidelity in a taxable account, you sell and realise gains. The more useful frame is that diversification is not the number of funds, it's what they hold. VOO plus VTI plus FZROX is one bet held three ways. The actual diversification decision is US versus international, and how much. On whether global still earns its place after a long US run: https://8figures.com/blog/portfolio-allocations/global-diversification-does-it-still-make-sense

Madsen13140

I should have listened to my mom who once told me when i was a child : " Just VOO and chill , let this shit compound"

flash-kicks

I’m holding these stocks until they go back up then putting it in VOO

Gorgenapper

What happens if you have enough VOO that it adds up to 1 MSFT?

music_is_gud

Depends. 1 on MSTR? A lot. 100 on VOO? Not at all.

Ok_Bad_7071

High debt and they haven't done anything exciting or different in years. Not to mention the economy is not good and no one wants to remortgage their house or sell their soul to take their family to the park. I got out and am glad I did. I took the money and put it in VOO.

123789dftr

I think the person who shouldnt be investing is you, the person who doesn't understand basic statistics and has purely anecdotal evidence. I said "revenue growth accelerated" AND "platform data (with the obvious implication the a total platform not your company's failing ads)". And revenue growth accelerating is absolutely platform data considering their whole revenue is pretty much ads. > Raising their CPMs and auction in recent reports without gaining significant new ROAs per advertiser nor encouraging results driven advertising spending is NOT a sustainable growth model. You seem to not understand basic economic price theory. Yes prices per ad is up significantly. You know what that indicates? The ads are more valuable! If they weren't getting requisite ROAS, they would simply scale down meta ads budget and prices wouldn't increase. This is all on top of the fact Meta tracks performance internally. If their new models were performing worse, they could simply revert back. But they're not! Considering you don't understand the very basics of pricing theory and can't separate anecdotal data points to the overall macro view of the company, I'd recommend you just stick to VOO buddy. Maybe focus a little bit more on improving at your job instead of blaming Meta

ArthurDent4200

My advice would be to make a list of etfs that fall into different categories of investments, look at their historical returns then split the total amongst 1, 2 or three of the category types. I like VOO myself btw, but you need to find your own path. A decent source of categories as well as recent histories can be found by googling Callen periodic table. It sounded odd to me when I first heard about it and it has nothing to do with the periodic table. Good luck on your mission, I hope you find it fulfilling.

Federal_Radish_1421

Jesus told me VOO and chill.

WishPractical8469

VOO

Sea_Buddy_2956

Open an account at Schwab or some other broker. Toss all 15k into some low fee index or total market ETF like VOO, VTI, etc. Tick the option to reinvest dividends, and just let it sit. The S&P 500 has a very good chance of beating any CD or treasury investment option in the 2 years you'll be gone.

JoeRidesBikes

Are you going to need the money in two years or is this for retirement? If you need the money when you get back, put it all in an HYSA, CD or SGOV. If it's for long term investing (retirement) put 100% of it into VT or VOO or whatever index fund you desire. What is the money going to be used for in two years? Start there.

winterrules91

VOO and chill

option-trader

And VOO with its 10% gain is perfect, because the risk on that position is very low. Now, the regarded Leopold didn't play low risk trades. He used 400% margin buying high beta stocks increasing the risk. For that kind of risk, you should not be looking for a 10% gain, or even an 80%. Why? Because of exactly what happened to him. That's the stuff regards on here do, and at least most of the ones in here to knows how to lock in 1000% profits when they see it. Leopold hit the gains and didn't have the experience to adjust his risk. He's playing like he was still only investing $5 when he should be looking at adjust risk on a $100 account.

Ok-Adeptness-5834

You don’t think 500% returns is good? What are you getting? I’m here happy with my 10% annual VOO returns.

Madsen13140

VOO and dick pillz

violet_evergarden8

Is there a 10X etf for VOO?

Paul_Robert_

$VOO 💀

Refflmania

what percentages do you do into VOO/VUG respectively?

usa_reddit

The market is a big game based on "greater fool theory" and retail investors are insignificant to the marker (as far as I can tell). Our only use is to feed HFT high frequency trading computers, where our stock is bought and sold 1,000 times in a millisecond each time we make a trade. It is tough to outperform the big ETFs like VOO but with AI and a human brain I now think it is possible. What can AI do? AI can quickly scan the global news and give you potential impact on the markets. It can also scan the market and tell you where money is rotating. If you synthesize all the information you receive into an investing thesis AIs like perplexity can really help and tell you when you are betting against yourself and how to potentially rebalance to hedge on risk. AI can also help you identify "fat pitches" like Microsoft last week and momentum trades where you get in out on the same day. I don't think you need to trade everyday to make big gains, but you need market summaries and news summaries that validate your investing thesis to make sure you thesis is on track. For example, Middle East peace would invalidate an energy thesis. Also, you will find things out like California is working on getting half of it's electrical power from solar and in response to national security threats the FCC has banned all Chinesium invertors (the things that make solar panels connect to the grid). Personally, I want to get into the 20+% annual return club and right now I am beating all three big ETFs but they are hot on my heels. My advice is to figure out your investing strategy so you aren't thrashing and all over the place. Use AI to help you with situational awareness in global events and finance news. Monitor it daily, I shoot for lunchtime. Try to wrap up your trading day by 2-2:30 because the market can often drop quickly at the end of the day, I am assuming it is people taking profits. Help AI identify fat pitches. Don't feel like you have to do something, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing and wait for the opportunity. If you must do something in put in lowball bids and try to catch drops in after hours trading. I haven't moved into options trading yet but it could be on the horizon. Here are the numbers for the BIG ETFs YTD August 2 VOO YTD 9.29% DJIA YTD 8.45% NASDAQ YTD 9.20% If you have any other ideas please let me know. I am looking at setting up OpenBB, but have no idea what to do with all the data or how to filter what is important. I am going to either find a class or have AI tutor me. Best of luck, we are all in the same boat if it makes you feel any better. We all feel the pressure of running out of money in the USA while our government continues to spend like drunken sailors and slash programs and subsidies.

Consistent_Laziness

The wrong kinda compounding am I right? Seems they have regrets that show their thesis to be incorrect. OP states I can’t get wealthy (wealthy to me is 3-5 million.) with simple investing. Yet he acknowledges if he had started sooner compounding could have taken ahold and made him wealthy. You are correct, I noticed it too. I’ll continue to stay away from stock gambling and buy my VOO / VUG.

__redruM

> Here's the problem, I think. If you want to get wealthy, slowly compounding likely doesn't get the job done. 15% a year is what we’re currently getting from VOO isn’t slow. It’s building real wealth for long term investors. It still takes years but does work. > Rather than AI edit this, I'm going stream of consciousness and I'll try to structure this somewhat. Why not make a clear concise point without rambling AND without having AI turn your rambling into a huge wall of text.

sharp315

firstly, VOO and VUG are not all that different. if want some type of growth play behind S&P index then I would say research some options instead of VUG. in terms of allocation, put your expected higher return investments in your Roth as earnings there are tax free. thus it would make sense to put VUG or whatever your growth play is in the Roth and leave VOO in your taxable account. the other thing to consider is to actually not sell any VOO for your rebalance and instead build your 20% allocation from new contributions alone. that will save you some tax drag in your taxable account over time if your portfolio keeps expanding then you may grow beyond your Roth in which case you would continue funding your side 20% allocation in your taxable account or a traditional IRA if you have it.

m-fasciano

I only started investing about a month ago, so I'm still learning. I decided to go with Vanguard FTSE ETFs: **VHVG** (developed markets) and **VFEG** (emerging markets) rather than the S&P 500 because I wanted broader global diversification. Reading this discussion has me wondering if I made the right choice or if I should be considering something else, like VOO, RSP, or another ETF altogether. For those of you with more experience, do you think VHVG + VFEG is a solid long-term strategy, or would you suggest a different approach?

Afraid-Policy-3648

didnt u guys promise to go VOO and chill if you broke even on semis?

sonofalando

VOO to $700 next week.

ProdigyCorp

At 22 with $15k in VOO and QQQM, you’re already way ahead. Anyone telling you index funds won't make you wealthy is confusing getting rich quick with building real wealth. ​Index funds already hold all the megacaps like Nvidia, so you get the upside without the single stock risk. Put like 90% broad index funds and play with the remaining 10%. If a stock crashes, you won't ruin your future. ​Your not being too conservative. Keep putting money into VOO and QQQM, focus on growing your income, and let compounding do the work.

Key_Category_8531

Thing with Nvidia is that the massive run up kind of already happened. You may get better returns in the long run with just VOO at this point, but idk

Fauster

For me, I hate seeing huge theta bleed/day. You probably do too. When you see it, ask if your durations are too short. If you have diverse and layered ST (45 DTE is ST for me) spreads, you will have theta bleed jump at out at you from somewhere all the time. Fuck that. Another consideration: When markets are are on fire and your core is skyrocketing, greed starts kicking in (for me and probably for you). You think: the only drags on my portfolio are my VOO/dividend stock/SPY barbell and my bear put spreads. You thought you wanted convexity, but that convexity is hammering you. The greed dimension, the theta-bleed convention, the cost-per-day convention all tell me to get the F away from ST options. And again, the biggest reason I hate them is because I hate fighting the MM. They have so much money, they can pin the price where they want. I can't. The Gambler's ruin paradox/Kelly criterion is at the center of the way I think about risk. Affordable risk management is at the center of how I personally think about my portfolio. I've sold awesome stocks near their bottom when I tapped out due to emotion, not reason. I don't want that. When you buy ST convexity, your are more vulnerable to freaking out over the volatility of parts of your portfolio. You are more vulnerable to the quant algos, you are more vulnerable to the MM. You are more likely to enter a crowded space at the wrong IV. In a huge rally, your super LT spreads won't implode to zero in a few days. But, absolutely, it is great to test a diversity of strategies. Don't take it from me, learn from experience. Open ST and 1-year spreads at the same time. Come back 45 days later and get a real feel for what happened and why. The reason you have bear spreads at all is to manage risk. If you want to pay a lot because you only need insurance for 45-days and are willing to pay more for it, then you have much more confidence that you can predict exactly where markets will be in the near future than I do. The max drawdown of SPY each year is around 13-14%. The beta of a very scary but very tempting stock like SNDK will waver between 3 and 4. That means an AVERAGE 50%+ drawdown per year. Note that I am preoccupied with the question of whether HBM or nand is more sustainably convex.

OkIndependence6227

put it in VOO and chill

glimsky

RSP is okay, but it bets equally on good and bad companies. I'd say it's better than VOO right now, but I wouldn't pick it over something like DGRO ou SCHD.

lanimatran

Cant believe I'm asking r/wallstreetbets but where is the fault in that logic? It has historically outperform VOO, even the "momentum" methodology has been around for longer than SPMO has, and backtest to a certain degree also yields higher than average return. Like OP said, just a very long period of underperforming with some periods of extreme overperforming.

VoidMageZero

Yeah that’s what I’m doing. Not selling VOO because then you have to pay taxes but shifting my DCA into RSP more. Plus if the market drops and you want to be more aggressive then you can just go back to VOO. It’s basically like the same idea of going into an international fund, you’re still aiming for equity growth but with less concentration and volatility. If you look at the long term charts you still get decent growth but lose less if the market drops. In the past year RSP and VOO are within like 1% of each other.

bask_oner

I’ve owned RSP for more than 15 years. It was sold to me back when it was common to have brokers and ETFs were starting to look better than mutual funds. The broker pitched it as a smart play because fee was lower than mutual funds and why should market share dictate amount of investment. This is the same guy who told me to buy AT&T over TSLA about a year after IPO. Thankfully I only took his advice on RSP. Just go buy VOO on Robinhood.

VoidMageZero

Yeah I starting buying some RSP over VOO recently, it sends to be inversely correlated on some days interestingly. Does seem like much better diversification imo without giving up too much yield especially this year.

ignatious__reilly

Damn……..they offered him $1 Million? Just take that shit, dump it into VOO and move on with life. Jesus.

GruntledV8Fanboy

I have VOO, VIG, and VIGI as well as SCHD, QYLD, and QQQ. I’m not saying what you should or should not do or choose, those are just included in my portfolio.

Jealous_Bookkeeper20

Sitting on 35% cash while holding 8 to 10 blue-chip tech and defensive stocks creates an interesting look-through dynamic. Since broad index funds like VOO already carry 30% to 35% mega-cap tech concentration, picking those same names in your individual bucket mostly doubles down on the exact same growth beta. Your 27% annual run over the last 6 years worked because mega-cap tech crushed the broader market, which overcame the drag of holding over a third of your capital in cash. The real test for active selection comes when tech doesn't carry the load and cash sits idle.

orcassharks

My long retirement fund mostly in SPY and VOO didn’t even blink.

Extension_Diet4064

If the explicit goal is weighting heavier into mega-caps without picking single stocks, VUG does that. Just be clear on the look-through overlap. In an 80/20 VOO/VUG setup, your top 5 holdings (NVDA, MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL) make up over 27% of your portfolio. If tech multiples contract, that tilt doesn't protect you from drawdown depth compared to a simple core holding.

Cruian

>for a little more growth tilt Are you aware that factor investing theory would not favor "growth" (or going large cap only) at all? Just the opposite in fact: small and value. Factor investing starting points: * https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/factor-investing.asp * https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/fidelity/fidelity-overview-of-factor-investing.pdf (PDF) * https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-black-hole-of-investing/ * https://www.dimensional.com/ca-en/insights/when-its-value-versus-growth-history-is-on-values-side Also, what about international? >I thought that I could do 100% VOO in my taxable and then in my Roth allocate that so that the combined allocation is 80/20 but eventually I will max out my Roth and keep putting into my taxable so wouldn’t that just dilute my VUG position ? If you only hold VUG in the IRA and get to the point that you can't maintain your target 80/20 ratio because the IRA limit is so low and you'd be overflowing into taxable, correct, a 100% VOO taxable would mean every dollar added there brings your further from your target. >Should I just do 80/20 in both accounts or should I do 100% VOO in Roth and then the rest in taxable. I can’t seem to wrap my head around how to get it as close to that split as possible. Mirroring is easiest, but if you wanted, you could do the IRA as entirely one thing and use taxable as a mix to achieve the target ratio.

shortking4

This is pretty much my strategy at this point too. I've realized that 9/10, the market is right and it's very rare that it's wrong. That said, there's usually 1-2 opportunities every year where the market is down on a certain sector and throws the baby out with the bath water. Those are the opportunities to strike. It's likely true that there are some secular headwinds and less profitability for a lot of those companies. That said, even if growth/profitability is genuinely lower, the market may oversell so much that now the lower growth rate is either at a favorable valuation or there's a chance for outperformance if the headwinds pass. Those are some of the best moves I've made in my investing "career". To me, investing comes down to: 1. Understanding the potential for asymmetric bets when you think the market is wrong 2. Managing risk so that one bad position or a general downturn doesn't wipe you out In other words, it's calculated risk-taking. I'm of the same mindset as you where I've realized I don't really need moonshots. If I can reliably compound at \~12% over the long run, that's much better than getting lucky with 1 5-bagger and underperforming on all your other positions. At that point, just buy $VOO and be ready to buy more when the market corrects.

Gloomy_Surprise2040

Now put it in VOO.

Middleclasslifestyle

The YouTube channel that explained it best to me when i had zero knowledge was Pandrea Finance. Look up his videos about selling options and the wheel strategy . Also look up the subredits called coveredcalls and thetagang Because you have alot of capital now you can actually run the wheel on one of the indexes like SPY or QQQ which is generally safer vs doing it on individual stocks. you can open up a charles schwab brokerage account and use their thinkorswim web version to paper trade selling options. You can set the paper trade account to 75k in capital to run a simulation if you were using your real money. Honestly I would learn about it first. And paper trade it first . Even if you decide against its just good to be more knowledgeable about the way things work Or the best advice. Park that 75k in like VOO and chill

Extension_Diet4064

Adding 20% VUG on top of 80% VOO doesn't give you true factor diversification. It just doubles down on top-heavy growth beta. VOO is already market-cap weighted, meaning the top 10 mega-cap tech stocks drive roughly 30% of the entire index weight. VUG's top holdings overlap almost completely with those exact same mega-caps. You aren't adding a distinct factor exposure like momentum or small-cap value, you're just concentrating your tail risk into the same mega-cap growth names you already hold in VOO.

Background-Hat9049

Well, gold can’t really go Parabolic. It’s hindered by the fact that it never really compounds. An ounce of gold will always be an ounce of gold, even if you let it sit for 10 Million years. A share of VOO on the other hand, if allowed to compound for 1000 years, will be worth a number I can’t identify

pr0prfkt

And you should be aware if your choices lead to constant selling, you’re probably investing wrong to begin with. VOO and chill exists for a reason.

Academic-Ad7090

VOO and QQQM are excellent picks for ETFs. You are very young and have lot of time to compound your savings. My advice would be to focus on increasing your earnings from your primary income source, save a certain percentage depending on the stage of your life into these ETFs every month, forever. If you want to slightly diverse exposure outside of large cap & technology, consider similar index funds covering other sectors. That should be good enough. Don't think about individual stocks or even worse, options trading. That's a lot of stress which takes away your focus from your life. Just excel at what you do, improve your income, save some and enjoy your life! P. S: For those suggesting individual stocks or searching for the next big hit, think about it, the index funds adjust their portfolio to include those best stocks and leaving out those underperforming ones for you, for a very small fee. Go through the list of stocks in a fund like VGT over the years, the set of stocks which form the fund keeps changing. Why spend a lot of time to read charts, pick stops, manage stop losses, tracking target etc for that extra few percentage gains when you can use that time to spend with your family or do stuff you love. Life is short! But if you say you love doing stock picking then do it by all means but it might not be suitable for everyone IMHO.

Bitter-Refuse-8623

This is my plan , at a minimum 20% of gains reinvested in VOO, SCHD, ARCC, CUBE , and I shares ETFs

Dear_Effective9745

I see this comment quite a bit. My current strategy is SPY shares and chill. Then once I’ve accumulated 100 shares, I plan to sell covered call options on them daily. VOO options are weekly and less valuable, which for my long-term goal, eating the extra expense feels worth it for now especially because distribution still offsets the expense. Thoughts? I’m assuming OP is talking 0DTE option purchases, right?

horesebeblind

God is sending you a message Skip the advisor and VOO and chill

CalebVanPoneisen

VOO and QQQ Why should I take risks with a billion dollar? I’m already rich af.

steady_compounder

Honestly the next step is probably just building the habit. VOO and QQQM are a fine start, but the bigger win is contributing regularly and not turning a retirement account into a constant stock-picking project. You can lose money in the short run, but the point of a Roth is giving the portfolio a long runway, not judging it month to month.

nordik1

i’ll do anything to get back to evens i swear i’ll VOO and chill 🙏 😔

PsychologicalDay2852

Hi! 20F in California, just started making real money for the first time and just started investing. I have a CD that expires next month and i’m deciding what to do with the money. Would love some advice from someone who knows very little about investing and didn’t come from a family that invests. Current breakdown: -Around 2000 in checkings -15000 emergency fund in savings (ever bank HYSA, just opened last week. this was in the same bank as my checkings before. i’ve probably lost a couple hundred on inflation on this the last few years). I put 70% of my paycheck in here. I’m making good money ~4000 a month at my internship, but that’ll slow to around 500 a month soon, untill I start work full time again fall 2027). My 500 all gets spent on basic living expenses. -45k in a CD (grandparents inheritance, sitting at around 3.40%. it seems silly that a hysa makes more and i’m putting so much into this CD and using it as my main investment. i’ve had it for 2 years and put all the interest last year back in. i’ll eventually use this money or a house down payment or car but not in the next 5 years) -Almost 2k in Roth ira (opened last year at around 1000, been putting in 50 a month, has been making like 2 dollars a month interest) What’s next: So, the CD expires next month. I’ve done some research I think i’m going to take 7500 out and put it in my Roth, leaving me with about 37. I’m thinking about putting 17k of that in a brokerage account with Merrill. That’s the investment i’m most scared of! The other 20k will go back in a new CD. What do you guys think of my plan? I’m most scared of putting 17k in a brokerage. I don’t know much about Merrill’s plans, but that’s where my CD is now. should I self manage it? I’d just buy common ETFs, maybe 75% VOO and the rest i’d invest something like VXUS to diversify. Biggest expense in the next few years will be rent! Right now living at home still and commuting to college. Looking to move out next year. Am I making a dumb decision? Help!

browhodouknowhere

For example I risk 40k to make 8k....but I sell puts at strikes I'd like to own the stock at Example: sell BE <120 day put at 200 strike exp 11/20. I use ai to run multiple models every week to to challenge my thesis on the ai build out. It continues to return 195-200 valuation (relative base case) So I wait for best premium sell to open or roll to a later date. Realize I have a a little more than 400k portfolio, have 300k in broad market etfs, >53 k in Schwab money market, and only actively trade a 50k sleeve. I take profits and buy VOO, put ETF payout into Schwab checking, take out taxes and let them sit in my MMF I never over leverage my sleeve. I run the wheel (option strategy), compound with VOO, generate fcf with jepq/ryld, dry powder with mmf, and day trade 50k with options

xGuardians

OP, please check your realized gain loss. I noticed you closed a large gain on VOO. Make sure your losses offset those. Remember, if you sell and repurchase within 30 days, it’s a wash sale. Would hate for you to have a fat tax bill on top of losses if you fail to recognize appropriately.

TheBlackBaron

You can also day trade with shares? That's why the much higher volume is relevant. If you're just looking to passively invest in an index then yes VOO's lower cost is preferable (although you should be investing in a total market like VTI instead of just the S&P 500).

CharmingThirdTime

But that person seems to have shares- why would someone looking to invest in an index fund choose the Spy ETF over the VOO etf?

RedEgg16

This post got recommended on my homepage so us VOO normies are here.

TheBlackBaron

SPY moves virtually identically to VOO. Day traders prefer it because of the much higher volume and options availability, not because it's more volatile.

tta82

Nonsense. VOO is a simple insurance to be a millionaire at the end of work life.

Good_Ride_2508

These two (VOO & QQQM) are best ETFs. Just buy them periodically, weekly or monthly whatever timeframe you can, and see after many years. Yes, you can go divdiedn reinvest with VOO and QQQM. This is good start. Good Luck.

FreeSugarOrSugarFree

Yeah… you’re right. Going to sell half and throw it into VOO/VTI. Brutal half of the year for me but my god did this make up for it. Uncle Sam will probably fuck me.

Slooogan

I work in substance abuse treatment. I just had a game changing idea. I’m going to open up a inpatient rehab for traders where you can only buy VTI or VOO for 30-60 days. And exposure therapy were your forced to watch people trade 0tde QQQ options. 💰

Due_Marsupial_969

Also problematic is the fact that it's not something the market doesn't know. Guys like me aren't exactly balls deep in these hail Mary stocks cuz I think AI and tech will not be printing money versus QQQ or VOO or BAC in 5 years.

Rocketboy1313

I never buy individual stocks in my IRA. As an almost silly game I have invested a small amount in more than 40 ETFs. Because I find that funny. Most people who are less whimsical than me would likely reccomend just putting all your money in VOO. Do that.

Mundane-Plant-6489

You’ll bounce back bro, but stop gambling I’d advise either picking a few stocks your strongly believe in with decent fundamentals and just adding whenever you can but focus on on your living expenses and bills first, or full port a solid ETF like VOO while you slowly build up then once you have a decent sized port and you want you gamble do so but with only money your willing to watch go to potentially nothing. People investing now have a false preconception of getting rich quick, don’t get me wrong your road to financial freedom is quicker with stocks and playing smart but it’s not a get rich quick. Accept growth will be slow and stop fucking with options until you can sell them stop buying em. Sell puts, sell calls run the wheel or buy leaps that’s as risky as I’d go fr.

RedEgg16

From now on, VOO and chill for the rest of your life

Happy_Stand6826

no, it's actually some content creators that are transparent about their portfolio that suggested to invest in safe etfs like VOO, QQQM, VXUS etc... was i lied to this whole time lol

Happy_Stand6826

VOO, QQQM, and VXUS. this is for my roth ira & hsa. my brokerage account has those 3 as well, and SCHD but i stopped investing in my brokerage for now so i can max out my roth & hsa.