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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
You're in a great spot, and honestly the biggest investment that will return massively to you is anything regarding time and safety. I was in your exact shoes and I remember it felt like it was the best decision was things regarding risk, multiplying money making it move faster, but in reality majority of it could have just gone into an S&P 500 ETF, like VOO that has almost no fees and then another portion of it could have gone into yourself, you know investing in you gaining skills that pay you in the future. In this case I wouldn't necessarily say you need money to invest in yourself anymore these days because of the resources we have. For your situation, 17 years old, if you don't need any of it, it really could just be shot straight into a US fund, so you can set and forget. You can find VOO on any financial application. If you really feel inclined to risk set up a smaller portion of the money that you're going to invest in this case it was $5000 maybe set up $500 of that to go into a specific stock that you believe in for example that could be Tesla that could be Walmart it could be anybody Disney but the really smart thing here is to find a balance and diversify that's why I recommended the United States fund VOO. Life will be good to you if you are good to it, the fact that you're here asking this question already proves to me you're in a good spot.
I don't think you can buy mutual funds at Robinhood, only ETFs. If you transfer your account to Fidelity, you can buy Vanguard mutual funds, but only with a hefty service fee. So if you really want Vanguard mutual funds, you'll have to transfer your Roth IRA to Vanguard. However, you can buy Vanguard ETFs (like VOO, VTI, VXUS, VEA, etc.) at either Robinhood or Fidelity with no fees. None of what you are thinking about doing would involve taxes. Personally I would choose Fidelity over Robinhood. 3% match is no joke, but Robinhood has a history of shady practices and heavily advertises and attempts to lure people into gambling and risky trading. I don't want to support that. The best investing is boring investing. Fidelity or Vanguard would be perfect for that. If you go to Fidelity, set up a main Fidelity log in, then open a Roth IRA, and get started on the Fidelity side to transfer your account. The Fidelity transfer team will handle it and you won't have to deal with your old firm or advisor at all. Make sure you download a current balance statement showing all of your funds and the amount invested at each in your current Roth IRA before starting the transfer. Good luck!
VOO and dont look at it for a while.
OP check out ticker VOO. Looks a lot like S&P 500 and is very low price in terms of fees. You will be up and you’ll be down in it but in 20-40 years you’ll probably like where you ended up.
Do you have a job? Custodial Roth IRA until next year you are 18. Put in VOO or QQQM and don’t think about it. Get used to buying VOO on auto weekly basis. Sell only when you have something urgent to pay for. That’s all personal finance is. Spend less, invest more auto. Anything you will spend soon should be in your money market or SGOV. Open a Fidelity youth account. Sounds like you will do great!!
>Hundreds of investors across China have accused a Shenzhen-based private gold trading platform of collapsing after users were unable to withdraw funds or retrieve physical gold, triggering protests, police involvement and allegations of official cover-ups >Shenzhen >China >"""private gold trading platform""" This isn't even an indictment on gold so much as this is just how shit goes in China. Like it's worse than FTX and on the levels of mini/private crypto exchanges. That's like saying you're buying Mag7 or VOO on a *"Decentralized crypto-tokenized stock trading platform owned by a Nigerian prince operating Malaysia."* If you're that fucking dumb then you deserve to lose.
I was on the sidelines. I learned long ago not to jump on hype trains. I mainly stick to the Mag 7 and VOO. I should really start getting some BTC.
Holy shit that's dark stuff. I'm done trading stocks this shit is cracked..VOO and chill for me.
Assuming I already had an emergency fund, probably VOO. But, if it was me, I would split it between several things: VOO SCHG Bitcoin GLDM SMH
VOO and VXUS, currently keep cash for downside risk but will move to SGOV or similar when interest rates go down. A few smaller positions in individual stocks and BTC, those going up or down a ton don’t impact my overall picture and I enjoy speculating a bit. A lot depends on your time horizon and risk tolerance, like all investment decisions.
First of all, diversify your portfolio. If you're not a seasoned investor, don't put all your money into individual stocks. When you buy an S&P 500 index fund, you're essentially buying 500 top U.S. companies in proportion to their market caps. At a given time, some of them go down, some go up, and the net is usually positive over a longer time period. That’s why people say “VOO and chill.” 50% of my holdings are in SPYM. I try to buy 5 units of SPYM every time it drops 0.5% or more. That’s my way of DCA-ing. My remaining 50% is allocated to individual stocks. Even there, I try not to concentrate too heavily in a single sector. Of course, tech is the most lucrative, but I still try to spread my positions across 4 different sectors at a time. I also don’t buy anything I don’t understand. A recent example is precious metals like silver, or crypto a few years back. I understood they worked as a hedge, but I didn’t understand why they kept going up after a certain level. When something goes too high and most people can’t explain *why*, you know a correction is imminent. That’s why people say not to buy at an all‑time high. All the stocks you mentioned are very volatile, and they’ll probably go back up again. But if you hold positions in such names, you need to be able to stomach days like Friday. Work on your risk‑management strategy, and if you care about your money, diversify and take smaller wins.
If I genuinely had to pick one thing and forget about it, it would be a broad index fund like VOO. Boring answer, but it removes the need to be right about timing, narratives, or individual companies. Over long periods, that simplicity usually wins. If I wanted higher risk, I’d only do that if the money wasn’t emotionally important. Most people underestimate how much psychology matters once prices start moving.
Should've just bought a S&P 500 like VOO.
I would just VOO. But if it had to be one stock. MSFT OR AMZN.
Dude, you've bought the most bubbly and speculative assets in the market at eye watering valuations, what did you expect? My advice would be to DCA slowly into VOO if you're concerned about market fluctuations. The nice thing is that when the market turns down again there will be new names like ASTS that seem promising but are priced for outright failure. ASTS and RKLB have been my best stocks, but I wouldn't buy more now. In the meantime, consider watching some sober Youtubers that give you an idea of how the stock market and finance works. Pensioncraft is my favourite, just a nerdy guy who knows his stuff and invests his own portfolio conservatively teaching you about markets. And if you want to buy speculative tech then, set aside 10% of your portfolio cash to mess around with. The other 90% should be in at most a handful of well diversified ETFs and not touched other than to rebalance. Good luck, and don't fret, it'll all come out in the wash.
Zooming out helps, and the long-term case for VOO is strong. The challenge is sticking with that view during the parts of the chart you don’t want to look at while you’re living through them.
Most people should not own individual stocks. You don’t have the knowledge or the skill to beat the market and frankly, most people lose money trading options. Reddit is the epitome of people who are “vibes” investing. You’re listening to people who have never lived through a genuine bull market. ETFs like VOO or VT exist for people like you. There is no shame in that, but you need to recognise that yes, they will be red sometimes. This isn’t a get rich quick thing. Investing is generally meant to be a long term thing.
You’re holding bag because you’re listening to consensus at a time of extreme valuations. Always look at the market independently. And stay out of extremely popular symbols as they fall hardest when the tide changes. It’s a good lesson learnt. I would advise to wait for the market to drawdown at least 10% before buying into it but then investing in SPY or VOO is a better choice.
I know people will always shout “VOO and chill”, but honestly if I were your age again with a small amount of capital and just getting started I would probably set like 50% in an S&P fund that I added to weekly/monthly, then park the rest in a “gamble” stock that I believe in. If you parked that 1k you have left in VOO for 2 more years in college, you’d *theoretically* get anywhere from $120 (6% return) to $476 (21.5% return (average of the last two years)) or more depending on how this year goes. So I would throw roughly $500 into one of those funds and add to it monthly/weekly when you can, and put the remaining amount into small cap stocks that you like with growth potential. You’re still young and will likely fuck up again. To combat this, give yourself an allowance where most of your income (80-90% after the initial 1k) is set aside for smart investments and the rest is used to see what happens. And stop trading options. There are times where they make sense, but even then you should buy them with 3-12 month expiry so you have time with them. Short dated calls and puts are risky and long dated calls/puts are typically more expensive than what you can afford.
I don’t know. Have you zoomed out and looked at how the chart looks for VOO?
"VOO and zoom out." - r/investing
Etfs are good I have VOO and QQQ mag 7 of course ,dow chemical I've had for years...and some other obscure long term holds I've had..
a cheap lesson, take ur losses and get back into VOO
If you go to r/dividends and say that, you'll get downvoted to oblivion. VOO and DCA is preached like it's a cult.
SCHG, QQQM both have 50% or so overlap with VOO. If you want to diversify, look at international funds or something like AVUV.
What are you trading? If 0DTE stop that. Instead try getting LVL 3 options trading. Start with monthly credit spreads. Never trade during earnings or if a company is getting ready to pay dividends. Or instead of VOO and chill. Look into investing in SPYI, QQQI, IDVO, and SGOV. All pay monthly dividends. SPYI and QQQI follow the index’s. IDVO is international exposure with great growth. SGOV is very safe it’s a bond ETF that pays monthly great place to park cash. 25% in each one will give you a nice passive income. Buy Monday while the market is still down. I lost $2600 lost $2600 last year mainly due to 0DTE trading and one bad Cash secured put options play. Study the charts. Pay attention to earnings reports. Pay attention to the Vix. If the Vix is up things are going to be RED. VIX is Down things will be Green.
I’m waiting for everyone to say fuk stocks after they got hit im buying VOO and chill because LOOK 👀 it doesn’t go down and then they rug it for 20%.
Sick of losing money gambling, I want to park my money in ETFs and put myself through college so I can do something other than doordash gigs. ChatGPT recommends the following ETFs: VOO(45%), QQQ(20%), VXUS(25%) and VNQ(10%). reasonable?
1M USD is your goal?? LMAO. That is what I am making a year in holding VOO LMAO
Ticker: VT Potential entry: $144.86, $145.00, $145.33, $145.50 Potential take profit: $146.12, $146.47, $147.00, $147.59, $147.83, $147.99 Ticker: VOO Potential entry: $629.89, $631.96, $634.50, $634.55 Potential take profit: $636.78, $637.08, $638.42, $639.24, $641.47, $642.21 Ticker: VTI Potential entry: $337.72, $338.39, $339.56 Potential take profit: $340.64, $341.23, $342.04, $342.52, $343.94
Bought when it was in 700s not thinking to sell it at atleast 1100 because I don't think it will ho any higher than that. I have 13 and thinking to invest on something long term like VOO, VXUS or QQQM. I mean those are already giving me 7 to 8% in 6 months I invested. On the other hand I'm losing in NVO and VKTX like more than 45% down since I bought 🥲
Imagine DCA into VOO for the last 5 months only to get a 20% dump this year and now you’re out of cash. Show your hands 🙌🏻
That wasn’t “investing”…. It’s pocket change in the grand scheme. Now actually Throw the last $1000 in VOO and forget about it till after college. Or keep adding to the position as you earn more money
Never take direct investment advice from anyone.. That said, index fonds like VOO has historically been very good +10% per year in average Etoro has some funds where they cover your loses (in case of loss) if after a set date, but you get to keep all the profit . So basically no risk. Since you are very young, you can afford higher risk as they potentially gives higher return.. I personally would chose the VOO (or similar). Normally every 7 years or so there will be a correction in the market for typically 10-15% and sometimes it will be a crash with is typically more than 20%, but historically just ignoring those and keeping the investment will give an average return of +10%
I think it's somewhat unlikely that the OP will move the price of companies worth billions of dollars by his Reddit post seen by a hundred "VOO and chill" people.
1) Learn your lessons 2) Work very hard at your day job. 3) Don’t think you will get rich in options. Instead, just by VOO and forget so you can keep focused on your day job that pays the bills and supplement your investment. 4) DO NOT HAVE KIDS until you are well off financially. Wear a condom or pull out and give her a facial. Once you have kids, your life will change to the worst possible outcome 😂 5) Live like a poor man, because most of the people who aim for luxurious life are most likely in debt and live paycheck to paycheck.
>Prices flashing. Daily moves. Breaking news every hour. It feels like you are supposed to do something all the time. Simply ignore them? No one is making you watch the news or pay attention. If you want to long term invest then long term invest. Buy VOO/VTI/whatever else you want and then close the app. Check back next year, invest some more and close the apps.
Looks at VOO, 87% growth in 5 years. You're in the good times buddy.
VOO is up 87% from 5 years ago. TSLA is up 63% in the same time frame. I don't think you know what you're talking about.
Interesting setup on VOO. Timing matters more than the thesis here. For anyone tracking how VOO is actually trading: [$VOO](https://aimytrade.io/ticker/VOO?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=comment&utm_campaign=smallstreetbets) Watching to see if buyers show up.
Nope, investing in VOO and enjoying compound interest is the smart move. The poster you are replying to is a moron who doesn't understand the very basic concept of opportunity cost. If you're a new investor do yourself a favor and don't pay much attention to anyone in this sub for the first year or two.
What ratio do you suggest VOO:VXUS?
What kind of diversification (in percentage) do you personally suggest: VOO, BTC, GLD, anything else?
ima noob investor. is there anything wrong about investing in VOO lol or are you just making fun/shaming because this reddit is for volatile money making buys
MSFT alone is 6.1% of VOO and 5.47% of VTI. The 9 of the top 10 in those indices are tech and represent 40% and 30% of them respectively. S&P 500 indices should no longer be considered diversified. This is not an unreasonable reason to panic. Metals took a huge hit today. Will the money come back or will it be held in cash. The stock market better hope it goes back because otherwise they are waiting to buy bunch of stocks when the crash comes . Just a matter of time.
=what dip? you new guys on here need VOO and chill. STOP BUYING TOPS\~!!!!
Sound like you’re trading more than investing. Aim for companies you can hold for 5+ years that you know something about (ie are familiar with the business and 10-k and their strengths weaknesses), an have a competitive moat. If you can get in at a good price that’s a bonus, but the idea is, the company is worth more than the cash. You’re not worried when it falls because you own a great business with great people that will ultimately bounce back. How much should you research a company? In my opinion a good rule of thumb is once you know enough to stomach a 50% drop and not sell because you believe the company will bounce back long term. If after digging into a company you find the upside is not worth this kind of risk (even though, yes, a drop like this is unlikely for great companies), it’s not a company you can put money on. That’s a lot to stay on top of for a single company, and even more for many. If you don’t know much and you’re just buying and selling to make a quick buck, it’s going to end poorly and you should just DCA into VOO/VTI/VT.
If you’re measuring off your initial base you’re doing it wrong. Need to factor in the opportunity cost of not being an ape and VOO’ing. He’s down compared to the boring move
dont put all your money into VOO all at once if AI bubble bursts you might lose 70-80 percent of your money. Instead make monthly investments so if a fall comes you can buy it cheap and come back faster with a profit.
The only thing I've bought in 2026 is VOO and ONDS, and tonight I'm watching Columbo which I guess is a massive show. Are bone pills next 😭
Put every dollar in VOO, change the password to your brokerage account and don't look at it for 10 years.
Depression and stock volatility can be a bad mix. While VOO generates good returns on average, a bad cycle could deeply affect you. Make it 70/30 VT and BND generates lower returns on average but could be better for your mental well being and beats cash sitting around.
idk man, if you’re on VOO u are pretty much buying into oracle, msft too. it’s not gonna change.
Hey bro take a lesson from another margin retard. This is the second time my entire existence has felt terrible because I was a retard chasing trends and going into high beta stocks. I started last year. I'd be up 20k if I did VOO. Instead, here I am down 25k. I truly think it's margin that ruins us the hardest now. I've deleted the apps and am just praying for a decent margin exit in the next month. Then I'm disabling it and just auto buying ETFs.
You don’t have enough to get into VOO meaningfully.
But actually isn’t it easier to do VOO? I swear even if I bought MSFT since summer, I be down 15% if I DCA in
invest in VXUS if you want international exposure. it has done better than VOO over past year. That way you dont have to worry about picking a winner. There is always risk around any business. I do have international stocks but its risky for sure. I have LMVH, Hermes, JD, NVO, BABA etc. But I also have overall ETF and us stocks to balance it.
So do you think if I put $5000 of $7000 in the VOO and just left it I would see a somewhat return? Is NOW a good time to do this or should I be waiting for a drop? Thanks for the advice 😊
Hi im 23 and want to start investing. I have $10,000 in saving and wanna start by investing $1,000 to “dip my toes in” this past week i’ve been researching about how to invest and the stock market. I’ve decided that I am ONLY investing in ETF’s and not individual stocks since i’m still new and inexperienced. Im looking for long term growth. Should I use fidelity or robin hood? I made a list of ETF’s I’m interested and I need help deciding which to start with and how much to divide my $1,000 between them. The ETF’s are VOO VTI VT VXUS QQQM SCHD VGT So far i have 2 portfolio plans. Plan 1 VOO QQQM SCHD Plan 2 VTI VXUS VGT
Hi im 23 and want to start investing. I have $10,000 in saving and wanna start by investing $1,000 to “dip my toes in” this past week i’ve been researching about how to invest and the stock market. I’ve decided that I am ONLY investing in ETF’s and not individual stocks since i’m still new and inexperienced. Im looking for long term growth. Should I use fidelity or robin hood? I made a list of ETF’s I’m interested and I need help deciding which to start with and how much to divide my $1,000 between them. The ETF’s are VOO VTI VT VXUS QQQM SCHD VGT So far i have 2 portfolio plans. Plan 1 VOO QQQM SCHD Plan 2 VTI VXUS VGT
What is your question? You either have the option to move it to a self directed broker or you don’t. Sounds like you don’t. No offense, but why compare the performance to sp500? Are you saying would have just had the full value in VOO and not make any changes (I doubt that). Lawyers don’t know anything about investing. They hire a firm that insulates them, complies with binding orders, and justifies their fees (they not your friends). Sounds like you have to stick it out, then will have the option to self manage. Only time will tell if you will do a better job. If the trust is large enough, it is not as simple as VOO and chill. Maybe a trustworthy pro your lawyer can use that maybe provides better value or some discount on already invested assets.
VOO and VGT, yeah but all the commodities and mining ETFs got slammed.
Damn bro. How did you lose 120k on VOO?
Why have an IRA managed by an advisor “friend of the family”? Pick SPY VT VTI VOO VUG SCHG or QQQM and call it a day. You aren’t paying him I hope.
Most of my $ is in a 401K with limited options (unfortunately). But I'm about 50/50 international / US. My international is DODFX (which more than doubled VOO the last 12 months). My US is mostly defensive (SCHD - I know you all hate it, but I like it, so don't bother telling me how dumb it is). Less the 10% VOO/QQQ exposure. I have rolled the dice, now let's see what happens... Anybody who tells you they have any idea is an idiot IMO.
Put those into VOO and forget about it
Yep, for sure and was 100% VOO in the time between Crypto and Metals. In a HCOL area and trying to afford to buy a home for my small but growing family, on a single income, I’m kind of up against the wall and having to take big swings. It worked well in crypto and I thought I could replicate it even if getting in late to metals. Not the case, it seems.
Lowkey losing sanity by the minute, but it’s alright. Thinking about just parking my money in VOO and VTI come Monday. Just not good at the whole trading thing, tried at least.
Today made me grateful that I just park everything in VOO.
You're missing the US extended market (which can be found with VXF or change VOO to VTI).
Within 4 years I'm at 81% which is 10 months early compared to VOO. like I said earlier, I made a lot of dumb moves investing(gambling). I'm not an unaware regard. But it's not that deep brother.
Arguably I beat VOO by about 10 months compared to their 5 year returns.
Just buy VOO and block this sub my guy. You’ll be better off in ten years.
By buying VOO and VXUS every week. Just own every company and you'll never lose **shrugs**
Even if you bought at the top in 2000, 2008, 2021, you’d still be up a lot. Just buy safe investments like VOO.
I put a lump sum into the VOO initially. Just trying to buy more shares. Just seems like the money is floating out there right now.
I recently opened a Vanguard taxable brokerage account investing in VOO. A week ago I went in when market was down a bit and purchased $25 of VOO. A week later I haven’t seen the money leave my bank, and when I look at balances my settlement fund shows a -$25 under the total debits and credits area. What do I do?
Download Robinhood- and buy weekly stable ETF’s. (VOO, QQQ, SPY,VTI) You can buy fractions of stocks on robinhood. The climb is slow and steady. But there’s no discord or training guide to this stuff. “The house always wins”. So that’s why you take the
VOO let professionals do the research
Many will say VOO and I absolutely agree with them. But check out a small cap etf play as well. SMVSX has done VERY well averaging over 20% over 5 years.
"VOO bull forever" is trying to buy stocks that go down instead of stocks that go up This bull market is going to leave so many permabulls penniless
So, I wouldn't know where to start with this sort of thing. And I just really want some advice or starting point of research. My question is "I have $5,000, what do I do". I don't want to give a sob story, and I won't. I would say I am at not at a good point in my life. Probably my lowest point. But I want to turn it around. Maybe this can help if only a bit. Things could be worse. So, I should be grateful. I guess publicly on reddit is as good starting place as any. I don't expect a get a gold ticket, or rich quick strategy from this. and I probably should not expect that. So, for the information the thread wants, I am 25, in the US. Unemployed, I doubt I will be able to get any job, but if I do get one, I will invest close to 100% on investing. I mean the highest job I can get would not even give me $10K a year probably. My Goal? Idk, either get out of the hole I am in and make a future for myself, somehow. Hopefully in the next 2-5 years. I don't expect millions. Just get out sometime in the future. Risk tolerance? I don't know. I would say I guess I want to risk a lot at this point. Although I would not say I am un cautious, but at this point all or nothing, but I don't trust things. My holdings? None Debts? Kind of but not really. basically, the equivalent of the money I have. Some small credit card debt, Doordash, and a car that isn't even mine to begin with. I could probably pay it back now in full. I don't have anything else to say. I'm not going to pretend like I know what I am talking about. This comment will probably be lost in the depths reddit anyway. Realistically, from as much as I've been able to figure out. I should probably put money into VOO or ETFs or whatever. That is probably safe over the long term. (Or maybe put everything into Nvidia?) I'll be a Millionaire when I am 70 years old at that rate. I like the idea of it, I don't really know how it works
fwiw, when I realized how much I was paying for ETFs where 50% of their holdings were in 8-10 stocks, I shifted to nearly 100% stocks. still have a few, very few, ETF holdings, mostly bought quickly last spring during the sharp downturn. So .. while OVERinvesting in individual stocks is all to common, simply buying, and for me, usually buying at less agressive percentages, the particular stocks in an ETF that seems appealling, has been working well. I don't think of the stocks as gambling in the least, they are simply the 800 or so USA stocks that are the largest caps, and the 100 or so largest world stocks that can be bought as ADRs. So .. taking VOO as the lowest-cost option, and even for it, you pay more in fees than you buy in the smallest 100-150 stocks .. if your proposed ETF has a fee much more than 0.03% .. probably wiser not to buy it, and just buy the stocks. You'll still gain if the ETF gains, and go down if the ETF goes down, but have a bit more control over buying and selling.
Yeah that's definitely true. It's really tough right now with so much in flux. Given your 5-10 year horizon it's especially tricky. I think at the end of the day it's whatever helps you feel like you're doing your due diligence and making decisions in a reasonable and well informed way. That alone has value in terms of feeling better and more confident about your wealth, but it also will likely help you grow it. If you stay on top of things and keep learning you may discover that discipline pays off as you rebalance to your target levels and restructure on a schedule. I feel like keeping emotions out of it and sticking to a process over time are themselves underappreciated ways to grow wealth. You're not planning on setting and forgetting, and you'll likely intervene if/when your allocation thesis doesn't hold anymore for whatever reason. That is a hedge in itself, hence a wealth generator. One other way to hedge if you're not comfortable going VXUS could be buying SPY puts on a regular schedule. It's one of the most liquid and reliable trades in the market, and one of the most straightforward applications of options to help your portfolio. It's low/no risk and just costs you whatever the put is going for when you buy it, which is pretty stable and predictable. You have no obligation to buy or sell any shares of SPY. If SPY crashes, though, you can sell the put at a huge profit, thus cutting your losses you would suffer from the S&P crash. It works out to be like 1-2% of the value of your portfolio per year work this strategy. The way I learned it was to purchase the SPY put(s) at a strike price 10% below the current SPY price with an expiration at the end of the quarter. How many puts you need depends on the size of your portfolio, since you'll need enough profit from the put to cover the losses and that depends on how much you have invested in VOO. The result is you'll have a huge chunk of your invested assets' losses covered by the profit you'd make off a SPY put if SPY crashes. You can keep this process rolling to obtain ongoing "coverage." Your puts will almost always expire worthless at the end of the quarter (that's good!, since it means SPY had been growing or at worst correcting up to 10% for the quarter), but you had peace of mind and the opportunity to maybe even profit from a SPY crash. It only cost you .05% of the value of your portfolio, for me a few hundred dollars. You can keep up the process of buying these SPY puts at the beginning of the each quarter and so at all points during the year you've got this automatic shield in the event of a SPY crash. At the end of the day it's an insurance policy that can help your portfolio stay afloat or maybe even profit when SPY crashes. Instead of being down 20%, you might be down 5%, and you would leave a SPY crash with cash from selling the puts you can then use to go on a VOO spending spree. Last thing for now but consider this: there are other very low risk and low cost option strategies that can serve the same function. You can consider purchasing calls on VIX with a semiannual or even annual expiration (if volatility shoots to 35 or 40, you win.) They're even cheaper than SPY puts and can be excellent "sleep at night" protection. I hear most people think of them as the ultimate earthquake insurance for your portfolio. Recall the whole yen carry trade crisis relatively recently when VIX shot to the 40s. Those calls suddenly became much, much more valuable. For me it's worth the cost of these protective option plays, since along the way at least a couple will pop and there are all kinds of ways to generate income through dividends or interest to fund these option purchases on an ongoing basis.
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.
As a younger fellow myself (21M), I’d put half in an index ETF (QQQM/VOO) and the other half into a few medium/large cap companies that YOU see a long-term future for. Do research, finds out what sets them apart from competitors and invest even if prices are high. The great thing about investing young is you have more time for things to change than anyone else. I’m in heavy in AMZN, VRT, POET, ASML, GOOG.
AI and storage like Micron is booming. I still like gold as well and VOO for peace of mind
Definitely agree on this point. I have international ETFs in addition to VOO, which could pay off if the US lags behind
I agree with the overall idea, but it seems like the last 15 years or so, and to a lesser extent before, that the two have been moving together for the most part. ie. VOO crashes/dips and VXUS crashes/dips too. There is definitely some difference there though, which is why I agree with the overall idea. I think long term VXUS could potentially outperform. Maybe even in the short term too. US is not the reliable powerhouse it used to be, and the trend is definitely downwards.
Buy VOO and chill. You will not beat the market.
RH is the best place to learn. You will need a margin account. With LVL2 trading. Start with Cash secured puts and covered calls. If you can get LVL 3 trading then credit spreads. Stay away from futures and 0DTE trading both great ways to lose your money. But before you start trading. Buy into monthly paying Index based ETF’s. SPYI,QQQI are 2 good choices. IDVO for international funds. I’m 48 started trading and investing at 45. Not a lot of time to build a nest egg. if you want ultra safe places to keep your money. SGOV,VOO,QQQ,SPY,SCHD and VTI are all popular ETFS. SGOV is a short term bond ETF that pays monthly but you balance never changes until you either receive dividends or add more money. The rest are growth funds that pay quarterly dividends.
One issue you might want to consider in your VXUS allocation is just simple first principles of diversification: say VOO drops 10 or even 5% in a week and your $100k portfolio drops accordingly. You've lost about 5000-10000. Now say you're 50/50 VOO/VXUS. Now you've only lost 2500 to 5000. Meanwhile VXUS could have been going up 5%-10% offsetting some of your losses, so let's say you're really down 3000. Down 3000 with the VOO/VXUS split vs down 5000-10000 with all VOO. In the 100% VOO scenario, VOO will now need to recover 10-20% until you get your money back. Yes, that's likely to happen, but it'll take time and when it does come back economic circumstances may be different. If you're still VOO you're still invested in the old regime, even though they may be the reason for the drop in the first place, since VOO just reflects the biggest of the big. The parachute effect provided by VXUS helps save your VOO during a downturn and provides extra growth during periods of mutual VOO/VXUS prosperity. The effect holds if VXUS faces a downtown and is parachuted by VOO. With a healthy VXUS split, you end up not losing as much during a downturn, not needing as much to recover from a downtown, and you get a lot better yields from VXUS. International looks pretty good right now as investors flee US risk and volatility, which is not going to change for at least 3 years and will likely accelerate as things here deteriorate further. Yes, there's a technological revolution underway but at this stage that means more volatility, which is an argument for hedging the risks in the tech/semis/AI concentrated VOO while also trying to capture some of that once in a lifetime growth opportunity. I recently went through this exact same issue and ended up deciding on a 60/40 split, with the 60 diversified between total US index and quality small and mid caps. Hope this has been helpful!
This isnt an investment reddit this is a gambling reddit. If you want to invest safely just buy VOO
If I am not mistaken VTI is basically 2/3 VOO + 1/3 VXUS. If you already have something like VOO and want to diversify, no reason to buy VTI instead of VXUS. Also combining the two has a sliiiightly lower expense ratio.
At the end of the day, your investment in VOO/VTI is backed by the full faith and credit of the nukes and aircraft carriers owned by the psychopathic US military-industrial complex.