Let’s build the best ETF portfolio

[masterPain]

I’ve been reading a lot of people moving away from wealth managers and investing for themselves since they rarely perform better than the market as a whole. What do you suggest the best balance ETF portfolio would be?

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[skougess]

VT and chill

 

[dizzy21]

VTI, VXUS, BND. 3 fund portfolio.

 

[masterPain]

I’ve read 5-8 is the most balanced

 

[anonperson]

I’ve been reading a lot of people moving away from wealth managers and investing for themselves since they rarely perform better than the market as a whole. What do you suggest the best balance ETF portfolio would be?

If you follow Bogleheads then it's probably something like VTI, BND. Some people want more international exposure and will add VXUS for that.

I'm essentially 100% VTI and have never used a money manager etc.

I'm not a baller like some of the other posters but am nearing the $1 million milestone in the next few months (not counting home equity). Just working and regularly investing into VTI/ VTSAX .

Just use the lowest cost broad market funds you can find. Fidelity has good ones if that's your brokerage.

The expense ratios and fees that these financial managers charge are what really kill your earnings.

 

[NICMAN]

Some people don’t realize this but social security is basically the equivalent of a bond investment. Since I am on the young side, that is why I simply go with VUG and a little VOO.

 

[NICMAN]

With all the volatility and instability I invest in safe harbor investments—no international bets on big growth; but, if I did invest internationally I would look to India.

 

[sevoflurane]

My portfolio is 125% crypto

 

[mheat3]

70% VTI, 30% VEU in my taxables to get the slight foreign tax credits

VT in my Roth IRA and a smallish Fidelity Bitcoin ETF position in there as well

 

[skougess]

70% VTI, 30% VEU in my taxables to get the slight foreign tax credits

VT in my Roth IRA and a smallish Fidelity Bitcoin ETF position in there as well

Do you feel like the tax credits add up to that much? I like the true set it and forget it nature of VT. Don’t have to worry about rebalancing.

 

[mheat3]

Do you feel like the tax credits add up to that much? I like the true set it and forget it nature of VT. Don’t have to worry about rebalancing.

It is certainly not a lot and not worth the effort if you already are all in on VT. The re-balancing helps scratch some of the "gambling" itch you get from buying/selling haha to keep me from doing dumb stuff

 

[sevoflurane]

Not an exact science and this would be considered an aggressive portfolio.

VTI (vs VOO) if you want a little more exposure to small/mid caps 40%
VGT for tech exposure 20%
VLCAX 10%
MGK 10%
Bonds/individual stocks/other etfs 20%

Build up VTI first.

 

[mdo1738]

GME

 

[turnupthegas]

NVDA

 

[masterPain]

What’s everyone’s thoughts on wealth management firms? 401k? Scams? They never beat the market

Or just do you own investing and pay nothing

 

[triggermaster]

What’s everyone’s thoughts on wealth management firms? 401k? Scams? They never beat the market

Or just do you own investing and pay nothing

They prey on people who don’t realize how easy it is to invest for themselves.

 

[aneftp]

They prey on people who don’t realize how easy it is to invest for themselves.

I had an ingenious proposal for the wealth management first. Usual fee 1%

I asked them to rebate me back 0.25% if the failed to beat the market.

They balked that that.

Shows you they don’t even believe in their own products not to back up their own fees.

 

[linkin06]

60% vti 40% vxus
Some cash in hand to buy the dips (>2.5% single day movement)

 

[linkin06]

What’s everyone’s thoughts on wealth management firms? 401k? Scams? They never beat the market

Or just do you own investing and pay nothing

They may do a little better but not after they take their fees.

New report finds almost 80% of active fund managers are falling behind the major indexes

A majority of active mutual fund managers are underperforming the S&P 500 and the Dow, according to the newest S&P Indices versus Active (SPIVA) scorecard.

www.cnbc.com

 

[triggermaster]

60% vti 40% vxus
Some cash in hand to buy the dips (>2.5% single day movement)

60% vti
15% mgk
25% vxus

 

[linkin06]

60% vti
15% mgk
25% vxus

Had to look up the machine gun Kelly. You’re really going for the top dogs huh? It looks like it performed very similar to vti until recently. To play devils advocate, what if the top is bubbling? Graphics card computing should be the worlds most valuable company? What if growth moves from the potential bubbly and rotates to small and midcaps? Seems the small and mid struggling in high interest rate environment, but that can change soon if J Pow will do the (right?) thing

 

[MD46]

60% vti 40% vxus
Some cash in hand to buy the dips (>2.5% single day movement)

May be a very basic question as I just started looking into investing, I have a BOA platinum honors account with Merrill/Edge account, is it possible to buy VTI/VXUS in there or there will be too many fees and I should open a Vanguard account?

thanks !

 

[abolt18]

May be a very basic question as I just started looking into investing, I have a BOA platinum honors account with Merrill/Edge account, is it possible to buy VTI/VXUS in there or there will be too many fees and I should open a Vanguard account?

thanks !

Takes 5 minutes to open a vanguard account... I may be mistaken but I believe you can also buy those at no extra cost through a fidelity account if you like their platform more.

 

[MD46]

Takes 5 minutes to open a vanguard account... I may be mistaken but I believe you can also buy those at no extra cost through a fidelity account if you like their platform more.

Oh sounds great, I do have my 401k in Fidelity, might just do that. Thought maybe consolidate everything in BOA but I like the idea of Fidelity as well
thank you!

 

[triggermaster]

Had to look up the machine gun Kelly. You’re really going for the top dogs huh? It looks like it performed very similar to vti until recently. To play devils advocate, what if the top is bubbling? Graphics card computing should be the worlds most valuable company? What if growth moves from the potential bubbly and rotates to small and midcaps? Seems the small and mid struggling in high interest rate environment, but that can change soon if J Pow will do the (right?) thing

Yeah mega-caps could fall, that’s why I’m not 50% MGK. (And those aren’t my investments, just my version of a 3-fund portfolio. I have lots of funds in different accounts.)

With a large portion of investments going to market weighted ETFs, I don’t think it’s possible to rotate to small and mid caps. It not impossible, since we could all sell vti or voo and buy vb or whatever, but I don’t see it happening.

Actually, idk if it’s even possible since the investment dollars are so much more than the entire market cap of small caps. For example, NVDA’s market cap is greater than the entire Russel 2000 combined.

 

[masterPain]

Are there dividends with the ETFs discussed above?

 

[abolt18]

Are there dividends with the ETFs discussed above?

VTI Dividend History, Dates & Yield - Stock Analysis

Get the latest dividend data for VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF), including dividend history, yield, key dates, growth and other metrics.

stockanalysis.com

Very small, quarterly dividend.

 

[linkin06]

May be a very basic question as I just started looking into investing, I have a BOA platinum honors account with Merrill/Edge account, is it possible to buy VTI/VXUS in there or there will be too many fees and I should open a Vanguard account?

thanks !

they trade as ETFs so pretty much everywhere i've bought it's commission free. there's no extra fee for holding a vanguard ETF somewhere else, only pay attention to if you get charged a fee for ETF trade, which it's pretty rare these days. i buy VTI VXUS on schwab, ameritrade, fidelity, stockpile, wells fargo all free trades

i will add though that if you buy it on vanguard, you can do partial shares. like say you want to invest $1,000, you can buy $600 of VTI and $400 VXUS. not sure i've seen that elsewhere.

 

[MD46]

Makes sense, thanks!

 

[anonperson]

May be a very basic question as I just started looking into investing, I have a BOA platinum honors account with Merrill/Edge account, is it possible to buy VTI/VXUS in there or there will be too many fees and I should open a Vanguard account?

thanks !

I use Merrill as I am a Bank of America customer.

You can easily buy vanguard ETFs which are all that you need for no cost. So you can purchase VTI with no problem.

The mutual fund equivalents cost money to purchase so I don't bother in my taxable account in Merrill.

I do my backdoor Roth IRA through Vanguard though just to spread my money a bit

 

[coroner]

After comparing several ETFs including Large cap: VV, VUG, VTI; NASDAQ ETFs: SPGP, MOAT; Dividend ETFs: SCHD, JEPI, JQUA, VYM; Tech ETFs: SOXX, TECL; Sector ETFs: WCLD, IRBO, KRBN; and, a few others, the best I've found based fees, and overall long-term performance has been QQQ.

A different fund may have a brief run which outpaces it; but, in the long run, I think it will do better or at least as good as any of the other ETFs/index funds tracking the market. I personally do an automatic withdrawal from every paycheck and put it in this. This is separate from my work-funded 401K and other investments. You won't get rich from this (or any index-tracking ETF), but at the very least it will hedge against inflation and cost of living with the average market gains of 8-10%/yr. and beat 80-90% of financial advisors managing your retirement account.

 

[anonperson]

Just to pay devil's advocate on the randomness of the stock market if we are betting on certain sectors to outperform. Right now, tech is hot due to AI etc but hard to predict the future.

Attached is a graphic of sector performance. It's dated but it's a nice representation of what can happen year to year.