Is it better to invest in one ETF or multiple?
Experts agree that for most personal investors, a portfolio comprising 5 to 10 ETFs is perfect in terms of diversification.
Generally speaking, fewer than 10 ETFs are likely enough to diversify your portfolio, but this will vary depending on your financial goals, ranging from retirement savings to income generation.
SPY, VOO and IVV are among the most popular S&P 500 ETFs. These three S&P 500 ETFs are quite similar, but may sometimes diverge in terms of costs or daily returns. Investors generally only need one S&P 500 ETF.
The aim of diversification is to spread risk. If you invest too much in one company's stock, you are at great risk. If something happens to that company, a significant portion of your money could get wiped away. So to mitigate that risk, you buy shares of many companies.
You expose your portfolio to much higher risk with sector ETFs, so you should use them sparingly, but investing 5% to 10% of your total portfolio assets may be appropriate. If you want to be highly conservative, don't use these at all.
This investment strategy seeks total return through exposure to a diversified portfolio of primarily equity, and to a lesser extent, fixed income asset classes with a target allocation of 70% equities and 30% fixed income. Target allocations can vary +/-5%.
ETFs are subject to market fluctuation and the risks of their underlying investments. ETFs are subject to management fees and other expenses. Unlike mutual funds, ETF shares are bought and sold at market price, which may be higher or lower than their NAV, and are not individually redeemed from the fund.
Experts agree that for most personal investors, a portfolio comprising 5 to 10 ETFs is perfect in terms of diversification. But the number of ETFs is not what you should be looking at.
Holding an ETF for longer than a year may get you a more favorable capital gains tax rate when you sell your investment.
The majority of individual investors should, however, seek to hold 5 to 10 ETFs that are diverse in terms of asset classes, regions, and other factors. Investors can diversify their investment portfolio across several industries and asset classes while maintaining simplicity by buying 5 to 10 ETFs.
What percentage of your portfolio should be ETFs?
"A newer investor with a modest portfolio may like the ease at which to acquire ETFs (trades like an equity) and the low-cost aspect of the investment. ETFs can provide an easy way to be diversified and as such, the investor may want to have 75% or more of the portfolio in ETFs."
Exactly how much should you be exposed to stocks in your 40s? Using Vanguard target-date retirement funds as a guide, the portfolio of people in their early 40s who plan to retire in roughly 25 years would have 87% of their money in stock funds and roughly 13% in bonds.
Investing doesn't need to be complicated or expensive. Build a dirt-cheap portfolio that can last a lifetime with just one stock ETF and one bond ETF.
Reinvest Your Payments
The truth is that most investors won't have the money to generate $1,000 per month in dividends; not at first, anyway. Even if you find a market-beating series of investments that average 3% annual yield, you would still need $400,000 in up-front capital to hit your targets. And that's okay.
- ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO)
- Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ)
- Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT)
- VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH)
- Invesco S&P MidCap Momentum ETF (XMMO)
- SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB)
- Invesco S&P 500 GARP ETF (SPGP)
| Symbol | Name | 5-Year Return |
|---|---|---|
| SPYG | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF | 14.43% |
| VOOG | Vanguard S&P 500 Growth ETF | 14.38% |
| IWL | iShares Russell Top 200 ETF | 14.36% |
| LRGE | ClearBridge Large Cap Growth ESG ETF | 14.29% |
Specifically, a fund is prohibited from: acquiring more than 3% of a registered investment company's shares (the “3% Limit”); investing more than 5% of its assets in a single registered investment company (the “5% Limit”); or. investing more than 10% of its assets in registered investment companies (the “10% Limit”).
Historically, Mondays have often been considered a good day to buy stocks, primarily due to the 'Weekend Effect' or 'Monday Effect'. This theory suggests that stock prices tend to drop on Mondays due to negative news released over the weekend.
A three-fund portfolio is a portfolio which uses only basic asset classes — usually a domestic stock "total market" index fund, an international stock "total market" index fund and a bond "total market" index fund.
Buying high and selling low
At any given time, the spread on an ETF may be high, and the market price of shares may not correspond to the intraday value of the underlying securities. Those are not good times to transact business.
Has an ETF ever gone to zero?
Leveraged ETF prices tend to decay over time, and triple leverage will tend to decay at a faster rate than 2x leverage. As a result, they can tend toward zero.
"Leveraged and inverse funds generally aren't meant to be held for longer than a day, and some types of leveraged and inverse ETFs tend to lose the majority of their value over time," Emily says.
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, VOO is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Style Box - Large Cap Blend segment of the market.
Some experts recommend at least 15% of your income. Setting clear investment goals can help you determine if you're investing the right amount.
A leveraged ETF is a fund that uses financial derivatives and debt to amplify the returns of an underlying index. Certain double or triple-leveraged ETFs can lose more than double or triple the value change of the tracked index. Therefore, these types of speculative investments need to be carefully evaluated.
