It’s difficult to beat Index Investing with individual stocks. Not saying it can’t be done, but very difficult long-term. A big portion of my own investing portfolio is Total Market Mutual Funds and ETF’s. In addition, I use Mid Cap Value funds as well.
Why I’m doing more Index Investing I’ve always known the odds of beating the market were slim, at least long-term. I’m talking 10 years or more. However, this article by John Rekenthaler entitled, “How many stocks beat the index.” really was the final nail in the coffin for me. By the way, he writes some…
What are the pros of a Mutual Fund? What are the advantages of an ETF? Do either have serious disadvantages? Mutual Funds are older than ETF’s or Exchange Traded funds. Mutual funds started to first appear in the 1920’s, whereas ETF’s have only existed since the 1990’s. Both of these investment vehicles are bundles of…
I recently began wondering how people did long-term that held a 50% stock and 50% bond portfolio. One could say, I have no idea how stocks or bonds are going to perform in the future, so I’ll split the difference, and not worry about it. Is 50-50 a safe bet? What are the risks associated…
One of the more popular balanced Boglehead portfolios is the three-fund portfolio. It provides a good deal of diversification without being overly complicated. Part of the purpose behind these holdings is to reduce volatility. Its beauty is that it’s largely a set and forget it approach to investing. Sure, you’ll have to adjust asset allocations…
Choosing between VTI or VOO VTI vs. VOO, which one do I pick? This is a question that I’ve noticed coming up a lot on discussion forums. I thought I’d dive deeper into it and compare the two. Both VTI and VOO are Vanguard ETFs. Both of these ETFs are Index investors‘ best friends, especially…
What is Passive Investing? Passive investing has the following characteristics Advocates Buy and Hold Generally, uses ETF’s and Mutual Funds Prefers Index Investing (S&P 500 or Total Market). Makes no attempt to time the market or outperform it Seeks to minimize Taxes and Fees Buy and Hold is when you buy a stock and don’t…
My current favorite tech ETF: IYW Today we’ll look at one of my favorite tech ETF’s, IShares US Technology ETF, or IYW for short. When applicable, I’ll compare it to its peers XLK and VGT. These are the similar competitive offerings from SSGA (State Street Global Advisors) and Vanguard. IYW is an ETF for those…
Here are my DIVIDENDS for the month of May. If you’d like to compare to last month, here you go: First up is my BROKERAGE account, here they are: Putnam Municipal Income Closed End Fund paid me 0.13 cents. Ha, if you haven’t seen my post before, I bought into this over a year ago…
What is a Total Market ETF? A total market ETF is an ETF that invests in the larger scope of the market. It doesn’t limit itself to only Large caps; it invests in smaller and mid cap stocks as well. Important-A Total market etf isn’t a global ETF, so you’ll still be lacking international exposure…
I started the first week of 2020 by buying more Netflix and Akamai. I want to increase tech/growth exposure in my portfolio going forward. What have I sold? I sold all of my Kroger in my IRA for around 17-18% profit, I sold all of my shares of 3M for about a 5% gain, Verizon…
First and foremost, I want to say that 2019 was a great year in investing for me. It marked my first year of really being an active investor. Previously, most of my investing choices were index funds. POSITIVES?-Increased my Cash Flow/Dividends tremendously -ROTH IRA which was three index funds was up 30%, Traditional IRA was…
Index Funds vs. Dividend Stocks The old question of whether one should invest in an index funds or try their luck at dividend investing. Online I see many people advocating for one over the other. However, I personally don’t have this mindset. I see no reason a person can’t do BOTH. That’s what I do…