First-Time Investors Can't Figure Out Which ETF to Buy
Young, inexperienced investors are struggling to navigate the complexities of investment options, particularly ETFs and stocks. They feel lost, confused, and unsure where to begin, seeking guidance on asset allocation, diversification, and long-term strategies. Many are researching independently but desire personalized advice and a clearer path forward.
SOURCES (60)
Option 1 sounds great especially with that interest rate.
“I’m committed to investing $500 per paycheck, but I want to buy WHOLE shares for SCHD & QQQI, and I am looking for something fun to invest the change after buying those whole shares. Ideas? submitted by /u/Ironic_Mouse [link] [comments]”
“Hi bogleheads! I'm new to investing, and am finally wrapping my head around the what always seemed so other-worldly and like a foreign language. I'm still pretty mixed up about all the different options of ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, etc etc, but I'm getting there little bit by little bit. What I'm hoping you can help with is giving pointers on the next best steps I should be taking. I'm getting choice paralysis. Me: 40+ years old - would love to retire early but way too late”
“I currently hold VT and nothing else. I think markets are almost perfectly efficient and I can't beat them. So, my stance is to be as neutral as possible, and let the collective wisdom determine the fair price of assets. However, there is a small issue that bothers me, and I'm wondering if VT is truly geography-neutral. Here is the issue: VT weights assets by free float, so China comes in around 3%. Headline market cap would put it meaningfully higher. Part of the gap is state-held block”
“I am typically a long term investor, I learnt this from my father. He would buy a share in a company and pretty much hold it forever. This was a very long time ago, and the strategy seemed to work. I tried this a few years back, and noticed it worked for your typically blue chip stocks, because after a big correction, or even a crash they seemed to recover. But it seems these days there is always a time to sell, and knowing when to sell is more important than actually buying the share. Perhaps t”
“I'm curious how others here would approach this. Let's assume the following: - Portfolio: $2,200,000 - Annual spending: $60k–70k (around a 3.0–3.5% withdrawal rate) - Goal: Maintain or increase purchasing power over time, so withdrawals should ideally keep up with inflation. - Investment horizon: Potentially 50+ years. A few questions I'd love to hear different perspectives on: Asset allocation - How would you split between asset classes? Withdrawal strategy - Fixed percentage? - Inf”
“Hey everyone, revamping my portfolio to diversify it. For context, I’m 36, live in the U.K. and will be holding this in a tax free stocks and shares ISA - basically a Roth IRA but with no penalty for early withdrawal. Stocks (55%) 20% Nasdaq 100 (QQQM) 10% US small and mid caps (VXF) 15% developed rest of world (XUSE) 10% developing markets etf Money market hedge (20%) BD1RHR6 - Fidelity Cash W Inc. Short term money market fund Commodities (25%) 15% gold (SGLN) 10% commodities ETF (BCOG) I also”
“First make an emergency fund, create a list of necessary expenses and budget for a few months of them. and invest the rest into VOO, SPY, etc. It's a good start”
“What do people think of this fund? It is my largest holding next to VOO. It has been around since 2025 so it is still a baby ETF. It has been performing extremely well against the market since it's inception but is currently in the midst of it's worst drawdown in it's history. (Though it is still up on the SP500 ytd by a significant amount) What I love about the ETF is the monthly rotations. While most momentum ETFs (such as SPMO) rotate twice a year with a 12 month lookback, FMTM ro”
“I had one course in accounting and am struggling with doing an opportunity cost graph. The graph involves investments growing in value over 25 years. The first two are easy enough, but I'm uncertain how to handle the third one -- specifically with setting the value of the initial point (year 0). Details: Retail price:$12,900 -- $8,000 in hardware, $4,900 in services Net Cost: $5,900 (after incentives, rebates, etc). Hardware depreciation: assume linear with $2,000 residual value at year 25.”
“So, currently mulling over how to diversify and looking to hold 20/25% bond/fixed income to hedge things when my stocks tank. Considering the following. # 1 - probably the favourite - Fidelity Cash W Inc, BD1RHR6. Short term money market fund. Does about 5% yearly. # 2 - maybe some kind of fixed income stock Like say, Fidelitys FUQA, or SCHUD. Consists of lots of top 100 companies so feels like a fixed income version of the snp100. # 3 - DBMF managed futures. Typically moves in opposite directio”
“I've been following a hedge fund manager named Jamaal Ghauri for a while now. His forte is options trading, and I've done due diligence on his audited track record which is impressive as well. However, I'm uninterested in options, and wanted thoughts on his philosophy he shared with me in regards to picking stocks. This is what he said: "No one should be buying equities are these valuations. 10 year forward returns at these PE ratios have historically produced mediocre results.”
“I know that the Bogelhead philosophy is extremely lean and no fuss, but I’d like to start allocating a small percentage of my DCA automatic investments into an emerging market fund. Looking for recommendations. If this isn’t allowed here, will ask in the [ r/ETFs ]( r/ETFs ), but that seems to have a lot more DRAM drama than anything else, and I’m looking for longer term no fuss, no muss options. Already on the VT/VTI/VXUS bandwagon. FWIW it would be in a taxable account. Thanks in advance”
“Hi everyone! First post here ✌🏻 When I opened my Roth IRA at Schwab about two years ago, I invested everything in SWTSX without doing much research. Over the past few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time learning about long-term investing through books, Reddit, forums, YouTube, and even AI (always fact checking the information). It’s been really interesting to see how many different opinions exist, especially around VT versus the S&P 500. After a lot of research, I decided to go with a four-fund”
“I am considering starting a dividend growth portfolio just dont really know if it is worth doing only ETF or I should also add a few company stocks as well? In term of growth / dividend. Thanks for the help! submitted by /u/charlieforpi [link] [comments]”
“I posted on here a 5 months ago with about 1.5k invested. Now I’m up to 14k invested and I wanted to know where to spread my money to. Here’s what I’m in right now. VOO- 6.7k VGT- 2.8k QQQM-2.7k GLD-1.1k SLV-500 I want to be invested for atleast 15 more years. What should I buy for the best returns? submitted by /u/Free_Pickle_5588 [link] [comments]”
“I don't think that's how investment works. There aren't many stocks basically anyone can't afford to get into. Average stock is $20-$40. Average Large-cap is $150-$400. I think it's only like 4% of stocks are over $400. If you can't afford that, then your focus should be on personal finance before you get into investing. Putting money into the market if $30 is a struggle for you.... Not a wise use of prioritizing cash flow. And poor financial decisions are very likely to”
“I have some money sitting in my savings account about 3 lakhs and I want to invest it somewhere. Need options other than the following: Already invested in mutual funds. FDS Was checking this wint wealth app and for some bonds are giving 9-10% retunrs. I want to know if it is safe to invest here? Can we trust this app? Any issues in withdrawal? submitted by /u/Fresh_Farm3611 [link] [comments]”
“Say you have $100k in the mutual fund fskax and a similar etf vti both in a taxable brokerage. How much “tax inefficiency” is there in the fskax option and how would you estimate it submitted by /u/nolablue1024 [link] [comments]”
“Recently received a sum of $50k. I decided that I will keep 10k in my checking for upcoming expenses and I want to invest the rest. I have no idea where to start or what to do. I was thinking of putting half in a HYSA and another half in S&P500. I am not a US citizen and I do not plan on living here long term after I am done with my exchange program. I might stay in the US for may be 10 years and go back to my home country, so I don’t think putting money in retirement is worthwhile for me. A”
“Curious if the 60/40 portfolio is truly still the best risk adjusted portfolio. Contributing for your entire career and keeping through retirement. submitted by /u/snoops1230 [link] [comments]”
“I know we can VT and chill. But I also know we can set our own weights with VTI+VXUS. So why is VTI+VXUS down in my portfolio where’s s VT is up? Is this just a function of when I lump summed into VTI+VXUS? Or should I just accept that maybe setting my own weights isn’t worth the minuscule marginal gain, accept the $300 loss, and roll my VTI+VXUS into VT? (Or probably wait until things aren’t down, then roll over) I know we’re not supposed to touch things, but I lump summed and am still getting”
“Based in Romania, I currently have most of my savings in index funds, major weight is in BVB local market with a bit of international stocks sprinkled in, but the commission is not favorable at all, 0.25%/month and 0.15%/month on the 2 index funds I am invested in. I want to take everything out and place the funds in VWCE. Will have to pay 10% tax on them and also aprox. 2000 euros in health contribution because I exceed 24 min salaries. By my calculation this cost will be recovered in 1 year an”
“Hi all, I’m 34 and new to investing. These are my numbers and I’m seeking input on where to shift or invest my money. I make $89k/year and currently working towards a pension, but not sure if I will stay with my same employer. Goals are to retire as early as possible. I live pretty money consciously and save aggressively, but really enjoy travel and life experiences. I imagine my lifestyle to be the same when I retire as well for the most part. Not a home owner but may want to be in the next 5-1”
“I (30F) am looking for advice on what to do besides just adding to my HYSA. I’m guessing I should be investing at this point but with the current volatility of the market and no previous experience investing, I’m nervous to try and do it on my own. Any tips? How do you know what to invest in/when to sell? Is there something else I should be doing with my money while the market settles or just in general? For context, I have: -22K in a professionally managed Roth IRA and I’m on track to max out m”
“Can anyone point to or provide a comprehensive list of the highest-yielding Treasury-only money market mutual funds and similar ETFs? I'd like to park some cash in one, but my particular brokerage restricts many mutual funds. The usual suspects from Vanguard, Schwab, and Fidelity aren't available to me. I specifically want a fund that will be mostly exempt from SALT, so Treasury-only. (I'm apparently not allowed to mention the name of my brokerage here or ask for specific guidance ab”
“I am 24 and I just had this idea. At how many shares do you guys think it would be worth it to stop actively buying SCHD and just let drip take effect for the next let’s say 25 years for retirement. What’s the number you guys would feel comfortable for retirement. submitted by /u/OG_Momonga [link] [comments]”
“I'm very young compared to my co-worker, he just recently fell for a scam of some ai program for 10k. What would any of you suggest for him? He would be looking at a portfolio for about 16 years so till he's 80. submitted by /u/johnnyonth [link] [comments]”
“Relatively amateur to investing. Not looking to actively trade- just a very easy buy-and-hold. I currently have a large lump sitting in a Chase checking account. I also have a Fidelity individual investment account already linked to my Chase account (with nothing in it) as well as a Fidelity retirement account. Fidelity individual investment account is currently empty because some years ago, I dumped some money, bought and held some FXAIX for a few years, and then withdrew it for a large purchas”
“Looking for ETF or CEF, based on Small Caps with a yield >7% thoughts ? submitted by /u/Sufficient_Mud_3179 [link] [comments]”
“Thank you. I’m trying to learn all about investing and finances. It honestly overwhelms me. Is there someone I could hire to help me set things up and explain everything? Do you know if trusty worthy companies like this exist? 😅”
“I don’t know anything about investing 😅. I just earned this money over the last two years and starting this new business I haven’t had extra time to learn about investing. We were going to save to move to a new home but the interest rates are currently too high. I definitely know there are better options for the money I just am so overwhelmed knowing the right thing to do.”
“Just making sure you're aware that you could alternatively just open up a Brokerage Account at Vanguard and use the settlement fund (VMFXX) and you would be getting a (slightly) higher yield. https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vmfxx Look for the "7 day SEC yield" on the right side. This is what you can use to compare to a bank's published APY. Since inception, I am unaware of any period of time where the Vanguard Cash Plus has yielded higher”
“I use fidelity and am planning on separating brokerage accounts into three different accounts: (1) Long Term ETFS; (2) Individual Stocks; (3) High Risk Plays. Are there any cons from this setup I'm not seeing or considering? My primary intent is mental organizing and tracking the different strategies over years to see what I prefer and what performs best. I have so many positions under my one brokerage account, I'm looking to organize it a bit more. submitted by /u/Burider [l”
“Right now I only have SPY and SPMO My reasoning for SPY is pretty obvious. Probably most recommended etf with historical success and is a pretty low stress investment. SPMO for anyone that doesn’t know are companies in the SPY with the most momentum. It is rebalanced every March and September to update. It’s only been an etf since 2015 but has outperformed SPY in that time and backtest well. Just be aware that it will get hit harder during pullbacks (like right now) but I am a long term investor”
“Hi everyone, I’m pretty new to investing and would really appreciate some advice from people with more experience. I’m 26 years old and currently in college studying Finance. The more I learn, the more I realize how much I still don’t know, so I’d rather ask people who have been investing for years. I opened my Roth IRA in March of this year. I contributed $9,500 total: $7,000 to max out my 2025 contribution. $2,500 toward my 2026 contribution. I’m about to invest the remaining $5,000 to finish”
“I have 60k in SP500 for 401k and I have 10k in my Roth IRA invested in a penny stock. I want to sell the penny stock and buy a dividend fund. I was looking at FDGFX or FDVV. Is there a difference between these and the SP500. I would rather invest in something different in my IRA. submitted by /u/lovemeplzx [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone. I'm from El Salvador and I'm just starting to invest in ETFs for the long term (20+ years). I'm currently using Trading 212 because I couldn't complete the registration process with IBKR (Interactive Brokers). For those who have experience with both: Would you trust Trading 212 for long-term investing? Have you had any problems withdrawing money or with the platform? Is it worth trying again to open an IBKR account, or is Trading 212 good enough? Thanks in advance! &”
“How do I choose suitable stocks in the stock market now? I always lose money because I choose the wrong stocks. submitted by /u/carlos_rodz_ [link] [comments]”
“I have $60,000 in my Voya account and am seeking advice on long-term stock investments. While I am aware of the S&P 500, I am hesitant to invest 100% of my funds in it. Could you please provide some guidance? submitted by /u/Unique-Turn1654 [link] [comments]”
“I'm currently sticking 200$ every two weeks into Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund ETF, and trying to seek better work in order to increase this amount I'm putting in. Would this be a smart investment in the longrun, and what tips and advice would you give me going into the future submitted by /u/CigaretteTango [link] [comments]”
“I have seen way to many videos supporting ETFs over Stocks. I can understand the benefits that dn ETF can have over a Stock. Also in my country UCITS ETFs are tax free and I really don't feel like paying taxes for gains in the stock market that they can evaporate the next day. This question is mostly for the experienced investors who has knowledge of many different instruments. Can you please tell me why should someone prefer Stocks over ETFs? submitted by /u/Willing-Actuator-509”
“Hello, I would like some opinions about my dividend portfolio. Besides this, I also have index funds and growth stocks that I will probably sell in the future to increase this portfolio. It's a small (in value) and I think I diversified too much, too early... and I still have more stocks on my radar. I will retire in 13 to 15 years, so probably I won't have a lotnof time to build a decent amount and this will be just an income help, but better than nothing! submitted by /u/qu”
“What’s up everyone, just to keep it simple, I’m in my 20s and Im looking to start my investing financial journey. I work in corporate job making around 90k-100k yearly. I have around 10-15k In my 401k. And I have around 6k in my regular savings that gains around 0.25% interest. I’ve been told constantly by older coworkers and financial advisors to invest $150 to $250 dollars every paycheck into the s&p 500 or index funds and according to them “you can be a millionaire in 10 years”. I honestl”
“I am not a sophisticated investor. I am a Reddit Newb. I don’t do a ton of research. I am using this as a way to save a smaller portion of my earnings and build something I hope will grow. My plan is to utilize Muni Bond ETF’s to free up tax free (Federally) dollars to buy more core SCHD. The POWR ETF is something I’m personally interested in with all the Data Centers being developed. We do not have enough power… we need more power… the companies in the ETF are building infrastructure to add mor”
“True but short term it is a very low risk option if the foamy market scares you (it’s me I’m scared)”
“I have roughly $15000 in $Realty income stock and just discovered about $VOO; I currently invest $50 a day into $VOO. Should I just sell all my realty income and just invest in $VOO and keep investing $50 a day? Goal is to make the most amount of money in a 10 year span. submitted by /u/EmergencyShort6376 [link] [comments]”
“This is what my portfolio looks like right now. I've mostly been adding to VTI over the years, but I also own SCHD, QQQM, VOO, VXUS, a little MSFT, and JEPQ. Thoughts? Always open to suggestions. submitted by /u/Fit-Toe-7991 [link] [comments]”
“See the offer here . I assume its open to everyone and not targeted. Read through all the disclaimers and FAQ, still can't quite figure out what's going on here. Who am I lending to? How risky is it? Obviously Robinhood wouldn't do this unless they could profit from it, and it's pretty safe to assume I'd be facing risks as well (7% returns would never be risk free). But I just have no way to quantify it since I don't really understand what's being sold. Anyone know? O”
“I was thinking you look at your Amerprise account and see that they invested 20% of the money in Ameriprise ZYX fund. Ask chat gpt what ETFs closely resemble ZYX. Then look at the fund it recommends (expense ratio and breakdown of holdings) to make sure AI is totally off. Then invest 20% of these other funds in that ETF. Many firms probably offer a robo advisor tools (Vanguard name of their tool). That may be worth looking into as the fees are lower than what you are currently paying. Fidelity G”
“Honestly, after reading the wiki and reviewing basics, just read this sub. Started doing that in my early 20s and after about 5 years, learned all the neat things like how much to have for an e fund, backdoor Roth, mega backdoor Roth in the 401k, etc.”
“I was thinking you look at your Amerprise account and see that they invested 20% of the money in Ameriprise ZYX fund. Ask chat gpt what ETFs closely resemble ZYX. Then look at the fund it recommends (expense ratio and breakdown of holdings) to make sure AI is totally off. Then invest 20% of these other funds in that ETF. Many firms probably offer a robo advisor tools (Vanguard name of their tool). That may be worth looking into as the fees are lower than what you are currently paying. Fidelity G”
“i don’t have much experience with investing apart from an etf (which isn’t going well at all😭) and i wanna know what app/website to use, what’s safe but rewarding to invest in, etc. can someone help? submitted by /u/sugarch3rry [link] [comments]”
“33M - Long-term portfolio (20+ years). Unsure what to reinforce next. Looking for honest feedback. Hi everyone, I'm 33 years old, investing with a 20+ year horizon, and I have a high risk tolerance. My goal is long-term capital appreciation rather than income. My current allocation is: 63.41% MSCI World ETF 7.82% Cash (emergency fund) 7.60% WisdomTree Efficient Core (NTSG) 6.31% Indépendance AM European Small Caps (active value/quality fund) 6.02% Nasdaq 100 ETF 5.91% DBMF/Managed Futures ET”
“I’m very new to this I have friends at work that use the stock market and they’ve been trying to get me to do it for awhile and I know nothing about anything when it comes to stocks so what’s something I can watch or read to learn or what’s just some common advice? submitted by /u/Tman244242 [link] [comments]”
“hey everyone. Am 21 and am from a country with an emerging economy. Ive just started learning about investing a couple of months ago and i just set up my account on IBKR today. Tbh am quite nervous ..anything you could advise me? maybe even share your experience?Moreover, I have friends who told me they prefer to invest in individual stocks rather than funds and now am a bit confused about what to do since i was thinking to invest in an All world Fund... submitted by /u/Slow-Elevator”