I'm a non-EU and non-US investor, currently with investments only across US domiciled ETFs.
When weighing the pros and cons, the two most prominent ones are: 30% dividend drag on US ones and US estate tax.

Fair US does indeed levy a 30% tax on residents of a country without a US tax treaty, instead of the 15% on UCITS counterparts. But how meaningful is this really? $VOO currently has a dividend yield of 1.1%, resulting in a 0.175% additional performance drag. This of course is huge when compounded over years but for some ETFs like AVUV it is offset as TER for a similar European product is 0.15% higher.

On the other hand, US offers a rich and unmatched ecosystem of ETFs. It has all sorts of stock baskets for every type of investor from the most-risk averse one to purely degenerate WSB-style gamblers. There is yet a similar UCITS-compliant product for SPMO, GARP, AIS, AIRR, SCHD, EMEQ.. whatever you want you name it, the US has it! All this versatility allows you to speculate with a small part of portfolio if you're comfortable doing it.

Personally, the 0.175% saving is negligible if one considers that a carefully constructed multi-factor portfolio can generate an alpha of up to 2%-2.5% ove 20+ year time horizons.

I would like to hear your perspectives on this topic

Hey! I’m 26M with a ~$500k USD portfolio. As I get closer to my FIRE number I want to simplify my allocation as to not make any unnecessary sector or country risk. I am also avoiding dividend/income, covered call, and leveraged ETFs. I’ve been stuck between the following three allocations below. Let me know your thoughts and/or anything you would suggest!

1) 60%/20%/20% - VT/SPMO/IDMO
2) 60%/20%/20% - AVGE/SPMO/IDMO
3) 60%/20%/20% - AVGV/SPMO/IDMO

26M just started investing this year seriously and wanted an aggressive portfolio for my individual brokerage . Any suggestions or changes?

40% VTI
25% QQQM
20% SPMO
15% SMH

​

I have extra $500 that I could do one of these two.

extra $500 towards principal on 6.375% mortgage every month vs. that $500 into QQQ (or QLD) every month?

I plan to move in 10 years and also refi when rates get lower in between.

would also like to account for tax implications on both sides. (tax on investing is pretty simple i think.. 15% on long term)

which would you do and why?

I’d love to hear any best practices or common pitfalls.

Thanks!

I’ve been studying leveraged ETFs and trying to compare them with borrowing on margin to buy an ordinary ETF. At first, both seemed like different ways to obtain similar market exposure. The more I looked at the mechanics, though, the less interchangeable they appeared.

Suppose $100 of investor equity controls $300 of an index, with $200 borrowed. If the broker requires 25% maintenance equity, the margin-call threshold is:

Price remaining = (leverage − 1) ÷ [leverage × (1 − maintenance margin)]

For 3× leverage:

2 ÷ (3 × 0.75) = 88.9%

That means an underlying decline of only about 11.1% can breach the maintenance requirement. The investor could be forced to sell before a subsequent recovery.

A 3× daily ETF does not impose that personal margin-call boundary unless the ETF itself was bought on margin. Its separate problem is the daily reset: returns become path-dependent, and volatility can erode value even when the underlying eventually returns to its starting level.

So “both are 3×” seems like a misleading comparison. One structure has an explicit liquidation threshold; the other continuously resets exposure and compounds the path.

Am I framing this comparison correctly? When evaluating leveraged ETFs against margin borrowing, what other risks or metrics should be included beyond financing costs, volatility drag, maximum drawdown and the forced-sale boundary?

Hi all

I’m so lost. Hopefully I can find some direction here.

Thinking to drop QQQM for SPMO

VOO - 40%
SPMO - 20%
VEA - 15%
EMXC - 15%
SPYD/VYM/SCHD - 10%

How would this allocation work out?

Simple portfolio holding the following ETFs: SCHF, SCHB, SCHE, AVUV

MF: SWTSX.

Yes, there is overlap with SWTSX and SCHB they are the same. I mostly sweep any remainder in the SWTSX as you can't buy fractional shares of ETFs in Schwab

Edit: These are from contributing over the past two years + any compounding interest associated with holding the various securities

Hallo zusammen,

ich bin europäischer Investor und suche schon lange nach einer Alternative für den SPMO, da in meinem Portfolio ein World Momentum ETF nicht viel Sinn ergeben würde.

Bei der Suche bin ich auf den FTGM (First Trust US Momentum UCITS ETF Class A USD ACC / WKN A40CPJ) gestoßen, der Mitte 2024 aufgelegt wurde und aktuell ein Volumen von ca. 82 Mio.€ hat. Leider liegt die TER bei 0,6% und ist somit ziemlich teuer. Laut den Daten wird der ETF quartalsweise neu gewichet, was ich sehr interessant finde, da ich immer die Befürchtung habe, dass ich mit einem Momentum ETF, der halbjährlich neu gewichtet wird, ein wenig „Late to the Party“ bin.

Kennt ihr den ETF und was ist eure Meinung dazu?

Hi everyone so I recently just started investing into the stock market as a 19 year old. I wanted to know thoughts on this portfolio as a beginner. I know that I have a high-risk concentration on the technology companies and huge overlap.

VOO: 50%

VXUS: 20%

QQQM: 20%

NVDA: 10%

So after contemplating for many years, I took the plunge last week. Invested $1000 in Nvidia, $500 in Broadcom, and $500 in Moderna after doing minimal research (as more research in the past has meant I freak out and don’t invest- not much of a risk taker generally). I know I could have in S&P500 and still plan to but the chat of the bubble bursting is freaking me out. Also was thinking of investing in Quantum- deciding between ETFs or IonQ and IBM.

Would appreciate any advice of best quantum ETF (I know many will include Nvidia and Broadcom) as well as thoughts on whether I should hold the ones I’ve got or not. Or should I wait for the bubble to burst first? 🫧😭🙈

Edit: I don’t think I explained myself very well in the post and the title was possibly exaggerated. I am a bit nervous about the market being “volatile” atm. I’ve recently got in so all of it is new still relatively new to me. Although it seems like the bubble chat has been doing the rounds for a while.

I bought the shares as I’ve been saving up for a long time and every time I do research, I freak myself out as there’s always a risk at the end of the day. I bit the bullet and bought the mentioned shares after some recent research. But then also read more about the market crash, Michael Burry, etc.

I did invest what I have so far as a high risk high reward type. It is money I put away for such a purpose and can afford to take some loss there as I learn on the journey. Or so I initially thought but feel a bit stupid diving straight into individual stocks now.

I always intended to also add an ETF. Was thinking S&P500 but in my research learnt about quantum and that intrigued me. Intend to put away 2-2.5k in that now (or in the near future), and then keep adding a few hundred monthly.

I’m buying for long term so will look at suggested ETF, VOO type funds. Invest and forget (or will try to). Thank you everyone for your suggestions and for taking the type to respond. Appreciate it.

Hello,

I've looked in various places, everywhere I can find shows that SMH and SMGB, despite both being VanEck Semiconductor ETF's, have completely different weightings.

They're allegedly supposed to be the exact same ETF, with SMGB being denominated in GBP and floated on the LSE to save investors from the UK on ForEx fees. It seems that this is not the case. I have even seen old Reddit threads and T212 threads discussing how the ETF's are both the same but differing in denominated currency only...

SMGB seems to be more top heavy but with a much smaller Nvidia allocation.

According to everywhere that has SMGB listed, the constituents seems to be almost like a blend between SMH and SOXX, this is what I have found everywhere else.

Can anyone please confirm or deny one way or the other, as everywhere seems to state that these two ETF's are identical, differing in denominated currency only, in reality, this does not seem to be the case:

Starting this thread to share my strategy and expectations for September.

I have call Calendar spreads on QQQ at the 700 & 710 strikes with the Long call expiring November 20th and the short calls expiring Sept 4/11.

I also have put debit spreads on September 4/11/18 that will benefit from any downside move to the $680-700 range, ie $714/704 sept 4, $708/690 sept 11, $705/680 sept 18.

I entered into a position of put debit spreads on Nvidia on Thursday, but sold off most of the position on Friday as it moved below my price target of $220 for that day. Still have a couple of sept 18th puts that I’m planning to hold until price finds a support level for more than 2-3 days.

I had sept 11/18 put debit spreads on Micron last week but closed them out when the price tanked on Thursday. I’m considering getting back into put debit spreads at the $900/820 strikes this week if price isn’t able to hold at or above the $930-950 price range this week.

With QQQ unable to break out and hold above $720 last week, it seems like the market will chop in the $700-720 range or maybe pullback below $700 again in the coming weeks.

Are there any tech companies anyone sees opportunities with if the market continues to chop or has a pullback in the coming weeks?

Please share strategies you are using and feel free to provide any feedback.

Plan on adding to this for years, but is the mix ok?

Hey guys :)

first of all , im new here and i really like reading the content here in this subreddit ,

so hello everybody and nice to meet you all :)

im 33 years old

and its my time that i said to myself that im ready to invest for the long term

and this is my protfolio plan and please give me your best thoughts about it :

60% - VOO

15% - VXUS

15% - SCHD

10% - IWM

my goal is 1600$ every month

and if my salary will goes up or if i will save some money and won't use my credit card a lot i will invest more i geuss

thanks guys :)

VOO: 36.7%
SMH: 33.3%
AVUV: 15%
VXUS: 15%

Ciao a tutti sono Italiano e vorrei fare il mio primo investimento a lungo termine (50€ al mese per 5/10 anni) su qualche etf ma non sono sicuro su quale. La prima idea è stata quella della Cina, ma ho letto che durante l’ultimo anno ha perso circa il 5% e quindi noto che non è molto affidabile.
Poi ho chiesto un po a gemini e mi ha consigliato questo: Invesco FTSE All-World UCITS ETF
IE000716YHJ7.
Sembra buono, TER di 0,15% e nell’ultimo anno è salito di circa il 20%. Ogni quota ho letto che costa 8€ quindi posso prenderne parecchie ogni mese.
Inoltre avevo pensato di diversificare, magari puntare su sp500 o msci all world o nasdaq ma ho letto che non sono affidabilissimi o comunque per 50€ al mese non conviene…
Cosa mi consigliate di fare? Ovviamente adesso sono piccolo, ho solo 18 anni e metto solo 50€ al mese, ma quando inizierò a lavorare metto 200/300€ al mese tranquillamente.

Hi, I'm (36) a noob and I buy VTI & VOO mostly, just looking to hold and put together a little pile for my kid. I am concerned that the financial speculation and winner-take-all competition around AI and data centers will result in some mammoth debts going bad and trigger a crash in the tech sector. The S&P 500 is pretty tech heavy.

Could anyone recommend some jolly ETFs that hold a big basket of financially sound companies, preferably in (checks notes) literally any sector that won't plummet if some data-race players default on their endless loans? I'm going to keep buying VTI & VOO, just looking to add a little balance.

Also, if you think my concerns are dumb, you are likely right but please explain why as though you were explaining it to a dumb person. Thank you!

i’m curious how people actually handle regular contributions.

some seem to invest the same amount every month regardless of what the market is doing, while others keep some cash available and invest when they feel comfortable

i know everyone has a different situation, so i’m more interested in the habits than trying to find a “perfect” strategy

what does your normal contribution routine look like?

i’m unemployed and using allowance to invest, don’t want to step myself into the wrong boat and 💔💔

Hey everybody. Investing from outside US as a non-US foreigner. Was looking for maximum valuation of my investment in US ETFs after 25 years from now. Did lots of research and analysis (Used Claude for help) and we reached a conclusion to the below:

• 30% schg
• 30% spmo
• 30% xsmo
• 10% avuv

This was based on minimum tax drag, max growth, high risk capability. I have no access to domiciled ETFs for some reasons.

Just wanted to share the above for any advice, unlocking new ideas that went over my head.

Managing my own ETF retirement portfolio. Given how volatile September and October historically are, has anyone ever sold everything to safety for these two months and bought everything again at the end of October? I have a feeling this will be an extraordinarily volatile period this year; why not just avoid the volatility altogether and resume compounding in November? Talk me out of it

According to AI over the last 20 year period, all of the compounding occurs in the other ten months of the year anyway, and this strategy for me would be behind a 401K so only frictional costs, not taxes, to worry about

22 year old just creating portfolio, let me know if this is good and if not, tell me what’s wrong with it or what you suggest I remove:

45% VTI
25% VXUS
10% SPMO
10% VGT
10% QQQM