Savings in ETF

Blacktie

Registered User
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So I have about 10k in savings right now that I plan to invest in an ETF. I'm going to put it through a broker into SPY for S&P500. Over the next year I'll have another 15k to invest. I was going to put another 5k into SPY and 10k into EM for a bit of diversity. I'll basically be putting the money in and leaving it there for a good long while. I'll possibly buy some other funds in future if the opportunity presents itself. Does this sound like a decent start to investing long term or is there something else I need to consider?
 
Well the first question to ask is what are you trying to achieve???

Also since most EM funds are dollar denominated, as a European investor you would have an almost 100% secondary FX exposure to the dollar...

And why ignore Europe? Right now the best value is to be had in Europe stocks and something like the MSCI Europe would offer you plenty of exposure to the world economy, think Nestle, Novartis, Royal Dutch Shell, Glaxo, Total and so on...

The other thing you need to consider is asset allocation - in the long term it will have a major impact on your total returns.

I would suggest considering two funds: an equity fund and a bond fund and then manage your asset allocation between those two funds...
 
Well the first question to ask is what are you trying to achieve?

Basically just trying to grow my savings. I'm using it as a better option than leaving it in the bank.

Also since most EM funds are dollar denominated, as a European investor you would have an almost 100% secondary FX exposure to the dollar...

And why ignore Europe? Right now the best value is to be had in Europe stocks and something like the MSCI Europe would offer you plenty of exposure to the world economy, think Nestle, Novartis, Royal Dutch Shell, Glaxo, Total and so on...

Well from reasearch I've done this is just one of the longest performing with average returns of 6%pa. I'm open to be pointed in other directions though. Unfortunately my time to research these things is very limited.

The other thing you need to consider is asset allocation - in the long term it will have a major impact on your total returns.

I would suggest considering two funds: an equity fund and a bond fund and then manage your asset allocation between those two funds...

Aren't bonds generally not great investments though? They're low risk but I don't mind taking on some risk. Especially since I'm not looking to cash out any time soon.
 
Basically just trying to grow my savings.

That is just a wish. You need to start out with a quantifiable objective so that you can determine the level of financial risk you need to achieve it. The objective is to only take on as much financial risk as you need to, in order to achieve your objective.

For example: if you are thirty and want to save 50K by retirement, that requires very little risk as opposed to someone else of the same age that needs to save 700K by retirement... and so on

I'm using it as a better option than leaving it in the bank.

Equities have a very different risk profile to cash deposits, so one is most definitely not a substitute for the other!

Well from reasearch I've done this is just one of the longest performing with average returns of 6%pa. I'm open to be pointed in other directions though. Unfortunately my time to research these things is very limited.

6%pa would be the expected return for the developed world equities, but EM is much riskier than the developed markets, so you need to at least have the potential of a return closer to say 8% - 10% or so. What you are proposing is to accept a low rate of return on a high risk sector and then overweight your portfolio in that sector and that does not even take the FX risks in to account.

Aren't bonds generally not great investments though? They're low risk but I don't mind taking on some risk. Especially since I'm not looking to cash out any time soon.

Well first of all bonds are not low risk, they just have a different risk profile to other classes and one many people fail to understand. And in fact if you take total market activities into account, I'd say more money is lost in the bond market that any where else!

But that is not the point. The point is that over time asset allocation will be the single biggest factor in building your wealth and to ignore it is really not a good idea.

The best advise I can give you is to keep you money on deposit somewhere and spend your time really getting to grips with what investing is all about. Subjects of particular importance would be asset allocation, understanding the nature of risk and portfolio construction. The alternative is to speculate or pay someone else to do it for you.
 
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