I thought this week would be a great time to share how I invest. Before I dive into the post I just want to say that this is in no way financial advice, this is just what I do based on what works for me. I just want to show you an example of a diversified portfolio. You should do your own research and think about your own goals to determine what you should invest in.
What Platform Do I Use?
You may have seen me talk about it on my Instagram and other previous blog posts, but this year I have just made the move to Pearler for my brokerage account. When I first started investing I signed up with NAB Trade as that was who I banked with. NAB trade is great for those who want to research extensively and pick some individual stocks, but for me I just wanted something a bit simpler and cheaper! NAB trade offers trades at $14.95 each, and has plenty of market data available. I like to invest in ETF’s at set intervals & therefore don’t need that data. That is where Pearler comes in, its cheap, simple and makes it so easy to invest regularly with their auto-invest option.
As you can see below, NAB has plenty of tools but it can be quite overwhelming, especially for someone new to investing. Pearler keeps it simple and is all about long term investing, rather than trading. This is what I love about pearler and why I now invest with them.
The home screens alone show you how different they are! If you want lots of research NABtrade may be for you. I find most of the stuff on there you can find online anyway, so if I ever do need to research I just look online before buying with Pearler.
What Do I Invest In?
Over the years since I have started investing, what I have invested in has changed slightly. My approach however, has stayed the same. My strategy is to invest in a well diversified portfolio of exchange traded funds (ETFs) that include companies from all over the world. Initially, I had most of my money tied up in Australia, which is still the case, however I am slowly increasing my exposure to the US as they are the largest and in my opinion most powerful market in the world. In order to get this worldwide exposure, I invest in three ETF’s:
- Vanguard Australian Shares ETF (VAS)
- Top 10 holdings
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia
- CSL
- BHP
- Westpac
- NAB
- ANZ
- Wesfarmers (Coles, Kmart, Bunnings)
- Macquarie Group
- Woolworths
- Telstra
- Top 10 holdings
- Vanguard Total US Share Market (VTS)
- Top 10 holdings
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Amazon
- Alphabet Inc Class A (Google)
- Alphabet Inc Class C (Google)
- Tesla
- NVIDIA
- Berkshire Hathaway
- JPMorgan Chase & Co
- Top 10 holdings
- Vanguard All World excluding US (VEU)
- Top 10 Holdings
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
- Tencent Holdings
- Samsung
- Nestle
- ASML Holding
- Roche Holding
- Alibaba Group Holding
- Toyota
- AstraZeneca
- LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE
- Top 10 Holdings
These three ETF’s make up roughly 80% of my entire share portfolio, and give me exposure to 1000’s of companies all around the world.
My Target Pearler Portfolio:
Vanguard Australian Shares (VAS) 35%
Vanguard US Total Share Market (VTS) 50%
Vanguard All-World Excl. US (VEU) 15%
https://pearler.com/home?deal=mindovermoney
Why Do I invest This Way?
As I said earlier in the post, my aim with my investment portfolio is to be diversified across the globe. The best way to do this is through ETF’s, as one trade instantly invests me into hundreds of companies. This means, rather than buying the top 200 or 300 Australian shares individually, which would require very large amounts of money and cost thousands in trading costs, I can buy one ETF, for example VAS, and instantly own the 300 companies. They are the perfect way to get exposure to some of the best companies in the world.
Another reason why I invest in ETF’s over single stocks is to decrease the risk associated with investing. If you invest in a single company, you are exposing yourself to more risk. If they were to go bankrupt, you would lose all your money. They also may perform worse than the overall market if they have a bad year or just aren’t doing as well as other industries . By investing in an ETF, the only way for you to lose all your money is for every company in that fund to go bankrupt. If every company in the top 300 companies in Australia go bankrupt, we probably have more to worry about than our investment portfolio! The other great thing is even if a few companies go bankrupt in the top 300 Aussie stocks, you may have the share price dip for a period of time, but eventually those companies will be replaced by other companies and the share price will continue to grow as the companies grow.
The last reason why I invest in ETF’s is because they are easy and cheap! ETF’s literally just track an index (for example the Aussie market or US market), so there is no fund manager picking stocks. Because of this, the management costs are super cheap! Were talking less than 0.5% a year, or in the case of VAS- just 0.10% per year. If you invest in funds run by fund managers selecting stocks, you could be looking at a 2% fee. That means you would need to return 2% a year just to break even! I also love ETF’s because they are easy and require no maintenance on my end. I just buy at regular intervals, I don’t have to research or keep up to date with stock trends, and they just keep ticking along earning me money.
Summary
I’d encourage you to get started investing! It really is easy once you wrap your head around it and can really help set yourself up for the future. If ETF’s sound like they may be for you, I’d encourage you to sign up to Pearler and have a look. They are great for ETF investing, and really promote buying and holding for the long term. If you would like to do some stock picking/research or more active investing, I’d suggest you have a look at a platform like Self-wealth. They offer plenty of research and also offer cheap trading costs at $9.50 per trade. The big 4 banks also offer great market research and data but are generally a bit more expensive per trade, ranging from $14.95 to $19.95 per trade.
Resources
Pearler
Low cost investing- $9.50 per trade
Promotes buying ETF’s and holding for the long term
Use code MINDOVERMONEY for a free trade
https://pearler.com/home?deal=mindovermoney
Self Wealth
Low cost investing- $9.50 per trade
Promotes active trading
Plenty of market data
https://www.selfwealth.com.au/
ETF resources
ETF’s can be bought like any other share on the share market- through a broker. For more information on different ETFs, below are the ETF providers websites:
Vanguard
https://www.vanguard.com.au/personal/en/etf
BetaShares
https://www.betashares.com.au/
iShares/Blackrock
https://www.blackrock.com/institutions/en-au/investment-capabilities-and-solutions/ishares-etfs_en_AU
Mind Over Money 