By WealthVenuePosted on

You downloaded your favorite investing app, now what’s next?

You might think you will find every answer to investing by simply using an investment app, but you would be wrong.

This is because you actually need a process, an actual plan before you can start investing, no matter the investing app.

Problem: this process is not free and might require the need to hire a financial advisor, a professional regulated by FINRA or the SEC.

This is out of reach for most retail investors, and honestly you don’t really need such a service for the amount of money most of us need to invest.

Here is what you could do to start investing without taking too much risk or needing a financial advisor:

  • SPY or VOO: buy the Market, ie the S&P 500, this is a no brainer. You don’t know where to invest? Just buy the top dogs in the market. It’s priced efficiently, and this is what every investor should have in their portfolios.

  • Buy the Nasdaq-100 (ex: QQQM), these are super growth companies you don’t want to miss. It’s a little bit risky but in small doses it can spice things up for your portfolio long term.

  • VO or IJH: buy MidCap ETFs, this where the future stars of the S&P 500 are hiding. You can add those in small doses in your portfolio, they will not hurt. Once you are more comfortable with taking risks and getting more returns, you can increase your allocations up to 20-25%.

Some retail investors like to focus on only 1 ETF, and buy all the corners of the market with Total Market ETFs like VTI.

It’s a simple strategy but you might miss the performance of MidCaps and Nasdaq-100 stocks because of the dilution effect of the LargeCap stocks in Total Market ETFs (the S&P 500 is usually 60-80% of the Total Market ETFs).

I didn’t mention International ETFs like VT or VXUS because I think they are too risky for a new investor and also poor performers long term, so you don’t really want to shoot yourself in the foot when you just started your investor journey.

If you are starting your investor journey and need a simple portfolio of ETFs, start your journey here.​

DIY Investor, For You, How to Start Investing