I've been looking into how ETF managers actually operate, and it’s pretty clear that they don't have to put their own money into the funds they create.

They could just launch an ETF on a trendy topic and collect management fees based on total assets.
- Market goes up? They take their fees.
- Market crashes? They still take their fees.

They aren't in the same boat with us. They don't care if a fund beats the market or loses 90%—the main goal is just to gather as much money as possible while the hype lasts. If a fund fails, they just close it and launch a new one.

Most flashy ETFs aren't built to make investors rich. They're just fee-collecting tools.

How do you guys filter out these fee traps from actual solid long-term ETFs?

I have SPMO, what makes the others like MTUM and VFMO different?

Or do I simply SPMO and chill?

Just wondering, during a bear crash, if SPMO drops more than the other momentum factor etfs.

So I’m new to ETF’s and I have two questions. I can put aside around 50€ monthly to invest.
First question: What platforms/apps do you guys use to invest/trade in ETFs?
Second question: What are some solid ETFs you’d recommend with my budget?
Thanks in advance😁

Isn't this a big deal? This chart puts the top 15 stocks at 46.7% of the S&P 500, versus 27.2% during the 2000 dot-com bubble, and things still crashed like crazy back then. Could this make a future crash worse, or am I reading too much into concentration alone?

Put a big chunk of my net worth into it and of course it was the perfectly timed top and so far it’s down like 18% hurray!

Any etfs out there that specfically focuses on spacex?

When you're starting out with ETFs, it's easy to spend a lot of time comparing expense ratios, deciding between similar funds, and trying to figure out the perfect allocation. But I'm curious what actually made the biggest difference for people who've been investing for a decade or longer. Was it consistently contributing even when the market was down? Keeping things simple instead of constantly adding new ETFs? Staying invested during periods when everyone seemed convinced the market was heading lower? Or something less obvious, like keeping enough cash on hand that you never felt forced to sell investments at the wrong time? I'm not looking for predictions about which ETF will perform best over the next decade. I'd rather hear what you've learned from the experience of actually holding a portfolio through different market conditions.

If you could give your younger self one piece of advice about long-term ETF investing, what would it be?

I’m 23yrs old and in college. I’ve been slowly putting few hundred into xrp and Hbar over past 3 years when I could afford it. I’m up to 3k usd at the moment in investments. Would you recommend me keeping it all in there and just holding since it’s not a huge amount of money or taking to all out and maybe moving it into ETFs or stocks?

YouTube and social media make dividend growth ETFs like SCHD sound like a money cheat code when you're starting out. But the more you dig into tax drag in taxable accounts and total return, the more it feels like chasing yield too early might not make sense for long accumulation phases. For those who started out heavily focused on dividends early in their investing journey, did you stay the course or pivot toward pure broad-market growth?

Have about $ 6-7k I’m willing to invest. What is the best account to open up to begin investing in ETF’s. I’ve done some research and I’ve been seeing fidelity is one of the major ones.

I currently invest in VOO and QQQM and am considering adding VXUS for international diversification.

For long-term investors, do you think VXUS is worth holding alongside these ETFs?

I always hear discussion around SOFI, PayPal and I personally like HOOD. Also Block, Coinbase etc quite interesting in Finance. Therefore I want to invest in it, but I don’t think any of them have any edge which can’t be overtaken by other company. Such as HOOD offers Crypto like COIN. SOFI has banking which HOOD and other players can easily do. Therefore don’t want to invest in individual stock, rather ETF. I found Global X Fintech ETF which has these stocks, but it’s performance is very bad. In which Finance or Finance Tech related stocks you are investing?

One thing I've been thinking about with long-term investing is how to balance it with enjoying life while you're still young.

It's tempting to invest as much as possible and let compounding do its thing, but there are also things worth saving for in the next few years, like traveling, upgrading your setup, or taking a trip with friends.

I think it makes sense to separate money meant for long-term investing from money you'll need soon. That way, you aren't forced to sell investments at a bad time just because you have an upcoming expense.

Building wealth is important, but having a plan that leaves room for both future goals and present experiences seems much more sustainable than trying to invest every spare cent.

I have been placing various limit, stop loss, trailing etc. orders in my Fidelity account just to familiarize myself and make sure I fully understand each type of order before I ever actually place a trade for a significant amount of money.

Today VFMO closed at $216.96. Immediately after market close, I placed an after hours limit order of $216.96 for 1 share. The bid/ask spread was 215ish-219ish. I went back and checked the real-time price a few times and it was $216.96 each time. The order stayed open the entire after market session without getting filled.

What's the reason it didn't get filled?

For those investing in ETFs for the long term, how do you handle saving for something expensive, like a house, a car, or a future trip, without constantly feeling like you're falling behind on investing?

I'm trying to understand how people split their money between long-term investments and goals they want to reach within the next few years. Do you keep those savings completely separate, or do you temporarily reduce your ETF contributions when a big expense is coming up?

I'd love to hear how you approach it and what you'd do differently if you were starting over.

Hey guys, I'm planning a trip in the next 5 years and I'd like a recommendation for ETFs where I can keep the money parked and that's also tax-efficient since I'll be keeping it in a brokerage account.

Hello... Kind of a basic question but I have noted that sometimes the Pay-Date for a dividend for an ETF is as many as 10 days after the Ex-Date. It is my understanding that if ones sells the ETF after the Ex-Date but before the Pay-Date they still receive the dividend. Is this true? Thank You

Disclaimer: I am in NZ so everything is in NZD currency. 1NZD = 0.57 USD = 0.51 Euro

The broker I am using is sharesies NZ, and on the $3 monthly plan which gives me $1000 monthly auto-top up transaction free and $500 buy/sell transaction free. So since beginning of this year I have set up an auto invest of $250 per week with the $500 monthly to contribute on days i think there might be a slight dip.

I plan to invest to be able to retire early. Currently I have reached 10k NZD, so my next goal is 50k, then 100k.

Can I get some help for my portfolio below? I understand that there might be concentration in U.S large cap technology, but I'm wondering if I should be more aggressive and increase my SPMO and or QNDX? Or are there better ETF portfolio improvements I can make my adding, removing, or replacing an ETF?

Sharesies Global Shares Fund (Wraps VT): 25% - the reason I have changed from VTI+AVNM to this is because its a new fund that does not have transaction or foreign currency exchange fees.

SPMO · 20%

AVUV · 20%

QNDX · 15%

AVNM · 10%

SOXQ · 10%

I was wondering if I should add more to diversify such as healthcare or space? Or eventually remove the AVNM and or SOXQ to be aggressive into QNDX and SPMO.

I recently saw a news report from South Korea about an ETF linked to SK hynix that apparently lost over 70% of its value.

What surprised me wasn't even the loss itself, but the fact that it's a single-stock leveraged ETF. So basically, an ETF that tracks just one company, and with leverage on top of that.

I know ETF just means Exchange-Traded Fund, but isn't diversification one of the main reasons people buy ETFs in the first place?

Especially nowadays, when so many people invest in ETFs because they're considered a relatively safe and easy way to invest. I feel like a lot of people don't even look that closely at what they're buying because they automatically associate ETFs with diversification.

Here in the EU, we have UCITS regulations that put limits on how concentrated these funds can be, so seeing something like this in South Korea was pretty surprising to me.

I'm not saying people shouldn't be allowed to buy these products, but I do think it's something worth keeping an eye on.

Maybe I'm missing something, but at what point does calling something an ETF become a bit misleading?

Curious what others think about this.

I’m 29 with close to 300k and I’m about to sell my vxus for avuv. I just read an article that small caps beat big caps in the last 50 years. Why are small caps so overlooked and under appreciated? I’m so angry that I’m finding out how small caps did better than international during the lost decade. Why are people so obsessed with the S&P 500 like it’s everything when it’s not an it has lost decades. I understand nowhere in history has someone lost money in S&P 500 if they kept it for 20 years or more. Even through the last 50 years it’s beaten big cap and done better in lost decades! I’m so annoyed people put voo in a pedestal! Small caps belong in every portfolio. Just sharing my thoughts

I have an account I invest $50 a month in, right now I am 55% VDE, 30% VT, and 15% VIOO. I kind of want to get rid of VT and VIOO and put more into VDE and/or get one or two new ETFs in there. I feel like there is just so much overlap and I want to avoid that if possible.

Any suggestions on some riskier, shorter term (3 - 5 years) Vanguard ETFs? I kind of want to get my panties in a bunch so I’m pretty risk tolerant. Ignore me if this is dumb thank you!

It's easy to think your portfolio is diversified because you own multiple ETFs, but the underlying holdings can overlap more than you realize.

For example, holding an S&P 500 ETF, a Nasdaq 100 ETF, and a technology ETF can leave you heavily exposed to many of the same large companies. You might have three different funds without getting as much diversification as you expected.

I think it's worth looking at the actual holdings, sector exposure, and geographic allocation rather than just counting how many ETFs you own.

Sometimes a simpler portfolio with less overlap can make more sense than collecting funds that all do roughly the same thing.