How much should I invest in my first ETF?
ETFs have a low hurdle to invest
Also, it doesn't take much to construct a balanced portfolio. You can put $500 in a stock ETF and $500 in a bond ETF to achieve a diversified two-asset-class portfolio which, though simple, can be a great start toward building a portfolio appropriate for your goals.
ETFs have a low hurdle to invest
Also, it doesn't take much to construct a balanced portfolio. You can put $500 in a stock ETF and $500 in a bond ETF to achieve a diversified two-asset-class portfolio which, though simple, can be a great start toward building a portfolio appropriate for your goals.
You expose your portfolio to much higher risk with sector ETFs, so you should use them sparingly, but investing 5% to 10% of your total portfolio assets may be appropriate. If you want to be highly conservative, don't use these at all.
Experts agree that for most personal investors, a portfolio comprising 5 to 10 ETFs is perfect in terms of diversification.
How Much Does It Cost to Start an ETF? $100,000 to $500,000 for SEC regulation costs. The lower end is for plain-vanilla funds that don't stray from the basic strategy of mimicking a single large-cap index. About $2.5 million to seed the ETF with initial purchases of assets.
The truth is that most investors won't have the money to generate $1,000 per month in dividends; not at first, anyway. Even if you find a market-beating series of investments that average 3% annual yield, you would still need $400,000 in up-front capital to hit your targets. And that's okay.
The low investment threshold for most ETFs makes it easy for a beginner to implement a basic asset allocation strategy that matches their investment time horizon and risk tolerance. For example, young investors might be 100% invested in equity ETFs when they are in their 20s.
One way for beginner investors to get started is to buy ETFs that track broad market indexes, such as the S&P 500. In doing so, you're investing in some of the largest companies in the country, with the goal of long-term returns.
Should you invest in ETFs? Since ETFs offer built-in diversification and don't require large amounts of capital in order to invest in a range of stocks, they are a good way to get started. You can trade them like stocks while also enjoying a diversified portfolio.
Some experts recommend withdrawing 4% each year from your retirement accounts. To generate $500 a month, you might need to build your investments to $150,000. Taking out 4% each year would amount to $6,000, which comes to $500 a month.
What does a good ETF portfolio look like?
Properties of a good portfolio
Diversification: A well-diversified portfolio should include ETFs that cover different asset classes (stocks, bonds, commodities, etc.), sectors, industries, and geographical regions. This spreads risk and reduces the impact of any single investment on the overall performance.
ETFs make a great pick for many investors who are starting out as well as for those who simply don't want to do all the legwork required to own individual stocks. Though it's possible to find the big winners among individual stocks, you have strong odds of doing well consistently with ETFs.
In practice, it would be very hard to launch an ETF with less than $2.5 million because it would be hard to run a portfolio with that little cash—hard to buy a lot of positions.
You can make money from ETFs by trading them. And some ETFs pay out the money the ETF makes to investors. These payments are called distributions.
| Symbol | Name | 5-Year Return |
|---|---|---|
| IYW | iShares U.S. Technology ETF | 23.99% |
| SPXL | Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3X Shares | 23.89% |
| UPRO | ProShares UltraPro S&P500 | 23.55% |
| FTXL | First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF | 23.34% |
One way to think about it is every three months taking whatever excess income you can afford to invest – money that you will never need to touch again – and buy ETFs! Buy ETFs when the market is up. Buy ETFs when the market is down.
If you were to invest $200 per month over the course of the next 30 years, that would equate to a total investment of $72,000. That's significant, but it's through the effects of compounding that would get your portfolio to a more than $1 million valuation.
| Rate of return | 10 years | 30 years |
|---|---|---|
| 4% | $72,000 | $336,500 |
| 6% | $79,000 | $474,300 |
| 8% | $86,900 | $679,700 |
| 10% | $95,600 | $987,000 |
For instance, some ETFs may come with fees, others might stray from the value of the underlying asset, ETFs are not always optimized for taxes, and of course — like any investment — ETFs also come with risk.
For most ETFs, selling after less than a year is taxed as a short-term capital gain. ETFs held for longer than a year are taxed as long-term gains. If you sell an ETF, and buy the same (or a substantially similar) ETF after less than 30 days, you may be subject to the wash sale rule.
How do I make money on ETFs?
Most ETF income is generated by the fund's underlying holdings. Typically, that means dividends from stocks or interest (coupons) from bonds. Dividends: These are a portion of the company's earnings paid out in cash or shares to stockholders on a per-share basis, sometimes to attract investors to buy the stock.
In general, the process is like buying a stock. Fund your account. You'll need to transfer cash into your brokerage account to buy your ETF shares. Search for the ETF ticker symbol: If you're using one of your brokerage's research tools, you may be able to purchase shares directly from the ETF's entry.
- High-yield savings accounts. This can be one of the simplest ways to boost the return on your money above what you're earning in a typical checking account. ...
- Certificates of deposit (CDs) ...
- 401(k) or another workplace retirement plan. ...
- Mutual funds. ...
- ETFs. ...
- Individual stocks.
ETFs or "exchange-traded funds" are exactly as the name implies: funds that trade on exchanges, generally tracking a specific index. When you invest in an ETF, you get a bundle of assets you can buy and sell during market hours—potentially lowering your risk and exposure, while helping to diversify your portfolio.
For most standard, unleveraged ETFs that track an index, the maximum you can theoretically lose is the amount you invested, driving your investment value to zero. However, it's rare for broad-market ETFs to go to zero unless the entire market or sector it tracks collapses entirely.
