SPYM
State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF
stock NYSE ETF

It's about 40% SPMO 20% FMTM 30% SMH 10% DRAM at the moment but I intend to shave some of that FMTM down and convert it into SPYM just to give it some stability. As sort of an anchor.

40% SPYM
30% VXUS
20% XMMO
10% AVUV
Want to keep it basic, but still touch some tilts and maintaining 70/30 US/INT split. Anybody know of a better INT ETF?

I wouldn’t worry so much about who the brokerage is. I have both Schwab and Robinhood. I started with Schwab. Actually started with Scottrade lol. It was bought out a couple of times. A Roth was my best choice but I also have taxable accounts now. If you want to be safe and boring, which I would recommend, use index funds like many have suggested. VOO or SPYM, if you like tech, I like FTEC instead of QQQM because it has less overlap and more tech heavy. Maybe some international like VXUS. Nothing wrong with using 5% of your money on individual stocks that you believe in to stay engaged if you need that like I did. But the majority of profits will probably come from boring index funds. I got lucky and bought a few shares of google years ago that turned into 200 shares which more than paid for the stocks I lost on. But the smart thing to do is pick index funds if you want to set it and forget it.

Most people recommend 50/60/70% in VT/VTI/VXUS/VOO/SPYM etc. Is this actually that necessary? Can I just replace these with SPMO, QQQM etc?

SPYM

I have been waiting for this day for a while now. Will probably keep it boring and just buy some SPYM and maybe some international. I made my ira on Robinhood for the gold match, but plan to have a general brokerage on fidelity.
If you people have tips, I would like to hear them.

70% SPYM, 10% SPMO, 10% FMTM, 10% SGRT

This is similar to mine or at least how it started. I was mostly SPYM and SPDW and then I started adding "fun stuff" with more risk but more potential. Both of those two were 75% my core but then I added SPMO, and then SOXQ, and then DRAM but I considered FMTM and SGRT as well.

dude fuck the bank, don't listen to them. They want you to put it into vehicles that will make them money.
Not a financial advisor. But I would take that and do a 40/40/20 split between a high growth fund like SCHG or even QQQM and a broad market fund like SPYM (sp 500) and something international like VXUS.
Alternatively; you could just do VT which is the whole world.

That's what I did. But even now I'm considering stopping the buying if FMTM and just going with SPMO as my core. Then a tilt into SPYM to stabilize things a bit as far as volatility, and SMH to turbo charge it a bit further in the direction of semiconductors.

My father once said (regarding taking risks and winning or losing) you can always make more money. And that’s just it, have to remove emotion from this and realize it is money that can be remade. I’ve lost some money, some that I perhaps won’t make back (like you), some that was sold for a loss, some that holding they may just go down and stay losses or have opportunity cost losses. None of it do I view as “money I can afford to lose,”. It it wasn’t my core. That I don’t touch and I don’t (thankfully) even have the ability to do more than just broad market funds and target date funds. Been at this for 20-30yrs, saw plenty of drops and lousy markets, but that is the way it is supposed to work, nothing keeps going up forever, there are corrections and times of corrections/sideways,up/down, general uncertainty. The key is removing emotion and simply continuing with The Plan. Develop your Plan, and that should be core broad market (VOO/SPYM/FXAIX), some exposure to more aggressive growth if your timeline and risk tolerance are there, some international, som mid and small cap (if your timeline and risk tolerance are there), and some stabilizing value (VTV/SCDH) that can protect your account when tech/growth tanks. Personally, I think you have not built up a Plan, one that you’ve researched and believe in. Use testfolio or backtesting software, don’t get caught up in maximum yield, look for low volatility, low beta portfolios. If you know you can’t stomach watching your portfolio drop 20-30% in a down market, perhaps you need to keep your money in a HYSA or short term treasuries (Tbills/SGOV)? If I were in your shoes I would get my mind straight, get some books on investing and growing capital, learn first, then deploy your money. Build up that internal resolution to NOT look at the account. We all know that the markets go up and to the right over time, things will recover… so accept what the market gives you, what everyone else is getting too, we are all in this together, when you’re losing we are losing too, and put it into S&P500 and don’t touch it. Or a TDF target date fund, maybe pick one 5-10yrs past your retirement to keep it more aggressive for longer. Stop watching the fear mongering news, stop looking at the market, go live your life. Put that money in there and pretend it’s no longer yours. For it isn’t. It’s your future self. Yes 17k hurts, now wipe your tears, know that it’s over, past, can’t be undone, and no longer fret about what you can’t change, you can’t undo. It’s wasted emotion and needless pain. Focus on the valuable lesson you’ve learned, and move forward. Don’t stop, just go!! You got this, we believe in you!

I actually like the more aggressive ETFs to me help get me there faster, like SPMO, FMTM, SMH, DRAM, you got VGT, QQQM, SOXX, the list goes on but these should cover you pretty well. I just carry the first four. If you want to smooth things out like volatility is too high you can always cushion it with some basic SPYM.

The S&P 500 is the bus route map (index). If you have a bus map in your hands you’ll have some good information but it won’t get you anywhere. VOO is a bus (index fund). It will take you where you want to go by following the published route. There are many busses that follow the same route (VOO, SPY, IVV, SPYM, FXAIX, SWPPX…).

Money market or SGOV and then dollar cost average into VT, VTI, SPYM, QQQM, SPMO, VGT, or similar etf.
Be aware we are getting Nvidia earnings soon on May 20th which will probably be awesome and start of June we are going to get a flex up or down. I really cannot tell if people are going to be hyped by AI and Trump announcing world peace again or maybe inflation kicks everyone between the legs and we have a red month for June.

If I could go back in time, I’d start investing into the S&P500 as much and as often as I could, comfortably and within reason. I recommend SPYM, it’s the cheapest version. You can dabble in individual stocks later on, provided you’ve done proper due diligence, but starting with the S&P is as good of a beginning as any.

Last month I opened a non-retirement brokerage account in order to save money and hopefully make money that I can spend before retirement (hopefully to buy a home in the next five years). I set up automatic investments of $200 twice a month. I picked stocks/ etfs based on what I found on Reddit. Did I totally miss the mark with these? Any changes suggested?
Any advice welcome
Positions
$30.00 DRAM C
ROUNDHILL MEMORY
ETF
$30.00 SMHC
VANECK
SEMICONDUCTOR ETF
$30.00 SPMOD
INVESCO S&P 500
MOMENTUM ETF
$30.00 SPYM C
STATE STREET SPDR
PORTFOLIO S&P 500
ETF
$30.00 SYRE C
SPYRE THERAPEUTICS
$30.00 XUSE
VANGUARD TOTAL
INTERNATIONAL
STOCK INDEX FUND
ETF
$20.00 WDCO
WESTERN DIGITAL
Total amount
$200.00

Might be different in Canada vs US. But if this hypothetical situation were mine, I’d put majority of the money into a standard S&P tracking ETF like SPYM, SPY, or VOO.

Stocks: SMH VGT SPYM SPY VOO
Options: Choose one(s) with upside potential and purchase months/ years out.
If it was me, I’d put in VGT and be patient.

Well, then, SPYM (formerly SPLG) is the way to go for even lower expense ratio. Or in a non-taxable account, get something like Fidelity’s FNILX for 0 expense ratio (not exactly the same thing, but essentially).
Also, if this is a taxable account such as brokerage, no point selling SPY to switch. Just don’t buy any additional SPY.

Baseline - SPYM.
Time tested outperformers - IGM/QQQM/SCHG/QTUM.
Time tested momentum - SPMO/PTF/PRN.
Ripping newcomers - SGRT/FMTM.
AI + Semis - AIS/SMH.