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The one ETF you should buy for life

Dylan wrote to us at [email protected]:

“Hey Equity Mates, what’s the best ETF, all things considered, that you’d tell people to buy and dollar cost average into as a passive investment for the rest of their life?”

We loved this question so much, we decided to do our whole episode on it. It’s actually pretty fortuitous timing because we’ve essentially just written a whole book to answer this question (in case you’ve missed the announcement - it’s Don’t Stress, Just Invest - available now!)

But if you’re stuck for time, here’s a list of our considerations:

• Time Horizon | The ETF you choose needs to match the time horizon of the goals you’re chasing. If you’re wanting to set yourself up for life - then it needs to be for the decades to come. We want to be looking at assets that are a little bit riskier, but have the potential to grow much more as well.

• Diversification | If you’re investing in one ETF only for the rest of your life, then make sure all your eggs aren’t in the one basket. Or, to use Ren’s analogy, if your ETF is a fruit salad, make sure you’re not just getting a slice of banana and apple, but you’ve got pineapple, kiwi fruit, mango, pawpaw, and grapes in there as well. Basically, does your ETF have different sectors, countries and asset classes covered?

• Cost | This isn’t the price of the ETF we’re talking about - there’s two other fees you need to be aware of. Firstly, it’s the management fee the provider takes from the returns. Then if you’re dollar cost averaging in over decades, you want your brokerage costs to be as low as possible as well. Fees eat into your returns over decades, so you just want to make sure you’re getting the best deal you can!

• Our Criteria | What’s our criteria for an ideal ETF? We think it should be 80% in stocks, an ETF that passively tracks the overall market, one with a global focus, and with a provider that charges 0.5% or less in annual fees.

What’s your ETF criteria? Do you have any other things to add to the list? Listen to today’s episode to hear Ren and Bryce expand on their ideas and list 4 ETFs that fit their scope.

$100 Challenge

Every month, Bryce and Ren challenge each other to find or save an extra $100. Because, did you know if you’re investing that extra $100 each month, it could compound to a massive $350 000 over four decades? Both guys have tried lots of weird and wonderful ideas to earn and save, like online surveys, packing their lunch, selling plants, cancelling subscriptions and cheap phone plans, and we’ve heard lots of ideas from you as well.

So, we were wondering if you had to find an extra $100 this month, what would you do?

4 high interest savings accounts

We last published this list in June, but the RBA has raised the interest rate again since then, so we thought it was worth a revisit. FYI: It’s important to remember to check all the terms and conditions on these accounts, as different qualifiers will suit your differing needs.

Here’s some of the banks:

• Move Bank Growth Saver 5.5% | Grow your savings with bonus interest when you deposit $200 and make no withdrawals in a month, on balances up to $25,000.

• ING Savings Maximiser 5.5% | Deposit $1000, make 5 transactions and grow your balance every month on account balances up to $100 000.

• Hiver Target Saver 5.5% | No maximum deposit limits, $0 account fees, deposit a minimum of $1000, make no withdrawals and keep a positive balance in your account.

• HomeME Savings Account 5.65% | Bundled with a SpendME Transaction Account, deposit at least $2000 into your SpendME Transaction Account every month and growing your saved balance in your HomeME account.

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Don’t Stress, Just Invest

Investing doesn’t have to be hard, and it doesn’t need to be time consuming.

Don’t Stress, Just Invest is our answer. Read this book, set up your investments, and get on with your life. It’s our guide on how to easily automate your investments, confidently choose your assets, and harness the wealth-creating potential of the market.

It's 6 years of distilled wisdom from your Equity Mates, and is available at all bookstores now.