Today’s email is sponsored by eToro

One ETF to rule them all, or Core & Satellite:
How many ETFs should you own?

Last week we asked in our Facebook Discussion group: what ETFs would you happily dollar cost average invest into, week after week, for the rest of your life?

You gave us a huge range of answers, mentioning ETF tickers like: BGBL, DHHF, QUAL, NDIA, FTSE, & IOZ amongst many others.  

Investing in Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) has become increasingly popular due to their low costs and ease of trading. But when it comes to diversifying your portfolio with ETFs, how many should you actually own? The answer of course, depends entirely on your own strategy…

Single ETF Strategy
Like things to be simple? Well, there’s no reason that a single all-in-one ETF can’t be an option. There’s quite a few ETFs designed to offer broad market exposure by tracking multiple asset classes, sectors, or geographies. With just one ETF, you can achieve a level of diversification that would typically require multiple individual investments.

Pros? Simplified portfolio management, and lower transaction costs. But the cons? Well, you’re reading an email called Get Started Investing, so there might be every chance you’d like to be more specialised in your investing ideas, and want to supplement your portfolio with other investable ideas.

Are you a one-size fits all? Catch up on these episodes:
Exploring Betashares Diversified All Growth ETF (DHHF)
Understanding the Betashares Global Shares ETF (BGBL)

Core-Satellite Approach
The Core-Satellite approach involves selecting one, or a few "core" ETFs that serve as the foundation of your portfolio. These core ETFs can track broad market indexes, and then you can add "satellite" ETFs or stocks that focus on specific sectors, asset classes, or investment strategies to diversify your strategy. Positives? You can tailor the "satellite" ETFs to your specific interests or beliefs, such as ESG investing. The downside is that the more things you buy, the more transaction costs you might be adding in, and you’re increasing the amount you should be involved.

Need to understand more about spreading your choices out? Listen to these:
A long term theme, or will it run out of steam?
Help me understand what I’m actually buying
Help me narrow down my ETF theme choices!

Our key takeaways?
Look, it could be a cop out from us BUT there's no one-size-fits-all answer to the number of ETFs one should own. Ultimately your investment strategy should align with your risk profile and your own goals. But, the great news is, with all the options available to you now - diversification is completely within reach whatever method you’d like to use!

Share your dumbest money moment and win

Thanks to our friends at Village Roadshow, we've got 200 tickets to giveaway to the new movie Dumb Money!

Dumb Money tells the story of one of the wildest Wall Street moments in recent memory - when a bunch of Redditors took down some of the largest investors in the world with the Game Stop short squeeze. This is a story that went from the homes of Redditors to Wall Street and ultimately, the halls of US Congress.

We're excited to offering a limited number of double passes to an advance screening of Dumb Money to Equity Mates.

To enter, all you need to do is share a 'dumb money' decision you've made (or feel free to share a dumb money decision a friend has made instead). We'll be celebrating some of our favourite dumb money decisions (and sharing plenty of our own) on an upcoming episode of Get Started Investing.

Have you ordered Don’t Stress, Just Invest yet?

Investing doesn’t have to be hard, and it doesn’t need to be time consuming. Ren talked to 9Honey Money about how he wants others to feel confident like him when it comes to ‘doing enough’ with your money. You can read his interview here.

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