Mike Philbrick Vanguard Growth ETF Portfolio VGRO-T BUY Jun 25, 2019

[Caller wanted a recommendation to invest very long term] HRAA has a component of risk parity in it. It will do well in a liquidity moment. VGRO is also very diversified. Put it away and let it work.

It holds stocks and bonds. He bought it originally for conservative accounts, but sold it after 6 months because they didn't perform. The fund sold its winners to rebalance.

Investing time horizon is long, 10 years in this case. So that lets you take on a bit more risk. Though you'll find 10-year timeframes in the equity market that have delivered losses, that makes the balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds so important.

If you don't want fluctuations at all, there's always cash or a money market fund. But for this time horizon, consider using an ETF with growth potential. For a conservative investor, think about VGRO or VBAL. VGRO is more aggressive, at 80 stocks/20 bonds. VBAL is more balanced at 60/40.

VCNS is for the very conservative, mostly bonds with a bit of equity. It will still grow over time because of the equity allocation, but will be more stable. You could even mix in more bonds yourself. Consider working with a professional on this for a diversified portfolio.

VGRO and XGRO are going to give you broad, market-cap-weighted exposures. 

The Fidelity factor-investing ETFs are going to get rid of some of the companies that they believe are going to underperform. In theory, the Fidelity ETF should give you a better longer-term outcome. He likes factoring a lot.

The problem with all of them is the bond side. Helpful that interest rates have normalized. But, going forward, fixed income is just not going to give the average investor the best risk mitigation. He encourages people to look at the BMO line of buffered ETFs, which give you the potential of equities with the risk mitigation that most are looking for.

80% equity, 20% fixed income. Great for the average investor. The one you want when you're bullish on equities. When you're defensive, you go into the balanced or conservative version which brings you down to 60/40 or 40/60 equities to bonds.

Right now, way too early to be bullish on equities. At some point in the next 6 months (ballpark: below 5000 on the S&P 500, and maybe even below 4500), it will be time to be much more growth oriented. Now is not the time.