Michael Bowman Vanguard S&P 500 ETF VOO-N STRONG BUY Dec 15, 2014

A straight S&P index ETF. Nothing wrong with this. Similar ETFs are also fine, like VV and SPY.

Excellent option for S&P 500 exposure. Very hard to beat performance. Excellent long term hold. Would recommend. 

Good if you're buying in USD. He prefers the market-weighted over the equal-weighted right now. Large and mega-caps will continue to perform well. 

His mid-term target for the S&P 500 is 5500, then maybe a pullback in September-October, and then go on to hit 6000 in the first quarter of 2025. Good opportunities in it, even though the market's performed well. Good core holding.

Most active managers fail to beat the index long term. You can buy and hold a passive index fund. But active traders take advantage of dips and they dollar-cost average. Also, you can buy an index fund at the top of the market, then be under water for a while. That said, the index plus dollar-cost averaging tend to beat the majority.

This version is not currency hedged. If you're thinking of the next number of years and where the CAD is today, it might be weaker until the upcoming potential downturn in the next 6-12 months. 

He'd look for exposure to the S&P 500 long term, but use a currency-hedge strategy ETF. Vanguard and iShares both have those, competitively priced.

Low-cost ETFs are a great mechanism to include in a portfolio, especially for smaller accounts. Also good if you want exposure right away to a particular index; over time, you can build out a portfolio that's more custom-tailored. His view is that a professional manager can get you better returns, but there is a place for these ETFs for certain investors.

Downfall is that you're tied to what the index is. If you're comfortable with those weights, that's great. If not, then you'd want to create a portfolio by yourself or with an investment manager.

The S&P 500 is not the only index his clients have in portfolios. Other names, regions, and geographies can be used to build a quality portfolio. Want to make sure you're not overweight in any one sector.

Great that the viewer is starting her son out early. Years of compounding growth is the best thing that any investor can do.

For anything that's related to just the S&P 500, you really need to know what you're buying. Here, you're buying about 37% in 10 companies. In other words, the top 10 companies represent about 37% of the S&P 500. So the ZSP and VOO are a bit top heavy. There's some risk if mega-cap tech names start to sell off, which they will at some point.
 
So take a look at diversifying. Perhaps VGG, where you still get exposure to tech but more dividend appreciation. Another approach is to look at ETFS that focus on quality, such as QUAL or ZUQ among other names. These two screen for strong ROEs and low leverage.

SPY is the oldest and the biggest. Starting to be overtaken by VOO, perhaps because of the slight difference in MER cost. Worthwhile contacting the ETF company itself for a tax opinion on which account is best to hold it in.