BUY

Total stock market index. 70% made up of large caps, remaining 30% made up of 1000's of mid- to small-caps. The whole package. iShares has some offerings as well. Many ways to play.

BUY
RESP for an 8-year old, for growth and diversification.

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.

BUY
RESP for an 8-year old, for growth and diversification.

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.

BUY
RESP for an 8-year old, for growth and diversification.

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.

BUY

XEF is the biggest of the international ETFs, where IMI stands for "investable market index"; developed countries that are not NA, but not EM countries either. Less risky than EMs. Good entry point at only 22 bps.

ZEA tracks just the vanilla MSCI, and it's just the large caps.

Be careful mixing and matching international with EM exposure. For example, FTSE and Vanguard consider South Korea to be a developed country, but MSCI does not. So you may end up with gaps or overlaps.

BUY

XEF is the biggest of the international ETFs, where IMI stands for "investable market index"; developed countries that are not NA, but not EM countries either. Less risky than EMs. Good entry point at only 22 bps.

ZEA tracks just the vanilla MSCI, and it's just the large caps.

Be careful mixing and matching international with EM exposure. For example, FTSE and Vanguard consider South Korea to be a developed country, but MSCI does not. So you may end up with gaps or overlaps.

TOP PICK

Holds London bullion and tracks very closely to the London VIX, the internationally recognized reference point for gold. He uses it in his model portfolios as an alternative asset class. Single-digit percentage points of weight. 

Shouldn't expect it to shoot the lights out. Most of the time it sits around doing nothing. But by having a sprinkling of it, your portfolio is better diversified because it can zig when the rest of the market zags (as we just saw). When markets are volatile and inflation is still on the horizon, a physical commodity like gold can do very well.

TOP PICK

Holds bonds that are going to mature in the year noted. A way to branch out of cash ETFs where yields are falling. Same as buying a bond maturing in 2027, but with more diversification.

A growing area. CM, TD, and Guardian all have products in the space.

TOP PICK

The "C" stands for capped, so any of its largest mega-cap holdings is capped at 3%. If you look at XSP or SPY, you'll see that the largest tech companies have about a 6% weight. So those ones are getting top-heavy. This ETF is a way to maintain exposure to the mega-caps, but diminish their role in steering the ship.

Anticipates this will track the S&P 500 very closely, but reduce concentration risk somewhat.

COMMENT

He wouldn't bet against their earnings next week, but Nvidia is the biggest risk to the market now.

BUY

The US consumer remains a risk despite Target's strong performance today and their quarter. The lower-end consumer is challenged by inflation and are looking for discount sellers like TJX. Their margin guidance is 31%, which is phenomenal for retail. Target's number is encouraging though. He will look at them. TJX beat earnings and raised guidance.

WATCH

The US consumer remains a risk despite Target's strong performance today and their quarter. Target's number is encouraging though. He will look at them.

WEAK BUY

It reported and beat today. Challenges remain as the car sector hasn't recovered as expected (look at ON Semis and NXP results), but AD executes well under good managers.

DON'T BUY

He sold it last May and doesn't regret it. It just reported and shares are rising. But TXN's AI strategy isn't as clear as its peers.

DON'T BUY

Is up only 8% in the past year. Underperformed. Yes, AI cannabilizes their existing products