Cindie’s Aunt Carolyn recently asked me for investment advice for her youngest daughter, Sheila. There are three categories of investments I can recommend for a person with a long-term view who does not want the risk and details associated with owning individual stocks. In my mind, anyone 65 years old or younger should think long-term. I also think anyone who is likely to live to 85 years should invest with a long-term mindset until they are 80 years old.

The three categories of investments to consider are:

  1. Low cost stock index funds like FUSVX.
  2. ETF’s that focus on DIVIDEND GROWTH like VYM, DGRO and DVY.
  3. ETF’s that focus on sectors with good long-term prospects (technology, health care, energy) like FTEC, FHLC and FENY.

The reasons I like FUSVX are:

  1. Good diversification
  2. Good dividend income that should be reinvested automatically – current yield 1.80%
  3. Low expense ratio of only 0.04%
  4. A lot of good large cap companies that are unlikely to suffer in the long haul.

To create a simple long-term investment portfolio, here is one suggestion:

Here are some iShares funds that I recommend. These are all commission-free at Fidelity Investments.

PFF – a good income fund. I own shares of this.

ITOT – an excellent choice to participate in the TOTAL US stock market

DGRO – dividend growth. I use this in the UTMA accounts for our grandchildren.

IJT and IJS to gain exposure to small cap companies.

Fidelity Investments ETF Screener
No Commission ETFs

Use this as part of your ETF research. Are the dividends growing?

https://www.etfreplay.com/yield.aspx