Weekly Discussion: 18 August 2025

8 comments

Most FIRE folks are looking to beat or match the market. I'm fired already, so I have a portfolio that emphasizes growth and predictable income. I am way more diversified than just owning the weighted sp500, which gambles 40% on just 10 companies.
I hear a lot about 3 fund portfolios and such. Wouldn't it be smarter to focus on dividend investments so you never have to sell?
What are some good investments to consider?
I hear a lot about covered call ETFs and VOO. Is there something I should consider that's non-stock related?
- Boring reply incoming.
  Focusing on dividends usually leads to suboptimal portfolios where you have insufficient diversification and trail the market on longer time horizons. There’s nothing magical about dividends specifically, and generally you’re better off focusing on total return and getting over the mental hurdle of selling investments during the withdrawal phase.
  Three fund portfolios aren’t sexy but they are recommended because they offer excellent diversification, are simple to reason about, and require little to no maintenance.
  Only you can choose what’s right for you but my advice is to keep a majority of your investments boring and if you’ve got the itch to chase return allocate a small percentage for “fun” investments where failing won’t break your retirement.
  
  That's a solid answer. What I hear a lot of is QQQ, VOO, and, SCHD.
  But why not get the best of growth and the best of dividends and forget the VOO?
  I'm up for ideas, as you may tell. I don't know what exactly I am doing yet.

8 comments