Building a Core Portfolio Alongside Passive Income
I’m currently invested in the passive-income space, but I’m looking at building a stronger core portfolio focused on long-term growth as well. My thought is to continue receiving distributions from my income ETFs and reinvest those distributions into a solid, diversified core ETF rather than putting everything into income-producing investments. For those who have experience with this strategy: • What Canadian-listed ETFs would you consider a good “core” holding for long-term growth? • Would you lean toward something like XEQT, VEQT, or a more balanced option such as VGRO/XGRO? • Does it make sense to use income ETFs for cash flow while directing distributions toward a growth-oriented core? • How would you balance income, growth, and risk if you were building this strategy in your late 50s? I’m not looking for a specific stock pick — more interested in how others structure their portfolios for both income and long-term growth.
518 views
30 Comments
ETF Go@etf.go · 5d
From our DMs - here’s a list of a few different people on blossom that run fairly simple yet effective ETF/hybrid portfolios that you may want to follow. 🤓 They also tend to be balanced in their insights/persoectives, friendly and helpful so hopefully some will share a few ideas/suggestions that you may consider. @karyungtom@moementumfinance@mr.financial@crazycanuckinvestor@smallbird.financial@lecorb@ian_s@mytranslator@canadianinvestor@williamwang23@marketwatcher@therev@ffcatherine Sharing because from our messages Diane seems genuinely interested in learning and knows she’s has some ‘catching up’ to in the years leading up to retirement. 🙌 My suggestion for the original question (and based on what Diane shared in DM) would be to structure a portfolio to capture the ‘best of all products’ by blending broad, low cost MarketCap/Factor ETF for growth, LowVolatility for stability and Conservative/ST Bond for safety/future opportunities. ✅ Small slice of CC ETFs could be used as complement where distributions could be reinvested to fund rebalances/reallocations. 🤔 Others can tell you the benefits of taking an even simpler approach. 👏 But hopefully following these fine folks (and reading some of their past posts/videos) you may get an idea on what will be most comfortable for you. Hope this helps. 😉👍
Mr Financial@mr.financial · 5d
@etf.go thanks for the work load 🤪 miss you buddy. @dreddick you have received a ton of information and resources so far. I don't think I need to add to your pile of homework.... Too much 😆 Considering your age and decreasing amount of human capital you'll have available, it becomes extra important to understand your risk profile as an investor. Your profile takes into consideration everything about your circumstances and psychology to help you understand how to behave in the market. It's mainly made up of three components, your risk tolerance or willingness to take it on. That's your emotional and psychological comfort with seeing your investment values go up and down... Sometimes a lot of you're aggressive. Then there's something very important at your age, your risk capacity or ability. That considers how much financial loss you can ACTUALLY afford without hurting your daily life or long term financial safety This depends on your age, income, debt, savings, investments and so forth.. lastly your risk need. What rate of return you require to reach your specific financial goals... such as your impending retirement! To help you figure that out... I'd use this questionnaire.https://www.ciro.ca/office-investor/understanding-risk/investor-questionnaire
Levi Ewald@smallbird.financial · 5d
Thank you for the tag @etf.go A lot of really good insight here already, so I don't feel like I need to add a lot more to this conversation. As is said in this thread, covered call ETFs can give you some income and distributions, but if you look at total return, they're not going to do as well as a non-covered call ETF portfolio. With that being said, if a small slice of your portfolio is covered call ETFs, it's not going to be the end of the world if that helps you stay invested. I think the other aspect to think about is potentially having something in your portfolio that's a little bit more stable, possibly some bonds or some GICs. As you're nearing retirement, it may be challenging to withstand a large drawdown. Looks like you have lots of good resources here, but feel free to reach out if you have questions!
Crazy Canuck Investor @crazycanuckinvestor · 5d
Hi Diane. It’s appears that we are not far apart. I am in West Kelowna. Thanx for the shout out @etf.go. I generally like an investor to think a nut their goals for investing. What is your end goal. How much do you want to live Off of in retirment. Do you have a pension or guaranteed income. All of this can at apart in how you structure you portolfio. I had a quick look at what you are currently holding. I see many funds that I have held and ultimately sold. Not that holding them is right or wrong. I am 53 and started investing at 50. So my lens is different than many given I am so close to retirement. My core holdings are XEQT and CAGE as far as all in ones. There are many all in one funds that are similar such as VEQT, ZEQT as an example. Each deserves some review to ensure that the fund fits for you. My list isn’t exhaustive so take the time tk check. If you look at my holdings in my profile you will see that my ETFs are captured inside of XEQT which is why I hold XEQT. I hold CAGE beckase of the factor tilt. Again if you look at my holdings in USD you will see that I hold AVDV and AVUV which represent similar factor tilt. As for CC well that is an interesting part of my portfolio and my investing journey. I am still learning about them. They have their pros and cons. Overtime I have sold them off in favour of the above more funds. There is a great deal Of risk with them. Over the long term if you choose the wrong funds you can find yourself lagging behind. Not to Mention the high fees. Of course the they can have a big psychological benefit to an investor when you see those distributions flow into your account. You will see that I have a small income sleeve. However my covered calls make up a small part of it. The Rational Reminder podcast has been a big influence on my knowledge base. It’s evidence based and provides a person with the ability to make an informed decision I do have a Youtube channel as do others that are named in this post. If i dkdnt explain enough my videos may answer sme question. The same is true for @moementumfinance@karyungtom @williamwang23@mr.financial@smallbird.financial The others in the list make valuable posts and contributions on Blossom so be sure to check out what the have to offer. Hope that helps.
See the full comment section 👀Sign up for the full Blossom experience!
