Leverage is a scary word for many investors, and in my opinion, rightly so. Just because a F1 driver isn't scared to race doesn't mean I shouldn't be! The specifics of leverage on a total portfolio level is widely unknown, even among intelligent retail investors and many financial advisors. However, if you take a sophisticated approach while heeding the warnings of history, leverage is an incredible tool to turn diversification into actual returns. Many portfolios on here consist purely of equities, while many others throw in fixed income like bonds or t-bills. Rarely, you'll see a managed futures fund at like 5% of the portfolio. This is an indicator that many portfolios are not constructed at all; they are simply thrown together as shares are purchased and interests shift. Applying leverage to a portfolio like this should be scary! If your portfolio is not built with a goal for its behavior, how can you expect to determine the likelihood of an extreme tail event? However, if your portfolio is well thought through and is resilient to correlation surges in bear markets (a far from trivial goal), it can be perfectly safe to leverage to the volatility of your liking, allowing you to eat your risk-adjusted returns. Given the access to portable alpha products and short box spreads afforded to retail investors, rational investors may benefit from moving from their current mindset of viewing their portfolio only at the individual component level to viewing their portfolio wholistically, academically, and with respect for leverage (be it >1x, 1x, or <1x).
I have around 115k invested with my own money and have a 45k loan @ 4.45% interest. I don’t do options or day trading with said loan I do swing trades which has I’ve had 23 successfully ones and 2 wrong ones which hit my stop loss of -500$. Is it okay to keep such high margin? I make good money around 100k a year which is 65% of my wage (apprenticeship) so I could just add money in, in case of an emergency.
I get asked all the time why my portfolio is so concentrated and “risky.” I’m 22 years old. I have a long time horizon, and I’m willing to take more risk on growth companies I believe are changing their industries. $SOFI is changing financial services. $OSCR is trying to modernize health insurance. $ZETA is building an AI-powered marketing platform. $NOW is becoming a central operating system for enterprise workflows and AI. Then I have more speculative positions like $SNAP and $FUBO, where the upside could be significant if execution improves. A large portion of my portfolio is still sitting in $AMD, one of my highest-conviction long-term holdings. But the portfolio is not only speculation. $AMZN, $BN, $UBER, $NFLX, and $NOW give me exposure to proven businesses with strong competitive positions and long-term compounding potential. It may look risky from the outside, but every position has a role. I’m not trying to build the safest portfolio possible. I’m trying to build the portfolio that makes the most sense for my age, risk tolerance, and long-term goals. read more
Today was a good day 🤣🙌. I know I shouldn't be checking everyday but it's just so fun seeing the green days lol! 💲😎 What would you add to my portfolio if you had to pick?
I'm a little late on posting this but was working out some kinks on Stock Unlock with my tracking and trying to make some personal decisions about my portfolio. After a period of outperformance in 2025 I've spent 2026 losing the nice gain I had on my two target indexes; $XEQT and $SPY. I had to spend some time controlling my emotions as I had become frustrated with significantly losing the gains I had over the indexes. After going over my portfolio with a comb, I realized that I just... really... don't hate anything about it. I've been exposed to a lot of stocks the market has punished like $CSU, $AMZN, $MELI, $MSFT, $MA, $V, and so much more. But the fundamentals are stronger than ever. While I wait for the market to return to appreciation of value and quality, I have made some major changes in my portfolio. Cashed out $TOU for $ZEO, as the Iran was has really changed the thesis of oil (IMHO) and I do see Canada as a long-term benefactor of that chaos. Sold $FOUR and entered positions into $SN (which I have stopped buying because it's on a major run and has blown past my margin of safety) and $WTKWY which I am still AGGRESSIVELY buying. I've also diversified my gold/silver exposure into $FNV and $WPM in addition to $FVI and am taking full advantage of the recent weakness as the long-term thesis remains intact. As for my son's RESP, I've reformatted it to be a 1:1:1 $CAGE, $XEQT, $FEQT with about 10% gold exposure (via $WPM /$FNV) and 10% $FINN. I've linked an image of that as well (also how I format my wife's accounts, although not shown here). This also helps keep me grounded that I can use my account for my stock picking hobby while my wife and sons are "protected" in general market ETFs. Let me know what everyone thinks! For you stock pickers out there, 2026 has been a tough year if you aren't deep into the AI trade. Remember in the long run, stocks will always follow fundamentals, so as long as those are good, don't panic about underperformance in the short term, a lesson I had to remind myself the last little bit.read more
Just wanted to share the portfolio I’ve built since I’ve started investing. I’m looking to gain more value and input on what I should be doing and not doing to hit my long term investing goals. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can in any way improve overall?
I’m a 19-year-old Canadian pre-med student with a 30–40+ year investing horizon. I recently started Compounding With Ben to document what I’m learning about investing, personal finance, and long-term wealth building. My current portfolio allocation is: • 30% $QQC • 20% $XIC • 17% $XUU • 15% $XEF • 10% $XEC • 8% $TQQQ • Small crypto amount My goal is to combine broad geographic diversification with an intentional tilt toward the Nasdaq and large US technology companies. XIC gives me broad Canadian-market exposure, while XUU covers the broader US market. XEF adds developed markets outside North America, and XEC provides emerging-market exposure. The most aggressive part of the portfolio is TQQQ & crypto. I have limited it to 8%, but I understand that it targets approximately three times the Nasdaq-100’s DAILY performance—not three times its guaranteed long-term return. Volatility, compounding effects, and major drawdowns could significantly affect its long-term results. The biggest weakness may be overlap. QQC, XUU, and TQQQ all expose me to many of the same large US technology companies. Therefore, the portfolio is likely more concentrated than the six different ticker symbols initially suggest. My current reasoning is that my long time horizon and continued contributions allow me to accept above-average volatility. However, I also recognize that being young does not automatically justify taking unlimited risk. What would you change? 1. Reduce QQC 2. Remove or reduce TQQQ 3. Simplify into a global all-equity ETF 4. Keep the current growth tilt 5. Make another change entirely I’m documenting my decisions rather than presenting myself as an expert, so constructive criticism and opposing viewpoints are welcome. Educational discussion only—not financial advice. I’m happy to hear everyone’s thoughts! Would you keep, change or simplify anything?read more
Just opened my TFSA and thinking of building my portfolio like this 📈💰 Looking for some feedback rate my portfolio and let me know what you would change. Portfolio breakdown: • VFV — 30% • XEI — 25% • HYLD — 15% • HHIS — 20% • Enbridge — 10% Goal is a mix of long-term growth + dividend income. Planning to DRIP (reinvest) all dividends and let compounding do its thing over the years.read more
For someone who’s 21 with 0 financial knowledge what are your guys opinions on the start of my portfolio? Is there any other stocks I should be investing in for growth or do I simply keep buying $XEQT? $F$HYLD$TD$XEQT
Hello everyone!! I’m a beginner investor looking for feedback! I’ve been investing for less than a year, still learning about things. My risk tolerance is moderate-high. The 18% cash is sitting there because I’m still deciding what to invest it into! Any feedback, thoughts, suggestions are welcomed 😊 thank you in advance!! Full breakdown: Cash – 18.28% $VDY– 17.51% $QQC – 16.92% $XEQT – 16.86% $VFV – 13.16% $CASH – 6.79% $CHPS – 3.82% $XEG – 3.48% $HEB – 2.16% $ZJG – 1.04% read more
20 year old new investor started about coming up to two months now. Went pretty heavy on the learning right away and learned as much as I could quickly, and of course still learning to this day (as it may be very visible 😂), so this is what I’ve done so far, any feedback is greatly appreciated! I have a TFSA and FHSA, however the FHSA is my primary focus right now. $XEQT (TFSA & FHSA) is my foundation, and what majority goes into per paycheque. $ZMMK (TFSA) savings. $CCO (TFSA) only put a tiny bit into with some extra cash, maybe unnecessary (🤷♂️) but I believe the Canadian Uranium Infastrcuture has the potential to and could have a large boom in the future. $ENB (TFSA) Any leftover money typically ends up in here for the dividends. I definitely know this could be far from a balanced portfolio, some stuff overlaps, whatnot, but this is what I got for a near 2 month into the process 20 year old investor! read more
May or may not have been trigger happy when first started investing. gotten a little better but still working on thinning out my portfolio and having more conviction behind my buys. Can anyone suggest where I should start cleaning up and how to fix this?
Hey everyone I’m currently a 19 year old who just started investing😼buuuuuutt I’m not sure how good and how diversified my current portfolio is😢🥀 could anyone give me some tips? THANK U🙏🙏🙏
