For retired investors, the standard advice given is to move toward a more conservative portfolio, but Sutton is bucking that trend. “I don’t care much for bonds. I don’t understand them very well, and it’s not what I’m interested in.”
To be sure, though, she still wants to make money – even though the markets have been challenged lately. And because of her status as a self-taught investor, she finds that her approach keeps changing. But in this environment, she picks at different areas because “it’s difficult to really know which way things are going.”
Jennifer Walters, who has homes in both Atlanta and Florida, has been “playing” since 1992 and learning as she goes. She and her husband have a joint portfolio, and Walters has her own separate one where she can try different tactics and strategies without worrying that she’s doing any damage.
“The market is very interesting to me, I learn something all the time and I enjoy it,” she says.
Her portfolio isn’t entirely made up of ETFs, but she’s been gradually incorporating them more after her broker put her into two of them – the Cubes and the Diamonds. “I thought, ‘This is neat,’ and it got me interested in learning more.”
Walters particularly enjoys the ability of ETFs to allow investors to jump in with lower risk than there would be with picking individual stocks.
She’s done well, she says, and is down about 6% this summer. In the last three months, the S&P is down 9.4%. “I’m feeling pretty confident,” Walters says, “And I have ETFs to thank for diversifying me.”
One investor we spoke with, a professional market researcher and analyst, got into ETFs only four months ago after her fund manager realized they couldn’t handle her funds and told her she’d have to take it over herself. She dove into the markets without hesitation.
Through the research she does in her job, she became aware of ETFs. So far, her results have been mixed. “It’s a very difficult market to secure the kind of performance we’d all like to see.”
When she initially started, she said she tended toward emerging markets, but “those are ones that have been badly hit. I think, frankly, that I got in at the wrong time. Longer-term, I think they’re good holds.”
While the markets remain iffy, she says she’ll just wait until she sees a more significant turnaround.
She’s still working on strategies, but for now, she reviews on a six-month basis by asking herself some questions: “Is this where I am? Is it worth taking a cut and getting out? Do I hang on and hope for a turnaround?”