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Struggling to Invest

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  1. #1

    Struggling to Invest

    I would really appreciate if anyone can help me out! So, I am 24 years old, I work as a teacher and earn around 26k+ every month. I want to start investing but I want to start with 10k first as a lump sum. I want to invest in ETFs but I don't know anything about them. Also, I have an HSBC savings account, should I go to them and ask them to help me invest in ETFs? Plus, how risky or safe ETFs are? I want something that's low-risk. For ETFs, do we pay monthly or can it be one lump-sum in several different ETFs? Sorry, I have zero knowledge about investing.

    Please help.


  2. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by unknown96:
    I would really appreciate if anyone can help me out! So, I am 24 years old, I work as a teacher and earn around 26k+ every month. I want to start investing but I want to start with 10k first as a lump sum. I want to invest in ETFs but I don't know anything about them. Also, I have an HSBC savings account, should I go to them and ask them to help me invest in ETFs? Plus, how risky or safe ETFs are? I want something that's low-risk. For ETFs, do we pay monthly or can it be one lump-sum in several different ETFs? Sorry, I have zero knowledge about investing.

    Please help.
    Buy VOO, do it twice a year when you have built up 50k HKD or so to minimise transaction costs. Hold for 40 years.

    For all your other questions, see other threads on this forum.

  3. #3

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    Start your investment process by educating yourself. Will have far more returns...

    Do not jump in, esp if someone messages you and claims to be an Independant advisor.

    I suggest going through the stickied threads here and a variety of others in banks, brokerages etc.

    Will do my morning word vomit a bit later once I have had my coffee


  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by GentleGeorge:
    Buy VOO, do it twice a year when you have built up 50k HKD or so to minimise transaction costs. Hold for 40 years.

    For all your other questions, see other threads on this forum.
    Don't have time to go into details but without knowing background of the OP it's well known not to buy US listed ETFs for tax and estate duty reasons.
    tck likes this.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Don't have time to go into details but without knowing background of the OP it's well known not to buy US listed ETFs for tax and estate duty reasons.
    VOO pays 2% Divi, probably low enough for the sums he is talking about

    And at 24, I'm guessing estate tax is not front-of-mind?

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by GentleGeorge:
    VOO pays 2% Divi, probably low enough for the sums he is talking about

    And at 24, I'm guessing estate tax is not front-of-mind?
    Then why limit it to VOO. I would suggest VTI or VT over VOO, especially if it's for such a young investor.

  7. #7

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    I want to invest in ETFs but I don't know anything about them.
    and

    Sorry, I have zero knowledge about investing.

    - Invest in learning. I personally recommend starting with this book. Not sure if libraries are open and have this. If they do, get it and spend the holidays reading.

    https://www.bookdepository.com/The-E.../9781119773733

    Then move on to if you want to learn more

    https://www.bookdepository.com/Rando.../9780393358384

    Plus, how risky or safe ETFs are?
    Like all investments, it depends - in general broad market ETFs like the ones mentioned above are less risky (volatile) than holding single company shares. But please do this after you have read a bit and are confident with what ETFs are and more importantly understand that you're in this for the long haul and should not really worry about "timing" (i.e. price will go up or down next week.. let me buy / sell every day because I am smart as hell).

    If your investment lump sum is $10K HKD, then I would probably recommend setting up an account at one of the newer / cheaper brokerages like SoFi which is commission free as far as I know. Again, do this AFTER you have read / researched and independently verified whatever is mentioned here.

    I want something that's low-risk. For ETFs, do we pay monthly or can it be one lump-sum in several different ETFs?
    - Low Risk: My version of "low risk" for someone your age is AOA from iShares. You're essentially buying an ETF which holds ETFs and gives you a FULL market diversified portfolio in one investment. Do this AFTER you've understood what ETFs are.. don't jump in....

    - ETFs are like stocks, however, instead of buying a share of a company, you're buying a share of what is in a basket of sorts. The basket usually holds a broad range of stocks and bonds - for example 2800 holds a broad range of stocks that are in the main Hang Seng Index. Since I am not familiar with Vanguard tickers - SPY for example holds stocks that are in the S&P 500 index and QQQ holds stocks that are in the Nasdaq 100 index.

    When you buy 1 share of any of these ETFs you're essentially buying tiny percentages of all the companies in that index (basket). This diversifies your risk - for example if Amazon crashes only a percentage of that ETF that holds it would be affected. Needless to say, during a broad crisis - everything falls and similarly when people get optimistic, everything goes up. What an ETF does in my opinion is - reduces the risk associated with single company or single sector (i.e. Banking, Oil, Tech etc).

    And seriously, if you've not figured this out by now DO NOT BUY ANYTHING until you've done some research and can go to someone and confidently explain what you're buying (i.e. What is an ETF and what are the major companies in that ETF) and WHY you're buying it.

    Time is on your side... use it to your advantage.
    Last edited by shri; 23-12-2020 at 09:52 AM.

  8. #8

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    Original Post Deleted
    I was going to suggest that, but a look at the MIP eligible codes on HSBC revealed that none of the broader / multi country / US indexes are and only found 2800 and 3 iShares index 'single country' ETFs.

    But this is still off topic as far as the OP is concerned - if they don't know what an ETF is, suggesting codes / plans is off limits as far as I am concerned.
    Last edited by shri; 23-12-2020 at 09:33 AM.

  9. #9

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    As @shri already mentions: your very first investment should be in your education. Once you are educated you will be able to determine where your follow-up investments should be in.


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Then why limit it to VOO. I would suggest VTI or VT over VOO, especially if it's for such a young investor.
    Well my personal preference is QQQ but I would never recommend that to a fire-and-forget investor. Big tech is on a rampage now, but who knows what will happen 20 years down the line.

    VOO is super cheap and plugs you in to diversified US growth, which is a bet I am happy to recommend to anyone over the next half century.

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