ETF Setup 2025. Core first. Spice small.

0:00 Hey, I'm Brian, CPA, 15 plus years in finance and accounting. I started broke and built my assets into multi-millions. This is for education and for fun. It's not advice. Quick primer. An ETF is a basket you buy with one ticker. It trades like a stock. It gives you instant diversification at low cost. Today, I'll show you a clean core you can actually stick to, plus a small set of emerging plays. If you want some heat and spiciness to your portfolio, let's go. The foundational ETFs. First name I have is a Vanguard Total Stock Market, VTI. It is the entire US market in one line. It's large, mid, and small cap companies. Why I like it's one purchase covering thousands of stocks. You capture the winners automatically as they grow. What problem it solves? You don't have to guess which sector you lead. You own all of them. How I'd use it is make it one of your core positions, contribute on a schedule.

0:55 What to watch is it still skews towards the giants because it's cap weighted. So top names drive returns. You'll notice Nvidia as one of the top percentages for all of ETFs right now. So doesn't come without its own risks. Of course, common mistakes are pairing VTI with too many other broad funds. You're just duplicating exposure. Next I have is VU. VU is the S&P 500. Everyone talks about the S&P 500. It's a 500 big SUS names.

1:23 Why people hold it? It's simple, cheap, trusted, huge liquidity. Got it down. If someone says they own the market, this is often what they mean. What it gives you is dominant US companies across tech, healthcare, financials, consumers, and more. How I'd use it is it's an anchor position for stability, dollar cost average into it over time. Somewhat set it and forget it. The same as VTI. Trade-offs versus VTI are you lose dedicated small cap exposure, but you keep the mega cap engine that's led for many years. Again, it's a top 500 names.

1:56 It gets adjusted every so often quarterly. Common mistakes is treating VU as a trading vehicle. This is a hold ad position over time. Lastly, I have Invesco's NASDAQ 100 or otherwise known as a QQQ. It is your tech forward core piece. It tracks the biggest non-financial companies on the NASDAQ. Why I like it? It loads your core with innovative engine. It's chips, software, cloud platforms. What it does in a portfolio is it raises growth, raises volatility. That is a point if your horizon's long-term and are fine with a little bit more risk in your portfolio.

2:33 Who it fits is anyone comfortable with bigger draw downs in exchange for higher expected growth. What to watch out for is it's a concentration of risks into the top 100 tech names. It's a handful of names can drive most of the move. That's fine if you know it and size it correctly. How I'd use it, keep it inside the core but smaller than VTI or VU. Rebalance it so it doesn't run the entire show of your portfolio. One more optional foundational core to your ETFs could be a small cap add-on. Pick one and keep it modest. Potential choice one is JR which is a tracks thea S&P small cap 600. So it's a higher quality screen than a broad market. Choice two is VB Vanguard small cap or very broad small cap exposure with a small fee. Why add small caps when the small end of the market leads your core won't miss it.

3:28 Guard rails is size it correctly rebalance. Don't pair every small cap fund under the sun. Part two. So emerging plays. This is part of a more spicy satellite. Maybe not a ton of your portfolio, but more for fun, too. I always think cash flow, a lot of people focus on it, maybe overly so. I like it as a small percent of my overall portfolio. So, if you want cash flow every month, start with established income options. Jeeppy and Jeep Q own a basket of stocks and sell options for income. They pay monthly and are managed by big shops with a clear process. How to think about them is treat them almost like a rental property. You trade some upside for a steady cash stream and you accept the tax reality. The best uses in tax advantaged accounts when you can keep the size smaller. Cash flow is not free. Of course, there are some new emerging ultra high yield ETFs as well.

4:26 there's YieldMax, there's X Funds, and there's Roundhill Capital. So names like ULT. These target big headline yields by selling options awfully weekly on super volatile names. What you must know is yield swings wildly. Distributions can be heavy returns of capital that reduces your cost basis. It's not magic income. How to use it? If you fully understand the trade-off, keep size tiny and prefer tax advantaged accounts and expect draw downs, this could be worthwhile for you to investigate further. SMH or VANC semiconductors, it's AI runs on chips.

5:05 Obviously, SMH is a concentrated semiconductor basket. I like it because it gives you the core of the chip supply chain in one line. Its design, foundry and equipment, how it behaves when demand booms, it rips. When inventories build, it can fall hard. Comes with risks. It's cyclicality, concentration, geopolitical risk, especially with all the tariffs right now in Asian manufacturing in Taiwan. How to use it? Small but meaningful position. Add-on weakness. It's not euphoria rebalance over time if it grows. Lastly, spicy options here for you. Qtum or which has an AI theme or IBIT. So this is somewhat more of your moonshot plays. Part one is QM a basket tied to quantum computing and AI adjacent names.

5:53 That bet is breakthroughs in compute and unlock a new scurve. So time horizon here is long-term. the path is definitely going to be bumpy. Part two is IBIT. So, it's a spot bitcoin wrapper for people who want Bitcoin exposure without dealing with all the complication of crypto exchanges and wallets. It trades like spot closely, but you still get the full Bitcoin volatility. Keep the size tiny. Size it so a big draw down won't knock off your plan. Think of it as your curiosity bucket and high velocity growth play.

6:31 So, some guardrails to go along with all of this strategy and rules that save you. Core stays 70 to 90% of your portfolio. Pick one of those few top foundational names or a group of those if it interests you. VTI, VU, QQQ, maybe a small cap fund if you want to tilt. Emerging plays, keep them 10 to 30% of your overall portfolio. Income funds belong in tax advantaged accounts when you can rebalance it over time. Once or twice a year is enough. Please don't use leverage. That's how people get burned.

7:06 That's the build. So core first. If you want cash, start with Jeepy or Jeep Q. If you want more heat, add ultra yield ETFs like ulty. Those exist, but size them tiny. SMH for chips. Option C is QM plus IBIT. If you want a moonshot sleeve, any questions, please feel free to ask away and follow for more videos and tips like this. And any questions or future videos you would be curious to see, please drop a comment. Thank you.