Is buying an ETF that tracks US shares a good retirement strategy?
By George Cochrane
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I am a single male aged 30, working full-time for the past 11 years in the Information Technology (IT) industry. My annual salary is about $170,000. My employer pays 15 per cent superannuation and my current balance is $120,000 – all invested in a high-growth fund. I do not own property and I live with family, so have minimal expenses. My savings rate is about 90 per cent. I have about $250,000 invested in the S&P 500 Index Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that tracks the US market, with a dividend reinvestment plan. I use personal loans to purchase units in $50,000 amounts, so I can claim the interest as a tax deduction. My plan is to continue investing in the ETF to a certain amount, say $500,000 or $1 million, and then allow the dividends to compound until retirement at about age 67. Also, I plan to invest a $250,000 term deposit, once it matures, into the ETF. In y
Hedge funds surveyed by Evercore strategists have a 51% net equity exposure. Dreamstime
Hedge funds have been buying up stocks of late, but if history is a guide, the trend could reverse itself and that would be a pressure point on stocks.
Hedge funds’ net equity exposure has risen sharply in the second half of 2020 as the stock market has spiked from its pandemic-induced bear market in March. Net equity exposure is the total percentage of a fund represented by long positions in stocks, minus the percentage of the fund in short positions on stocks it is betting against.
Hedge funds surveyed by Evercore strategists have a 51% net equity exposure, meaning the majority of hedge-fund positions are long, a sign those investors are optimistic on the market. That exposure is up from just above 48% at the end of the first half of the year.