CHOOSING INVESTMENTS

Hello fellow Pearlers! New starter here. My wife and I (36 years old; living in Melbourne; 2 year old son) have built up some savings and have had numerous debates between buying our first home vs/and investing in ETFs (another discussion!, but heading down the ETFs route for now)... At the moment we plan to start investing a significant chunk (e.g. >50K to start) of our savings in EFTs, but slightly overwhelmed by all the possibilities/factors (the recent volatility and reserve bank hikes not helping - yes @Dave Gow we have read your book and trying not to let this impact us too much!... it is hard!... 😊). Main thing we are trying to think through is our best options with ETF (or potentially LIC) portfolio. I guess key things on our mind are: 1) Diversity vs. redundancies between ETFs (e.g. better to just put more into 1-2 diverse ETFs with low fees to keep simple and save on fees? etc...) 2) Taxes and fees (e.g. US ETFs seem to have more growth, but assume there would be tax implications if sold, or on earnings along the way – better to find a similar Australian fund). How do ‘hedged’ funds fit within this – are they consider Australian in that regard…? A bit confused by that…? At the moment we have these as candidates: VAS/ASX, VDHG/ASX (seem to have higher fees), A200/ASX, IVV/ASX, VOO/US (overseas). It is tempting just to go with the latter three – perhaps with most in A200… ? I know folk can’t give specific advice – but any thoughts on current options or things we are not considering appreciated! Thanks in advance