My investing diary: why my first ETF was boring on purpose

By Thomas | financial enthusiast

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My investing diary: day 1 (again).

I am restarting this diary, so let me start where I started. With the most boring decision of my financial life.

First thought, years ago, was: I need to find the next big stock. Damned. I spent weeks reading forums. Bought nothing. Learned a lot about other people's opinions and nothing about my own plan.

Then came the world ETF

A colleague asked me a simple question. "Do you think you can pick better than the whole market?" Honestly? No.

So I bought the whole market. An ETF on a world index, roughly 1,500 companies from developed countries in one product. Low yearly costs, one line in the depot. (Works out nicely when you are lazy like me.)

What I didn't understand at the beginning: "world" is not as diversified as it sounds. The US makes up a big majority of these indices, and a handful of tech giants weigh heavily. Good to know, not a reason to panic.

The savings plan did the real work

I set up a monthly savings plan and then tried hard to ignore it. Same amount every month, no matter what the market does.

When prices fall, the same money buys more shares. When they rise, I feel rich for a day. haha. Over time this smooths out my buying price, and more importantly, it removes the decision from my mood.

What I would tell my younger self

• Start with one broad ETF before anything clever.
• Automate it, then look less often.
• Keep the costs low; they compound just like returns.
• Individual stocks are fine later, with money you can afford to be wrong with.

Today my portfolio is bigger and yes, a bit more adventurous (see the Lab). But the boring core is still there, and it is still the biggest part.

Next time: why I added a second ETF and what I was trying to fix with it.

What was your first investment? Boring like mine, or a wild story?