Another week, another round of contributions. This week I had £350 to put to work — £250 from my regular monthly contribution and an extra £100 I freed up by cancelling a subscription I'd been ignoring for months (more on that in a future post).
Here's exactly what I bought.
First up: £250 into the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF (VUAG). This is my core holding and where the bulk of my regular contributions go. The S&P 500 has been on a decent run lately but that's not why I bought — I'd have bought the same amount if it was down 10%. The whole point of my approach is consistency, not timing. Same amount, same day, regardless of what the market is doing. Boring, but it suits me — though there's no guarantee it would suit anyone else.
The S&P 500 gives me exposure to 500 of the largest US companies in a single holding. The fee is 0.07% which is about as cheap as it gets. I use the accumulation version (VUAG) so dividends are automatically reinvested — one less thing to think about.
Second: £100 into the Fidelity Global Quality Income UCITS ETF (FGQI). This is a new addition for me. I've been researching dividend ETFs for a while and this one caught my eye. It tracks an index of global companies with strong dividend records — not the highest yields, but companies with sustainable dividends that have a track record of growing them over time.
Why add a dividend ETF now? A few reasons. First, I'm 66 and while I'm not drawing income from my portfolio yet, I like the idea of building up some income-producing holdings over time. Second, dividend-paying companies tend to be more established and profitable — they're not the high-flying growth stocks that dominate headlines. That steadiness appeals to me. Third, I wanted to add something that wasn't just more S&P 500. Diversification matters.
Is FGQI the right choice? I don't know. No one does. The fee is 0.30% which is higher than my S&P 500 ETF but reasonable for a more specialised fund. The dividend yield is around 3% based on current figures — but yields change, companies cut dividends, and past payouts don't guarantee future ones. I'll report back on how it's doing in a few months.
So that's it for this week. £350 into two ETFs. One boring core holding, one slightly-less-boring new addition. No drama, no excitement, no 'hot tip'. Just steady investing.
As always: this is what I did with my own money. It's not a recommendation. Do your own research. All investing carries risk — you can lose money, and past performance doesn't predict future returns.