r/valueinvesting
Aggressive Roth IRA at 18 — What Would You Change?
An 18yo seeks advice on an aggressive Roth IRA portfolio, questioning tech concentration and international exposure.
- Long-term horizon of 40+ years allows for higher risk tolerance.
- Diversified core using broad market and factor ETFs like VOO and AVUV.
- Potential over-concentration in tech due to overlapping holdings in VOO, VGT, META, and GOOGL.
- Uncertainty if 10% international allocation is sufficient for global diversification.
I’m 18 and just started putting money into a Roth IRA. I’m trying to build this for the long term, like 40+ years, so I’m okay with some risk.
Right now my weekly buys are basically:
VOO 52%
VGT 15%
AVUV 10%
VXUS 10%
META 5%
GOOGL 4%
LLY 4%
I’m mainly wondering if I’m overdoing it with tech because of VOO + VGT + META + GOOGL. I also don’t know if 10% international is enough or if I should keep it simple and just put more into VOO/VXUS.
I know a lot of people will say just do VTI and chill, but I’m trying to understand what’s actually wrong with this setup if anything.
What would you change?
a few thoughts:
you have 40 years to watch your investments compound. time, and not risk, is what makes you money. consider that every big drawdown due to volatility sets you back. to be a bit extreme, if you draw down 50%, you now have to double your money to get back to even. so, try to maximize return per unit risk.
investing requires humility. that means an admission that you don't know the future. that's why playing angles with sector concentrations and individual stocks can work against you.
I think something like 50 VOO, 15 VGT, 10 AVUV, 25 VXUS would work pretty well.
good luck.
You are running a much higher tech-adjacent concentration than the individual weights suggest. VOO already holds roughly 30% tech and communication services, including about 4% GOOGL and 3% META. Adding VGT at 15%, META at 5%, and GOOGL at 4% pushes your total exposure to those sectors past 45%. If you want to simplify, consolidating VGT, META, GOOGL, and LLY back into VOO would reduce fee drag and overlap. VGT has a 0.10% expense ratio compared to VOO at 0.03%. Are you tracking the time-weighted returns on these individual tilts to see if they actually beat VOO over time?
VOO