r/stocks
Is it crazy to have 36 postions across my retirements?
Author is shifting from VOO to a custom 36-stock portfolio to avoid AI-driven top-heavy concentration and gain thematic diversification.
- Custom portfolio provides better diversification across sectors, geographies, and themes compared to a single index.
- Targeting stable blue-chip compounders and thematic growth balances risk and return effectively.
- Managing 36 positions requires significant active maintenance and rebalancing effort.
- Over-diversification might dilute returns and make it difficult to outperform the broader market.
Hey y’all.
Ive been a VOO and chill investor for a number of years. However, I’ve gotten a bit concerned with how top heavy it is. I know this is tired this point, but VOO is now nearly 40% allocated to 10 equites. The other 490 divide up the other 60%. With SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI on the horizon, that top 10 number may inch closer to 50%. VOO is as much of AI momentum fund as it is a well diversified index at this point.
I looked into equal weight, dividend, and sector ETFs, but couldn’t really craft what I was looking for. I wanted. I wanted a portfolio that
\- Had a center of gravity around stable, blue chip, compounders
\- International and sector diversification
\- Maintained exposure to thematic growth trends
\- Had non-equity assets as a ballast
So I decided to try and create my on index. It ended up being 36 positions. I personally like the composition, but fell split on my ability to actively maintain it. However, I can’t craft the portfolio I’m looking for without having a somewhat large amount of holdings.
Just wondering if anyone is trying to structure similarly.
Here are my positions below if interested. I’ve been DCA’ing out of VOO and into these with target weights over the last 6 months or so .
\## Tier 1: Core Compounders (40%)
\- Canadian National Railway 4.0%
\- Visa 3.5%
\- Constellation Software 3.5%
\- Atlas Copco 3.5%
\- JPMorgan Chase 3.0%
\- Apple 3.0%
\- Amphenol 3.0%
\- Acuity Brands 3.0%
\- Alphabet 3.0%
\- Mastercard 2.5%
\- Epiroc 2.5%
\- Hoya Corporation 2.5%
\- Intercontinental Exchange 2.0%
\## Tier 2: Thematics (3%)
\### Electrification & Grid (14%)
\- Schneider Electric 3%
\- Siemens 3%
\- Nextpower 3.0%
\- Hammond Power Solutions 2.0%
\- First Solar 2.0%
\- Materion 1%
\### Euro Rearmament (11%)
\- Rheinmetall 2.5%
\- Airbus 2.5%
\- Safran 2.0%
\- Kongsberg Gruppen 2.0%
\- Rolls-Royce 1%
\### Healthcare & Biopharma (7%)
\- Regeneron 2.0%
\- Roche 2.0%
\- Novo Nordisk 1.5%
\- Lonza 1.5%
\### AI (3%)
\- Broadcom 2.5%
\- Arista Networks 1.0%
\## Tier 3; Growth & Speculative (7%)
\- MDA Space 2.%
\- Astroscale 2.0%
\- Adyen 2.0%
\- Kraken Robotics 1.0%
\## Tier 4: Real Assets (17%)
\### Fixed Income
\- Vanguard Total Bond Market 5.0%
\- Vanguard International Bond Market 2.0%
\### Real Estate
\- Vanguard Real Estate ETF 2.0%
\### Commodities
\- Sprott Physical Gold Trust 4.0%
\- Physical Copper Trust 2.0%
\- Sprott Physical Uranium Trust 2.0%
If that’s how you want to spend your time it’s fine
I don’t think it’s crazy. I have a solid etf base and then a diversified stock portfolio on top of that.
Just seems like a bad portfolio with random names. 11% euro rearmament itself is just not that great of a trade imho and can be simplified by just buying EUAD, which hasn’t done well.
Looks like you missed UNH in healthcare, and your AI tilt is quite questionable.
Also we have no idea about your age and target date of retirement
Can you share with us why particular these stocks?
You have no semiconductor exposure which I think is a mistake, you’re missing out on a lot of the primary drivers of the returns of the stock market
Would make sense if he's 89 y.o.
well why not donate to me instead..
The positive energy is oozing.
Ever looked into tai chi?
This still seeme very complicated.
Maybe 4 ETFs or 5 ETfs to cover most of the world stock market.
How about this mix of ETFs
- VOO -60%
- VXUS -20%
- IWM or VTWO-10%
- SOXX or AIS -10%
or
- VOO or PWV- 50%
- QQQ or VOOG - 20%
- SOXX or AIS - 10%
- IWM or VTWO-10%
- VXUS or (SCHF+ EEM) - 10%
Good luck.
VOO is still probably gonna beat it 🤷♂️
So? Lol
Yes. You have absolutely no idea what you’re doing if you have 36 positions
Euro defense has re-rated pretty heavily. Rheinmetall had fallen 40% back to early 2025 levels. Meanwhile, this year, Germany announced it would double its military budget and loosen debt controls to free up spending. The German industrial base is reorienting around defense.
https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/germany-is-reinventing-itself-as-a-weapons-factory-990ad18d?reflink=desktopwebshare\_permalink
Kongsberg Gruppen is definitely expensive. I was up 50% before the recent correction, so not sure the “way too late” argument holds. It’s still expensive but it’s a world class anti-missile and anti-drone company. That cycle is not ending. I think the recent correction is a good entry point.
As for the other two, like I said above, they aren’t strictly Euro defense plays. Rolls Royce has a commercial aerospace segment and a power systems segment. Defense is just an arm of the company. Same with Safran. Those are just good companies, with good financials. Safran means expensive, but so does the whole market. It’s not like its valuation is crazy.
Trains go choo choo really loud
I won't comment on your choices but it will be hard to rebalance 36 equities, even yearly. They move fast in a bull market. I would try to get it down to ten to fifteen ETFs which your stocks plus a few that you hadn't considered. That will take some work, and you need to find a website that will allow you to look up one of your favored stocks and see what ETFs hold it. ETFCHANNEL will let you do that but will also try to spam you.
I agree that VOO has become unbalanced but you have to hold those big stocks in some way in order to get the big gains the market offers. There are funds that hold only the MAG7, the top 25, top 50 or top 100. I use XLG. You can allocate those ETFs at a smaller percentage than other portions of your portfolios so that if the tech boom crashes, you aren't hit as badly.
I don’t see why not. I got 38 positions in my dividend growth portfolio (been beating the SP500 over the last 3 years) (all VTI in my retirement accounts) and I enjoy researching my holdings. I mainly do it during slow periods at work so no time lost there lol