OK I'll bite ... :)

For an easy Australian Equities coverage: A200, IOZ or VAS (all low cost market cap weighted); MVW (equal weighted for a tilt away from the very top heavy concentrated financials + materials (50%) of the ASX200/300) - personally I'm ~80% A200 + ~20% MVW

For an easy All Developed World (ex Aus) coverage: VGS, BGBL or IWLD (and their Hedged counterparts if you require a hedged proportion) (again all low cost broad mkt cap weighted - note that VESG/IWLD/IHWL also have ESG screens if that floats (or sinks) your boat); IVV (S&P500 if you want something with an extremely low MER and US only focused - either instead of or in addition as a US specific tilt)

Something a little out of left field for a Factor tilt: NYSE:AVUV (Avantis US Small Cap Value) + NYSE:AVDV (Avantis International Small Cap Value)

For managed funds I'm generally not a particular fan - however I'd mention the Coolabah Capital "fixed income" funds (e.g. LSCF, YLDX, FIXD) - offering something different in this space and atypical in that they aren't using the general levers that 99.99% of typical bond funds (and passive bond ETF's) use (moving out the duration and/or credit risk curves)

@Hackofalltrades I don't really pick ETFs and managed funds. However, whenever I have excess cash in my fund (>5%), I tend to park it in $VGS (Global Developed ex-Australia) and $IVV (S&P500).

Apart from that I pick single stocks, with a preference for operating businesses. (No LICs, REITs, or even conglomerates - although I'd buy $WES if it was cheap enough).

That said, I am currently holding excess cash on call deposit at Macquarie for 4.75% interest but would move to an Index fund should there by a modest dip.

I used to also use $NDQ (NASDAQ) but haven't for a while, since the AI-driven valuations got a bit spicey ... still lots of exposure to tech in the S&P500!

I choose these due to low fees, high liquidity, broad market exposure and I don't like to hold cash for any significant period of time beyond my standard living reserve.

Nice, simple question @Hackofalltrades , so I'll give a quick response while I have a halftime break with the Lions giving the Swans a touch up ????

I pretty much agree with both @Remorhaz and @mikebrisy on some of the simple and cheap ETF options such as VAS, VGS, IVV, etc, but like @mikebrisy I've also got my spare cash in Macquarie no fee, 4.75% interest instead of any ETF's right now. I do have some LICs/Funds in my SMSF (WLE, AFI, DUI), but mostly pick stocks with a higher focus on fully franked yield v capital growth (yes, I still want growth) in SMSF as opposed to my personal and company portfolios that are capital growth first, yield second.

I used to always park spare cash in ETFs, but 4.75% risk free works better for me at the moment.

Thanks for the question.

I’ve been wanting to put this question out there for awhile, however with more of a focus on unlisted small cap funds. I currently hold WMI for this exposure, but feel like there are probably some better alternatives in the unlisted space. Any starting points from the strawman community would be appreciated.

Otherwise this is my current ETF/ LIC portfolio

Good discussion. You might poke the bear in me here. I think ETFs can get messy if a) you get too complex or thematic based and/or b) have too much overlap in the holdings. I guess that will make me different to most.

Where an attractive thematic or play is identified, stock pick! Thematic ETFs will include the leaders but also the binfires (and there will be more of these!) so I don't think they are a good way to play a broader industry. I think the same way here about small cap ETFs.

My primary ETF is NDQ -- I don't play in the US market so this gives me some exposure to some of the best businesses in the world without me having to do the work. Outside of this my favourite is VGS (mentioned above by @mikebrisy). I think VAS is a good enough way to play the Australian market but I really don't see the value in doing so. Overvalued banks, miners and Telstra? No thanks.

Another general rule of thumb: don't pay more than 0.4% in fees. I make an exception for NDQ due to the nature of the investment. I can also see the merit in using ETFs to get access to unlisted opportunities, so that might also be an exception to the rule.

That all sounds very rational to me @Rocket6 although I do tend to select different ETFs (never thematic ETFs) for different portfolios, depending on that portfolio's investment goals. E.g. I have none in my SM portfolio, IRL personal or company portfolios, but a couple in my SMSF portfolio in pension mode and whatever they allocate in my Industry Supferfund in accumulation mode.

I think I don't trust myself to stock pick in those kind of areas at the moment! (or with substantial funds)

Lowway what are some of your favourite thematic etfs?

Hey @Hackofalltrades,I use my phone to respond to most of the SM forums because I'm too lazy to go to the PC. What usually happens is stacks of typos that I do try to edit and fix at a later time. Not sure if this was what happened when you read one of my posts, but I don't invest in thematic ETFs. If I'm not stock picking, then I've always just used a low cost, index-based ETF, either global, USA or local for parking cash.

I've also posted elsewhere that most of my ETF action is done by my accumulation superfund at HostPlus in their index balance fund. That way I know I'm generally getting or slightly beating market performance, which let's me then stock pick for my various entities and the investment goals I set for each separately.

So in short, i would always prefer to pick my stocks in a theme, rather than use an ETF for that purpose.

Hope this makes sense!!

Like many of you, I’m happy having money parked in short term money management yielding 4.5+% (need liquidity for a possible real-estate transaction). In addition, I’ve sold some PUT options on QQQ and SPY (US versions of NDQ and IVV). This is more of a DCA if the price goes down play (I already hold NDQ and VTS). Unfortunately, it’s a bit expensive as those shares are around US$500 each and an option contract has 100 shares.

My strategy is currently to sell about a quarter out at the equivalent of a 10% drop (eg. QQQ which is currently around $490 would have a JAN PUT at 440) which yields about 5.5% annualised (there is a short term capital gains tax to pay so effectively I’m getting an extra 3% on top of the money in the money management account).

What’s the downside … if I end up in the money I might end up paying more for the stock (but it will be less than today) and I might have some issues with the possible real-estate transaction which means I need to keep living under a bridge for a bit longer.