Bit of an update. I did some research and called up my super and read the documents. I noticed I can invest in the IVV but only up to 50% of my portfolio in what's called "choiceplus" where I can manage my own investments but to a certain degree. So that forces me to invest in other products that are available there so I don't just have cash sitting around then deciding how much money I am going to invest outside of super.
I had some questions:
1) If I had one main index fund that I was going to invest in, what am I investing outside of my super besides property in the future? I was ideally looking to invest 80% of my portfolio in the IVV index but I can't do that now.
The idea I had was to invest some outside my super but didn't know if this was a silly idea to invest in the same index fund outside my super when I'm getting tax benefits already by investing inside, but at the same time investing outside means that I have easier access to my money in the future. The only thing I can think of is investing in international stocks outside my super because my super only offers Australian shares to invest in.
2) An extension of question 1, but is there really another point in investing in another index fund like the asx200 if in the future if the market crashes, IVV tracker will crash as well? I get diversity, but isn't one index fund diverse on its own? Or maybe it's worth investing in an international index fund like the VEU tracker? I hate this idea though because now I'm double up in broker fees, not even taking into account shares investing
3) This might be a stupid question (I'm probably overthinking this) but with Hostplus they charge a $15 fee per trade, I guess this doesn't really matter that much right considering every time I invest in the future that money in theory will be worth significantly more + the tax benefits?
4) I was thinking of leaving individual stock picking outside of my portfolio as this gives me some flexibility in the future to easily withdraw my money if needed + can invest in international stocks. (I've attached an image of what it could look like)
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5) In terms of the split, let's say I invest $500 every month into my portfolio, I was thinking of doing a 80/20 split, I'm happy with 80% of the money being in super, and having access to 20% incase I need it before retirement. Any recommendations here or this is purely a personal preference? One downside I see here is that since $500 is a low investment per month, I'm going to spread myself too thin and leave myself open to paying more broker fees. Or I can consolidate for now and once I have $1,500-$2,000 to invest monthly to invest outside super
6) I'm thinking of changing my investing frequency from monthly to quarterly, as if I invest monthly I'll be paying $180 in broker fees every year x 38 years = $6,840 (this is the minimum if I just invest in the ivv index not taking anything else into account), though I keep thinking that it will pay off in the long run but I'm having trouble crunching the numbers in terms if I'll make more money if I invest monthly versus quarterly if the amount of money I invest in is the same amount.
Here are some tables I produced with chatGPT the returns are similar but I save a lot of money on broker fees if I invest quarterly and it seems to be a perfect balance between compounding and making money (please let me know if I'm missing anything)
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Sorry that was a mouthful, but almost there!