It’s interesting to see some of the other approaches to selecting ETFs. My approach has evolved a bit since I first started investing a few months ago. My plan now is to keep the majority of my money in a very diversified global ETF, fill in any gaps (e.g. small cap) and then pick bond ETFs as I understand that market more.
I’m using my individual stock picks as a learning experience and an attempt to out-perform the market!
Here’s my top 14, I’m trying to invest more in ETF’s rather than individual stocks and lately it’s been VWRP that I’ve been sticking to, as it covers the world market and my theory is this might help mitigate against any looming recession dip.
I don’t think I’ll be doing any individual stock investments until next year and just keep topping up my ETF’s for now. I’m also hoping to sell off some of my riskier investments as I get into the green with them and put the money in an ETF instead.
It’s funny because that’s kind of opposite to what I’m aiming to do, as I get more confident and better at reading stock risk, I’m wanting to increase proportion of individual stocks to ETFs. 
Primarily (although not always true I understand) because stocks will tend to give special dividends on occasion and the yields will usually be better too. My aim is for about 33% ETFs, currently in my portfolio it’s around 42%.
The compromise is trusts, in my eyes they seem to be a kind of compromise between the risk of an individual stock with the wide-range of an ETF (although other than the management of them I’m not entirely sure what the difference between a Trust and an ETF is supposed to be…)
I was the opposite at the beginning but I took some heavy losses on some of my individual stocks and I worry about needing the funds over the next few years, so trying to spread the risk a bit more.
It sounds like you have a good balance proposed, I have 29 investments, so I’m still pretty high with the individual stocks. I would just like to lower that a bit and maybe get to a 50/50 point. I don’t know what the difference is with a trust either! I’m sure someone like @bitflip might know?
From various SIPPs, GIA & ISAs. So some are the same. First time I’ve listed them together like this… Must get a spreadsheet!
VG US Equity Index Fund
L&G Global Technology Index Fund
L&G US Equity ETF
Alphabet
HSBC FTSE All-World Index Fund
Legal & General
Nestle
L&G Global Infrastructure Index Fund
iShares Nasdaq 100 ETF
Segro
Amazon
L&G Ecommerce Logistics ETF
Netflix
AMD
I’ve taken some heavy losses as well (Jupiter, Evraz) but, quite by accident, I looked at how much I had received in dividends since the start of the financial year in April and it totalled £520 which is a 2.5% return on total investment already! I look forward to seeing how much it is in March next year.
This is what I like about dividends, I can make heavy losses and still get money coming in. Money which gets invested in new stocks which in turn brings even more dividends later.
I’ve learned a few things already to try to minimise making bad investment decisions, so not to buy anything with too high a dividend yield, to check whether the company is being shorted to any great extent, how much cash and cash equivalents it has on the balance sheet as well as looking at assets to liabilities and how much borrowing/provisions.
I know that accumulating is actually said to be the best strategy because it’s better for the money to stay within the company rather than it to flow out in the form of dividends. However, I like the control that dividends gives me over my own investment decisions and the psychological boost that they give against the losses. Plus, people who know what they are doing are the ones who make masses out of buying and selling accumulating shares. I don’t know what I’m doing though 
Surprised to see so few showing any cash, unless there is a way to exclude it from the view?
I tend to keep my cash in the bank. I’ve still not got the discipline needed to leave it alone if it was sat right there in freetrade.
Ah, I hadn’t considered that. I like to earmark cash for investment rather than leave it in my bank. As a Plus customer, the 3% interest on cash up to £4k helps.
In the case of some of us, we don’t have any cash at the moment
Luckily I do get some dividends coming in, they get re-invested. And obviously I hope for an improved cashflow next year, especially as I hope to join plus and thus will get the 3% interest.
Believe me, i thought that if i keep the 4k cash in there that it would offset the £10 a month ft plus fee, but i know that if i started the day with 4k in there i would end it with 2 million more shares in kodal minerals or something like that 
My top 10 (excluding funds):
Alphabet 4.9%
Abbott 4.9%
Amazon 4.8%
Berkshire 4.4%
AMD 4.4%
Kellogg 4.0%
Lockheed Martin 3.6%
Abbvie 3.3%
Autodesk 3.1%
Transunion 3.0%
I very much like the VG US Equity Index Fund - although it’s totally US biased, it covers a lot of bases in what is still the world’s best investment market i.m.o. Charge is pretty good too at 0.10%
Can’t sell evraz unfortunately so it’s just stuck there
