Hi @davidrmoran et al
Being curious........
A chart of VONG v QQQ v FTEC v FSMEX starting at Oct. 2013 to date. The chart begin is limited to the inception date of FTEC.
Catch

Sure. Why not put it all in Apple and Pfizer, then? Or go w Cathie W.
He's 18. I would want my son or grandson to be in something over the many decades ahead way more diversified (sector-diversified, that is, including nontech) than what you graphed for the last 9y. VONE and VONG will do that, I am thinking.

Some times I have to laugh at myself for thinking I can do better than these balanced funds by making my "strategic" selections. I can't. I would have been better off over the years just putting everything in PRWCX and maybe a couple others.

While Geroux appears to be perfect genius, I’m not sure PRWCX has been tested in a prolonged bear market (measured in years) since he took the helm or since the fund ballooned to its current
$52.7B size. Depending on time horizon it may or may not be a good idea to have all your eggs in that basket.
Personally, I own it, but have little (5-10%) allocated to it - and have to laugh at myself too. :)
But hindsight is always 20/20.

Probably linked before. Worth a look as the year winds down.
LINK to Full Article
Summary -
1. Hold onto your winners and cut your losses short.
2. Avoid making predictions and forecasts.
3. Study crowd behavior.
4. Think like a contrarian.
5. Asset allocation is critical.
6. Indexing is a better bet..
7. Avoid cognitive and psychological errors.
8. Admit your mistakes.
9. Understand financial cycles.
10. Don’t settle in a comfort zone.
11. Reduce investing friction.
12. Remember that there is no free lunch.

The portion of value for the below link, is the calculator link near the end of the discussion (from a prior MFO discussion).
Compounding of the growth over time, being the item of value.

Calculator link, MFO

Hi @davidrmoran et al
Being curious........
A chart of VONG v QQQ v FTEC v FSMEX starting at Oct. 2013 to date. The chart begin is limited to the inception date of FTEC.
Remain curious,
Catch

I see @BenWP ... just read the very nice post from David and the condolences. Now I understand.
Re: Small Caps: I mean when its YE and you look at a Fido SC Growth comparison like THIS HERE you question why you might still hold MSSMX. Review the MFO Premium and lots of 5's until this last year when it's earned a 1 and a first miss to SPY. So, given this and the MFO profile, would you continue to hold MSSMX or have they lost their mojo? Trying not to chase funds but...

Just put everything into VONG unless an own 'emergency' fund is really important, in which case something less than 100%.

BenWP +1

@JonGaltill: Needham is a company brought to my attention here by TheShadow on Nov 1. He pointed out the success of NESGX, the SCG fund. While researching I found that Needham has 3 funds: the Growth Fund (NEEGX) managed by John Barr and Chris Retzler, the Small Cap Growth (NESGX) managed by Retzler alone, and the Aggressive Growth Fund (NEAGX) managed by Barr alone. The first is an all-cap fund, the two others are small cap. NESGX stumbled this year in relative terms, but NEEGX and NEAGX did not. The retail shares are pricy while institutional shares are much cheaper with a TF at Schwab. I am reminded of the PGA tv ad campaign from the 2000's entitled, "These Guys Are Good."
If I were our old friend The Linkster, I would scream bloody murder at this point because I posted a link to the Kiplinger article on ETFs before you mentioned it. RIP, Ted.

Hi Ron, Nice to read what you have written about the desires of this young man.
I've pushed Roth IRA's for minors and +18 year olds with our extended family and friends for years. Sadly, few takers for follow up information.
I'm biased towards Fidelity and their quality operation. (wife and I since 1978 with T-IRA's). The online set up is clean and easy, and there are no minimum $ for the vast number of offerings, including active managed Fido funds.
I hand held two mid 30's relatives 2 years ago starting a Roth. They were both a bit more motivated as their mother provided them "seed" money to get their arse's in gear. They have 401k and 403b plans they contribute some money to, but the Roth is a nice extra. They are able to be aggressive (and should be at their age); so all money is invested in QQQ etf.
He has until April 15, 2022 to qualify for a 2021 tax year deposit. The money contribution does not have to be his, so others may help him fund the account.
What we did: We funded (minor Roth, account activation) and still fund our daughters Roth; as she continues with her full time university studies and some part time employment. The Roth is linked to a credit union acct. for easy access; and also includes a taxable brokerage acct. for future use.
The current Roth (Fido acct:) holdings are: FTEC (Fido tech. etf), FBCG (Fido blue chip growth etf) and FSMEX. Additionally, IRS Pub. 590-A should offer info about who may provide funding of a Roth.
I personally remain U.S. centric for our investments, but ACWI is global large cap equity etf at about 60/40, U.S./Global of about 2,200 holdings, if one wants that exposure. There are many other choices in this area for a global spread, if desired.
ACWI holdings
Remain curious,
Catch

While I have a slight personal preference for Fidelity, Schwab is an excellent brokerage and currently shows 3,164 funds there that are open to new investors with a min of $100 or less. Good for starting out.
Though a good approach might also be to select one or two core funds and watch them for awhile to get a feel for markets. It's okay to lose some money. Markets don't always go your way.
Schwab Fund Screener
Click on the Advanced Screener tab.
Uncheck all the basic criteria except "open to new investors"
Under Portfolio Mgmt and Fees, check "minimum investment"
Then select "$100 or less" for the min investment range, and view results.

Conservative-allocation (CA2) 30-50% VTMFX +12.63%.

VTMFX looks even better when one considers that the income side is federally tax-exempt.
Interesting factoid I wasn't aware of from M*'s writeup of the fund:
"they have to maintain at least 50% of assets in the muni sleeve in order to pass the tax-advantaged treatment of these distributions to fundholders."
This is why its allocation is 50-/50+ (equity/bonds). Same for American Funds Conservative Growth and Income Portfolio℠ TAIFX.

Using MFO screener and other sites, its easy enough to pull up a high flyer SC fund called NEAGX . Consistently beats the SPY even in down cycles, is a Great Owl / HR, Sharpe and APR vs Peer keeps improving every year etc.
With a 35.84% YTD return and 45% in 1 year and 40% in 3 years, I was surprised to find only 1 mention of it here in the discussions by @BenWP in a timely moves for 2022 thread: https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/144021/#Comment_144021

+1.
Previously mentioned: AFDVX has my attention. I like to wait until January to make my moves.

>> if I am doing the math right,
Always worth saying, at least for me.
I did the math wrong, quite aside from assuming buy-hold, meaning no touching through this last year.
If you bought VONE and STIP in a 2:1 ratio last NY Day and left it alone, you have made 18.6% not including today's jump.
(That is, if my math is right.)
Edits tk above :( , phooey and apologies.
The FBALX victory lap would be in large part due to the flatlining of FTBFX.

Conservative-allocation (CA2) 30-50% VTMFX +12.63%.
M* broke up/expanded the old conservative-allocation into CA1 15-30% and CA2 30-50%.
M* moderate-allocation is 50-70%.
These are wide variations and some of the variations in performance can be explained by equity percentages.

I have to ask, how many of us have YTD returns in our portfolios of 17-18%? I do not.
Some times I have to laugh at myself for thinking I can do better than these balanced funds by making my "strategic" selections. I can't. I would have been better off over the years just putting everything in PRWCX and maybe a couple others.

PRWCX CTFAX as buy and hold ESGV JEPI SCHD DSTL to buy/sell as needed RPHYX for paltry income, VARAX BAMBX CVSIX HMEAX ADANX ARBOX at Fido/Schwab. My Vanguard funds are all buy and holds. I have no problem holding numerous funds, since the alternative is earning 1 basis point !

@fred495 good mention of WBALX ... Category average is 4-5% of CASH. WBALX? 14% in cash as of Sep!! Interesting. Also, goes to show how far VLAAX has dropped given its 50-70 and still trailed this fund. I could be wrong but I think VLAAX was once 30-50.

Performance YTD of some popular Multi-Asset Funds:
30-50% Equity
TAIFX 11.67
VWINX 7.71
MACFX 7.23
BAICX 6.34
OICAX 5.92
MTRAX 9.06
Much has already been discussed about the difference/similarities between "Balanced
and Multi-Asset".

By the way, WBALX, a perhaps not quite so popular balanced fund with a low AUM, but an excellent risk/reward profile, has a YTD total return of 12.50%, according to M*. That beats all of the funds listed in the above table.
That's not meant as a criticism, but is posted strictly for informational purposes.
Fred