My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

For residents of the United Arab Emirates.
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Topic Author
900
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:54 pm

My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

Post by 900 »

Hello,
First of all, I checked the whole WIKI and lots of threads in this forum and they are really useful and the community is amazing.

Country of Residence: United Arab Emirates
Currency: USD
Emergency funds: Yes, 20+ years of emergency expenses available
Debt: No debt.
Age: 30
Desired Asset allocation: 50% stocks, 50% bonds

I'm an expat(non-us non-eu) from UAE, running my own digital software business since 2015. My all assets are mostly cash(%80 USD, EUR, AED cash/time deposits, 15% real estate, %5 crypto). Since my cash position is high and my business generating cash every month, I want to allocate some of the money to a low-medium risk portfolio.

I have $1M in my broker account(IB USA) and I want to create a low-risk & longterm USD portfolio. I'm a tech guy and I invested in Apple, Tesla, Facebook and VOO last year but I sold all my positions 4 months ago(with an average 40% profit). My position is full cash in my broker(IB USA) now.

I'm planing this accumulating portfolio:

40% IWDA + EIMI or VWRA
10% CNDX (I want to increase allocation of IT stocks)
50% AGGU

I don't expect high returns and I can hold this portfolio 5-10 years. My main target is making money from cash instead of getting almost 0% interest from banks and I don't want to spend to much time for my investments to track, re-allocate etc..

Can you check my portfolio for my situation and give me some advice? Thank you.

P.S. Sorry for my English.
DJN
Posts: 996
Joined: Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:30 pm

Re: My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

Post by DJN »

Hi,
your portfolio is fine.
There is one thing that you might review, you said that you want to move from cash to something that makes a return, this idea is fine and a 50/50 allocation fixed income/equities is also fine. You might reconsider your allocation on the basis of what amount you want in safe assets and then allocate the remainder to stocks? Or alternatively start at 50/50 and allocate all new cash to equities where the 50% fixed income represents your safe asset level?
DJN
Yah shure. | Have a look at the Bogleheads Wiki in the first instance.
Topic Author
900
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

Post by 900 »

DJN wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2020 3:15 pm Hi,
your portfolio is fine.
There is one thing that you might review, you said that you want to move from cash to something that makes a return, this idea is fine and a 50/50 allocation fixed income/equities is also fine. You might reconsider your allocation on the basis of what amount you want in safe assets and then allocate the remainder to stocks? Or alternatively start at 50/50 and allocate all new cash to equities where the 50% fixed income represents your safe asset level?
DJN
Thanks for the review. If I allocate 50%($500k) of this portfolio to stocks then it will be about 10% of my net worth. I think it is a safe percentage and as I mentioned before I am not looking for high returns. My achievement is protecting my money from inflation(like 10 year horizon) and taking a little risk for extra profits. I want to spend less time on my investments and spend more time on my business. I visited some private banking/wealth management services but I think creating my first long term portfolio myself is a better choice.
TedSwippet
Posts: 5166
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:19 pm
Location: UK

Re: My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

Post by TedSwippet »

Welcome.

Your proposed portfolio looks fine. Just one note on this:
911 wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2020 2:26 pm My position is full cash in my broker(IB USA) now.
A cash holding in a US broker is liable to US estate tax, 26-40% of everything above $60,000. You may have already spotted this from the wiki.

As of now then, you risk a huge US estate tax bill(*). You probably want to either move to your proposed Ireland domiciled ETF holdings with relative speed, or move this cash out of IB USA until you are ready to buy these ETFs. Or, move from IB to a non-US broker.

Other than this, it seems like you have everything well planned. Nice work.


(*) Unless you are a citizen of one of the very few select countries that have a US estate tax treaty that covers 'nationals' of that country even when not domiciled there. From the sound of things, probably not.
Topic Author
900
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

Post by 900 »

@TedSwippet
Thanks for the review and risk warning. I'm aware of the risk right now. I'm planning to check my portfolio one more time at this week and switch to Irish domiciled ETFs very soon :thumbsup
Topic Author
900
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

Post by 900 »

I did some minor modifications and bought ETFs today.

I invested $1m completely and this is my portfolio right now:

30% VWRA
20% CSNDX
50% AGGU


Hopefully, it will perform well in the next 5-10 years.
DXBinvest
Posts: 24
Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2019 2:42 pm

Re: My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

Post by DXBinvest »

Just wondering. Don't investors normally at your age and time frame horizon of 5-10 years go with something like 100% stocks or 80% stocks / 20% bonds?
Topic Author
900
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Aug 08, 2020 1:54 pm

Re: My First Lazy Portfolio with $1M [UAE]

Post by 900 »

DXBinvest wrote: Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:44 pm Just wondering. Don't investors normally at your age and time frame horizon of 5-10 years go with something like 100% stocks or 80% stocks / 20% bonds?
Yes generally true but age shouldn't be the only metric for investment ratio. I invested 50-50 because I don't want to take too much risk and focus on my business.

I invested individual stocks 3 years ago; Apple, Tesla and FB. I made a profit of around %300. Is it amazing? Yes, but I checked my portfolio maybe 1000 times in 3 years :mrgreen: lots of sharp increases and decreases too stressful and mind consuming. If I spend that much mental effort into my business, I can make more money probably.
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