Alright folks, I thought it would be a nice day to check in on my new investing strategy – buying Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF (VOO) each and every single day.
 

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The update will be based on April 22, 2022 through July 15, 2022.  What’s odd is my brokerage platform that I’ve been doing this on, doesn’t allow me to go back further than April 22, 2022.  However, I will show you the figures and amounts since then, the average invested per day, how much I have invested over that time frame and the massive snowball that has been built!

Remember, it’s all about reaching financial independence / financial freedom.  This is one investing strategy that I have been doing to help me achieve that goal!  Let’s dive in.

What is Vanguard’s VOO?

As a recap – Vanguard’s VOO is an S&P 500 ETF, aka it is the entire top 500 stocks that are within the S&P 500.  VOO is a passive investment, with a 0.03% expense ratio.  This means you pay approximately $0.30 per $1,000 invested into VOO.  The S&P 500 has returned over 9% on average over the last 40-50+ years.  It’s hard to beat the market consistently, no doubt.

How about the dividend of VOO?  The dividend yield, based on the trailing 4 quarters is approximately 1.60%, at the time of this writing (July 16, 2022).   In addition, the dividend growth rate, based on comparing the last 4 trailing 4 quarters, is approximately 6-8%.

The ETF has been around since 2010, so going on for 12 years.  VOO has over $700 billion in total assets, aka this is a massive Vanguard ETF.  The top 10 holdings contain the biggest names out there, such as Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT) and Tesla (TSLA).  See the top 10 chart here:

Investing in Vanguard VOO Update
 

The stock chart definitely is not looking pretty for the S&P 500 / Vanguard’s VOO.  The total stock market is down 20% this year, definitely in bear territory with the official recession declaration upon us.  More than likely, the stock market will continue to slide lower.  However, we cannot predict the movement of the market.  My goal is to stay invested and to invest consistently, regardless of what Mr. Market wants to do.  Hungry on the pursuit to financial freedom and this is one investing strategy I am using to make sure I put my dollars to work.

However, what I’ll tell you is that my automatic strategy of $50 has been a little bit “more” than simply $50 per day.  In fact, I buy more, in $50 chunks typically, when VOO drops by a more than usual amount on any given day.

Here is a chart of investments – again 4/22/22 was only one day, as that is how far back I can go on the app for when I was automatically investing into Vanguard’s VOO.  However, each week period after that are full weeks.
 

You can see, from the chart, each time the S&P 500 was “dipping”, I was buying more – hence the time period of 5/10-5/17 and when it dipped again mid-June, my investments were picking up.  I add more than the daily $50 when the price drops more, such as adding another $50 to Vanguard’s VOO.  As the price of VOO has stayed in the low $340 to mid $350 range, you an see a steady pick up in investment after June 26.  Pretty cool chart, right?

My takeaway is this.  I am buying Vanguard’s VOO or buying the S&P 500 each day, regardless.  I am buying more as the price falls.  What I don’t do is buy more as the price rises in a given day, outside of the $50 daily invested amount.  In the long run, I believe this will reduce my downside risk.

In total, since I started this investing strategy back in early April, I have invested approximately $4,900 in 3+ months.  The average I have been investing per day is closer to $75 than it is to $50, due to buying more on the dips.

This has also added almost $75 in forward passive income over that time frame.  In addition, my total unrealized loss is definitely a LOT less than 19% year to date, since I’ve been buying more on the dips (my spreadsheet shows down approximately 4.25%).

Vanguard Investing Update Conclusion

Therefore, I am VERY happy with how this is going.  Vanguard’s VOO will stand the test of time, as the S&P 500 always has.  The other takeaways I have are the following:

– No emotions in this strategy.  Automatically happens every day.

– No timing the market.  I buy more when it drops more!

– The likelihood of consistently beating the S&P 500 is not in an investors favor.

– The dividend and dividend growth are steady and consistent.

– Allows me to continue to automatically put money to work in a basket of the top 500 stocks, without having to individually stock pick.

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