You can find part 6 of the Stock Series by JL Collins here.
Notes from MP
VTSAX equivalent for Swiss residents
For us, Swiss and CHF based, we want more diversification than solely the US and USD. Hence I use my beloved VT ETF as described in my portfolio.
VBTLX equivalent for Swiss residents
Similarly, my recommendation of the best bonds ETF to date is explained in my article here.
VMMXX equivalent for Swiss residents
As a Swiss investor, I would tend to choose an ETF that replicates the FTSE 3-Month CHF Eurodeposit index. I never had to find an equivalent so far, as I’m not yet financially independant. If you’re looking for such an ETF yourself, let me know and I can plan to write a dedicated article.
The market is down? No! The market is on sale 🎉
I can’t agree more with what JL says, moreover as it happened once more last month. Was I scared to have lost 70-80kCHF (!) in a few days?
Not at all.
The opposite actually; I had a big smile on my face and bought as much VT ETF as I could with my savings last month!
All of this because I’m in for the long run, and not here to make quick money (this doesn’t exist anyway).
Jack Bogle, index fund inventor, said it well: “Don’t just do something, stand there.”
Stocks are the true gold
While I heard many investors jump to gold when Trump introduced tariffs in February 2025, I thought to myself:
These folks are fooling themselves. The true gold lies in companies producing actual tangible value, not in some useless metal (yeah I know, you can melt gold, but that’s still producing less value than an enterprise).
100% equities until the end of my life?
I’m still making up my mind, but when I’m financially independent (and all the way until there), it’s possible that I stick to 100% in equities.
One more hint as to why it’s a good idea is the recent paper examined closely by Ben Felix in his latest video here (you can view the paper “Beyond the status quo: a critical assessment of Lifecycle investment advice” here).
Equity portfolio with cash reserve only
This specific portfolio idea made me think of our FI Planner tool with Patrik.
Indeed, we use a similar version of this portfolio for modeling the “when you’re FIRE” part of your life:
- 1 year of expenses in cash
- 2 years of expenses in bonds
- All the rest into stocks
We want to make this configurable, but that’s a (the only one?) strong basis to rely on for any life scenario.
Photo credits: jlcollinsnh.com