An ETF for Every Age: Investors 36 to 49 Should Embrace Growth (With a Side of Safety)

The popularity of exchange-traded funds has exploded recently. As part of Money's series on an ETF for every age, the following discusses appropriate strategies and a fund that is suitable for investors ages 36 to 49.

You're not over the hill yet, but its peak is coming into sight. And if you're anything like me, the ascent spells trouble for your knees.

Most of my middle-aged friends refuse to admit that they are, in fact, middle-aged. But according to the National Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy in the U.S. is 74.8 years for males and 80.2 years for females.

So for investors in this age group, heed the same advice I give my friends: Act your age. That's particularly relevant for my buddy who tore his ACL last year while skateboarding, or another whose sports card expenditures outweigh his retirement contributions. But when it comes to your portfolio, it could mean introducing more balance while still focusing primarily on growth over value.

Adapting your strategy

You may still be young at heart, but there's a good chance that by this age, you've matured from the all gas, no brakes lifestyle. Gone are the days of witnessing last call and soaking up the aftermath of a bar tab with overpriced late-night pizza.

Your portfolio probably has some miles on it by now, too. As you transition into this phase, your investments can reflect your evolving lifestyle: Enjoying less volatility and gaining peace of mind by avoiding riskier endeavors.

According to wealth management firm Edward Jones, as your time horizon shortens, you may want to consider adjusting your investment approach to find a more suitable balance between higher-growth and lower-growth assets since there will be progressively less time to recover from any losses you may experience.

When it comes to ETFs in particular, that can entail moving away from funds with higher tech concentrations, such as the Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF (QQQM), and into funds holding some of the same companies but offering access to other market sectors that provide more diversification and, by extension, additional downside protection.

That's because, like hangovers, big portfolio losses hurt more the older you get. At this age, there's still plenty of time to recover. But an ETF with broader exposure and more allocations can help offset losses if a handful of companies in one sector (e.g. tech) or one industry (e.g., AI) underperform.

Growth with a side of safety

In the past year, the Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF (SCHG) gained nearly 29.21%, outperforming the S&P 500 by 6.88% over that time. The fund tracks the total return of the Dow Jones U.S. Large-Cap Growth Total Stock Market Index.

SCHG features an absurdly cheap expense ratio of 0.04%, and its top-three holdings — Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft — are identical to QQQM (albeit with different weightings). SCHG allocates 48.99% of its portfolio to tech, offering shareholders considerable upside potential.

But while both SCHG and QQQM are growth-focused ETFs, SCHG has lower implied volatility than QQQM due to its deeper and more diverse portfolio. With 229 holdings, the ETF provides exposure well beyond tech by including sectors like health care (UnitedHealth Group), financials (Visa and Mastercard), communication services (T-Mobile and Netflix), industrials (GE Aerospace), materials (Sherwin Williams), consumer discretionary (Chipotle and Booking Holdings) and energy (Baker Hughes and Cheniere Energy), among others.

With $39.238 billion in net assets, SCHG gained 134% over the past five years and 781.39% since its inception in December 2009. Like my middle-aged friends who have been prescribed statins yet still enjoy too many Buffalo wings, SCHG provides a balance of both safety and risk.

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