[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Dividend Growth Investor [@DividendGrowth](/creator/twitter/DividendGrowth) on x 227.4K followers Created: 2025-07-23 19:02:27 UTC I am often asked "why not just buy the etf" There are several trade-offs I see I want to control what I buy, the portfolio weight, and the entry valuation at which I invest today. I also want to minimize turnover and fees. DIY portfolio helps with harvesting tax losses. But most importantly, I want to control my holding period. Only the DIY approach works today with a coffee can investing strategy. Most ETFs have too much of a turnover on the other hand. I don't really like the valuation for most of the top holdings on VIG for example. I also do not see the reason to allocate based on market capitalization. Last but not least, these are all well known companies, so I don't see a reason to buy them in a fund. Funds made sense in the past, when transaction costs were large, so a DIY diversified portfolio was costly. Today I can build DIY diversified portfolio at basically zero cost. If I did my prep work correctly, I can turn it into a ghost-ship coffee can type portfolio that requires zero monitoring and would have lower turnover than most funds out there. No dividend ETF today embraces the coffee can approach. Of course, there are trade-offs in what I do versus an ETF. I would spend time on it. Knowing what you own comes with that "expense". If I know what I look for however, that could be minimized. I could also miss out on investing in quality companies that do well, because of my entry criteria. One can easily "automate" investing in an ETF, every month through a payroll deduction (although dividend etfs/funds are rarely in the line-up in 401k plans) There are risks in "stock picking" as a DIY approach. But there are also risks in picking the right dividend ETF too. Selecting the winning Dividend ETF is hard in advance. If you bother to check, the performance of popular funds like $SCHD, $VIG, $VYM, $DGRO, $NOBL, $SDY etc varies from one to another. You are also at the mercy of having those funds remain popular, and not closing and cashing you out at some point in the future. It is hard picking the winning ETF in advance, and the ETFs that looked like "winners" in 2015 are different from the winners in 2025. The winners in 2035 would be different too. I believe that a diversified DIY portfolio would have a different performance versus a dividend ETF. But that's because they have different companies. So the difference is the same as VIG and VYM or SCHD and DGRO have different performances in the first place. Ultimately, success in investing is about having your approach to investing, and sticking to it. If you cannot create your own approach that you can stick to, you should outsource to an ETF/Fund and perhaps even a qualified licensed professional. XXXXXX engagements  **Related Topics** [$xom](/topic/$xom) [$lly](/topic/$lly) [$jpm](/topic/$jpm) [$msft](/topic/$msft) [tax bracket](/topic/tax-bracket) [diy](/topic/diy) [fund manager](/topic/fund-manager) [buy the](/topic/buy-the) [Post Link](https://x.com/DividendGrowth/status/1948096389646360836)
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Dividend Growth Investor @DividendGrowth on x 227.4K followers
Created: 2025-07-23 19:02:27 UTC
I am often asked "why not just buy the etf"
There are several trade-offs I see
I want to control what I buy, the portfolio weight, and the entry valuation at which I invest today. I also want to minimize turnover and fees. DIY portfolio helps with harvesting tax losses. But most importantly, I want to control my holding period. Only the DIY approach works today with a coffee can investing strategy. Most ETFs have too much of a turnover on the other hand.
I don't really like the valuation for most of the top holdings on VIG for example. I also do not see the reason to allocate based on market capitalization. Last but not least, these are all well known companies, so I don't see a reason to buy them in a fund. Funds made sense in the past, when transaction costs were large, so a DIY diversified portfolio was costly.
Today I can build DIY diversified portfolio at basically zero cost. If I did my prep work correctly, I can turn it into a ghost-ship coffee can type portfolio that requires zero monitoring and would have lower turnover than most funds out there.
No dividend ETF today embraces the coffee can approach.
Of course, there are trade-offs in what I do versus an ETF.
I would spend time on it. Knowing what you own comes with that "expense". If I know what I look for however, that could be minimized.
I could also miss out on investing in quality companies that do well, because of my entry criteria.
One can easily "automate" investing in an ETF, every month through a payroll deduction (although dividend etfs/funds are rarely in the line-up in 401k plans)
There are risks in "stock picking" as a DIY approach. But there are also risks in picking the right dividend ETF too.
Selecting the winning Dividend ETF is hard in advance. If you bother to check, the performance of popular funds like $SCHD, $VIG, $VYM, $DGRO, $NOBL, $SDY etc varies from one to another. You are also at the mercy of having those funds remain popular, and not closing and cashing you out at some point in the future. It is hard picking the winning ETF in advance, and the ETFs that looked like "winners" in 2015 are different from the winners in 2025. The winners in 2035 would be different too.
I believe that a diversified DIY portfolio would have a different performance versus a dividend ETF. But that's because they have different companies. So the difference is the same as VIG and VYM or SCHD and DGRO have different performances in the first place.
Ultimately, success in investing is about having your approach to investing, and sticking to it.
If you cannot create your own approach that you can stick to, you should outsource to an ETF/Fund and perhaps even a qualified licensed professional.
XXXXXX engagements
Related Topics $xom $lly $jpm $msft tax bracket diy fund manager buy the