So far, index investing has worked well for me. About a year ago, I began diversifying into large private or unlisted companies that expect to list over the next two to five years. There are now just over 4,100 listed companies in the US compared with nearly 8,300 in 1995. So, over the past 30 years, the number of listed firms in the US has more than halved. Those that disappeared were either acquired by larger competitors or private equity (PE) firms, or in some rare cases, vanished because they just went bust.
Over the past decade or so that I have written this fortnightly tech column, I have occasionally received feedback from readers across Southeast Asia. While I do know some of the people who send me comments or queries, I don’t know how others got my email contact. Most of the questions I get are a variation on themes like the best tech stocks to buy, or what stocks I myself own, or how to get exposure to some of the unlisted tech unicorns mentioned in my columns.
As a journalist, I don’t give investment advice. Quite aside from the ethical issues, I don’t believe I am qualified to dole out stock recommendations. As for what I own, I have in the past mentioned in this column that more than a third of my portfolio is in index ETFs, such as VOO, the Vanguard fund that mirrors the US benchmark S&P 500, QQQ or the Nasdaq 100 ETF of the largest listed tech firms and XLK, the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF. I have stuck to the index-heavy strategy because it has done well since early 2010, when I first switched to it, instead of relying solely on picking individual stocks or funds. I am a firm believer in “set it and forget it” passive investing.
