Are Options risky? 

You know the saying — flying blind is risky business, no matter what the activity. Which is why, we’re dead set against our members diving into Options trading until you've really soaked up all our educational content and spent a good few months paper trading. We want to ensure you have a good grasp and solid understanding on what you’re doing and importantly, why.

Now, let's talk Options. They're not about rolling the dice, we use Options to reduce risk. You read that right — they can actually help dial down the risk. Trading professionals use Options to generate income or to hedge a stock against possible drawdowns. You can also use Options to speculate on price moving up or down. But we will always say tread carefully, especially if you're new to investing and the markets or prefer to play it safe — Options speculation is a riskier form of trading which we ourselves rarely ever do.

To wrap it up — Yes, Options can be risky when speculating on a stocks price movements, but can be used to in fact reduce risk. Our approach? Using Options to do two things: first, dialling down the risk, and second; generate income beyond just dividends, which is great for growing your portfolio or giving retirees extra cash flow.

How do I use VSLs? 

Put simply Very Short Lists (VSLs) are our handpicked, curated lists of the ‘best of the best’ stocks and ETFs. It's like your cheat sheet to the cream of the crop in the market. Each VSL is segmented into five categories or watchlists — S&P 500 (Mega Caps), Dividend Stocks, Growth Stocks, Global ETFs and International Stocks.

Why should you care about the VSL? Well, it's like having a shortcut to building your portfolio. Our CEO Kirk Spano has spent 25 years and many hours researching and analysing the fundamentals of each company that makes the cut onto the list. The list also provides a potential five-year price target and a ‘bottom fishing’ price. That bottom fishing number? It provides a price target where the stock is now undervalued and gives us a margin of safety when looking to add a stock to our portfolios. 

There’s also Punch Card stocks — our quarterly report of stocks from the VSL that you should be keeping an eye on as they get close to being in the sweet spot for buying. Kirk's crew is always on the ball, updating us and dropping buy and sell alerts as as you need to know.

In summary, the VSLs are ideal for busy and time poor investors as the heavy lifting has been done. Plus providing quick access enables fast decisions on the best of breed of companies.

I only have a small account, can I use FTs service? 

In a nutshell, absolutely. 

Our Very Short Lists (VSLs) in particular, offer a diverse range of investment opportunities catering to everyone — from those new to investing or the sophisticated investor.

The ETF VSL would be a great starting point — here’s why. ETFs provide you access to entire sectors, like alternative energy. Say you're keen on solar power — with just a small account, you can tap into all the top solar companies by buying shares of something like the Invesco Solar ETF (TAN), which sits at around $43 USD per share.

ETFs are a smart move for investors big and small. They let you gain exposure into whole sectors or specific niches without the hassle of managing individual stocks. Plus, they help spread out the risk. Instead of putting all your eggs in one stock basket, ETFs can provide a smoother ride, whether you're working with a modest or hefty portfolio. 

Our Portfolio Construction Guides are your compass, helping you find the right mix for your risk tolerance. We use ETFs strategically in our asset allocation as we look to beat the market with less risk, not more.

In addition, the ETF VSL is supported with the Global ETF quarterly report and webinars. These deep dives into secular trends help you pick the right ETFs to balance out your investment mix.

Fundamental Trends has something for everyone, no matter your experience.

But I only want Dividend stocks?

At Fundamental Trends, we often get asked about Dividend stocks. There is no point owing high yield dividend stocks that do not beat the index, period. There is also a common misconception that Australia pays the best dividends. While Australia does have some great companies paying solid dividends, so does the US stock market and in fact, it's got a whole lot more variety, which means an opportunity to diversify and not have concentration risk in 1 or 2 sectors.

While Australia tends to focus heavily on banking and mining, the US serves up opportunities across 11 sectors. Now, we don't invest into all 11, because not all of them are aligned to the secular trends where we will see the most growth. Remember the old age adage, 'trend is your friend'. Our motto is that we’re here to remind you to invest in the disruptors, and to divest the disrupted.

The dividend stocks we look to own at Fundamental Trends, are great companies, ones with strong balance sheets, leadership, with a proven track record of success, that are growing and supported by secular trends. We're not letting any biases cloud our judgment. It's all about picking winners, no matter where they call home. We believe all portfolios must growth in them. It just depends where you are in your investing life cycle as top how much growth you need.

So, the bottom line is — we’re all about owning dividend stocks that are not only dishing out cash but also outperforming the market. Take a look at your portfolio — do you have any companies in there that are not outperforming the index and then see how it has performed vs the SP 500.

Why don’t we just focus on Australian stocks?

Let’s dive into the Australian local market for a moment. Much like with dividend stocks, the Australian market has some great companies and we are not advocating selling them down. We have some Aussie stocks on the VSL. It's all about doing your homework and figuring out if they're the right fit for you.

But the reality is, in 2023, the US market grew by approximately 24% — however, by comparison the Australian market only by 8%. So, wouldn’t you prefer to see your money grow 300% faster?

Risk comes in all shapes and sizes. One version is sticking your money in slower-growing assets, in slower-growing economies. Again, you need to decide for yourself what risks you are prepared to take and why. Be mindful country risk bias and ask yourself the hard questions about why you are doing what you are doing. If you don’t know, that is the biggest risk of all.