Hey everyone,

SpaceX listed on the NASDAQ this week with a $1.77 trillion valuation, making it the largest IPO in history. Incredibly, it still popped and jumped as high as 30% from its IPO price before closing out the day up 19%.

If you hold a globally diversified ETF, your portfolio is going to own a piece of it automatically and the beauty is that there’s no decision required. That's what I cover in this week's video, including what the numbers actually look like versus the headlines.

A few other things this week: why a gold ETF is almost always the better vehicle than physical gold. A reader question on dividend stocks and the principles I use when thinking about them.

And an SRS option worth knowing about if you've been wondering what to actually put in your account.

Let's get into it.

If you hold gold as part of your portfolio, spend five minutes this week checking what structure it's actually in. Physical gold and a gold ETF are not the same thing and the cost difference is bigger than most people realise.

When you buy physical gold from a dealer like BullionStar, you're already paying 1.5% to 2% above spot on the way in. Then there's storage, whether that's a home safe or a vault service.

Your standard home insurance policy likely won't cover it either. And when you sell, that’s another spread on the way out. A full round trip of buying and selling can cost you 3% or more before anything has happened to the gold price itself.

A physical-backed gold ETF removes all of that. A management fee of 0.1% to 0.4% a year and you can sell instantly at the market price. No dealer, no vault, no logistics to manage.

The one thing to note, though, is that you own shares in the ETF that holds the gold, NOT the gold bars themselves. For most investors, that's a perfectly reasonable trade-off.

If you want gold in your portfolio, use the ETF. If you think the world is going to end tomorrow (and the modern financial system is about to collapse) then physical gold makes sense.

One caveat on gold ETFs; make sure it's a physically-backed one. Not all gold ETFs actually buy the underlying metal.

If you’re a decision maker at your company, you need to be on the bleeding edge of, well, everything. But before you go signing up for seminars, conferences, lunch ‘n learns, and all that jazz, just know there’s a far better (and simpler) way: Subscribing to The Deep View.

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The SpaceX IPO is the biggest in history. The financial media has been loud about it for weeks.

Here's what that actually means for your portfolio. If you hold VWRA or ACWD, SpaceX enters automatically when it hits the index. No decision, no action, no timing required. That's the passive process doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

This week's video is my take on the IPO, grounded in the SEC filings. What SpaceX's numbers actually look like. What weight it carries across different ETFs. And why the $1.77 trillion headline is a very different number from what you'll actually see in your portfolio.

If you've been wondering whether you need to do anything, the short answer is no. The longer answer is in the video.

StashAway launched “ETF Explorer” a while back and there's one feature worth knowing about, specifically if you invest through SRS.

The iShares MSCI ACWI UCITS ETF, with the ticker ISAC, is available on the platform. It's a genuine all-world fund covering both developed and emerging markets in a single low-cost ticker.

Most platforms that support SRS don't give you access to UCITS ETFs. If you've been looking for a clean, globally-diversified option for your SRS funds (of which there aren’t many), this is one of the most straightforward ways to do it locally.

Better yet, there’s no platform/management fee from StashAway so you’re paying just the 0.20% p.a. ETF fee. Perhaps the only thing you have to factor in is the USD share class.

The other thing worth knowing: StashAway's Regular Investing Advantage gives you unlimited free buy orders on ETFs as long as you keep investing monthly.

It's a permanent benefit, and not a limited promo. For an approach built around consistent monthly contributions anyway, that's a meaningful saving over time.

Get with StashAway started here.

A question that comes up constantly: how do dividend stocks fit alongside a long-term ETF portfolio, and what percentage should they take up?

On allocation, I feel like satellite positions should be kept at 20% to 25% of your overall portfolio. The ETF is the core (75-80%) while dividend stocks sit in the satellite. That position sizing matters more than which specific stocks you pick. And, of course, within the dividend portfolio, be DIVERSIFIED.

When you're evaluating any dividend stock, the yield you see today is the least important number. What matters is whether the company can keep growing that payout year after year.

A stock yielding 1.5% that grows its dividend 12% annually is a very different proposition from a stock yielding 5% that barely moves its payout. Focus on dividend growth rate, not headline yield.

For someone approaching retirement or those relying on dividend income, this could differ. You’d want a mix of higher-yielding stocks alongside faster-growing/lower-yielding stocks. However, the core principle holds; the dividend stocks you hold should have a “margin of safety” in terms of the dividend they can pay out if earnings fall or a recession hits.

At the end of the day, a dividend allocation will be a very personal decision based on a number of factors, primarily what your investment runway is, how much you’re looking to rely on dividend income, and whether you focus on total return or dividend return from your portfolio.

One thing to factor in for US-listed dividend stocks specifically: there's a 30% withholding tax on every dividend you receive. If a company pays US$1 per share, you receive US$0.70.

It doesn't make US dividend stocks completely off-limits per se but it significantly alters the value proposition and most US finance content won't mention it because it doesn't apply to American investors.

If you have more questions on dividend stocks, SRS investing, or want me to go deeper on any topic, I'm doing a full AMA edition next week. Submit your questions here.

Until next week,

- Tim

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