Hello everyone, I trust your weekend is going well and peace has found you. If it has or even if it hasn’t look up or bow down knowing that our God has a time for every situation. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll trust in Him to guide your steps into the future.
I’ll be brief today but I wanted to quickly share my top 10 ETF’s by total return. I was surprised to see a few of the ETF’s that made the list. Let’s get into it.
Investment History
To provide context for the numbers I’ll share in the following section I thought I should indicate when and how I’ve invested in these ETF’s. Additionally, for those interested in my overarching investment philosophy, here is a post I wrote earlier this year, “An Investment Playbook for Today’s Markets”.
In January of 2023 I completely revised my investment approach. At that time, I divested from individual stocks and moved my money into a very diverse collection of ETF’s. After years of sub-par performance trying to pick stocks I’d had quite enough. So I split my money into various accounts and focused on a plan for each account. One account for growth, one for income, one for protection, one for dividend growth, and one for cash equivalents. While the shotgun approach may not be everyone’s preferred path it’s been working satisfactorily up to this point. Sure, I’ve left some money on the table but I’m also comfortable and that’s worth more than money for me.
Lastly, I’ve been routinely dollar cost averaging into every ETF I’ll provide in this top 10 ETF’s by total return list. I didn’t lump sum invest into a single one, instead I aggressively DCA’d into them throughout 2023. Admittedly, with the benefit of hindsight, a lump sum investment would have been far better. Take that for what you will, I just didn’t want to pour it all in and watch the market fall immediately.
My Top 10 ETF’s by Total Return
Before I share my own top 10 ETF’s by total return list you may find value in this list from Yahoo.com of the best performers in 2025. Many of the best ETF’s this year have come from the precious metals markets and most of my own really aren’t close. Regardless, here is my top 10 ETF’s by Total Return since January of 2023 sorted from highest to lowest.
| No. | Symbol | Percentage Return |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GLDM | 49.5% |
| 2 | GOOP | 47.5% |
| 3 | VGT | 46.2% |
| 4 | VUG | 45.2% |
| 5 | SCHG | 34.6% |
| 6 | QQQM | 33.4% |
| 7 | YMAG | 28.4% |
| 8 | VT | 23.2% |
| 9 | VTI | 23% |
| 10 | XLU | 21.9% |
ETF Holdings Review
In comparison to the average market return of 8-9% per year I’d say I’m doing very well. However, compared to the list of top performers this year I’m woefully underperforming. Thankfully though I did include a healthy position in GLDM which has topped all of my 48 different holdings.
In any case, from my top 10 list of ETF’s by total return list above there were a few surprises. Namely, GOOP and YMAG. These ETF’s are solely for their income generation ability but thus far have outperformed. I hold GOOP in my insurance portfolio and YMAG in my income account. In both holdings combined I have less than $1,000 invested.
Far and away my favorite’s from this list are VGT and VUG. They’ve just churned higher and higher for me. Most would quickly point out that the higher return comes with a higher risk but I haven’t yet experienced it. In hindsight, I should have made those two holdings a far greater percentage of my portfolio’s. Combined I’ve invested about $5,000 into them.
That said, SCHG is quickly gaining ground in terms of my level of activity. In the last year, the SCHG options market has become more liquid and tradeable. As an options trader, I enjoy the quality asset at an affordable share price. Thus far, I’ve only traded cash secured puts and have yet to be assigned. Still, the additional income here has allowed me to dump SPHY and the high yield junk bond space. I’ve been able to replicate the income from SPHY using just 1/3 of the capital on SCHG.
Final Thoughts
To close, other than just pointing to what’s going well for me, I also hope to point out the importance of diversification. In total, I’ve added nearly $20,000 dollars to my bottom line since I reshaped my portfolios. In the years prior, my equity graph bounced around like a heart monitor. Some times up and sometimes down with no real consistency. I may not be matching the highest performers but the accounts are growing and accomplishing their goals. For that I’m thankful.
Finally, before I sign off, I thought you may also like to see some other notable performers I’m currently holding. I haven’t held all of these since 2023 but they’ve done quite well by historical standards.
| No. | Symbol | Percentage Return |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | QQQI | 21.6% |
| 2 | SPYM (formerly SPLG) | 21.2% |
| 3 | GPIQ | 21.1% |
| 4 | SPYG | 20.7% |
| 5 | FEPI | 19.7% |
One last thing, I do find it interesting that something like GPIQ, FEPI, or QQQI can compete in total return with SPYG. My understanding was that shouldn’t happen? Food for thought I suppose.
Until the next post.
God bless,
Jeff
