Who Cares About the S&P 500? My 3 ETF Portfolios are Rocking it with Metals & Energy!

Irk's Shopping List for his 60+ Individual Stocks! | Issue #58

ETF Portfolio Performance Year-to-Date

Flagship ETF Portfolio

To learn more, check out my full rundown of this portfolio by clicking here.

Whereas the two portfolios below either go all-in (“Dumb Money”) or wait on the sidelines (End-of-the-World), my Flagship ETF Portfolio is my largest and waits to buy for key support and only trims certain cyclical positions (think gold, bonds, commodities, etc.). The majority of the positions are buy-and-hold. Since this portfolio is also a Roth IRA, that means it’s regularly receiving contributions on a monthly basis. Of course, I subtract these contributions from its YTD performance.

Weekly ETF Update:

Even with substantial exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Bitcoin Miners (WGMI) all dragging down returns this week, the Flagship ETF Portfolio still managed to gain +0.60% on a week where the S&P 500 pulled back -0.40%, mostly thanks to gold’s ongoing outperformance.

The Flagship ETF Portfolio is now up +8.53% - an incredible figure given the year we’ve had so far - compared to the S&P 500’s measly +1.85% YTD gain.

As for the Top 5 Performing Holdings, the names remain the same but there have been some substantial shifts in which place they fall now. The Senior Goldminers ETF (GDX) overtook the EuroPac Gold (EGPFX) for first place, the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS) hung on to third, and the Brazil ETF (EWZ) pulled ahead of the China Megacap ETF (FXI) to claim spot #4.

S&P 500 YTD: +1.85%
Flagship ETF Portfolio: +8.53%
Cash Position: 7.55% (92.45% invested)

Top 5 Performing Single Holdings

1. Senior Goldminers ETF (GDX): +54.13%

2. EuroPac Gold Fund (EPGFX): +50.00%

3. Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS): +28.77%

4. Brazil ETF (EWZ): +23.84%

5. China ETF (FXI): +22.43%

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Dumb Money i401(k) Portfolio

To learn more, check out my full rundown of this portfolio by clicking here.

My Dumb Money i401(k) buys every Friday regardless of whether the market is up or down, splitting the weekly investment among five different ETFs: energy, utilities, tech, growth, and the total stock market. The goal is to only have enough cash for the month’s purchases, so, since we’re at the end of January, this portfolio is currently 100% invested.

Weekly ETF Update:

The “Dumb Money” Portfolio might not be so dumb after all. Thanks to significant exposure to both Energy (FENY) and Utilities (FUTY), the Barbell Approach of this portfolio performed exactly as it should during market uncertainty with the portfolio seeing a substantial +1.12% gain week-over-week when the S&P 500 dropped -0.40%.

This brings the Dumb Money Portfolio’s gains to +4.12% YTD against the S&P at +1.85%, a pretty remarkable feat considering this portfolio just keeps piling in buys every Friday regardless of if the markets are up or down.

The Top 5 Holdings remained relatively the same except for Energy (FENY) finally getting on its horse and seeing an astounding +5.36% week-over-week gain to take over the technology ETF (FTEC) for fourth place. This gain was largely due to exceptional short positions on energy combined with the geopolitical concerns resulting from Israel and Iran entering into a live combat situation.

S&P 500 YTD: +1.85%
Dumb Money Portfolio: +4.12%
Cash Position: 0.94%

YTD Performance of its 5 Holdings

1. Fidelity Utilities ETF (FUTY): +6.08%

2. Vanguard Megacap Growth ETF (MGK): +2.02%

3. Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index (VTI): +1.49%

4. Fidelity Energy ETF (FENY): +0.91%

5. Fidelity Technology ETF (FTEC): +0.25%

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End-Of-The-World Portfolio

To learn more, check out my full rundown of this portfolio by clicking here.

The goal of the End of the World portfolio is to have cash on hand in the event we see a Black Swan Event, so underperformance is more or less par for the course, typically. However, when we do see downturns, this portfolio starts putting money to work during dramatic stock market crashes.

Weekly ETF Update:

Nuclear energy exploded higher this week once again causing my Global X Uranium ETF (URA) position to outgrow its allocation where I needed to trim. I sold 2.58% of the position on Monday at $35.68, locking in +75.94% in gains on shares I bought a little over two months ago on April 4, 2025 at $20.28. Naturally, I am still keeping the vast majority of the position, but risk management dictates that I must trim a position that has run this far, this fast.

Junior Goldminer Dakota Gold (DC) continued its run this week, too, triggering my next sell order which trimmed 6.52% of my position at $3.97 and locked in +39.79% in gains on some of the shares I bought for $2.84 on December 19, 2022. This sale lowered my per-share cost -1.54% from $3.25 and $3.20, and, yes, I plan to continue to trim this position and have no plans to add anything more as it’s too volatile for even my risk appetite.

Friday brought more trimming the goldminers, this time it was a senior’s turn in the form of Newmont Mining (NEM). I sold shares at $57.36 and locked in +34.02% in gains on shares I bought for $42.80 back on November 20, 2024. Once again, this is to limit my exposure to the miners, not the physical metal. I have no immediate plans to trim the portfolio’s position in the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS).

The End of the World Portfolio continues to dominate, not only outperforming the S&P 500’s measly +1.85% gain with a whopping +8.97% YTD gain, but even outperforming the Flagship Portfolio which is more than 92% invested in comparison with the End-of-the-World holding a 48.67% cash position!

Dakota Gold (DC) continues to outperform with a nearly +9% gain week-over-week. The Senior Goldminers ETF (GDX) overtook the Silver Miners ETF (SLVP) for third place and the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS) edged out Newmont Mining (NEM) for fifth.

S&P 500 YTD: +1.85%
End-of-the-World Portfolio: +8.97%
Cash Position: 48.67% (51.33% invested)

Top 5 Performing Single Holdings YTD

1. Dakota Gold (DC): +70.56%

2. Junior Goldminers ETF (GDXJ): +58.89%

3. Senior Goldminers ETF (GDX): +54.13%

4. Silver Miners ETF (SLVP): +49.55%

5. Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS): +28.77%

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My Individual Stock Buy & Sell Targets

Premium Members: Read on to find my shopping list for each of my 60+ individual stock positions across my three publicly-traded portfolios: Speculation in Play, the Pandemic Portfolio, and, my flagship portfolio: Investments in Play.