If you had $20,000, build your ETF portfolio like this
episodePreviously titled “Three core ETFs and one gold satellite for a $20,000 portfolio” — renamed by the publisher on Sep 28, 2026
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What is the $20,000 portfolio challenge and who is the guest?
Imagine one day that you rubbed a magical lamp and out popped a genie with any ability to ask it any question you like.
10,000 years will give you such a crick in the neck!
What ETFs would you select for my $20,000 portfolio, dear Jeannie? Well, you don't have to worry about finding a magical lamp because in this episode, we've got one of the senior portfolio managers from Van Eck, it's Cameron McCormack. We've got him on the show to answer that exact question. If you had $20,000 fake Rask dollars, what ETFs would you pick and why? There are over 450 ETFs on the Australian. Market, so picking just a few can seem a bit tricky. So we put that to Cameron today on the show. He comes up with three, and then I throw a curveball at him in the form of asking him to pick a satellite allocation as well. All that and more in this episode of the Australian Finance Podcast. Welcome to the Australian Finance Podcast by Rask.
Together, we will improve your relationship with money, discover the world of investing, save more money, and design the life you want. Please don't forget to subscribe to the show on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts because we share at least two wonderful episodes every week. You should know that our favorite episodes drop On a Monday and a Friday with bonuses on Wednesdays. Finally, to hear more from us and get show notes and all those other wonderful things like free courses, head to rask.com.au to find us online. Hey there, here's a quick note. This podcast contains general financial information only. That means it's not specific to you, your needs, goals, or financial objectives.
So don't act on the information until you've spoken to your financial planner. You'll find our full disclosure, disclaimer, and link to our financial services guide in the show notes. Cameron, welcome back to the show. Thanks for having me. It's always good to chat. Last time we spoke about factor investing, but this time we're talking about a 20K portfolio, which is probably going to be a real hit with folks. So if you are watching or listening, be sure to let us know in the comments what would you pick for a 20K portfolio over 10 years. Before we get into that, because that's kind of the meat in the sandwich, so to speak, uh I'd love to get you to cast your mind back to your very first investment and how did it go and what were the lessons learned?
So in terms of my investment journey, it was pre Van Eck. Um, one of the stocks that I did purchase back in the day was Afterpay. Um you probably I mean now it's part of the block um conglomerate. So it's bought out by the US um company well company now. Um yeah, so in terms of, you know, Afterpay, I was speaking to one of my mates who's was a big fan of Afterpay, you know, they were now seeing sort of all the time, you know, new partnerships with retailers looking to expand globally. I, you know, took tailwind of, you know, that that I guess euphoria around after pay. Um and it was a pretty bumpy ride, I must must say. You know, it's um you'd see frequently, you know, movements of ten percent both up and down.
Mm-hmm. Um and I was holding it during COVID and it fell sixty percent. Um whereas say, you know, the A6200 was only down, say twenty five, thirty percent. Um so it was, you know, quite a quite a bumpy ride. Um and then I ended up getting a role at at Van Eck and I guess, you know, broaden my horizons in terms of, you know, just taking a more measured approach to to investments. Um in terms of, you know, other names I uh was broadly, you know, I guess obsessed with like the the wax stocks. So they're sort of like the Australian technology names at the time. Mm-hmm. Um, sort of the equivalent to the Fang stocks, although that's evolved to like, you know, the Magnificent Seven. Um yeah, so quite a interesting sort of starting point to investing.
Um and then Yeah, once I guess, you know, started working at Van Hack, uh took a more yeah, measured approach. Yeah,
yeah, I can imagine. Um I gotta ask you the follow up question to that though.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the $20,000 portfolio challenge and who is the guest?
0:00–10:29
2
How did Cameron’s early investing experiences shape his approach?
10:29–18:22
3
What is the core‑and‑satellite framework for building a portfolio?
18:22–24:11
4
Why choose the VanEck Australian Equal Weight ETF (MVW) as the Australian core?
24:11–32:35
5
How does the VanEck MSCI International Quality ETF (QUAL) provide defensive global exposure?
32:35–37:56
6
What role does the VanEck MSCI Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF (EMKT) play in the portfolio?
37:56–39:18
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Australian Finance Podcast
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