6 ASX-listed products for the risk-loving and risk-averse investor

There are some of us that thirst for the adrenaline hit that comes with taking risks, whether it be cliff jumping, skydiving, or making questionable bets on the stock market. 

This may work for the daredevils among us, but for others, there could be nothing worse than putting their lives (and money) at risk. 

So where do you sit on the scale from risk-loving to risk-averse? Are you an aggressive investor, with the stomach for volatility and losses in your high-growth journey? Or are you readying for retirement, and need to be more conservative with your cash? 

Have no fear. Livewire Markets has done the heavy lifting for you. In this episode, Livewire's Ally Selby was joined by Pitcher Partners' Charlie Viola and Shaw and Partners' Candice Bourke for their top listed product recommendations across three different risk profiles. 

There really is something in here for everyone. 

Note: This episode was filmed on Wednesday 22 March 2023. You can watch the video, listen to a podcast or read an edited transcript below.

Edited Transcript  

Listed products for investors with an aggressive risk profile 

Ally Selby: Okay, we're starting off with an investor with an aggressive risk profile. Typically, this would be younger investors who can afford to make riskier investment decisions because of their time horizon, or high risk growth investors who have accepted they'll face some volatility and losses along the way. Candice, what would you typically recommend for these types of investors?

Loftus Peak Disruptive Tech ETF (ASX: LPGD) 

Candice Bourke: When I think of an aggressive risk profile or investor, like you've said, you've got a long time horizon, you're happy to ride out lots of volatility, the word disruptive comes to me and tech. My pick would be the Loftus Peak Disruptive Tech Fund. It's very much got a basket of exposure to really disruptive, innovative tech quality names. Microsoft's in there, Apple's in there, NVIDIA's in there. It is a bit of a higher fee, 120 basis points per annum. But that's something that I'm happy to pay because it has performed really well. Some numbers for you. Since inception, it's produced 15.8% per annum.

BetaShares Diversified All Growth ETF (ASX: DHHF) 

Charlie Viola: We actually like LPGD as well. If you've ever met Alex Pollak, the manager, he's a bit crazy and a bit quirky and he's excellent. We like that. So the one for us is a really simple one to go in portfolios, and it is the BetaShares Diversified All Growth ETF, which is effectively a fund of funds or ETF of ETFs really. It invests in good quality, large cap, aggressive ETFs. It's just an easy one to stick in your portfolio and gives you exposure to growth markets all around the world. A little bit of emerging markets, a little bit of the EV flavour in there. It's a good, simple one.

Listed products for investors with a moderate risk profile

SPDR S&P/ASX 200 ETF (ASX: STW) 

Charlie Viola: It kind of depends on what you mean by moderate. But I'm of the view, again, being really simple here, that you should just go and buy STW, which is the ASX 200. It gives you exposure to large cap, defensive Australian equities with a big exposure to banks and resources, pays out a reasonable dividend yield, a 4.5%. It's 70% franked. It's really cheap. It's massive, it's really liquid. Again, it's one that you can put in your portfolio, stick it in the bottom drawer, keep adding to it every month if that's what you want to do. But otherwise, live off the fruit of its income over a period of time. So STW.

JPMorgan Equity Premium Income Active ETF (ASX: JEPI)

Candice Bourke: I believe I've got a great back pocket ETF for a moderate or balanced risk investor, and that is the JPMorgan Equity Premium ETF. JEPI is the code. What's cool about is it is listed both here on the Australian market and the US. It provides both a balanced approach of income and capital growth. It's yielding about 7% per annum income tick, and in the last 12 months it's also produced about 11% capital return. It's got names like Microsoft, Apple, all the typical ones you expect to see there, but also other exciting companies in all different sectors. It has a large weight to energy at the moment. That's been a good sector to hide out in. So Chevron and Exxon Mobil are also in that ETF.

Listed products for investors with a conservative risk profile

Metrics Master Income Trust (ASX: MXT)

Candice Bourke: As you've said, a conservative investor does focus on stable returns. Regular income is very important. So for us, a really great provider in this space for a more conservative investor would be Metrics. They're a fantastic credit manager here in Australia. I think you don't have to go far, we can just look in our own backyard for really great credit exposures. Metrics has a wide range of different products. One that's listed is MXT, the Metrics Master Income Fund. It's also available as a managed fund off market, for those who don't like that volatility. Fantastic to see the manager has held its net asset value (NAV) throughout all of the different market dips and cycles we've seen. It's continually produced over 5% income yield per annum and a little bit of capital on top, about 6% return per annum as well.

Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund (ASX: QRI)

Charlie Viola: Continuing on the debt theme there, because we quite like MXT as well is, QRI, the Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund. Very similar to what MXT does, in that it's a basket of good quality Australian mortgages. It has a loan-to-value ratio (LVR) of less than 63%. It's currently paying about 8% or 9% yield. It is trading on the market just a little below its NAV. So I think it's trading at a discount of 5% or 6%. So you're going to get that natural uplift back. It continues to put cash in the bank account. Really well run by a business called Qualitas and a simple one for portfolios where you are just trying to generate that ongoing revenue and flowing cash into the bank account over a period of time.