At Raise Investment, we use a specific type of asset to start you off: a buffered ETF tracking the S&P 500. That's a complicated way of saying we put your money into the entire stock market, but with protection from major downswings through a built-in buffer that prevents your asset from falling below its initial purchase price.
Over time, as your account balance increases, we begin moving funds out of this buffered ETF and placing them directly into a full market S&P 500 fund like SPY.
The reason for this shift is simple: as your account value grows, you have less need for downside protection since there's more cushion between the current value and your initial purchase price. This ensures you get maximum exposure to the S&P 500's upside potential, which smooths out over long-term time horizons.