It's an interesting time to be investing right now. Over the last two weeks, the S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: XJO) and the All Ordinaries (INDEXASX: XAO) have both hit record highs after taking 12 years to get there. Therefore, it's a tricky time to put a $10,000 lump sum in the market – there's not a lot of screaming bargains going around at the moment. Saying this, the ASX is still full of quality companies that would be great places to park some cash. Here's how I would split 10Gs in ASX stocks today.
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) – $4,000
Coles is one of the newest blue-chips on the ASX, only listing in November last year. Since then, the management at Coles has impressed, with plans to cut costs and implement supply-chain automation. With a defensive earnings base, reputation for quality foods at cheap prices and innovative marketing campaigns like the Little Shop toys, I think Coles is a great buy-and-hold stock. The company has yet to pay a dividend, but you can probably expect around a 4% yield when the time comes (based on managements' goal of an 80–90% payout ratio).
Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) – $3,000
Macquarie is the largest ASX bank outside the 'Big Four' but it makes most of its money from investment banking and asset management, rather than mortgages and credit cards. This makes Macquarie a much more diversified financial stock to own and (in my view) would be a great place to invest for growth as well as income on the ASX. MQG shares offer a trailing dividend yield of 4.43% on current prices and aren't looking too expensive with a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.8.
Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) – $3,000
Afterpay is my growth pick here. Although the shares look expensive, if Afterpay's huge growth runway can stay clear, you might look back in a few years and ponder on what a bargain they were. Afterpay is a stock that's never far from the headlines, so it's one that's easy to keep track of. Afterpay has been making waves this year with its United States launch smashing expectations and gross 'Afterpay-ed' sales up 147% year-on-year in its most recent results. I'm happy having Afterpay in the high-risk/high-return category.
Foolish takeaway
Here we have a defensive stock, a middle-road stock and a growth stock, which I think combine to make a very balanced $10,000 investment in ASX shares right now. Even though markets are high, it's still important to be thinking about investing in shares, as you're not getting much of a return doing anything else these days.
