IXUS
iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF
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How exactly do you execute Tax Loss Harvesting safely on a Fidelity or Vanguard trading platform?
Small business owner here, looking for investing advice from people further ahead than me
When you invest in Roth IRA and a Taxable Brokerage Account, do you use the same or similar funds/etfs in each account?
My strategy has been "wrong" for the last decade (Intl vs US). Will I continue to be wrong in the next decade?
My HSA investments got liquidated and moved to Wealthcare
Having 2 different but similar ETFs for tax-loss harvesting
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That is correct. Do your trades when the market is relatively calm, so avoid the first and last hour of trading. If you use limit orders make sure they are marketable limit orders. In other words, have your buy limit slightly higher than the ask, and your sell limits slightly lower than the current bid. For the big popular ETFs like VTI and VXUS I just enter market orders, since my trades are smaller than the bid/ask sizes. You do not have to do it all at once. You can start off by selling about 1/10th of your VXUS followed immediately by a buy of approximately that dollar amount of IXUS. Then once you are sure you have the mechanics down correctly, follow through with the rest.
cash from the sale is usable right away at both, it just hasn't settled yet. a good faith violation only happens if you sell ITOT or IXUS again before the VTI/VXUS sale settles, which is just the next business day now with T+1, so buy and hold it and you're fine. and with funds this liquid a couple minutes between orders barely matters, i'd just avoid doing it right at the open
Just buy QQQM and chill if you're bullish on the big tech names. Maybe incorporate some VXUS/IXUS to capture some international and emerging market exposure. Or, XEQT, VEQT or something similar to continue your US equity preference but still get some non-US exposure as well. Perhaps allocate some towards precious metals, crypto. If you're set on META/GOOG, go with Google.
That’s why you invest in broad market indexes. SPY, VOO, QQQM, IXUS, VTV etc
If you are already using HYSA (assuming 3% or higher currently) and T-Bills, you are already in a great situation. Time to focus on moderate diverse growth investments. Total USA ETF: VTI, SCHB, or ITOT International ETF: VXUS, IXUS, VEA, or SCHF.
Buy other ETFs that spread your investment into other markets. **3-ETF version:** * US total market (e.g., VTI or ITOT) — \~40-50% * International developed + emerging markets ex-US (e.g., VXUS or IXUS) — \~30-40% * Total bond market (e.g., BND or AGG) — \~10-20%, sized to risk tolerance/horizon **5-ETF version** (splits out regions for more control): * US total market — \~35-40% * International developed markets ex-US (e.g., VEA) — \~20% * Emerging markets (e.g., VWO) — \~10% * Domestic/international bonds (e.g., BND) — \~15-20% * REITs or a satellite tilt (e.g., VNQ, or small-cap value) — \~5-10% Equity/bond split is the main lever for risk — a common default is age-based (e.g., bond % ≈ age, though many now use lower bond allocations given longer horizons) or a flat 80/20 or 60/40 depending on risk tolerance and time horizon.
It learned to never buy an individual stock unless I am smarter than the rest of the world, I.e. the market. Since I rarely am smarter than the rest of the world my default investments are broad based index ETFs. I have had a few big wins and individual stock as 65% of my portfolio, but boring ETFS like VTI/ITOT/SCHB and BXUS/IXUS are my default investment.
It's not AI, I compared Schwab vs Vanguard ETFs for my own investments. The list of top ETFs is just going down through that ETFdb list and picking the top fund for each category; that's how I got that. Crude but not AI. Look, I don't think we disagree on anything substantive. If you had just been clearer in the start that you were only talking about outflows from Vanguard's brokerage business, this whole thread would not have happened. When you said "4x the outflows that they do inflows in the retail channel, their retirement business has stemmed enough of that bleeding" almost everyone interpreted "retail" as retail fund AUM, not ACAT transfers out of the brokerage. I acknowledged early on your clarification. I wouldn't be talking about the brokerage business in my replies if I hadn't accepted that was what you meant. My point then wasn't that your stat was false, it was that it was secondary to their fund business. I have never used Vanguard's brokerage but I regularly hear it's difficult to use. I agree with you it should be better and it's a *theoretical* negative to their future funds business if they have someone move to another broker, it just gives that broker more leverage, sending you stuff to encourage you to use their products. It gives them an in from a marketing perspective. But that's all it is. If anything, the shift to Vanguard has actually accelerated since everyone went zero commission. Vanguard overwhelmingly has cultural mindshare on this. Reddit threads, YouTube, podcasts, it's always VOO, VTI, VXUS, VT, BND. No one is saying IVV, ITOT, IXUS, SCHX, SCHF. The reality is that Vanguard's core fund business is growing and money is flowing *in* to Vanguard.
VXUS tracks FTSE Global All Cap ex US index. Afaik - Vanguard is the only investment manager that has a fund that tracks that index. Schwab's equivalent mutual fund would likely track the Russell Developed ex-US index - which is SFENX. Funds that track MSCI may have lower expense ratios than funds that track Russell indices - like IXUS.
VT at 0.06% or 6 BPS, or FZROX (think VTI, ITOT, or FXAIX) and FZILX (think VXUS or IXUS), in say 65% / 35% at 0 BPS or 0.00%
\>And I guess if This is right, what’s the day that you need to sell your fund for it to count as a loss. For the loss sale to not be a wash sale you have to sell it more than thirty days after any previous purchase of a substantially identical security\* and not buy a substantially identical security within 30 days of the loss sale. The previous and subsequent purchase applies across all of your accounts. Your broker will catch it in the same account. They have no way to know about what happened in accounts elsewhere. As a practical matter the IRS won't know about wash sales across accounts. They only get info about security sales, not purchases. They would only catch it in a deep audit. It is not advisable to do this. I don't play catch-me-if-you-can with the IRS. The IRS has not clearly defined exactly what substantially identical means. We know from experience that brokers will not flag wash sales of securities with different CUSIPs. You can trade between two S&P500 funds without getting flagged for wash sales. It is probably ok because they have different managers, tracking error, and index sampling that makes them not identical enough. I personally would not do that, because, again, I don't play catch-me-if-you-can with the IRS. Trading between VTI and ITOT or VXUS and IXUS should be fine even though they are both total market funds. They follow different indexes. \*The wash sale rules apply to any type of investment, not just securities.
VOO / SPY with auto contributions is literally the “set it and forget it” meta, you’re on the right track. Pick one, don’t overthink it, set up automatic buys every paycheck, and focus on increasing your income so you can shovel more in. If you want to get slightly fancy later, you can add a small chunk to something like VXUS or IXUS for international, but 80 to 100 percent in S&P 500 and chill is a completely valid long term plan.
You’re already on the right track tbh. Pick VOO or SPY, set up automatic contributions every paycheck, and don’t overthink the tiny differences. If you want to get slightly fancier without extra effort, you can do something like 80 to 90 percent VOO and 10 to 20 percent VXUS or IXUS for international, then rebalance once a year. The real “edge” for most people is just time in the market and not panic selling when stuff inevitably dips.
You’re literally describing the exact use case VOO and SPY were built for, so you’re on the right track already. Pick one (VOO is slightly cheaper on fees, SPY is more liquid but it won’t matter for long term), set up automatic contributions every paycheck, and ignore the noise for like 10 to 20 years. If you want to get slightly fancier, you can add a bit of VXUS or IXUS for international and call it a day.
You can add an international ETF. VXUS, IXUS, SCHF, or VEA.
Yes, with iShare ETF ticker symbol MCHI. It is looking bad currently, so I would try other options. ETF VXUS or IXUS is better outside of the USA.
You're best off throwing 70k into IVV and IXUS. I lost 14k on ODTE which was my life savings. I literally have 160 in a robo growth account and Gambling with my other 150.
If you really want to make this mistake, there are funds that invest in equities for all other countries except US, such as IXUS.
After an emergency fund (3 - 6 months of expenses), I have another bucket for things I plan to buy in the future. Whether it's home projects (i.e. replace a central air unit) or buy a next car, or something like that - and I sell stock to put into those buckets, so that the money is available when I need it (rather than keeping it in stocks and having a market correction right when I need the money. As others have said, I'm a boglehead - so the bulk of my holdings are in 3 funds (ITOT (Domestic Equities), IXUS (International Equities) and BND (Bonds). So I don't really worry about when to sell individual stocks. I just periodically rebalance to make sure that my overall portfolio allocation is what I intend it to be. For the other buckets (things I plan to buy in the next 5 years, I'll either use CD ladders or bond funds so that those are still earning money, but aren't subject to market downturns at the time I need the money. Boring, I know - but just the way I like it.
I have everything in non-US funds. Europe, UK, Japan, and some IXUS (global, ex-US). I like index funds, but don't trust the US right now.
I tend to keep most of my portfolio in ETFs (VOO, QQQ, IXUS, QTUM and NUKZ) and usually only have a maximum of 5% in any single stock. Of a single stock runs and I can't make sense of the new valuation based on the news I will trim my position and look for reentry at a lower price, missed some gains on IONQ but it didn't make sense to me why it even got to 40 in the first place. POET I will not reenter because it is moving on pure speculation and the most recent news have been a 400m dilution and the loss of their main client. I am currently FOMOed into Joby about 15% of my portfolio but the current price is a good 20% above my entry and I see it going higher based on catalysts coming this year and early next year. Current losers I hold are FIG and NOW, those I was at first 40% and 30% up but currently sitting at ~10% loss, not worried since I only put a few Ks in them. Entered PATH last week with a small position, hoping for earnings to help the stock regain some of that 30% loss ytd.
I also have some larger cap companies I have invested in based on them being undervalued based on PE ratio (bought Amazon at the start of the year) or based on a sudden downturn on news that are overdone (bought ASML back in July last year at around 730 a share, have held most of my position there). When Trump was first elected first thing I did was buy GLDM and IXUS. Sold GLDM back on April 2nd of 2025 at about 40% gain and redistributed my gains across all my other holdings.
Hey, not a big buyer of mag7/snp, have you seen PE multiples of your individual stocks? What are the largest holdings of IXUS? In all honesty, I see no hedge against “not great for equity multiples”.
VOO or SPY or whatever, and IXUS
Well my IXUS is up 12% YTD, while VOOG is about half that. So I think we’re doing great. Thanks for asking.
OP tell your rep no and ask them to come up with a 3-index fund portfolio. Mine did without issue 60% ITOT, 25% IXUS and 15% AGG is my makeup.
Others have already pointed out that this is an absurd portfolio. Why? (1) Fees—you’re paying 1.5% on the portfolio and probably an additional 0.5-1% on the actual holdings, (2) complexity—this accomplishes with ~20 positions what can be achieved in 3 positions. If you go this route, you will be much worse off than if you did it yourself. You could replicate this portfolio almost exactly by buying: - 51.3% VTI (or ITOT if you prefer, basically the same)—this includes a very similar breakdown of large, medium, and small cap. - 22.5% VXUS (or IXUS if you prefer, basically the same)—this includes a very similar breakdown of developed and emerging markets. - 23.5% VTEB (or MUB if you prefer, basically the same)—this includes municipal bonds. Others have recommended BND, which is fine, but BND is not municipal bonds which have some tax advantages if you are in a high tax bracket. - 2.7% cash This entire portfolio represents the same investment mix that your idiot advisor recommended and will cost around 0.05%. 1.5-2% doesn’t sound like much, but if your expected return on your portfolio is about 7%, you give up about 1/4th of your gains to Fidelity. This sub will generally not consider anything other than a 3-4 fund portfolio mostly because it does actually make sense, but in reality, some people are scared of doing even that. If that is you, that’s okay! Just buy something like FFNOX—it bundles these funds together so you just have to buy one thing, at the cost of a very slightly higher price (but still WAY cheaper than what your advisor recommended). As for your advisor, he is not acting in your best interests. I would run.
It’s a great diversified portfolio by “glide path” but they broke it down to different market caps, developed vs emerging, etc.. (iShares has a marketing agreement with Fidelity .. the iShares “core” especially is competitive with Vanguard) … but you could simplify your life if DIY. U.S. stocks is 51% in total.. > Asset Class |Percentage Domestic Stock |51.3% Domestic Large Cap Stock |35.2% Domestic Mid Cap Stock |10.0% Domestic Small Cap Stock |6.1% - IShares ITOT has the large cap, medium cap, and over half the typical small cap; functionally very similar to Vanguard’s VTI that especially r/bogleheads loves. Just keep this one ETF af 51.3% unless wanting to change it with age .. or later going with just the S&P 500 for great returns mostly/less volatility. International (non-U.S. stocks): - IShares IDEV (developed ex-US) contains Canada while the recommended EAFE doesn’t. Probably performance chasing on their part. - iShares IEMG is their emerging mkts etf like VWO in Vanguard. Many combine developed and emerging into one etf IXUS
not financial advice, but I rely on IVV, QQQM and IXUS to provide the ballast for my portfolio. but my largest individual holdings are AMD, NVDA, PANW and CRWD. I work with data scientists and they clued me in pretty early about what was going on. going forward, I'm interested in seeing how biotechnology, nanotechnology and robotics play out, especially with any potential AI tailwinds, so I'm keep an eye on those.
Rotating more into international, IXUS. Need some diversification
I'm a 22 y.o from Israel (please no politics). Planning to invest via Schwab 17,052.33€ (one time investment)+284.21€ every month into 85/15 VUAA/IXUS (or EXUS). I will double the monthly investment every three years, stopping at 4,263.08€ per month. I plan to do this over the next 20 years at least (might add some bond at my 30s). Would love to hear your advice.
VTI, VXUS, BND, BNDX - Vanguard version ITOT, IXUS, AGG, IAGG - iShares version In order: Total US Stocks, Total International Stocks, Total US Bonds, Total International Bonds If you get a target date fund at Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab, it puts you in a combination of these. Schwab is slightly different in that their target date funds don't use international stocks from developing nations (only developed) or international bonds.
SPY is fine, but I prefer the more diversified total US market ETF like VTI. Since SP500 is 80% of the total US market there is not a huge difference between SPY and VTI but I prefer the slightly better diversification. And you should also have some international exposure like VXUS or IXUS.
See r/bogleheads I have done backtests on many complicated portfolios suggested by financial advisors. They all end performing pretty much identical to the simple 3 ETF portfolio recommended by Bogleheads: 1) broad market US stock market ETF like VTI or ITOT or SCHB, 2) a broad market international stock ETF like VXUS or IXUS, and 3) a broad bond ETF such as BND.
Nah, but I do hold some IXUS. That said, the energy crisis is hitting non US economies harder than it is the US economy right now. US is an energy exporter, so that buys us a little bit of leeway.
I own two things in my retirement and brokerage account. AVUV and IXUS. This, on top of my 401k target date fund has me covered and I have no stop losses because this is money for 30 years from now.
IXUS for me but I’m interest in other too
VOO already has the single stocks you own. That's duplicating?!?!?! Like other people said, diversify; put that other 20% into VXUS or IXUS for international exposure.
Same. I switched my core position to IXUS with some gold mining stocks on the side. Wish I had done it sooner.
Could you explain the investment strategy and goal? Especially if this is a multi-decade investment horizon, SCHD and SCHH in particular are strange choice. Dividends should not generally be a focal point of a long term buy and hold strategy. Further, you hold VT, SPYM, and IXUS. In this structure, it looks like you’ve just constructed VT with extra steps and a greater expense ratio than necessary. Now there is actual merit to AVUV. However, to explain this we need to examine something called the five factors. This is something I am not qualified to explain myself and I will link a good video to it below. HOWEVER, in your case and in the nicest way possible, I don’t think YOU even know why you are considering AVUV. https://youtu.be/jKWbW7Wgm0w?si=bEOUZaF8xeW0RF6k The crypto funds… Again, I have to ask why you want these. What are these achieving that you don’t get from stocks? Are these just an attempt at diversification or held for another reason? Also people are talking about bonds bad in reference to your SGOV allocation. They make little sense here considering the high risk profile of the rest of the portfolio. Typically, investments in cash or bonds are used to lower a portfolio’s risk profile. You’re trading returns for safety. Even at a 5% yield, this is not a great decision. This video gets into it here. https://youtu.be/KdzOlRRHOU8?si=XXViK6zbiFVz9pXb Lastly, could you please explain your investment goal and/or how you even got to this set of funds? I would like to know the story here.
Overweighting IXUS & IDV and riding the declining dollar
VXUS, IXUS both cover developed and emerging markets. Or would you prefer developed only?
Go look at r/bogleheads >\-More diversified than VOO? If so, what? Total US EtF such as VTI/ITOT/SCHB is slightly more diversified than VOO/SPY. More important is diversification by holding international equities via an ETF like VXUS or IXUS. As you approach retirement you should add bonds. >\-Dividend ETFs? And reinvest the income (after tax and living expenses) into SPY or VOO? That creates an unnecessary tax drag. Dividends are not "free money" and in fact actually end up a negative during the accumulation phase when you are just reinvesting the dividends. >\-Treasuries and bonds? Yes, 5 to 7 years before your expected retirement start transitioning to your desired asset allocation in retirement.
IXUS just pumping while im bleeding red white and blue.
Seriously thinking of getting out of VT and into IXUS or VXUS. Already have a gold/silver position to protect my portfolio against the US.
ITOT is core S&P and is similar to VTI while IXUS is similar to VXUS
VXUS is big, and iShares offers their IXUS with less small cap. Also VEU is similar to VSUX and IXUS but with even less small cap (nothing against small cap, but for strict mkt share portfolios, it really does not really affect anything). There’s other choices like iShares ACWX that covers non U.S. large to mid cap but the fees are a bit higher. Another idea is dividing non-US into “developed” and “emerging” like iShares IDIV and IEMG respectively, or Vanguard’s VEA and VWO. Should keep with a MSCI or FTSE index. Mine are 4:1 SGDW at 0.03 er with SCHE at 0.05 er (SPDR and Schwab), .. though I do this to just get cheap non-US large-to-mid caps (no geopolitics, though I like having Korea as a smaller % of DW, FTSE’s developed category, instead of MSCI’s emerging mkt category). Why? I’d rather have expenses working on tracking large to mid cap instead of small caps which won’t really move the needle, but I digress.
Edward Jones is truly horrendous. Their fees are absurd. Their value is negative. Move all your money there to a legit broker. I personally like Fidelity > Vanguard > Scwab. Even Webull or Robinhood are WAY better. Then put all your money in VTI + VXUS (or ITOT/IXUS) and ignore it.
OP, no need to invest in US stocks if you feel the US is too risky (I think it is). Plenty of ETFs to consider, such as VEU, VXUS, IXUS, etc. I'm big into XIC, which is a top choice for Canadian market exposure.
The weakening dollar is precisely why snp going up, and why IXUS is outperforming snp.
$XMAG for ex-Mag7 exposure. But really this year people should go world ex-US $IXUS
VOO is a solid choice—it’s essentially a bet on long-term U.S. growth. However, based on 2025 performance so far, the U.S. hasn’t been the top-performing market. A weakening dollar has been a headwind, and gold and silver have significantly outperformed VOO this year. Personally, I’d allocate 60–70% to VOO and QQQ, 15–20% to gold as a hedge, and the remaining 15–20% to top global ETFs like VT, VEU, and IXUS for international diversification.
* At about 25% international you're a little low compared to market cap (around 37% last I checked) and current common recommendations (30-40% of stock). * You could simplify the international into a single fund that covers both developed and emerging, but that'd give up your slight emerging tilt. VXUS, IXUS, FTIHX, FZILX to name a few that are free to trade at Fidelity. * What's your plans for bonds or similar? * Why have SCHG & SCHV & S&P 500 fund(s)?
My international funds did excellent this year. Germany not so much, but other countries did well and my IXUS did great. I also just put a load of cash into Asia too. Good luck on your choices!
I'm increasing exposure into non-US equities gradually, buying $IXUS and $EWY iShares South Korea MSCI ETF and Japanese stocks like Mitsu Heavy Industries $MHVFY. But I am still buying all equities in general.
SPY and IXUS main positions. Sprinkling in ELV and Amazon.
This is super helpful! I will read up on these links! I didn’t notice any Bonds or mutual funds in your brokerage account and curious why that was, in specific no bonds? I believe this is what you mentioned, which I think i’ll plan on doing the same unless there’s a better way to strategize or optimize/diversify: SWTSX (MF, Total Market)/ SWISX (INTL MF) / SWAGX (MF Bond) - In ROTH IRA SCHB (US ETF) / IXUS (INTL ETF) - In Brokerage SWVXX (MMF) / USFR (FL TREAS ETF)
Ok so this is what I am going to do today: SWTSX/SWISX/SWAGX - Roth IRA SCHB/IXUS - Brokerage (taxable) SWVXX/USFR - uninvested in brokerage. What percentages should be the breakdown?
Ohh I see! I thought the SWAGX was in your Roth IRA. Since I am not elligible for a Traditional IRA, would I just forgo the SWAGX entirely and just stick with SWTSX and SWISX in my Roth IRA, or is it good to add the SWAGX to my Roth IRA? I would like to use the Boglehead 3 pillars to investment - which is having diversified accounts in each brokerage and IRA. This is what I am thinking: SWTSX/SWISX/SWAGX: in Roth IRA account SCHB/IXUS: in brokerage (taxable account). SWVXX and USFR for uninvested cash (for liquid money). Anything I can change to make it stronger? And regarding investing in 401k in index funds, can I invest in these same above at Fidelity since my 401k is with fidelity?
I agree with everything that guy said in that response. He’s right about SWISX not including emerging markets. I personally I decided not to care because I like the simplicity of sticking with Schwab mutual funds in my IRA. I do use IXUS instead of SCHF in my taxable which does include emerging markets. Your 401k should include index fund options as well. You should pick those, or a target date fund for simplicity. As far as asset allocation goes you can either maintain the same ratio of US, INTL and Bonds in each or you can think of them as 1 giant bucket and just make sure you allocation is right across all in aggregate. The later lets you optimize for tax efficiency. That is why my bonds are all in tax deferred accounts (also because they have a lower expected returns) and my Roth is all stocks https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-efficient_fund_placement
So far fidelity is the only one I’ve found that has this. I set up a weekly dollar amount investment, split between VTI AVUV IXUS and DISV. You just specify the dollar amounts it auto buys whatever fractions that comes out to. Been using that for at least a couple years now.
Either one will work. FZROX / FZILX, VTI / VXUS, ITOT / IXUS (blackrock iShares), etc
This page lists all of Schwab’s Index mutual funds and ETFs https://www.schwab.com/schwab-index-funds-etfs Personally I have SWTSX/SWISX/SWAGX (bonds) in my retirement accounts at Schwab and SCHB/IXUS (international) in my brokerage. The specific ETFs/Funds don’t matter; diversifying across the asset classes with low cost funds is what matters. There are alot of different funds you can use to implement that strategy. An alternative approach you might consider in your IRS is a single Target Date Index Fund. It’s a fund of funds, comprising low cost index funds that covers all the asset classes we’ve been talking about and automatically becomes more conservative as the target date approaches. It’s a one stop shop. https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/products/stir Just make sure you understand the asset allocation and how it changes over time. You can always start with one and switch to a more DIY approach later. No harm changing your portfolio inside your Ira
I buy VOOG and IXUS in my taxable and VTSAX in my ROTH.
It's okay to make mistakes if you learn from them. SP 500 is a good starting position. International markets have been out performing U.S. markets. Consider adding VXUS or IXUS or just chill for now. Keep educating yourself and add to your portfolio whenever you can.
Sell DOGE, lol. As far as picks, I think you got some good ones. If you do get back green please just put like 90% into VOO/VXUS or IVV/IXUS SOFI and HOOD are actually good choices, but bro if you just would have bought VOO and VXUS you'd actually be up 20% on your account. You can't out stock pick the market as you can see here.
You probably got paid a dividend. VXUS was up +0.61% and IXUS +0.62% today. Both beat the four major US indices, so they weren’t your laggards.
VT, or two funds such as VTI/VXUS, ITOT/IXUS, make sense here [https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy\_portfolios](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Lazy_portfolios)
I would argue automated investing plans are a good way to keep scratching the itch and potentially set them up for retirement. 50% QQQM, 20% VOO, 10% SMH, 10% IXUS, 10% GLDM. Keep current funds in money market cash, have it automatically fully invest with 3 years via weekly fractional buys and reinvest dividends.
Cash out, keep it all in money market fund. Then setup an AUTOMATED weekly investment (fidelity vanguard they all have it) that fully invests all the money within 3 years (54 weeks times 3x). Put it into 50% QQQM, 20% VOO, 10% SMH, 10% IXUS, 10% GLDM Log in daily or weekly and watch the gains (or losses) via automated investing. You're in the market but not. If you want to make a change modify the automated investing plan. It'll limit you mostly to ETFs anyway. At the end of the 3rd year have the automated plan pull out weekly from your savings and continue investing. This will scratch the itch that you're in the market while lowering your risk and probably result in you having several mil by retirement. You've done good. Take a break and let the money compound now automatically.
As with a lot of things tax related it is not that clearly specified. ETFs that follow different indexes are clearly OK. Many people will even swap between ETFs that both follow the same exact index, such as the SP500, but which are run by different ETF managers (for example, SPY and VOO). That is pushing it too far for my taste, but so far the IRS has never challenged that. Roboadvisors such as Wealthfront and Betterment have published white papers on the tax loss harvesting techniques where they simultaneously sell and buy "similar" ETFs, such as VTi/ITOT/SCHB if VXUX/IXUS. The IRS has never challenged them for doing this, so I am comfortable doing it. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/substantiallyidenticalsecurity.asp is a simple to read article about the subject.
I’m not sure. Over the last 5 years, there is a 60-70ish% underperformance of IXUS compared to VOO. Over 10 years there is a 200% difference in cumulative returns between IXUS and VOO. It’s a huge difference. From a psychological perspective when things were shitting the bed in march/april, it was nice to have one part of the portfolio net even YTD or slightly up compared to the US market. It’s also hard to pinpoint the exact moment of regime change. I do see several compelling arguments for holding ex US assets (US AI bubble, US tariff, labor, fiscal, and monetary policy, cheaper valuations elsewhere, etc).
Let's tackle SCHY first. The Schwab International Dividend Equity ETF focuses on high-dividend international stocks, currently yielding around three-point-five to four percent. On the surface, this looks attractive for a Roth IRA where dividends grow tax-free. The problem: you're getting paid to own slow-growth, often declining businesses in Europe and Japan. High dividend yields frequently signal lack of growth opportunities—companies that can't reinvest profitably return cash instead. The data on international dividends vs US growth is stark. Over the past fifteen years, the S&P 500 has crushed international developed markets, and most of that outperformance comes from reinvested earnings compounding rather than being paid out. In a Roth where you have decades until retirement, chasing yield sacrifices growth. The four-percent dividend sounds nice until you realize the underlying stocks appreciate two percent annually while the S&P grows ten percent. You're trading long-term wealth for current income you can't even spend yet (since it's in a Roth). Currency risk is another factor. SCHY holds non-US stocks, so you're exposed to dollar strength. If the USD continues strengthening—which it has been—your international holdings underperform purely on currency translation. Some ETFs hedge this, but SCHY doesn't. Timing question: "would you buy at this time or wait?" Valuations on international stocks are cheaper than US stocks, which is the bull case. European and Japanese equities trade at significant discounts to historical norms. But they've been "cheap" for a decade for good reasons—structural growth challenges, aging demographics, regulatory burdens. My take: if you want international exposure (reasonable for diversification), skip the dividend focus and buy a broad international index like VXUS or IXUS. You'll get the valuation discount without overweighting low-growth dividend payers. In a Roth, prioritize growth. Save dividend strategies for taxable accounts where qualified dividends get preferential tax treatment. Now, STCE (Bitwise Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF). This is a crypto basket that's inherently speculative. Your rationale about Bitcoin's halving in 2027 (or 2028—the schedule is approximately every four years, with the last one in April 2024) is a common narrative. The theory: reduced new supply after halving creates scarcity, driving price appreciation. Historical halvings have preceded bull runs, but correlation isn't causation, and past performance especially doesn't predict future crypto returns. The volatility point is key—STCE is explicitly for investors who can tolerate wild swings. Crypto routinely drops fifty to seventy percent in bear markets. In a Roth IRA, this is a disaster if you're forced to sell during a drawdown, because you can't reinvest losses across multiple years to harvest them. The opportunity cost of a multi-year crypto winter (like 2022-2023) is enormous when you could be compounding in traditional assets. Here's the uncomfortable truth: Bitcoin might go to zero. It also might go to five hundred thousand. Nobody knows. Proponents argue it's digital gold, a store of value, inflation hedge. Critics point out it's failed every one of those tests—it crashed in 2022 alongside tech stocks (opposite of what a hedge should do), and "inflation hedge" arguments died when BTC tanked while CPI surged. STCE is diversified across Bitcoin and Ethereum, which is slightly better than single-coin exposure. But correlation between major cryptos is near-perfect in crashes—they all fall together. The "diversification" benefit claimed for crypto portfolios is mostly marketing. When Bitcoin drops thirty percent, Ethereum drops thirty-five percent. Practical allocation: if you're convinced crypto has a place in your portfolio, cap it at five percent of your Roth. This allows upside participation if you're right while preventing catastrophic losses if you're wrong. The disciplined approach is to rebalance—if crypto runs to ten percent of your portfolio, trim and lock in gains. Most crypto investors ride winners up and back down, which destroys returns. Timing crypto around halvings is like timing the stock market—theoretically possible, practically unreliable. The 2024 halving was already priced in by the time it happened. By 2027, the same will be true. Efficient market hypothesis suggests that predictable, widely-known events don't create alpha opportunities because everyone front-runs them. Alternative consideration: if you want tech upside with less volatility, companies like MicroStrategy or Coinbase offer crypto exposure through equities with some underlying business operations. They're still wildly volatile but have revenue streams beyond pure crypto speculation. Final answer: I wouldn't buy SCHY in a Roth—wrong strategy for the account type. I'd consider a small STCE position (under five percent) if you have genuine conviction and can ignore it for five-plus years without panic-selling in the next crash. Neither should be core holdings. For retirement accounts, boring index funds compound reliably; speculation belongs in taxable accounts where losses are at least deductible. If you're looking for data-driven portfolio construction strategies that balance risk and growth, our newsletter breaks down asset allocation research that actually works over multi-decade timeframes.
It's truly admirable that you have this kind of investment mindset and plan at such a young age. Long-term investing certainly has its advantages of stability and historical validation, especially for retirement planning or the slow, safe growth of family assets—I completely agree with that. However, in the current economic climate, relying solely on long-term investing often results in too long a return cycle and limited growth, making it difficult to significantly improve your quality of life. If you plan to retire at 55, you can continue with a diversified investment portfolio, such as a combination of medium-, long-, and short-term investments. Long-term investing is like slowly nurturing a tree, while short-term investing is like seizing the season to reap the rewards. The two are not contradictory, but a combination yields better results. Especially now, with clear market trends and opportunities, missing out on current opportunities may require a much greater effort to catch up in the future. I choose short-term trading now, not for speculation, but because it can truly benefit my life. You can continue holding ITOT and IXUS; I find them to have tremendous growth potential, and your wealth will double in a few years.
Yeah, I just started a Roth in hood for that 3% match on Oct. 30 and take away the 3% match and the portfolio is down 1.96%. Still have $3200 on the sidelines waiting but I only have until eoy. Playing this like my 401k so ITOT, IXUS, AGG, SPY, QQQ, QQQI, SPYG, WMT and SCHD
IXUS, or maybe a mix of international ETF's. My main thesis now is world > US.
This is actually a really well-thought-out portfolio 👏 You’ve done a great job blending growth, quality, and international diversification while keeping simplicity and balance. The barbell approach between QQQM and SCHD is smart — it captures momentum without leaning too heavy on tech. RSP also does an underrated job of mitigating top-heavy risk from the S&P 500, so nice call there. If I were to tweak anything, it’d just be small refinements: 1. Consider a small-cap or emerging markets slice (like AVUV or VWO, maybe 5–10%) to capture long-term factor diversification and global growth outside developed markets. 2. Think about tax efficiency and rebalancing frequency. SCHD throws off solid dividends, so if this is in a taxable account, just make sure that aligns with your tax strategy. 3. IDEV is fine, but VXUS or IXUS could give you slightly broader exposure if you ever want emerging markets automatically included. Overall though — simple, diversified, logical, and low-cost. This is the kind of setup most investors would benefit from sticking with for decades. Nicely done
You’re about to buy a fund of funds. Each fund inside of the ETF has an expense ratio and then the whole ETF has another one. Although it’s vanguard who is known for its low fees VEQT has 0.24% while SPLG (SP500) is 0.02 I would pick about 3-7 good ETFs and build a quick portfolio. Don’t worry about rebalancing. Although individual stocks are going to out perform its a lot more hands on. If you’re just going to set it and forget it I would do an ETF portfolio and not touch it till you’re 55. SPLG 35% SCHG 25% VIOG 20% IXUS 10% EEM 10% Feel free to swap SCHG for one of the QQQs and SPLG for SPY or VOO if ya like. *Not financial advice, do you’re own research and determine your own long term goals and risk tolerance
That shit seems all over the place. Imo the simplest aggressive portfolio of etfs should be 55% VOO 30% IXUS 10% IJH 5% IJR If you want some crypto exposure pull 2% from VOO 1% from the rest and put it in your favorite btc etf. This is easy auto win portfolio in this bull market. Up 44% in 3 years.
Not exactly. The underlying stocks in VXUS/IXUS are foreign, but your claim to them is still through a U.S.-domiciled ETF and a U.S. broker. That means your access is tied to U.S. custody, U.S. law, and the U.S. financial system. If you really want to be outside U.S. “guardrails,” you’d need a non-U.S. brokerage account and ETFs domiciled abroad (like UCITS in Europe). Otherwise, even if Nestlé or Toyota are fine, you still depend on U.S. financial plumbing to touch those holdings. So you’re not completely insulated it reduces U.S. company exposure, but not U.S. system exposure.
Vanguard’s VEA is actually “international” which is defined as “non-US”, while IShares ACWI is truly global large-mid cap (at 0.32% ER). Vanguard has their all-cap global etf VT at 0.06%, while State Street has a less popular all-cap global SPGM at 0.09% that’s more concentrated than VT but usually has better returns (price and dividend). I’d love ACWI at a VT expense ratio, but one reason it’s more expensive reportedly is it tracks its index better = attracts traders. Now iShares URTH is global developed, so it will invest in an index with the US, Europe, Japan and other long term capitalists countries, but leave off China, India, and smaller recent capitalistic coin. It does have some stocks that support the emerging mkts but are domiciled in the U.S. ~ less than 1% last I checked. Vanguard’s VEA is all caps developed ex-US with a cheap er but their VEU is all world ex-US large-middle cap with still some small-cap stocks. Another possibility if wanting to leave off China, India, etc.. but keeping South Korea is Schwab’s SCHF at just a tad more er for a large to mid-cap etf. There’s VXUS or IXUS with more small caps, but personally having only 100 mostly U.S. stocks in QQQ vs 3,400 to 4,400 in IXUS or VXUS kind of seems unbalanced to me (but YMMV). Also Fidelity offers an all-cap version of QQQ with the symbol ONEC.
There are some individual stocks I invest in like UL and SHEL but for the most part just for simplicity I use an ETF. IXUS and AVDV is what I use.
SCHF looks like a international ex-US developed fund, and doesn't include ex-US emerging markets holdings (Taiwan, China, etc) Two low cost funds would be VTI or ITOT, (total US, SCHB is pretty close) and VXUS or IXUS (total international, including developed, emerging, and frontier markets). Or a single low cost fund with both US and ex-US would be VT or SPGM.
You’re already got quite broad coverage with the VOO/VT strategy here. That being said, I’d have you think of branching out to more growth focused ETFs like SCHG, VIGI, IXUS.. but DYOR as always, these would be nice for Cap gains in a taxable account. Good place to be at, congrats on attainting/maintaining good safety nets here.
I buy VOOG regularly and hold 12% I also hold a lot of Nvidia. 65% at an ultra low cost basis. Smaller positions in Google, Amazon (5% total) And decent positions in VRT, AMD, IXUS International ETF and BTC. And some other stuff on the side that make up about 5% of my portfolio. Actually, don't copy my portfolio lol, mine has been built over several years. Keep buying VOO or VOOG right now and some international and whatever else you like.
Put the 12 months of expenses in a HYSA or SPAXX at Fidelity in a CMA account as your emergency fund. If you can open a Roth IRA, do that with a limit of $7k and invest that in SPLG. The rest can go into either a taxable brokerage or the same CMA. Dollar Cost Average into SPLG, IXUS, and SGOV ETFs. Maybe $1k per month each. I would buy individual stocks but that might be too much since you have never done this before.
VOO (alone) is single country risk (revenue source doesn't make it global, as it is the performance of foreign stock markets that we're after and companies act like their home market). US only is single country risk, which is an *uncompensated* risk. An uncompensated risk is one that doesn't bring higher expected long term returns. Uncompensated risk should be avoided whenever possible. Compensated vs uncompensated risk: * https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/uncompensated-risk/ * https://www.northerntrust.com/middle-east/insights-research/2024/wealth-management/compensated-portfolio-risk >But not all risks are compensated with an expected return premium. * https://www.pwlcapital.com/is-investing-risky-yes-and-no/ (Bold mine) >Uncompensated risk is very different; it is the risk specific to an individual company, sector, **or country.** VT wouldn't be a good pairing with existing VOO, as currently over half of VT is already the entirety of VOO (VT would replace VOO). A dedicated ex-US fund would be an appropriate addition. VXUS or IXUS for example. Think of it like this: * VT is essentially equal to VTI + VXUS * VTI is essentially equal to VOO + VXF So VT alone could be all you need (in a tax advantaged account like an IRA there's no taxes to work about if selling A to buy B), or cost either VTI or VOO (or equivalents) for your US exposure and pair that with a dedicated ex-US fund (VXUS is one of many examples).
VOO (alone) is single country risk (revenue source doesn't make it global, as it is the performance of foreign stock markets that we're after and companies act like their home market). US only is single country risk, which is an *uncompensated* risk. An uncompensated risk is one that doesn't bring higher expected long term returns. Uncompensated risk should be avoided whenever possible. Compensated vs uncompensated risk: * https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/uncompensated-risk/ * https://www.northerntrust.com/middle-east/insights-research/2024/wealth-management/compensated-portfolio-risk >But not all risks are compensated with an expected return premium. * https://www.pwlcapital.com/is-investing-risky-yes-and-no/ (Bold mine) >Uncompensated risk is very different; it is the risk specific to an individual company, sector, **or country.** VT wouldn't be a good pairing with existing VOO, as currently over half of VT is already the entirety of VOO (VT would replace VOO). A dedicated ex-US fund would be an appropriate addition. VXUS or IXUS for example. Think of it like this: * VT is essentially equal to VTI + VXUS * VTI is essentially equal to VOO + VXF So VT alone could be all you need (in a tax advantaged account like an IRA there's no taxes to work about if selling A to buy B), or cost either VTI or VOO (or equivalents) for your US exposure and pair that with a dedicated ex-US fund (VXUS is one of many examples).
I just took my acorns account and rolled it into my fidelity account. Is any of this redundant? Should I look to sell some and invest in others? I'm mainly looking at long-term/retirement. GOOGL - 29.51% VTV - 21.58% OHI - 14.28% O - 8.48% VTI - 7.61% SCHD - 6.81% VOO - 5.79% IXUS - 3.93% IJH - 0.95% BITO - 0.49%
I have some IXUS from a previous fund and that got transferred into my current broker, so I keep adding to that.
Voo - 55% IJH - 10% IJR - 5% IXUS - 30% Here's correct ratios. Sorry about that.
For total international (non-US), it’s VXUS or VEU for Vanguard. VXUS has more small caps as a % though VEU has a slight performance advantage most years. The iShares IXUS is between the 2. Some separate international further out into 3 developed to 1 emerging (so VEA, IDEV or SCHF to VWO, IEMG, or SCHE).
For total international (non-US), it’s VXUS or VEU. VXUS has more small caps as a % though VEU has a slight performance advantage most years. The iShares IXUS is between the 2. Some separate international further out into developed> emerging (so VEA, IDEV or SCHF>VWO, IEMG, or SCHE).
>Currently I have voo+ schg +schd. * Why ignore the broader US extended market? * Why extra weight on dividends? * Why a large growth fund? >I was thinking of adding in some international exposure I've been doing research on vsux. You mean VXUS? Vanguard eX-US, not Vanguard SUX. VXUS is logical in that it is a broad coverage international fund: large and mid and small caps, value and growth and the stuff in between, developed and emerging markets. There's a few others that can be considered equivalents, like IXUS for one example, but that's a fine choice.
If you just want to pile money in and not have to follow things id do VOO - 50% IXUS - 30% IJH - 20% IJR - 10% My etf portfolio is exactly this allocation and despite the red day im up 36% YTD. I swear investing has never been easier.