VOO

Toohotz

Started in 2017, originally gamer also believing in the company and started buying more shares over the years as I started on my career. North of 3800 shares at $152 cost basis. I sell covered calls on some of it through earnings on occasion. Outside of NVDA and AAPL, I’ve simplified my port to VOO because beating the market without luck isn’t consistent

Ready_Pen7712

This is not clever. Sell to pay off the car. There is not tax write off on car loan interests. Do a swap into VOO for tge college debt. That is barely 50k.

NorthvilleGolf

I’d be scared not to sell and diversify. Maybe sell a portion in 2026 and the other in 2027 to split up tax burden. I would def diversify a bit into something like VOO.

nigel_tufnel_11

Yep, if you make that much (well done), I would sell some but probably not all off. I did that myself because I just wanted more diversification. Had 950 shares, sold all but 350 of them. But I put the money into FTEC and VOO, which have large-ish NVDA components anyway, as well as the whole ecosystem around them, so still in that "halo" to a lesser extent.

nahbrahlah

After this long… yeah you suck at it. Buy VOO and chill

0o0o0o0o0o0z

> The rest is index funds VTI, VOO, VUG. But I feel that really isnt as diversified as you think between your single holdings. I feel you're kinda double-dipping with VTI/VOO, maybe more than you think; I dunno...

Severe-Weekend-6664

If you're starting out, a broad index fund like VTI or VOO gives you exposure to the whole market without needing to time anything, and that matters more than whether AI stocks are bubbly right now. Sitting out long-term is usually the bigger mistake, since time in the market beats waiting for the perfect entry. What's your risk tolerance and time horizon look like?

Jealous_Bookkeeper20

not my main job either, which is why I want to know if I beat the market or just buy VOO and forget it that quarterly starting-balance math works fine if new cash is small relative to the total portfolio, but dropping a larger deposit mid-quarter skews the annualized percentage. on tracking retirement - you can be losing but still making progress if you deposit enough.. doesn't mean you shouldn't just buy the index. I've been obsessing over this clarity question for non-pros like me and solving it by leaning on my software engineering skills but curious how others think about that so appreciate the perspective

Gorgenapper

The saying is that cough medicine is not effective unless it tastes absolutely disgusting. In other words, if the fund isn't "doing something to justify their clients trust", then the rich idiots will go find a fund that massages their ego and is over-leveraged / over managed, even if the vast majority of them underperform VOO.

StatusSociety2196

None of these funds can compete with VOO

__redruM

The real move is passive, long term, investing. Stop trying to time the market and be happy with what the S&P 500 returns. We’re up 14% YTD. If 14% isn’t enough for you add some risk. I have SMH, and VGT on top of VOO and I’m up 25% YTD. The only trading I really did to get that is buying the March dip with about 30k.

WendyDumpsterFire

all the regards here instead of buying SPY or VOO could have done LULU and NKE chill

chainerection

Missed my monthly VOO buyin opportunity. Smh

BigPapa94

Hey that’s me! I have Microsoft, Apple, NVDA, and AMD. And that’s half my 815k portfolio 🫣. The rest is index funds VTI, VOO, VUG. Ever new dollar I get is going into index funds for safer diversification

iforgotitagin

When the strongest markets have outrun their underlying fundamentals for a decade they are unlikely to remain the strongest markets in the coming decade. International markets offer discount valuations and likely will be the "stronger" markets over the next decade because of VOO's current historically large valuation premium.

Tiny-Art7074

You need to time weight the returns. If you invest $1 a year ago, and then $100 a year later, and then check the growth of VOO a day after that, the total returns won't tell you anything. 

SnS2500

On the same day you make your real money purchases deposit the same amount into VOO in a play money account.

MasterBallSucc

Depends on you really. In sorta risk averse so I usually take profits at 20%+. If I woke up and saw this I would probably at least sell to make up my initial investment x2, then maybe scope it out to see if I thought leaving the rest was a good idea. Personally, the money would be better spent on VOO and QQQi

Gorgenapper

People who tell me that the crash is happening any day now, I just pull up VOO and click on max view then I look for the Covid crash. It was $210 on Mar 20, 2020, and it's now about $716. It would take Covid 2 electric boogaloo to drop VOO to the $500 range, let alone $210.

EvangelineRain

That's one reason I switched to VOO.

xlmtothemoon

i just assume those posters have never bought calls and just hold their 7 VOO shares

moatandmargin

Rates this high with the S&P at a record is the part I can't square, and that's exactly why I stopped trying. VOO is my biggest position and the best thing I've done with it is keep buying through every "this time it's different" handle.

lebronkahn

Actually really sad stories, a murder and a suicide pact. My fellow regards, please don't gamble the money you can't afford to lose. Better yet, put majority of your money in VOO and then play with the rest. You probably will perform better anyway.

random-meme422

yeah truly unbelievably shit market. VOO only up 16% yoy. Waiting for the crash to buy cheap teehee

minimorsels

If VOO didn’t hold so much Apple it would be flying

saryiahan

VOO and chill

__redruM

That play in January has you down 4% under where VOO is now. So it’s a play you have to time correctly to make work.

visionarymind

I get all my market excitement posting here because I’m really just most VOO & enjoying an easy +20% year while Doomers continue to spread FUD like it’s 2022 Easiest market ever Best market POTUS ever Buy calls & retire

Gorgenapper

Irrelevant, he wouldn't have sold if it were VOO and chill, these aren't options buddy.

__redruM

They said that VOO is disconnected from market fundamentals, and recommended diversifying into VOOV (value) and staying away from VOO and VOOG (growth) and VFMO (momentum). But if you’d done that at the start of the year, you’d be down 6% lower than where VOO is now. If you’re 5, you’re so far away from retirement that none of this matters and you should just buy VOO or VT and chill.

__redruM

Poking ATH again, futures are up 0.5% this morning, and doom on reddit again. Yes look at VOOV if you want to diversify into value over growth. It’s up 8% YTD instead of 14%, so you’d have left 6% on the table if you’d done this at the start of the year. I’m going to refrain from timing or gambling on momentum and simply hold my VOO, like I have every year for the last couple decades.

__redruM

The full market is up though, and 6 months ago when the market diversified, just a bit, from AI stocks, the money stayed in the S&P500. Buy VT instead of VOO if that makes sense to you, but as VOO goes so does the broader market.

lexeckstasy

you mea VOO?

Most-Conference4205

VTI or VOO just pick one

Cop10-8

It is closer to 33% of VTSAX versus about 38% of VOO. More importantly, when you combine VTSAX with VXUS, you own substantially less of the biggest 10 companies than you would by holding VOO alone.

SuperOrbital_Trading

AI bubble pop may or may not happen. I tend to think it will, but that is not stopping me from putting more money into the market because waiting for it to happen will just make me miss the gains that are occurring now. If you are truly lookin to build a long term portfolio, then getting your money in and leaving it in as long as possible is more important than trying to sit out one pullback. I just replied in depth to another guy [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/comments/1wywafm/comment/pe6oe6k/?context=3) if you want to read more into it. As for what to invest in, you want most of your exposure to be in a market ETF. I personally use VOO, but there are a half dozen others that do basically the same thing so that is up to you. I would then add a little international exposure with VXUS and maybe the extended market with VXF. But the last 2 should be dwarfed by your VOO holdings if you are just starting and relatively young. Generally I would suggest something along the lines of 80-85% and then putting the remaining into VXUS and VXF at maybe 10% and 5% each. Set up your account to get auto drafts from your paycheck and then set up automatic order to purchase these (or whatever ones you like more) every 2 weeks. They all allow fractional shares, so just set it to but a certain dollar amount. So if you have $1k going in every 2 weeks, set up biweekly buys of $850 VOO, $100 VXUS, and $50 VXF, or whatever divisions or assets you land on. Then completely forget about it for at least a couple years. Later you can add on other things if you want, but this should be your core for pretty much the life of the account. When you get closer to retirement you can shift the weights but this will serve you well for a long time.

notreallydeep

VOO

themayorhere

Absolutely. It’s the ultimate hedge in my opinion. I’m still 50% VOO, but I’m now up to 25% BRK in my retirement accounts

contentedPilgrim

His first term, I did something similar and then COVID hit. It looked like genius until it wasn't. You aren't likely to time getting back in. Yes, it's likely to crash within a week of you getting back in... seems like a law... but you have to buy and hold and then forget about it for a few years - only to add more when you can. Invest in something like VOO. Even if it goes down from here. In 10 years time it's not going to make a huge difference. Some will prophesy a bubble burst. But it could be 5 or even 10 years before a cyclic crash. No telling. Of course, if it happens this year, I'll delete my post and claim it never happened... Seriously, you can't predict or time the market. Everyone here with any real life experience will tell you that.

Kommmbucha

Thanks. So what’s the alternative strategy? What’s the VOO alternative that doesn’t carry that risk for passive investors?

Ill-Lavishness-4079

Given you just sold an ESPP and have a big cash pile, I'd lean 75‑80% in a low‑cost total‑market fund like VTI or VOO, and tilt the rest 20‑25% into a mix of passively managed growth such as VUG, VGT or a small‑cap blend. Don't double‑dip on the same mega‑cap tech names; they already flood VTI and VOO, so a small bond or tax‑efficient hedge can add a safety layer if you land in a higher tax bracket. If you’re comfortable with high volatility, a couple of spots in a semiconductor or space ETF (maybe SPMO) add a spark but keep it under 10% of the portfolio. Keep it dollar‑cost‑averaged each month—this smooths the swings and lets you readjust the tilt back to the core over time.

Any_Influence_8305

VOO and chill ❌ 0DTE and watching everything expire worthless ✅

Dubious-WhyAmIHere

The reason the S&P 500 disconnected from traditional macro indicators like crude, rates, and credit spreads is structural: the relentless automated passive inflow flywheel. Every two weeks, millions of automated 401(k) contributions and retail DCA accounts buy cap-weighted funds (VOO, SPY, IVV) completely price-inelastic. For every $1 that enters the index, roughly 34 cents is funneled directly into the top 10 mega-caps, regardless of whether the 10-year yield is at 3.5% or 4.5%. That mechanical buying pressure has insulated the top 10 from macro gravity, which in turn masks the macro reality of the other 490 companies. If you want to see where the macro risk actually went, look at the spread between cap-weighted SPY and equal-weighted RSP: - The top 10 tech names trade at forward multiples between 32x and 45x. - The S&P 490 (via RSP) is trading closer to 17x forward earnings—meaning the broader economy has already priced in higher borrowing costs and margin compression. To answer your question on whether this creates a stock-picker's market: Yes, but with one critical caveat: the correlation shock. There are incredible fundamental value opportunities right now in cash-generative industrials, financials, healthcare, and infrastructure that have been completely ignored by the momentum trade. However, if and when the AI mega-caps finally re-rate lower, they won't sell off in a vacuum. Because they dominate the major indices and ETF liquidity, a violent drop in the top 10 triggers margin calls, ETF redemptions, and risk-parity de-grossing that temporarily drags down non-AI value stocks with it. The playbook here isn't trying to time a rotation, it's using this disconnect to steadily build positions in high-free-cash-flow, low-debt businesses trading at 12x to 16x earnings, while keeping dry powder ready for the day passive index selling drags the babies out with the bathwater.

WorkSucks135

If he just VOO and chilled after his GFC score he'd be worth 5bil. He's a terrible investor who made one really, really good bet.

Pitiful-Market8662

VOO and chill

DeepDragonfly7945

Imagine if you just VOO and chilled

Outrageous_Calendar4

Ngl that line ought to be a lot sharper, VOO is up like 80% the last 5 years with dividends lol. This dude would be at 250k atm

Never404s

Gold and silver when I heard the word tarrifs then some puts on spaceX as soon as options were available. Now I just sit on VOO and speculative position in FIGMA.

Never404s

Probably just keep going into VOO with the occasional put when we end the war in Iran again

Accomplished-Air4393

I had almost 300k in cash and brokerage from selling the house after a divorce. I held it for a few months and went all in during liberation day. That netted me 100k before the end of 2025. I cashed out all my VOO then and went into the NEOS dividend funds because I needed income to pay for lawyers. I have up to 300k in margin I use to fund the options trading. All the options wins go into these funds as well. I'm currently at 500k equity.

Unusual_Ambition_847

VOO or VTI as the core, then tilt some into QQQM if you really want more growth

vertigo88

How much work did you have to do to outperform VOO? If you said nothing/not much you were gambling. If you said lots - you could have spent the time to better your life skills for other things and move on.

josehdezq

I outperformed VOO...

DarkVoid42

just buy VOO and stop wasting your time.

CalebVanPoneisen

I swing trade, but if I had to go all in and hold for the long term, I’d go for VOO for a low risk. For a high risk I’d go for QLD.

__redruM

Index funds give next day liquidity, including SGOV which returns as much as a HYSA and lets you skip state taxes. But imagine you had your emergency fund in VOO for the last year. It’d be up 15% and could handle most normal dips without losing money, and after 5 you’d be approaching almost double your principal. This is a real risk, but would accelerate someone who started retirement savings late, and once you’re well into 6 figures, the market would have to really dip for you to sell at a loss. I still keep $20k on hand, but can’t leave much more out of the market.

Clean_Sound_9051

Imagine all the money you missed out on if you just bought a held QQQ, or VOO or any good etf for the last few years. You’d have hundreds of thousands of dollars right now .

TheInkDon1

You're right, it's trading and not investing. But this being a 'stock' subReddit I thought we could do that here, while the *investors* for the most part "VOO and chill". And my investing/trading time horizon is indeed only 3 to 6 months. To your second point: maybe. I mean, yes, you'll miss some percentage of the growth of THAT stock that you've waited for it to wake up. But meanwhile you will have participated in the uptrend of another stock where that money was put to work. No one's ever going to prove which idea is better, I was just putting out here what \*I\* do, hoping to attract some like-minded people. Take care.

Fuhnancial

Everyday leads me closer to VOO and chill

sharp315

1. set aside emergency funds in a CD or HYSA 2. open a taxable brokerage account and invest what you can in VOO 3. later, once you have income, you can open an IRA account and sell down your taxable positions to contribute to the IRA. try to maximize your IRA contributions each year.

sharp315

if you don't need the funds within 1 year then you should just lump sum invest. the reason I say 1 year is that even a 20% downturn in the market will almost always have recovered within 1 year and so after that point you can sell without realizing a loss. if you need some or all of the funds within 1 year then you can DCA to avoid the 20% downturn risk above. the worst-case scenario is dumping everything in VOO today, VOO takes a 20% dip tomorrow, and then all of a sudden you need the funds in say March or April before the 20% has corrected and you are forced to lock in your losses.

GoogleKushforLunch

My NVDA shares and VOO got me chilling

Active-List6373

Im majority leveraged into VOO, but it’s pretty expensive now, so I’ll usually use my monthly contribution to get half a share of VOO. Then Ill use whatever funds are remaining for some diversity like VUG or SCHD. 

Scared-Letterhead949

What safe ETFs are you in?  Should just be VOO VTI VT.

zephyrs85

Forget VOO & chill, it's now MSFT-GOOG & chill

GoogleKushforLunch

Ehhh I might just buy some VOO shares

BreezeandSunshine84

VOO as the core, with semis and space as smaller satellite positions. That makes more sense. You’re essentially getting broad market exposure while keeping some upside to specific long-term themes

DoinIt4DaShorteez

25, some split between VOO and QQQ or QQQM is what you want. If you want to be a little more aggressive in tech, then take 20% and spread it across a couple of tech sector ETFs or a few individual tech names.

essendoubleop

Reminder to never look back: I checked my old Robinhood portfolio balance sheets from like 2021, I held Nvidia, Micron, and then a lot of IQ. I sold everything when Robinhood locked buying for GameStop and transferred it all into VOO in vanguard. Could have been worse, but it could have also been a lot better.

Tactician37

I have been investing for a little over a year, solely in ETFs because I like the idea of the slow climb over time as well as it just being a lot less to manage. I want some advice on what I should consolidate doen to or if these are good long term plays. With that being said here are my holdings ROTH: VOO, VXUS, VGT HSA: VTI, VT Yes I am aware that there is overlap. Most of it, such as the VTI and VT in the hsa is from when I initially started investing in VTI but switched to VT to invest broadly. Started investing in VGT purely because I like the tech sector.

lopiontheop

Check out SMH and SOXX, some more concentrated exposure to semis. SMH has lower expense ratio. Both have outperformed VOO etc in recent history. People will say semis are cyclical but I’d argue that heuristic stems from the pre-AI era when Nvidia etc weren’t household names. That said you also get exposure in broader funds and the performance gap will probably converge over time if AI and hardware continues being integrated into the economy.

Plane_Advice9486

I hate that it’s called VOO. It sounds gay

random_moth_fker

if youre being serious, stick to the index/VOO/IVV and chill

Nevins_Kr

Many suggest VOO, that’s fine, mine’s a little more aggressive than the s&p because it has huge overlap. It’s SCHG (Large Cap Growth) I invest in, you can also go with VUG for a little “less” expense ratio.

FALCONAPEX

So would you recommend that I just invest in VOO then?

FALCONAPEX

Hard to go wrong with VOO as the foundation

shoejunk

Don’t do individual stocks for long-term investing. Do VOO. And maybe mix in a little AVUV if you’re spicy.

SuperOrbital_Trading

Just put it in VOO. If you want a couple individuals, that is fine. But most of your money should be in a market etf.

gamer_gurl_

Long term? Don’t guess, just do VOO/SPY.

CreepinOnTheWeedend

Taxable account my goal is to not sell. I am 65% in VOO and 35% NVDA, GOOG, MU, IBM. I’ll take a few shots here and there but for the most part this is the plan. If you like etfs, I like SMH. Others ran up more this year but I like smh. Toss a few bucks into a space etf.

ABCifyoulikeRoblox

The chart shows you being up...how is that down 7.9%? Looks like you went from ~$90k to ~$105k. And if it's really DOWN 8%, idk whyyyy these ppl calling that impressive. Just bc there are tards that blow their accounts out there...being DOWN money in the last 3 years is pretty bad. My trogladitic half-sister could invest in shitcoins and decorative gourds in this market and make money these days. So ya...VOO and chill.

paragonx29

SPMO has been kicking VOO's ass for some time now.

CapMoat

Brk.b - different risk profile than VOO with insurance exposure

Pristine_Plenty_387

Given that you seem to think Grok is an AI company, I think the type of question you’re asking is a bit outside of your forte. For you I’ll recommend VOO

TravelingAgave

This is a great question! I took the money and put it into a separate VOO position in a separate brokerage account that I won’t touch until I want to buy a house again OR it will be the last money I use from my entire portfolio. Basically my next house will be what $300k in VOO is worth X years from now minus the taxes on the gains.

thebusterbluth

You, in particular, should park it in VOO after youve accepted that the market thought about that before you did and price it in already.

Queasy-Ride4291

Sequence of returns is the risk right now. You’re buying VOO at all time high valuations. 

username10983

VTI is almost identical to VOO -- look at their charts. No need to hold both. Just one more ETF? I would look at an international stock low cost index for diversification, assuming you want all equity.

Lazy-Insurance3062

Wake up 500$ in the VOO and back to sleep I go

MikeCheck_CE

Completely redundant picks. SCHG and VOO have 90% overlap... What are you trying to achieve by holding both? Stacking Nasdaq100 on top of the SP500 is just doubling up on 100 of the 500. Just decide whether you want the other 400 companies or not. And VTI on top defeats the purpose of buying VOO and QQQM in the first place if you're just gonna buy everything. SP500 is a handpicked list of companies by SPGI... if you're gonna buy the entire market, there is no reason to also buy this. I'll also point out that you are 100% exposed to the US market only. Nothing here is giving you any international exposure. If the US market tanks, you're gonna feel it.

paragonx29

You're not allowed to say SPMO > VOO in the echo chamber.

Sophie_Cookie

VTI makes the most sense if you're looking for an alternative to VOO

CanYouPleaseChill

VXUS is the best answer. I sure as hell wouldn't add more large cap growth. VOO already has plenty of large cap growth.

Background-Day-4957

Then keep it in VOO don’t look at it until retirement. 🤔

BNA-mod

SSO 1-2 times a month and you’ll do well. 20 year track record is better than VOO.

Cowdungflung399

Just pick VTI or VOO and forget about it. All of the funds you listed are so highly correlated (like over 90%) that it doesn't matter in the grand scheme.

mmsa12

If VOO is already your core, I’d probably avoid adding too many funds that heavily overlap with it. SCHG or QQQM can make sense if you deliberately want more growth/tech exposure, but I’d treat that as a tilt rather than another “diversifier”. Personally I’d think about it as core + tilt: maybe 70–80% broad market and 20–30% growth, then rebalance periodically. I’ve actually been working on an app that analyses holdings/market data and tries to make these trade-offs easier to reason about, so this is exactly the kind of question I’ve been testing it against.

music_is_gud

You are not getting the point dude. I have 3 accounts: my long term port where I have GOOG and some Voo, which is up whatever I don't even care I just DCA. It's like a 7 figure port now. I have a 401k acc which also has just VOO. These two accounts I don't count towards my gains or whatevs. Then I have my trading account which I maintain actively. THATs up 67% or so YTD... I've explained this so many times

HaiKarate

More VOO

Spatula_of_Justice1

I like VTI, more diversified and about same perf as VOO