VT

Kitchen_Steak8218

Let's go all in then. What other stocks with VOO? VT?

yeeticusdeletus

I need some advice/reassurance I guess? I’ve started the whole investing journey about a month ago now. Had the expected happiness when it went yo, and the absolute depression when it went down. Now, I’ve been reading up a bit more and want to learn. I’m currently 90% S&P (VOO) and 10% Nasdaq (QQQ). I’m non US and non EU. Should i bother changing from VOO to VUAA for my next round of buying? Or is the difference marginal enough? Also, should I go for more of a 70/30 split US/International? If so, VT?

vertigo88

Reddit has predicted 700 of the last 3 crashes. A broken clock is right twice a day. Ignore the noise and just buy VT.

NoAssumptionCat

Pick the ones which have a loss and sell those, will offset some of your gains. Eventually you don’t want to have all this money in 1 company so diversify in something you belief in (VT, QQQ, …).

TreGet234

Gold, bonds, VT to reduce beta. And some tbills.

Ahamadrayasbaboon

Buy VT and SGOV, delete apps (reddit and brokerage), go on vacation, get laid, go skydiving, ride motorcycles, hit gym, reinstall app in a month, start fucking around in another month if you still want to. 

Mr_Baloon_hands

That’s a great start. Add some VOO or VUG mixed in with VT. Single stocks can be very profitable but can also lose you a lot. Index funds are a lot less risky and it’s hard to beat them in the long run. At 22 you need to be thinking 40 year return not 1 year or 2 year.

PsychedelicConvict

A total world index fund. With both usa and international exposure. VT (vanguard total world stock etc) literally has all the exposure you need. You dont need to sell if you dont want to. Just start building a new position. Dont worry about bonds or fixed income until ur close to retirement. One of my biggest mistakes investing has been not taking profit. Great work!

OxRedOx

Long term index funds, don’t worry about timing. If you can’t stop worrying then invest it in chunks but in the same things ( VTI, VT, DIA, QQQ, VTWO). If you might need some of it in the next year or two then put that amount in SGOV or BOXX because those are fixed gains with no volatility. Don’t worry about a crash imo, it could fall 10% and it would likely be a wash in two years, especially when you consider that the crash could take another year.

RL056

Yeah, this is the most obvious and risk-managed take. My question would be why not Nasdaq given it outperformed VT/S&P for long stretches (10y+)?

-ReasonableDoubt

Looks like you're seeking alpha Aside from the gold and silver, most of this won't provide enough alpha to make it worth the risk vs going all SP500/VT SP500/VT will largely move together in the short term with dollar weakening vs other currencies, but long term ex-US exposure provides asset diversity that somewhat hedges a weakening dollar Consider keeping your retirement focused on diversifying asset exposure generally -- primarily stocks and home equity, with some cash, gold, cash alternatives When you go for alpha, keep it limited to 2-3% of your portfolio and (ideally) never sell it... e.g. bought $2000 of Apple in 1999 based on hunch that personal computing would go from niche hobby to global standard

zachmoe

Honestly, probably better than most, you at least got some gold exposure, and even international. Can probably just roll the equities into VT like the other commenter suggested and it would be less messy. My critique is you need a whole lot more FRNs and a small amount of long dated bonds, and a small amount of bitcoin.

Laakhesis

My take is buy $VT and sleep like a baby because you ain't no Warren Buffett.

PoopyisSmelly

Which is why owning VOO, VTI, or VT is a good decision. Youll own about 60% growth anyway, and if value does better you are benefitting from that.

sabedo

This is true They talk about S&P 500 VOO like it's the Bible when it's clear America is falling to pieces I prefer total market funds like VT or AOA

jaydee288

VT\*

brimbopolous

I didn't say my first priority is to never lose any money, which, btw I'm also losing due to opportunity cost when holding cash. What I'm saying is that protecting against permanent loss of capital is more important for me than maximizing gains. So I'll often accept to lose out on some potential short term gains to adopt a more defensive posture, especially when my perception of risk is higher. You make money long term not only by maximizing gains, but also by minimizing losses. There is a range of investment strategies that goes from more agressive to more defensive. Not everything is VT and chill lmao

Informal-Lime6396

Is it not already taxed? If you have a long investing horizon, consider doing sector ETFs on what's hot for the past few years e.g. tech and semiconductors. Once their cycle is over, it's tax free to sell and switch to another fund. I really dislike the bad advice of VOO/VT and chill for people who are decades away from using it.

TechnicalSleep7501

As a millionaire I will say keep $100K as emergency fund/dry powder. Max out Roth with 100% VT. Use Jack Bogle 3 fund portfolio for brokerage and dollar cost average.

BeuTaude588

worth being clear about the comparison the other commenter made; a target date fund underperforming VOO over five years is mostly the bonds and international it holds by design, not a flaw. youre paying a small return drag in exchange for never having to make a decision or rebalance, which for a hands-off IRA is a fair trade. if you genuinely want all equities thats a different choice, but then the honest comparison is VT, not a dated fund.

ZenBoyNothingHead

I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I think you have a few safe options to consider. 1. As advised above, get an advisor. I used schwab because it was relatively cheap to get a human advisor. They constructed a balanced portfolio based in my goals and had quarterly calls with me to explain what moves they're making. What I LOVED about this is it gave me a human to ask a million questions to so I could understand their approach. After the first year of questions and research, I started doing this on my own and saved the management fee. It's not too expensive though so highly recommended as a good way to start. 2. Robo investing accounts. Super easy to get started. Put your money in, it buys a balanced portfolio. I also tested this with schwab around the same time and honestly, it's performed pretty close to my whole strategy. It takes a slightly more conservative approach than I personally do, but returns have been good for me. It's also 100% set it and forget it. Fees it's of course cheaper than a human. Schwab makes money by keeping a portion of your portfolio in cash (5-8% I think). Then they make money by putting that in money market accounts. So you don't pay, but a portion of your portfolio doesn't make additional money. Fair enough in my view. 3. The lowest cost option is VT. Vanguard total world. Buy it and close your eyes. But, do keep in mind this is still an equity position, although a very diversified one. Depending when you might need the money, if the market goes down the next two years, it might hurt you to withdraw from this. So that's how I'd think about this. Congrats and also I'm sorry to hear about your inherence. It can be a tough and confusing time. Good luck on the journey you're embarking on. I remember feeling very overwhelmed and intimidated to do all of this at this time of life. There are good options though and it'll get easy eventually. Then it'll get fun. Promise.

Flayum

Why VOO instead of VTI or VT?

TreGet234

Honestly 5% on bonds ain't so bad. VT hasn't done too swimmingly and i would love to see how poor performance actually is if we remove tech.

GelatinGhost

True Bogleheads with VT or VTI are fine. Unfortunately I fucked up by having a good amount of qqqm in a taxable account and I can't easily change it now.

dumblehead

Or VT

GaylrdFocker

>My portfolio only has VOO but I would love to add growth/value stocks in the future. What deters me are the classic stats of no one beats the index funds So keep doing index funds. Use VTI instead of VOO to add small/mid cap and VXUS for international. Or keep VOO and add VT for everything in 1 fund. The VOO you have will just mean you're slightly overweight on Large Cap but that's not a big deal.

fozzy71

>Is 5% SOXQ + 5% VGT too much overlap? [https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php](https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php) >Is 15% AVUV too much for small-cap value? I hold 5% AVUV myself, but I have a lot of other small satellite tilts for growth, momentum, value, etc for the US beyond my 50-55% US core. >Is 20% VXUS enough international? I target 25% exUS. If you look at VT for market-weight, US:exUS is currently about 59:41 - [https://etfdb.com/etf/VT/#charts](https://etfdb.com/etf/VT/#charts)

protostar71

My MSFT holdings is whatever proportion of VT it is.

churchill5

I believe it’s just going to be around a tenth of a percent (0.1%) of VT, so while being annoyed it’s being fast tracked, it’s not that big of a deal and nothing I can do anyway.

drew-gen-x

It looks like we are gonna retest Thursday's 6/4 close in the $SOXX and $VXUS. Since I am neither bullish or bearish and I BTD pretty heavily this week I am closing my $EWY position. $199 is a nice round number and it's become a 3x directional move of my largest position $VXUS. I'll DCA the gains into $VXUS and $VT over the next week or 2. There's too much volatility right now for me to be leveraged.

morganrbvn

Just buy VOO and VT when you can, ignore the market.

East_East44

I mean that’s the best, can still have a small allocation of individual. VOO or VT if you want international too

Comfortable_Goal9110

Can I just get one major pump of RKLB and SPY so I can get out of "investing" and back to VT and chill

blackgenz2002kid

I invest in 50% QLD/TQQQ, 40% VT, 10% SGOV for spare cash, and call it a day tbh

Humble-Procedure-134

What is VT?

blorg

If you "don’t think US will out perform international in the long run" why not consider all in on VT? It's slightly more international (38%) and slightly less US (62%) but it's a big step up in simplicity IMO, and will rebalance itself automatically. You do lose the foreign tax credit you would otherwise get with VXUS but this is a tiny amount of money.

Beautiful_Benefit319

You want a low cost weighted total market index fund. VTI or VTSAX. if you want US equities plus international exposure, use VT. These provide wide diversification and it’s very difficult to beat these index funds with your own basket of individual stocks

Salt_Data3707

100% VT and chill. This is way too complicated

Aevaris_

Depends on the index you use. The S&P itself, no, not until 1 year or 4 profitable quarters. VTI and VT, yes, it will be included. VOO will not include it.

First-Finger4664

Liquidity outflows are going to make everything cheaper in the short term. If you don’t want to play in the US stock market right now, then ex-US stocks, bonds, real estate, and commodities (gold etc) are what’s left. Or honestly go the Boglehead route with VT/VTI and just say fuck you I’ll own it all and ensure I get a taste of whatever gets pumped.

InvestingNerd2020

Here are a few popular ones (Different entry dates): - VT. Total world ETF. - VTI, SCHB, and ITOT. All total usa stock ETFs. - QQQ and QQQM. - SCHX. Large cap 700 ETF.

theblindness

Just a small update, the author recently made a blog post about the current recommendation being `VT` which is the global version that includes some International exposure. So now there are even fewer letters to remember. VT and chill.

MelonBeefChop

More than half the port in VT eventually works out

drew-gen-x

Agreed. I am long even thou I'm not that bullish. You pointed out that $VXUS is mirroring the $SOXX trade so I guess I'm all in now on this AI circle jerk bubble w/o really realizing it. I can convince myself that buying mostly $VXUS, $VT, and $GLD are better uses of money than sitting in cash; but I am done with individual stocks in this casino. It's gonna pop eventually or we will have bigger problems w/ the USD & economy than caring how our stock positions are doing.

tang-tw

For your brokerage, you can choose IBKR (Interactive Brokers), which excellently serves international clients. For ETFs, you can opt for VT for global market exposure, invest in VOO, or give priority to SPYM. Like VOO, SPYM tracks the S&P 500 but features a lower share price and a cheaper management fee. Alternatively, you can enable UK stock trading on IBKR to buy London-listed ETFs. For instance, VWRA tracks the global market, and VUAA tracks the S&P 500. Both are accumulating ETFs—meaning they don't pay out dividends but automatically reinvest them to maximize the compounding effect. This approach saves you a significant amount in taxes. For one, the dividend withholding tax sent to the US government is reduced to just 15%. Furthermore, because these ETFs are domiciled in Ireland, they are exempt from US estate tax. To put that into perspective, the US only grants a $60,000 estate tax exemption to non-US citizens. Anything over $60,000 is hit with a massive 40% tax. For example, on a $1 million portfolio, the US government would take $400,000, leaving your family with only $600,000. On top of that, your home country might levy its own estate tax depending on your local tax laws. Therefore, investing in Irish-domiciled ETFs is your best bet. However, keep in mind that IBKR is virtually the only US brokerage available to foreigners that allows access to the UK market. Other US brokers only let you buy US-listed stocks, leaving you vulnerable to the 30% US dividend tax and the 40% estate tax.

Delicious-Plastic-44

Well value investing won’t give you the dopamine you are looking for. It’s a lifetime commitment thing. For what you want I suggest momentum investing. Strong factor. Lots of dopamine. Likely outperforms VT and chill by a few % per year

flappysack-

It took 17 years in inflation adjusted terms to break even if you invested in QQQ before the dotcom crash.  It took 2.6x the time to recovery vs VT and it fell about the same times further in value.

Hoosier2016

This portfolio is going to trail VT from now to the next 10 years I’d bet almost anything.

MeanLocalFriends

First, you said it all in your op. Down is good!  95% of your savings should be boggle head style. VT and chill. VTI or VOO or fine too. Whatever it hardly matters.   DCA.  Own some real estate  Allocation: /10? 80/20? 70/30? Up to you and how far along you are. Then have a 5% account to feed the degen goblin WSB style.  I dont regret any of it. Have fun and enjoy the process.  

ScytheBuster452

It’s a decent start, but keep the core simple (mostly VT or VTI/VXUS) and only add small side bets if you can hold them for years.

ethereal3xp

You might get better answers in r/ETFs. Imo If I was 21 again. I would invest in two or three ETFs and call it a day. 1. Pick one that pays out dividends. Reinvest the dividend back into the ETF. Or divert the dividend payout - to a growth ETF. 2. Pick an equal weighted semiconductor etf like XSD 3. Pick WLDU which is a 2x version of VT. My suggestion is more aggressive and volatile. So it may not suit your need. Overall 1. Managing your psychology and expectations. 2. Commited to holding and growing your core holdings long-term. Goodluck

ESSolberg

Couple of points come to mind. 1. Expense ratio: VT is 0.06%, AVUV is 0.25%, NTSI is 0.26%. The higher this, is the bigger the drag on your portfolio over time. Vanguard is often the top choice for low cost. 2. Diversification: I’m not familiar with all these ETFs, but worth checking the underlying overlap if diversification is your goal. This might be better achieved with 3-4 ETFs rather than 8. It’s great you are starting early.

DampCoat

You may need some VT/VTI/VOO and chill in your life

Midlycruising22

VT or VOO are better options than tbils

ACiD_80

$VT

ATPsynthase12

Do you know how leverage works? X2 up also means x2 down if the stock moves in the wrong direction. So unless you want to run the risk of eating x2 the loss every time the market has a downturn I wouldn’t trade on leverage. Also, don’t trade futures bro. There are tons of hilarious horror stories of morons at r/wallstreetbets trading futures and getting screwed. I read one this morning where a guy was trading cattle futures and missed his contract sale deadline and now has to take delivery of several hundred heads of cattle. The spy, small cap value, gold and t bills are all just a more complicated way to cover the whole market which you are already doing with VT. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

drew-gen-x

That's why I have been firing off my dry powder on $VT, $VXUS, and $GLD when they hit their 200 DMA. Gold just went below its 200 DMA this week so I BTD there. I trade more than I should but my core positions are the entire world stock market & gold with 6 months of emergency cash. Rome didn't fall due to a lack of money printing. It had more to do w/ not being able to feed its population with coins that no longer had any silver in them.

8--2

All of this can be true. The problem is that we've been hearing shit like this for the better part of a decade now and line still go up. Ultimately the only path forward is to be brutally honest about your personal risk tolerance and invest accordingly. Massive down turns, crashes, just trading sideways for an extended period of time, are all very realistic future scenarios. A good investment strategy accounts for and can weather all of those things happening. For me, that means I have 99% of my investments setup as a flavor of VT and chill (with automatic re-allocations towards bonds as I get older). I don't even touch them, I just make sure my automatic contributions are being deducted every paycheck. That last 1% I fuck around with in RobinHood. I have very strict deposit limits and routinely harvest gains when that position gets too large (thanks nearly 20 year long bull market).

drew-gen-x

I'm much more confident in my $VXUS and $EWJ dip buys today. The charts do NOT look good at all for Gold at all right now. But I made over $2500 on my $SOXS swing trade this morning and also bought back the $VXUS tax lot I sold at open near their bottom price for the day so far. This was my trading style in March. Buy support levels and sell resistance levels and DCA down your main conviction play positions. For that me that is $VXUS, $VT, $GLD and maybe Japan $EWJ.

Sufficient_Habit5091

OP and you are not wrong. VT and chill works because we live in an era where even when there's a crash they just print a metric fuckton of infinity and accept inflation rather than let assets fall.

drew-gen-x

Now you have to be careful w/ World ex-US indices like $VXUS and $VEU. I did add a bit to my $VXUS position last Thursday and that selloff Friday hurt my port hard. $VXUS or $VEU (I think they are both very similar) will have more volatility than $VTI or even $VT due to Americans having DXY dollar risk. The upside & downside risks are much more volatile. But I figure I am being paid in USD for my salary so I should accept that volatility as I am also hedging my salary.

Sure_Ride_7366

Is it just me or has there been a lot of seesawing the last 3 days? I don't just mean volatile stuff like semiconductors, even VT is bouncing up and down to an extent every day from Friday until today. Though it's much, much less dramatic than the swings in semis. Is the day trading rule change doing nonsense?

drew-gen-x

It's the market concentration of a half dozen stocks or so making up 30-35% of the market cap concentration of $VTI or $SPY that has always concerned me into comparing today to dot. com 2.0. So far I have been wrong and have been hiding out in mostly $VXUS, $GLD, $EWJ, and $VT. But this volatility is just like dot com. We didn't have inflation like today then thou where holding cash or US Treasuries was an option.

kirk_is_my_daddy

12k into VT so far

drew-gen-x

I tend to find the best BTD during nasty corrections or plunges to be $VT, $VTI, and $VXUS. I'm usually not as smart as I think I am so why not BTD's in the whole damn market or the whole damn world.

drew-gen-x

Everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face. I have my the DXY is trash and I want to retire someday positions in $VT, $VXUS, and $GLD. Everything else is tradeable based on staring at charts.

treycook

If you are truly VT and chill then none of this matters, just a bit of market noise. It always goes up and to the right eventually.

japan_eq_nerd

One angle missing from this thread: VT's geographic diversification doesn't protect you as much as you'd think when semis correct, because the Japan and Korea allocations are heavily weighted toward semiconductor supply chain companies. Tokyo Electron (TSE:8035), Disco (TSE:6146), Shin-Etsu Chemical (TSE:4063) — these are major components of VT's Japan slice. They're geographically "diversified" but highly correlated with SOX during downturns. In the 2022 correction, Tokyo Electron fell \~50% while SOXX dropped \~35%. So VT's effective semiconductor exposure is meaningfully higher than the headline 10-12% figure. The diversification is real for country-specific risk, but semiconductor cycles tend to be global and hit the supply chain regardless of where companies are listed. Also worth considering the demand side: there's a structural new market forming that isn't priced into most semiconductor cycle analysis. Ukraine is consuming an estimated 5,000+ drones per day. Both NATO members and non-NATO allies are now treating drone fleets as standard military inventory — a replacement for conventional missiles, not a supplement. The EU rearmament wave, accelerated by US pressure to hit 3%+ GDP defense spending, is creating procurement pipelines that didn't exist 5 years ago. Drone-scale semiconductor demand is a different profile from AI or mobile — FPGAs, microcontrollers, RF chips, sensors — and it's largely recurring since drones are expendable. Japanese companies like Renesas (TSE:6723) and Murata (TSE:6981) are quietly exposed to this theme. The bear case for semis assumes a cyclical correction in AI/consumer demand. It may underestimate this new defense-driven baseline.

QueasyWorldliness920

VT and chill baby. Meanwhile I just transferred all my 401k’s into fidelity so I could do just that, of course right around April 1, and watched the market do a 20% tear without me because “there’s no way it’s gonna keep doing 1% a day every fucking day” Now I’m stuck DCA’ing VT starting at 150 instead of 130 :(

Dear-End8908

Everybody is jumping on you (and they are right, you pussied out and made a mistake), but a few months ago during tariffs this sub was full of bears. You are all too emotional to perform well as investors. VT and chill folks.

ChucktheDuckRecruits

I’ve decided to protect my gains by adding some boring defensive positions: JNJ, PG, PEP, KO, WMT, VT. They will all just keep on their slow upward march and avoid any 20% crashes. Sleeping very well at night.. I’m not selling my AI/semi winners, just not chasing them right now until my portfolio is more balanced.

drew-gen-x

It's not a good sign that I made the right choice selling all my Friday BTD tax lot buys during the 1st hour of trading today. Some chart patterns for some of my biggest holdings like $VXUS and $VT look eerily similar to the 1st leg of the March selloff from Feb 26-March 6th. 1 big selloff plus day followed by a 1 day meh relief rally.

bobdevnul

Learn how markets and investing work, along with personal finance. Read: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/1l6j6tj/new\_to\_rbogleheads\_read\_this\_first/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/1l6j6tj/new_to_rbogleheads_read_this_first/) Unless you have teams of analysts with Bloomberg terminals you are unlikely to do well by picking individual stocks or sectors. A good way to start (and continue) is buying highly diversified, low management expense index funds. By being market cap weighted the good companies trickle us to the top holdings and less profitable companies trickle down. The index is self adjusting. Examples are VTI (total US market) and VXUS (total ex-US market). Or VT (combined total US and ex-US markets). The important thing is to get started with the money you have available and continue on a regular basis. Time in the market works better than trying to time the market.

InvestingNerd2020

It's not in every index. The S&P 500, small cap, large cap value, nor international. Only Target Date funds, VT, Total USA funds, and Nasdaq currently. Target date funds is where most people invest into at their job. This is done within 401k plans or 403B plans that auto invest.

drew-gen-x

Tech is in everything. But with that said look at the sector rating of tech in $VTI, $VT, or $VXUS and determine your risk level. Tech has 33% weighting in $VTI, 27.8% in $VT and 18.1% in $VXUS. I would start there and the determine if you want to be only in US stocks, World plus US, or World minus US. There's always this wild & crazy idea to diversify and go 50% $VTI and 50% $VXUS.

zerothehero0

The lazy and smart way to go about things is to find alow fee diversified mutual fund or etf, either US market or World market, and just plow money into it. VT has a cult and is classic for a world total market fund. And any of the S&P 500 funds like IVV, VOO, or SPY are the classic American ones.

HaiKarate

With a little education, you probably don't need a financial advisor until you hit a million or more in your account. Getting started in investing is dead simple; open a Roth IRA and buy a proven ETF like VOO or VT, and just keep contributing to it no matter what the market is doing. And don't touch for the next 40 years, other than to add more money. The 40 year average of the S&P 500 (VOO) is 9.8%/year. If you want to venture out more into picking stocks, then use 10% of your capital as your play around money.

Astronaut100

I never said they lose money. The problem is their evangelical, cult like promotion of VT. With VT, you won’t lose money long term, but you’re also leaving a LOT of money on the table because that exposure to every halfwit company on the planet will drag down the small percentage of winners. No one needs exposure to 10,000 stocks; it’s just absurd.

DuePomegranate

When you have a few million and you didn't get there by investing. Otherwise you just VOO/VT and chill, or read the Bogleheads website, and figure it out on your own. Your coworkers who are "heavily into investing?" Most likely they are gambling on volatile stocks and there's lots to talk about (like with sports betting). You should not see them as role models, and you should not FOMO into copying them.

crazybutthole

If you ask this question to AI and or read the wiki and follow it maybe spend some time watching the right YouTube videos.....financial podcasts etc You can do it your self and avoid a lot of fees that compound over the years. Most basic advice - get broad market low cost index funds like SPYM VOO VTI QQQM VXUS VT If you mix it up with some variation of those (and no others) you will be fine. Make sure you are making a Roth if under the limit - if over the limit max a traditional 401k and keep shoveling money into taxable brokerage accounts. It is not super hard. Just takes literally a few hours of reading for the basics to make sense. Remember that good enough is good enough at 27 yrs old. If you start working out 1% for financial advisor at 27 and do so for 35+ yrs you are going to give away a lot of freaking money. If you really feel a financial advisor is your best bet this early - ask alot of questions and learn "why" and how. Then commit to learn enough to do it yourself after two years

Amazing-Selection494

First, congratulations for thinking long term. Few young people do. I didn't. You asked for "a" good long term investment, and mentioned the S&P 500 index. Most people would advise you to invest in low-cost, tax efficient ETFs. ETFs, or exchange traded funds, are a lot like mutual funds - each share represents a proportionate slice of all the stocks the fund has invested in. VOO is Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF, has a low expense ratio, and is very tax efficient. Great for a long term buyand-hold strategy. VTI is Vanguard's total US market ETF, also highly recommended. VT is Vanguard's total world stock ETF. If I were just starting out with a long term outlook, this is where I'd put my money.

Back2Bass6

Probably better to be in VT if you really hate SpaceX that much. The weighting will be diluted.

Geomayhem

This is not the answer. A person in their mid 20s who is just getting started doesn’t need to read a boatload of books or hire an advisor to start investing. Spend 20-30 min Googling “VT and chill” and this person is set up nicely for probably the next 15-20 years of their lives.

Mr3iron

Make sure 401K is in low cost S&P500. Make sure to invest in it - the more the sooner you can - the better.  After that - looking into a brokerage account (Robinhood / Schwab / etc) and start putting money in regularly.  I recommend based on your risk tolerance looking into VT, VTI, VOO, and SCHG.  Do your own research and get started. Everyday you delay is a day you can’t make up.  Also - you should talk more to your coworkers about this - even if you don’t take their advice - asking has no downside. 

Technical_Formal72

No more than I would be wasting my money on a personal trainer or FA. A financial advisor won’t magically make me more money. A personal trainer doesn’t magically make me fit. If you’re too lazy to do some basic research on a long-term investment strategies like VT, VTI/VXUS (optionally BND), or a TDF ect. and don’t have the discipline to stick to that strategy then sure go blow some money on a money babysitter. But I would only suggest that to someone who completely lacked the ability to think for themselves. Investing is so easy and convenient today, I see no real argument for an FA unless you are an extremely high NW individual. A private chef on the other hand would be nice though haha

Mr3iron

Ive been stock heavy - because I love doing it and have been doing it now 19 years.  However - I’m now forcing myself to go heavier into ETFs like (VOO / VTI / VT / SCHG / QQQM / VGT).  I’ve had some huge winners - which are awesome - but I’ve also had some boneheaded losses - such as PTON, CMG, and XYZ. They all trapped money away until I just gave up and ate the loss.  It’s OK to buy and hold stocks - but be careful on exposure. For me - it’s all “extra money” - rather than buy lunch or that item on Amazon - I use that money for stocks.  However - all my weekly/monthly automated investments are ETFs. If I can squeeze in stocks - great - sometimes it doesn’t work that way. 

champler

Same. I’ve read that the global market funds like VT will have it from the outset, so I will have some exposure, but I really want nothing to do with Elon. I realize it’s contrary to the spirit of this sub, but he’s so full of shit that I just don’t care that for some reason Tesla shares trade at an absurd valuation. The same thing will probably happen with SpaceX. Everyone who gets in on the IPO will no doubt make out like bandits, but I’m not interested in buying into Twitter, or his bullshit AI company, or his idiotic promises of space data centers.

OxRedOx

Don’t let people tell you not to care about AI being inflated. But I do think S&P indexes will have relatively small exposure if you’re keeping them long term. I would just get VTI for a total US stock market index, DIA for the DOW, and maybe some VT for global exposure

Unarmored2268

Why not just VT?

Academic_Librarian75

I mean, just do VT if you want int exposure

zxc123zxc123

Well Nasdaq100 isn't getting nothing for it. SpaceX will list on Nasdaq rather than NYSE. Such an arrangement is to be expected during a Trump admin with a lot business quid-pro-quo already going on in Washington. Some in the ETF/LETF community swear by QQQ/TQQQ saying it's just the "better" version of VOO/SSO/PRO akin to how US investors say VOO is just superior "back tested performance" VT. I always felt I'm getting "enough" returns with the VOO and any extra I need I can get from margin, leverage, and/or options. Either way, not my problem since my CHAD-VOO/SSO/GOOG/GOOGL/BAC will be dumping SpaceX onto QQQ-virgins.

InvestingNerd2020

Yes, SpaceX will be included into VTI and VT. However, it will not be as big as most people think due to smaller amount of shares they are making available to retail investors. Summary: VTI and VT will have SpaceX Any S&P 500 fund will not have it. Same for International funds (Developed nor Emerging funds).

Environmental-Low792

I sold it, and bought VT. So, quadrupled my money in six years, but sadly only bet $5k on it.

TechnicalSleep7501

VT it made me $.

nicolas_06

I am not getting flustered, I actually actively work on reducing my tech exposure because of that. just saying that SP500 at least has sound grounding even through it would be better with a cap by sector or per stock to force diversification. like not more than 25% in 1 of the sector and no company with more with say 2.5% of the index would be great. to me for indefinite term, I’d choose VT any day vs VOO or QQQ because we don’t know the future. focusing on VOO 35% tech or QQQ tech related perf is by definition short term.

house9

> and thinking of my family's future after we gave birth of my son Maybe term life insurance is more important then? If you kick the bucket your wife and son will be taken care of. Term is not an investment vehicle, purely insurance. > I don’t want to rely on our Pension This is a good reason to start investing in stocks, VT is good place to start

jaquan97

VT is a global fund. It is broad, but not defense specific.

ForeverInTheSun82647

VT Is a total market etf. It’s got defense naturally By being so broad, but it will never move like sector focused ETFs or ETFs focused on smaller indexes. I personally have a modular approach to investing. I have core ETFs for broad coverage and then tilt in certain sectors to round out risk and add defense in case of draw downs. I also do a ton of options trading, so I’m very active and watch my account daily. With that ability, it allows me to make changes on the fly. If you’re looking for a set and forget way of investing, VT is fine. Just know you’ll never really beat or crush the market. My account is beating the s&p by double so far this year.

FIThrowaway2738

Here’s my household allocation. |Asset class |% | |---------------------|-----| |US Large Blend |22.9%| |US Small Value |13.6%| |US Total/Large Blend |13.5%| |Intl Developed |8.4% | |Target Date (blended)|7.5% | |US Large Value |5.8% | |Intl Emerging |5.4% | |Bonds |3.6% | |US Small Blend |3.1% | |Intl Value |2.9% | |US Large Growth |2.8% | |US Mid Value |2.6% | |US Mid Blend |2.3% | |Global Blend (VT) |2.2% | |US Mid Growth |1.7% | |US Single Stock |0.9% | |Intl Small |0.8% | Aka • US equity: \~73% • International equity: \~20% • Bonds: \~7%

MSFusionHV

Simple. Stay highly diversified. Ignore the noise. Probably best off in a low cost index fund, ideally global like VT. Definitely avoid stock picking as it is a loser's game and even professionals struggle to beat the index long term. Search SPIVA. It is incorrent that everything is expensive. There is so much more to the markets than US large caps. International. Small caps globally. Factors like value. And there are alternatives like trend/managed futures which usually zig when the markets zag.