VT

Nosemyfart

Just buy VT

BuyHandSanitizer

VT VOO dividend gang

mostlivingthings

You'll want to open a personal/individual brokerage account, not an IRA. Schwab, eTrade, or maybe Robinhood for such low key effort. You might consider a broad market ETF instead of individual stocks, such as VT or VTI.

rickochetl

You're on the right track with investing, for sure. Two or three ETFs is OK, as long as it's clear what your strategy is. For example, a broad-global index with extra weight in US could look something like: 50% VT (total world) 20% VTI (total US) Alternatively you can split US/International to have some finer control. How you chunk it is up to you, but in general, these broad index things really shouldn't be less than say 15% or 20% allocations, or you're splitting hairs over fine differences. The "bigger" index should basically always be the larger allocation if you use things that overlap like this example. On the individual picks, And then as a student, you probably don't have a ton of spare time looking at companies to make a pick. So I'd say keep the number of picks in the lower single-digits. Crypto included. Just like 2% interest in a savings account sounds stupid, wasting days making a pick that's going to end up in a 0.1% difference in your overall portfolio performance also sounds stupid. That's a statistical anomaly, not a success story. So I generally don't do smaller than 5% allocations because they won't be meaningful otherwise.

Emotional-Power-7242

The benefit to using a target date fund is your can't mess it up. If you instead buy a global index fund like VT and a bond index fund like BND you could decide on the wrong ratio of stocks to bonds. If you split VT into a US index fund like VTI and an international index fund like VXUS you could decide on the wrong ratio of US to international. Every choice you add is another opportunity to make the wrong choice, and many investors will make the wrong choice. Nobody in this sub knows what they're talking about so don't worry if they say bonds are bad. Bonds are necessary. Young investors don't all need bonds, which is why a target date fund has you in a low percentage while youre young. Market cap weighted just means you buy more of the companies worth the most and less of the companies worth the least. You weight the index based on how much the companies are worth. Diversification means you invest across a wide spectrum of industries, countries, values, so that if say the US market ranks your entire portfolio doesn't tank with it because it isn't 100% in US stocks. Your target date fund (or global index fund like VT) also has stocks from the UK, Japan, China, Africa, etc.

Alive-Currency-2134

This completely depends on your needs. The VT fund offers global investment opportunities, while the VTI fund invests only in the U.S. market. If you value global diversification and convenience, then the VT fund is undoubtedly the best choice

WorldofLoomingGaia

I hold VT.  Is VTI better?

RagnarokWolves

Does he have his own separate emergency fund for emergencies? Stocks are likely to grow in the long-term but in the short-term, anything can happen. You could throw the money in and tomorrow there could be an epic 30% crash. He needs to be able to wait around for the recovery if a crash happens. HYSA if this is part their emergency fund. If they can let it sit there for 10+ years, VOO or VT.

Glad-Lie8324

I'm not sure what your referring to, maybe when I said one of the pro's of VOO only (the husbands point of view) is better than investing in three funds? I was trying to say (unclearly) that it's simpler to invest in one fund (VOO or VT or VTI, doesn't matter), than to do a mix of VT, Bonds, and VXUS that needs rebalancing every so often. So, nothing to do with VOO specifically, more just talking about 1 fund vs 3 fund approach and trying to make the point that VOO (and VT) are already plenty diversified so as to make a 3 fund approach probably overkill.

felixdixon

Why do you have to rebalance VT? What does that mean?

EstimateWest4370

For clarity - buy VTI or VOO and some VXUS. If you don't want all that hassle, go straight to VT. But make sure you do the most important part: chilling and not mucking around with your strategy.

MasterAndrey2

You don't. Unless you have decades of experience, a math degree, multiple data centers of compute, and billions of dollars or luck, you cannot reliably outperform the market adjusted for risk. Just DCA VOO, VXUS, and maybe VT and GLD and save yourself the stress and waste of time.

Gimme_All_The_Foods

Both are very similar. See for yourself. https://testfol.io/?s=7wiOS8z9B2U I would recommend not shunning international, however. You can select a fund like VXUS and invest 20-50% of your equities in it, or you can invest everything in a fund that will track the global market cap of equities with a fund like VT.

Helpful-Staff9562

VT and chill

Da_Cum_Man

I've been burned enough by shitty options and reckless trades. I have been reborn. Now it's just a steady stream of cash into SPY,DIA,NDAQ,and VT

Aevaris_

General advice is yes, you should include some international exposure, i.e. something like VXUS. E.g. the US was one of the worst performing markets in the G20 this year, so exposure in VXUS did well for investors. A 70/30 split isn't uncommon. If you want a single stock, VT is the way.

Chemical-Fun3692

this is amazing info thank you! What are your thoughts on Target date funds? or putting all money into global stocks like VT and buying bonds separately?

Chemical-Fun3692

Nice! Is there a benefit to getting a target date fund over something else that’s more manual work? Is sounds like index funds are really the way to go! I’ve heard some negetive feedback about bonds, why is that? The global funds like VT - is that any different than an index fund? Any benefit to go that route? Also what does cap weighted diversification mean?

Nocturnal_Smurf_2424

Pick one: 1. VOO/VXUS 2. VTI/VXUS 3. VT You don’t need bonds imo. You can use them to smooth out volatility if you’re worried about the ups and downs but they’ll hinder your long term performance if you’re 10+ years from retirement.

eagles16106

Just buy VT.

Helpful-Staff9562

VT

Emotional-Power-7242

A target date fund is an index fund containing a globally diversified portfolio of stocks answer bonds, automatically adjusting the allocation as you near retirement to meet an appropriate level of risk. Another option would be to put all your money into a global index of stocks (such as VT) until you're 40-50 years old and then add bonds yourself. A target date fund will add the bonds for you automatically based on your target retirement date.

WealthVenue123

while "set it and forget it" is a poor strategy, or "VT and chill" is another poor irresponsible idea watching your stocks or ETFs every day is no better instead check them monthly and do rebalancing when you need it, that is when they are up 50% or more (sell) or down 20% or more (buy)

wubscale

"Staying balanced in a shifting market" is a creative way to phrase "underperforming broad index funds like $VT by 20%"

VisibleBread2118

Yeah you're spot on about the overlap - OP has like 80% of the same companies across those three funds lol VTI/VXUS is solid, or just throw everything into VT if you want to set it and forget it. At 29 with high risk tolerance I'd skip bonds too, maybe add them later when you're not trying to accumulate as aggressively

dasunt

I would not be surprised if a decent chunk of people here are doing VT or similar and are just visiting for the entertainment factor.

ButtonEnjoyer

VT and chill

youngishgeezer

I would recommend a low cost ETF that holds all the companies in the world. In the US VT makes sense. In Canada there may be more tax advantaged fund or funds to effectively do the same thing. https://testfol.io/?s=jmxCYrLaYor This will show what investing in the world by way of VT or VTI & VXUS ETFS would earn if you started 29 years ago investing $1500 a month adjusted for inflation (meaning what you see is in today’s dollars and would require you to increase your monthly contributions to keep up with inflation). It’s US based for the inflation numbers but should give you a starting point to see what’s possible using real historical numbers. Play around with it and you can hopefully confirm you can retire nicely without huge investing all your living expenses.

thorn960

Whole market index with international exposure like VT. I have never been a fan of crypto. It has zero intrinsic value, doesn't get used much for actual economic exchange and is just worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

thorn960

I've never been a fan of bond funds. I think they could be good when you are retired for income if you buy the actual bonds. I'm retired and still don't mess with bonds. BRK b is one of my safe havens right now. I have 40% of my portfolio in that. If you are long term and a long way from retirement, just VOO/SPY and chill. If you want a little more diversity and international exposure something like VT is great.

dooknuckduster

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)

dissentmemo

I don't time the market or gamble on individual stocks. DCA into VT as I get paid.

goldenCapitalist

Buying a house at 32 is still a great place to be in. I recommend VOO/VT for a decade with every extra cent you have, and I suspect interest rates may drop again on a 10y timeline, at which point you can probably jump on a starter home. Don't be one of those "If you simply invested in the S&P500 5 years ago, you'd've doubled your money instead of losing it all" posts I see on here *all the time*.

Helpful-Staff9562

VT and chill 💪

thorn960

I think people forget that, "past returns are no guarantee of future results" An S & P 500 index fund worked really well for the last 20 years but will it work for the next 20? I think it's currently too tech heavy and overvalued. I prefer a broad market with international exposure like VT.

Rav_3d

No catch. People work, people make money, people invest in their retirement accounts, many of those accounts go into the S&P 500. Those who have decades to retirement and put it all in an S&P 500 fund will likely outperform many other strategies including those “safer” approaches to mix in some SCHD and VT or VTI.

Virtual-Ducks

The catch is that you're not as diversified as you could be. US stocks did well in recent history, but there were times that international stocks have done better as well. Also consider VT (everything), vti (total is) and vxus (total international) If you don't want to think about it, target date funds are great too. 

Calm-Television5780

what you want is VT, i mean u really can’t go wrong with any of these. just pick one and dca long term, vt voo vti

Sugamaballz69

Even better, just one: VT Basically 60/40 VOO/VXUS at the moment

Sugamaballz69

Dont try to time the market because you cant. Also do not lump sum. Small DCA week by week in $VT total world market is the way to go. DCA whichever major asset basket that you *will be buying anyway* thats is the most undervalued at any given time. requires a little more research but can be slightly better For example, Sp500 very high valuations, treasuries or gold extremely low, DCA those instead for those weeks. Sp500 comes down and bonds go up, dca sp500 for those weeks. Never trade and try to time right time to buy & sell. Hold all accumulated positions until you want to buy a house, medical expenses, kids college, or retire. Maybe a vacation here and there. But do not sell because you think X is going to Y.

Fun-Personality-8008

Don't waste returns on being overly conservative waiting for a crash that may never come. The only thing you can do is be diversified according to your risk tolerance. That was true then and still true now. For me, that's VT and chill.

Emotional-Power-7242

Yeah i would have said the local community college, the course I took was taught by a Mastercam employee and was pretty excellent. I did a course though a consulting agency that was also good but I think it was incredibly expensive (my work paid). May be some sort of free certifications around you if there are any local equipment manufacturers, I know Haas does free operator certifications at their plants. One thing I would definitely do is download the free Mastercam Educational edition (just lie if youre not currently in a school, they don't check). And then do the Titan Building Blocks series (also free). Good luck, and buy VT.

Emotional-Power-7242

I'd honestly save up for a programming course or something, $20/hour for a machinist is criminal. I'm on $55/hour. Anyway you can put all of your investments into VT or a target date fund, doing this will outperform picking random individual companies.

thorn960

The anchors of my portfolio are BRK b, VT, an S&P 500 index mutual fund and a small cap value mutual fund (Royce Funds). I only dedicate 10% of my portfolio to stock picking. Stock picking for my entire portfolio would be a full time job and I still wouldn't beat an index fund. Mostly I do it for fun.

pseudonominom

Once you have an emergency fund, just put extra cash into VT, VTI or some other total market fund. You don’t need to read a book for now. The important thing is to start.

DiegoMilan

Yep pick VOO, VTI or VT and chill knowing your investing in an index endorsed by Buffett, Bogle, and Collins. If there’s ever a good time to listen to your elders, this is one of em!

larrytheevilbunnie

VT and chill

kcrawler

VT.. may even go a little wild and get VTI + VXUS

officejobssuck1

I have a target date fund on my Roth IRA I max every month on my own and then any leftover money at the end of the month goes into my brokerage. My brokerage has just VT and VOO, honestly. Smaller money in SCHG for volatility. Personal preference honestly

Kemaneo

VT was made for you

Bman282828

VT and chill

crazybutthole

so wait - you are saying - hey this ETF is doing really good and its at all time high! nah - i dont want to touch that - let me find something shitty instead the great thing about the sp500 is that it is almost always hitting a new all time high - every few weeks or every few months......thats what it does. if you go back over the past 3 years - it has spent 7% of the time at all time high - averaging once about every 16 days. - if you have a theory that international stocks will beat sp500 in the future go for it - get him to buy VT or even mix the investment - 50% sp500(voo or similar) and 50% international developed country fund - like IEFA.

BitcoinMD

It’s almost always at an all time high, that’s why it’s a good investment. Although I would argue VT is better.

Sugamaballz69

I’d recommend VT over VOO especially for now. Anyways about 2/3rds of VT *is* the s&p500 or so, so its not like its radically different.

ExtremeIndependent99

VT and chill. If we have a sell off, reallocate into a concentrated position to capture eventual upside.

quintavious_danilo

VT

RJ5R

ah ok. i'm lazy and just do 100% VT

FRNAP13

Be fully invested. Never keep cash more than 5% of cash. Do Roth IRA or backdoor Roth IRA. Don’t only do VOO or VT, add some growth like QQQ or VONG. Invest in Direct Indexing, same as VOO with Tax Loss Harvesting. Take an advisor if you panic sell.

helpwithsong2024

Then go with VT, that's literally the entire global stock market. Most diverse you can get.

Da_Cum_Man

After being constantly burned by following my fellow regards here I'm just purchasing and holding $SPY, $NDAQ, $DIA, and $VT in even amounts. I care not for yearly returns, I care for the long term

quintavious_danilo

SCHD is a bad investment, period. It’s only shilled by youtubers and redditors who have no idea how to grow your wealth. Put everything into VOO/VTI or VT and let it compound.

Pathbauer1987

Dollar coat average VOO or VT and chill

xcexoztykl

First of all huge props to you. I’m not too much older than you, at 24 . But I only started investing at like 21-22. I only have a net worth of abt 50k with almost 40k of that invested. Imagine if I started at your age! But most people don’t even start in their 20s, so you and I are both ahead of the curve. So you’re doing great with 66k at 18, and huge respect that you’re even thinking about this , let alone the amount you have. As for the investing advice, S&P 500 (VOO), or total stock market (VTI + VXUS or VT) are all good choices. Growth funds are also optional, but keep in mind the top companies in the us are mostly tech anyway.

Sugamaballz69

For the responses saying to start an IRA or Roth IRA for an 18 year old that doesn’t even have a standard individual brokerage account yet is just not right. He won’t be able to access any of that til what.. 67 i think it is now?? Ridiculous Start him off with a regular brokerage account, contribute a set amount a week (say $50-$200) into $VT or $VOO (total US stock market, S&P500, respectively - very similar). This is for mid-long term outlook (5-20 years, leaning more into the latter) where it really starts to balance out and compound. For just collecting the interest in the same account (cash equivalent +about 3.8% / year as of today), $VBIL. This would be for strictly cash savings that you don’t want any risk of short term depriciation. Other than that i would set aside about 10% of the account actual cash - In the end, say 80% $VT 10% $VBIL 10% cash. Certainly open to adjustments based on risk tolerances

BitcoinMD

VT, or ITDJ if it’s a retirement account. If you want to do crypto, check out NCIQ, it’s a crypto index fund.

ExtremeIndependent99

I cashed out a bunch of Bitcoin before the crash and put it in VT to fully globally diversify. Bitcoin was really volatile and I wanted to derisk.

luke_530

Either VT or VTI &VEA+VWO

live4failure

VT for buy and hold. SPYI or QQQI for similar but with some dividends if you need cash. I would also suggest learning a basic strategy. Look up something like how to buy dips using EMA to build skills and learn your way around the trading software. Simple strategies can be used to help improve cost basis. Anything else is gambling until you have read a few books on fundamentals, economics, and FIRE type goals. If you are looking for passive income, that's a more advanced topic due to the exponential increase in risk.

luke_530

Vti, vgt, vea & vwo. Also, open a roth. Do VT in roth, or a TDF 10 years past the year you'd want to retire. Then you don't need to worry about retirement as long as you max that thing out every year, tax free growth. Then open a brokerage with some combo of vti and vea+vwo. Throw in vgt if you want some growth.

zachmoe

A mix of VT, gold, and Bitcoin, and plenty of FRNs, so you can hold onto the other stuff longer and have something to sell should you need to raise USD.

Aerzon_

Could've stuck it all in VT and guaranteed an awesome early retirement for the not so distant future.

Odd_Rip_568

• Core: broad ETFs like VTI, SPY, or VT • Add 1 solid stock: names like AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, or GOOGL, businesses that are profitable, durable, and easier to hold through swings Skip options for now. They’re rough on small accounts. Build the base first, then take more risk later when the portfolio’s bigger.

yad76

Well, except you are making assumptions on the current breakdown of US versus international, plus neglecting that VT has a slightly higher expense ratio, plus neglecting that VT holds far fewer stocks than VTI+VXUS but this is Reddit so whatever. Downvote the quality answers and upvote the crap!

taplar

Personal opinion, just do it. Figure out a break down you would be comfortable holding, say, VTI and VXUS.  Let's say you decided to go 70/30, and then VTI corrects. You then have the option to rebalance VXUS into VTI to get back to 70/30, thus capturing the lower cost basis. Or if one of them out performs, you can take gains to rebalance back.  Or just go VT and ignore trying to get lower cost basis. 

NegotiationJumpy4837

Assuming they are comparing vti+vxus vs vt with identical percentages, vti+vxus is more tax efficient. In order to claim the foreign tax credit, an etf's holdings have to be > 50% foreign. So VT doesn't qualify for the foreign tax credit, whereas breaking it up between vti/vxus means you do get to claim the ftc on vxus.

thorn960

Probably VT and BRK b

LeastTension0

VT

Dear-End8908

You can do margin. Like a 10% on $VT. Trading -> losing money.

tomtim90

I'd recreate VT basically. I'd probably take 90k and put it into 50% SCHB, 10% SCHD (value/defensive tilt), 30% SCHF for international, and 10% into SCHE for emerging markets. The other 10k I'd put into something fun or something I believe in which for me right now would be RKLB or physical silver.

house9

Down payment on a house, not as an investment but a place to live. Otherwise: VT

Helpful-Staff9562

Do you even know what VT is? As it seems you don't

Swirl_On_Top

Just do VT which is a combo of these two, total world index.

zachmoe

Just buy the few things investors watch. VOO (or VT if you want international exposure and less idiosyncratic risk), Gold, and Bitcoin, and a healthy amount of FRNs so you can hold onto the risky things, longer.

djd1985

VT

Affectionate_Put7413

VT

clingbat

I had a bit over $100k in HYSA and just shifted it over to Fidelity in a premium govt MMF (FZCXX) and then put 70% of that into VT and left the remaining 30% in the MMF for now (it's still earning more than HYSA was).

mustachechap

Not in my lifetime. The SPY will outperform ex-US and VT for the remainder of my life

Vivid-Rich4476

Nice, simple plan. Global diversification with VT as the core feels like a safe long term bet, especially if US growth slows. Keeping tech and BTC as small tilts instead of the main focus also seems sensible. For 2026+, staying consistent and not overreacting to forecasts might matter more than chasing trends.

blorg

Under 50% actually, most target date funds have substantial international equities which is the largest difference. Vanguard do 60/40 US/International in equities. There is a bond allocation, small in the late-date funds, but still 8-10%. Then, 12% of the US equities are outside the S&P500. Used by a bit more than that but the US market has got more concentrated. Vanguard Target Retirement 2070 Fund, which is the furthest out they have, works out 48.3% the S&P500. Anything closer in date it will only get lower due to the bond glide path. So they are meaningfully different. Target dates will be closer to VT rather VTI or VOO when they are far enough out they have a small bond allocation. Coincidentally, their US/International allocation is similar at the moment, VT is 63/37. But the Vanguard target weight funds specifically do 60/40 (they moved to this from 70/30 in the last decade), while VT the allocation floats by market weight.

AICHEngineer

I would qualify that intuition with the fact that Madoff's ponzi scheme resulted in broad financial regulation that changed the relationship between brokers and custodians. Momey managers could no longer both be the custodian of the investment as well as the broker (the one making the trades and managing the money). It was only in this integrated structure that madoff was able to commit massive fraud and obfuscate what he did with the money. Could you tell us which specific AQR fund theyre advising? AQR is a well respected firm. They have countless white papers out on their website describing the research theyve done to arrive at their current product formulations. If your FA has laid out math showing that your specific tax situation (assuming youre a high earner / NW individual) would make you better off long run despite the management fee, then its probably the better deal for you. You could also just dump the FA and hold a basic fund like AOA (80/20 VT/Bond index) that only charges 15 bps. Or you could run your own personal portfolio and save on FA fees and hold index funds and multiple asset diversifiers like bonds. Gold. Managed futures. All of these are accessible to us retail investors these days

AICHEngineer

This may be a chat to have with your FA. Complexity and tracking error may just not be right for you, even if on a pure math basis you would end up richer with AQR. In the world of quantitative investing, AQR is very legit. Some of their funds are the absolute best means of accessing factor tilts, trend, multi-asset diversification (QLEIX, QLENX, QHFNX, QSPIX, etc), and theyve been doing financial science stuff to make their strategies much more tax aware. They have way more tools to offer you than just tax-loss-harvesting long-only funds. They also have long/short factor tilt funds, trend algos, US beta + l/s, but yeah their fees are very high. You have to really believe in the factor premia and trend to buy the style products. But, results do speak for themselves like QLEIX (total world stock market long/short value/profitability/momentum factor tilt fund) vs VT (MCW total world). QLEIX has crushed VT on returns and with way lower volatility and drawdowns.

Knicks82

I’m a weirdo and basically have 90% of my holding in VT/avuv/avdv (80/15/5), but then the remaining 10% is divided between 2 stock accounts, each that have around 25 positions (so around 50 total). I just really enjoy it but I keep my 90% core untouched no matter what.

Shdwrptr

VT is massively US heavy

raisedeyebrow4891

I have way too many and in the end VT and chill or VOO and chill is likely the best strategy. More is not better, although it looks nice if you have something that’s up 70% like SLV

mustachechap

VT and chill

Gimme_All_The_Foods

VT is the move to make. I love all the comments that are saying you only need US, international has been a loser forever, etc. Perhaps a graph showing returns over some decades will help? https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=253686 It's a good thing investors don't have to choose one or the other; they can own both.

Moby1029

For real, im up 15% total. Up 20% on my vti holdings, 15% on my VT holdings and then a few speculative bets that are also mostly up, but a few down. Today? Down 0.72%

Emotional-Power-7242

A target date fund contains US equities, international equities, and bonds. It is reasonable to not hold bonds at 25. However it is not reasonable to hold only US equities with no international. So if you are not doing the target date fund you would want to replace it with a world market index like VT, rather than just an S&P500 fund.

GesturalAbstraction

All you had to do was buy VT or VOO and do nothing forever, silly

Helpful-Staff9562

The haystack woudl be VT not VTI. USA isnt the only country on earth