VTI

Independent_Plum_489

*I blew 45k on weeklies trying to “win it back.” Switched to boring DCA into VTI + side job DoorDash. Not sexy, but my blood pressure went up less than my portfolio.*

ImpatientParent715

Put 6 months to 12 months of emergency savings in an online savings account to earn ≈4%. I think for you, you might feel more comfortable about 12 months. Don't bother with CD ladders and such; it's unnecessarily complicated while being less accessible. (Things in parentheses depend on your workplace scenario.) (If your workplace has a retirement plan and they match, contribute up to the match. If you don't know what this means, read or watch videos about personal finance. This is free money.) Open a Roth IRA to contribute $7000/year. Pick an ETF to buy, like VOO, SPY, or VTI. Basically, buy an SP500 index fund or a total market fund. This is to allow tax-free growth of your assets when you retire. You're basically investing in hundreds or thousands of companies when you buy/own VOO, SPY, or VTI. (Max out your retirement contribution at your job.) Put the rest in a taxable brokerage account to buy SPY, VOO, VTI, or similar. Eventually, you may want a more conservative portfolio, but you can worry about that in 20+ years when surely you'll know more about personal finance. I'm sorry about your loss. This is a terrible way to get a life-changing sum of money, but I hope you're prudent and generous with it, like your dad was. Btw, don't rule out children; you truly never know what the future you may want. I didn't expect it plan to have kids, yet here I am, with more kids than imagined... Take care, and good luck.

FD_4LYFE69

I have a million invested into VTI/VXUS. I can margin 300k. Thinking about selling CSPs. If assigned I hold them and replenish and pay off the margin asap and just wheel if assigned. Thoughts?

gmenez97

That's exactly what I do. I still have a small portion of my portfolio in VGT, VOO, and a small cap for a little more risk/gain and to see what part of the market is moving. VTI and VXUS are my biggest holdings. My international exposure is around 25% or so.

ConfectionExtra8485

Stay away from mutual funds and picking individual stocks you think will explode. Set up a questrade account and invest only in index funds. If it were me, I’d buy VT which is around 9,000 companies and globally diversified (60% USA, 40% international). If you want more US exposure like many investors do, you could mix VTI (say 80%) and VXSUS (20%). A one or two fund portfolio is all you need, the two I mentioned have extremely low management fees. At 8% average return you’ll have over 2 million at 60, even if you don’t contribute another dollar. if you invest 1k monthly you’ll have over 4 million. Google Fidelity Investment calculator and you can set your retirement goal to calculate how much you need to be contributing. Questrade you can set direct deposit and automatically buy more shares every month.

gmenez97

No need VTI is all US. VT is all US and all international.

gmenez97

VT is all international and usa. VTI is all USA. VOO is USA large cap. USA large cap make up big portions of the other two because all of them are market cap weighted. Which means the magnificent 7 companies disproportionately dominate VOO.

GroundbreakingBad965

Does VOO, VTI or VT have a lot of overlap? Or it’s pretty safe to invest in both so you have better chances of both growing in different outcomes?

purpur99

VTI too

Ledzeppelinbass

You have 3m in the bank bro., you are good. If you are worried about a tank, get out while ahead. Take the profits and buy back at a discount if the market poops itself. I only am a FXIAX /VTI/VXUS guy so I’ll keep pumping my numbers up regardless if it’s green, red, blue, purple, whatever lol. Be proud tho

ExtremeIndependent99

VT and chill. Add BND when I think we might have a correction, then go into a more concentrated fund like VTI or VOO to capture upside, then diversify back into VT for longterm hold.

LanceX2

VTI

omgpuppiesarecute

First, great work breaking the cycle. That's worth celebrating. I also am first generation white collar. I grew up in a poor farming family with people who were literally afraid of math and finance, and it utterly crippled them from being functional adults. Good luck navigating the nuances, it can be challenging for sure. Agreed with avoiding any active management. There is very little an advisor is really needed for, especially at your age. You can pay a pay-per-hour CFP to look at your finances and give guidance occasionally as needed for a spot check, but this stuff really isn't that complex once you are used to it. I personally wouldn't put Fidelity in the same sentence of Robinhood or Webull - its like comparing a full trim Subaru to a tuk-tuk or offbrand moped. RH and WeBull are considered discount brokers for a reason, and over time, the "discount" part is going to sting you. Either they won't be there to support you when you need them, or they will keep incorrect records that will burn you. I would strongly recommend picking a large, well established broker like Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, and sticking with them, possibly for life. You WILL need to eventually call them, and the first time that that happens, you will realize exactly why RobinHood is considered a discount brokerage - almost zero support. And even less when you need immediate help. If you have to ask for guidance on what to invest in, I'd point you towards /r/bogleheads and suggest you start with a simple 2 fund (VT/BNDW), 3 fund (VTI/VXUS/BNDW), 4 fund (VTI/VXUS/BND/BNDX) portfolio. All give you extremely well diversified portfolios with coverage of both equities and bonds covering more or less the whole planet. It will make a rock solid core for your portfolio. The vast majority of your portfolio should be boring funds. At your age, mid 30s, I would recommend having some amount of bond exposure. It doesn't have to be a lot, but you need to figure out what rule of thumb you're comfortable with and stick with it. Also, I strongly recommend you check out ["the flowchart"](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/4gdlu9/how_to_prioritize_spending_your_money_a_flowchart/) for best practices on what to fund first. The general best practice would be to contribute to your 401k/403b up to the matching level, max out your IRA, finish maxing out your 401k, and then contributing to taxable accounts. I also recommend reading the following books, in this order. 1. Richest Man in Babylon by Clason 2. The little book of common sense investing by Jack Bogle 3. A Random Walk down Wall Street by Malkiel 4. The Intelligent Investor by Ben Graham If you do, you'll understand why I am suggesting what I am suggesting.

yottabit42

Get rid of the dividend fund for sure. That's just a tax and performance drag. Buying the NASDAQ also makes no sense as it's just an exchange. I would sell all your positions and buy in 100% VT for maximum global stock diversification with a very low expense ratio. (Or 60-65% VTI + 35-40% VXUS in a taxable account, equivalent to VT but you can claim the foreign tax credit on your taxes.) Follow the [financial order of operations](https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Prioritizing_investments). Head over to r/Bogleheads and read the side bar (touch the sub name at the top on mobile). There are a lot of great resources there to learn from!

northfroglizard

I really like Ramit Sethi and his book “I Will Teach You to Be Rich.” I highly recommend reading it. It covers everything you need to know about budgeting, investing, different types of investment accounts, and keeping an emergency fund. The last chapter even specially goes into balancing personal finance with a struggling family. But since you asked what I would do in your shoes, here’s my approach: I would make a personal budget and figure out how much I can reasonably afford to help my family each month while still living my own life (Ramit’s book and a conscious spending plan will be very helpful with this). Then, I’d set aside that amount in a high-yield savings account labeled “Family Emergency Account,” without telling my family about it. I’d also prepare myself mentally to never give them more than what’s in that account, reminding myself that I simply can’t afford to go beyond it. In a separate account, I’d keep a personal savings fund with at least six months of my own expenses (and possibly six months of rent, in case I decided to move out). After that, I would open a Roth IRA. You can contribute up to $7,000 per year. Finally, if I still had money left, I’d set up a brokerage account and invest in safe ETFs like VTI.

Inside-Welder-3263

There are things called money market funds. You can get your money out in a day. Also move 75% of that cash into VTI.

Leroy--Brown

I would just write things out into categories. Not just stocks/ETFs/crypto. I would categorize them by sector. Tech, consumer staples, consumer cyclical, utilities, finance.... Yadda yadda. Then I would label that by percentage. I don't know all the ETFs you're holding, but I'm guessing that's where a lot of the scattered overlap is. So spend some time looking at the specific holdings those ETFs have. For example, QQQ ang VTI both are weighted ETFs and therefore the MAG7 make up the lions share of those ETFs also. So yeah if you focus on overlap in sectors, that's one way to pin down how you feel your investments are scattered. Obviously you're pretty heavily invested in tech, without a lot of defensive protection in classically defensive strategies. That's a personal choice, many would say it's a bad one, but if you're ok with being heavily exposed to the risk of primarily tech investments, then that's your risk tolerance and that's ok. Personally what I would do if you still have conviction in specific stocks and ETFs after you've broken down your investments by sector, then what I would do is this: sell the stocks or ETFs I no longer have conviction in. Then look at the sector % again. Then I would simply invest more into the broadest most diversified ETF out there. You already hold VTI, so buy more of that. VT is good also. If you can invest enough into a whole world ETF and increase that allocation to at least 60% then you could consider your investments diversified.... If diversification is your goal.

pjboyd

VTI

cool_yuwen

If you really want to simplify: sell the individual stocks and all the thematic ETFs, and just put that money into VTI. A simple VTI + BND + Crypto portfolio would be dramatically easier to manage.

BuyAndFold33

ETFs: SCHB/VTI

1973Hog

Invest some time and a LITTLE money into education. Watch out for all the hucksters out there trying to sell you their "System". If you don't want to actively trade, look at Dollar Cost Averaging. We have out 35 YO unmarried son in SPLG/VOO, VGT/XLK and GLD. You could go with VTI, but I am not convinced that International investments will outperform the US ... at least that is my experience since the mid-90s. Of course, the markets could most definitely not perform as well over the next 10 years as they have the last 10. Historically, we have had long stretches (months to years) where the markets were declining, but employing a Dollar Cost Averaging approach would have worked well IF you had enough time to regularly add money to a Broad based ETF and did not try to Time your investments. If inflation hits hard (as the high debt levels lead me to believe), then owning assets that appreciate like stocks, real estate, etc are the way to go. Best of luck in your journey. Do NOT give up. All successful traders and investors have had their failures and mistakes. You are not alone.

BlightedErgot32

yes, and to answer your question to keep it simple i would probably do something like total US equity (VTI) or total global equity (VT). then later down the line as you learn you can tilt to something, (value, growth, dividend growth, etc) I personally just do DGRO + satellite positions, but a lot of people here hate dividends, and I dont wanna overcomplicate things.

InclinationCompass

Bruv VTI is 84%, VXUS is 34%. And I went from $100k to over $500k in 5 years 💀. I'm retiring in 10 years, in my 40s.

alien__0G

Bruv VTI is 83%, VXUS is 345. And I went from $100k to over $500k in 5 years 💀. I'm retiring in 10 years, in my 40s.

GaylrdFocker

There is no point to do most of what you are doing. If you want to be aggressive, just do 100% VTI or VOO. Splitting up into multiple ETFs or advisor/personal is not helping diversification. Also if you want growth, dividend stocks, value funds, and gold are the opposite of what you want.

InclinationCompass

VTI and VTSAX each have nearly 4000 companies. VXUS has over 8500. So between the two, I’m invested in over 12,500 companies globally.

cool_yuwen

B, and it's not even close. Put it all in a broad index fund like VTI and don't touch it for 20 years.

Milios12

Would option c be a private practice for you? That's a whole headache, but some people like doing it. Definitely more work than a rental. Anyway, if I had a kids and a demanding job? Just invest $500k something like $VTSAX or $VTI and walk away. 500k would be great for a home to rent it out, if you dont already have a home. You are way past that situation, I imagine.

DueManufacturer4330

Would have been a millionaire in 8-10y if you took profits and just bought VTI

Narrow-Height9477

Single male, no kids, rent free. Half a week off to enjoy or work more. If OP just puts everything they can into VOO/VTI they could be a millionaire by 45.

Sweetycherryx

Totally get the frustration — the market in the short term is a rollercoaster, but that’s normal. A month is nothing when it comes to investing. Index funds like VOO, VTI, and QQQ are meant for 10+ years, not weeks. Over time they’ve averaged 8–10% annually, but in the day-to-day they’ll look flat or even down. That’s why a **HYSA is perfect for peace of mind** and short-term goals — safe, FDIC insured, steady interest. Your Roth is for long-term compounding where volatility is the price of admission. Best combo is both: HYSA for security, Roth/market for growth. If you want to make sure your HYSA is paying the top rate while your investments ride out the market, check [**banktruth.org**](http://banktruth.org) — I’m part of the team and we track which banks are consistently best.

UnderstandingSea4745

I do 80% VTI and try to get some additional growth. Being a boggle head ain’t bad but 5% Russell and apple helped me in the past, so i try to not do it 100%.

AwesomeDialTo11

Looking at the stock market every day is like comparing day-to-day weather. There is a lot of volatility. It might be sunny one day, then a thunderstorm, then cloudy, then sunny again, then windy, then overcast. The better way to look at the stock market is like looking at the climate. The climate is just a long-term average of what the day to day weather is. When you average out the sunny days with the cloudy days with the rainy days with the cold days with the hot days, over years and years, you get long-term trends. Such as on average, the climate for a given location might stay between 7F in the winter and 98F in the summer, and it averages 42.3 inches of rain and 27 inches of snow, and on average over the course of a year there are 2637 hours of sunshine. This doesn't guarantee that every year will get that. One year could be a drought, the next year could be extra rainy. But over the long-term, the if you keep averaging out the weather, it should closely match the climate. The same thing happens for stocks. Every day there is minor news or updates in the world. The stock price mostly just reflects what people currently think what a company is worth, and it fluctuates on news. New tariffs might be bad. Tariffs are blocked by a judge are good. New law goes into effect that makes XYZ illegal, might be mixed. Massive new deposit of lithium ore discovered, stock prices react. Every bit of news has a tiny effect on stock prices. And the ETF's like VOO, VTI etc are just weighted averages of all of the companies. This day to day movement in stock prices is like the weather. Sunny, then rainy, then overcast, then sunny again. The only way you can look at stocks is over the long term, by using a climate-like view. And historically, the "climate" of stocks is that the S&P 500 has averaged a return of over 10% per year since 1957. On average, there were more sunny days than stormy days. There were sunnier years, and there were stormier years, but on average, the historical climate of the stock market has been about +10% a year. So on average, you'll double your money about every decade with DRIP (dividends reinvested). Now past results are no indication of future results. Especially if there is a US President that is quite bent on radically changing the dynamics of the post WW2 world, and basically rewriting all of the rules around a new centrally planned economy. Those new rules might be way worse than before. There might be other black swan events. There is no way to predict the future. So past results do not predict the future. So do not invest money that you need to keep food on your table today. But otherwise, invest what you feel comfortable with on a regular cadence. You are in ETF's already, so those are already less risky than individual stocks for individual companies. If you don't need that money today or tomorrow, do not look at the portfolio. We are in a stormier and more volatile period of history right now, so daily results will be volatile. Just keep investing what you feel comfortable with when you can (ideally on a regular cadence), and carry on with your life. Future you in 10, 20, 30+ years will thank present you.

RookieMistake101

Hedge funds don’t exist exclusively, or even primarily, to outperform the market and I’m very very very tired of having that conversation here. Plowing into an index is useful for smaller investors wanting broad exposure as they DCA over time. That’s great. But people who are later in life and way want to access the funds could do better to have individual investments. There are tax reasons. There are conviction and concentration reasons. There are protective options or income reasons. To say just go VTI or plow into VOO completely ignores what OP asked and his current situation.

220solitusma

Dump all but 20k into VTI/VOO/QQQ and don't touch it. Take 15k and pay off any debt. Take 5k and take a vacation.

rockjolt375

this comes with the heavy caveat that the s&p continues to outpace that interest rate. doomsdaying sure but if the ai bubble pops he may end up more negative than positive. at a 6.x interest rate, lock in the guarantee and pay off the mortgage is my opinion. then every month, auto invest in VOO or VTI or whatever with the amount the mortgage payment was

West-Manufacture30

PLTR to ROIV, PGY, VTI. it was actually easy.

giraloco

That's not a diversified portfolio. You can lose big in a market crash. If it's in a retirement account you can rebalance without paying capital gains tax. This has nothing to do with timing the market, you need to start thinking in a more balanced portfolio that also includes significant cash to invest after the crash. I would add: Money Market, VTI, SCHD, ISHG, SCHF, BRK.B, MLPA Good luck! You will thank me.

Digital-Doc-777

Leave 6 mos of living expenses in the savings account, and invest the rest in VTI, Vanguard total stock market index ETF.

sea4miles_

Do you have a cash emergency fund already? If you have a fully funded emergency account with 6-12 months of living expenses, just put all of the money in a low cost index fund (like VTI) by transferring it to a brokerage account and purchasing the fund.

wampum

For my column labels, I use Investment, # shares, price/share, current value, cost basis, Asset Class % of portfolio, Subcategory For the investment column, I write the ticker symbol of the investment, that way I can use that column to populate the =GOOGLEFINANCE function. To get the price of a share of VTI, assume that B2 has “VTI” in it. you’d go to a blank square in your spreadsheet and type =GOOGLEFINANCE(B2) then press enter, this should default to the price. If you click the link I shared from the GOOGLEFINANCE documentation, it will show you all the attributes you can request using this function. It also gives you examples. If that doesn’t work, I’d recommend linking the documentation form to chatgpt and asking it to help you make the functions for the google sheets.

grokfinance

Money you plan to use for major purchases within the next 3-5 years is not money that should be invested in the stock market. It is entirely possible the market drops 20-30% in any given year. So if you are going to use 120k to buy a house soon then keep that money in high yield savings like Ally Bank or CDs or money market fund. The remainder can invest in something like an 80/20 mix of VTI and VXUS. Those two funds give you diversified exposure to the entire stock market (US and international). Over 20 or 30 years history suggests that almost no funds beat the simple stock market average.

Valvador

Stocks Slide? VTI went to 318 from 320, both are fucking absurd numbers.

Based_Commgnunism

100% VT is the best choice for most people. Though if it's in a taxable account it's more tax efficient to break it up into VTI and VXUS.

rawrlionsrawr

Thats why everyone preaches VOO/VTI/QQQ and a portion of you monthly’s into direct stocks so it doesn’t hurt as bad.

Darth_Candy

In my opinion, the default for a young person should be 100% VT. The argument should be, "Do I have justification to do anything else?" (for example, VOO or VTI because you can afford to be riskier and are choosing to bet on the US continuing to outperform). Momentum funds kind of sketch me out because it's difficult to discern how much of momentum is actually the company getting more valuable versus just getting more expensive. Seems like they'd be hit hardest in a correction/crash/recession, but maybe the funds' implementations have some safeguards against that. I haven't dove deep enough to be sure. The bull market performance is very hard to deny, though, and as a personal bias I do prefer factor overweights to sector overweights.

Cruian

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).

Cruian

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).

pain474

If you're worried sell everything and buy VTI.

Cloakedbug

The brutal answer is NO ONE can just give you a reddit options trading strategy that suddenly makes a career. Or guaranteed income. It doesn’t work that way. The vast majority of traders lose money. The closest thing to that is buying VTI, BND, VXUS and not touching it.  I sympathize with everything in this post, I am literally on paternity leave and we are in exactly the same situation, like exactly the same. But wife has accepted her job IS being mom, and she’s getting real good at it. Cooking great meals. Learning things she can teach the kids. I support her with as much time and attention as possible so she has adult companionship. The answer here might not be something for her to do, but for you. 

ncz34

You can do it but why risk your retirement fund. If you make some bad trades, you can't just add more money because there is a yearly limit you can put in. If you keep it in a less risky with good growth ETF (VOO/VTI) and max out your yearly limit and reinvest your dividend, you will have a good amount of money when you retire. In a brokerage account, you can do a bit more risky trades because when you mess up, you can just add more money.

joesmith127_reddit

Currently I have 11 shares of VOO and 17 shares of VTI. I'm not in too deep yet. I've got $17.5k available to invest now in whatever. I can add the weight to VOO.

ChopSueyMusubi

Well if 100% VTI is a sensible strategy because VTI should go up in the long run, then why not double down on that assumption and go 100% SSO?

JackieDaytonaPanda

Do you know why it’s never mentioned amongst these other funds like VOO or VTI? Because it doesn’t have the international exposure?

Optimal-Result1061

Dude you could’ve made ~30 grand in the last six months off that 300k if you just let it sit in VTI. Insane. 

Fantastic_Joke4645

International ETF is showing 18 for a PE and VTI is showing 27, that’s 50% more. Also the dollar continues to weaken under this administration so it seems that spread will grow even more.

Live42Long

Exactly. Future is unpredictable. That is why people is saying diversification is important. You can't just look at past performance or current performance and assume it will go one way or other. VTI + VXUS covers everything.

StatisticalMan

P/E were high 3 years ago too and here we are. It is why I buy total market funds. VTI+VXUS. If tech is too expensive it is just part of it.

ra__account

For post tax, you want the ETF equivalent of the fund rather than the mutual fund version, because of tax efficiency. I use VTI and VOO but the Fidelity, Schwab, and others with a similar expense ratio are all fine. As long as you keep a substantial emergency fund in a lower performing but safe class of investment. As far as IRAs, you can always withdraw the contributions without penalty, so if you don't have the cash flow to actively contribute to one, there's nothing wrong with putting your emergency fund into a Roth. Best case you increase your tax sheltered savings and worst case you take out no more than what you put in.

DoctorMario1000

Damn, VTI over $320 🤌

DivineBladeOfSilver

People love a simple stupid approach they can sleep at night with. VT or VTI + VXUS or some similar combo of owning the market is proven long term. You won’t do the best but you likely won’t do bad either and you will do so likely with little stress. That is the thesis they accept and work with. Now people like Warren Buffet advocate for this strategy (tho he prefers just VOO + 10% bonds). He acknlowedges it’s not the best strategy, but the typical person is not good at picking stocks, sticking with it long term up and down is hard for them, and people frequently move funds by selling when bad and buying when good hurting themselves. Otherwise if you can avoid such bad habits and can pick great companies through good analysis he fully says it’s better to just own a lot of a small number of wonderful companies rather than the whole market or a big portion of it. Sadly this typically results in most investors just buying whatever is most popular today because they assume it will forever be a good investment, panic when it finally has a bad day, and they do terrible. You’ll see people buy the magnificent 7 and just think that’s the best strategy ever because it’s done good for awhile now. Not that any are necessarily bad stocks. But an investment under buffet’s guidance requires full proper analysis of actual data long term of a company and considering various aspects about the company itself and value it has and making a decision. Most people just follow hype and that’s as far as it goes

-ClutchCabbage-

It’s up 21% YTD compared to VTI 9%, VOO 9.4%, VT 13.4%

SnS2500

Not a good way, because compounding is really helping from the beginning. Go to the official webpage for any fund like VTI and it should give you both cumulative returns and CAGR/yearly ones. [https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vti#performance-fees](https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/etfs/profile/vti#performance-fees)

diggida

My understanding is because it’s market weighted and owns virtually everything outside of the US. VT is the whole world. VTI plus VXUS is the whole world. It fits that philosophy. Personally I have VOO, AVUV, and VXUS, but I probably should just have VT.

subha890

I suggest just throwing it into an ETF like VOO or VTI instead. Most people do better with this approach than picking individual stocks. I also recommend LETFs, but only with a small amount of your funds. Use alphaAI Capital to manage your LETF strategies.

SpringNo2579

I’m sorry you’re being coerced. Do you have any room to negotiate? If you do, can you convince him that this money belongs in a HYSA? If it is all you have, it’s an emergency fund, and does anyway. When you do get around to investing, VOO or VTI is good for 95% of your money. 5% I’d put in LETFs with alphaAI Capital, or maybe in crypto, or both.

Odd-Record-1041

No, it is overlap across several indexes. Example - VTI and FXAIX have a heavy overlap. Depending on the account, I am limited with options. Leading to fund overlap. What if I wanted more than the market cap exposure to small cap than VTI provides? What if I wanted wanted international exposure? That would lead to two more funds on top of an US market index fund.

Better-Ad-6852

I believe so. I was looking at it in comparison to VTI / VOO market returns over last 1-3 years and then BRK. also that it was lagging most recently by 12%+. Not nearly as much as UPS. Same time, the underperformance made sense to me along with their strong cash position, I rotated from VGT to BRK for now.

cool_yuwen

Great job. Look into VOO or VTI. Keep 3-6 nonths of expenses of in a high-yield savings account for emergencies, and invest the rest. At your age, time is on your side.

SharkFXTradingLab

You are asking the *exact* right questions. Realizing the corrosive effect of high fees is the first major step to taking control of your financial future. **Step 1: Stop the Bleeding (Your Direct Question)** Yes, you should absolutely get out of that NWM annuity. The fees you're paying (1.84% is astronomical) will cripple your long-term growth. The $1200 transfer fee is painful, but it's a one-time cost to escape a lifetime of being fleeced. Transferring to a low-cost brokerage like Fidelity, Schwab, or Vanguard and putting your money into a simple, low-cost index fund (like VTI or VOO) is the correct move. Your future self will thank you immensely. **Step 2: The Next Level of Diversification (Beyond Stocks)** Once you're comfortable with your new low-cost setup, you'll start thinking about true diversification. Most people stop at stocks and bonds. But a small allocation (say, 5-10%) to a truly non-correlated, 'all-weather' strategy can significantly smooth out your portfolio's returns, especially during stock market downturns. My own professional focus, for example, is in building automated trading systems for the Forex market. These are designed to generate consistent returns from market volatility, independent of stock market direction. It's a different world, but something to keep on your radar for the future as you continue to learn and grow your portfolio.

Wild_Capital7202

I recommend prioritizing your Roth IRA for long-term tax-free growth, and the sooner you max it out, the better. Also, avoid over-diversifying your portfolio. Currently, you have a number of individual stocks, which offer high potential returns but also high volatility. Perhaps you could gradually shift your holdings toward broad-based index funds (like VTI and VXUS), keeping your individual stocks to a "small, enjoyable" level. Also, since you're over 50, US tax law allows for catch-up contributions to your retirement accounts, which can help you close your retirement gap faster. The overall strategy is: prioritize Roth, base your portfolio on index funds, and sprinkle in individual stocks, along with regular rebalancing. You should basically be well-positioned for retirement.

CWD31

If it were me: 1) Put half ($50k) in a 529, invested in a low cost Target Date fund. When kiddo is 18 he will be able to go to any college in the land…and if he doesn’t need it you can roll it down to grandkids. No better way to build generational wealth than ensure they are educated (for free). 2) Put the other half ($50k) taxable Brokerage account, invested in 1 low cost, total US stock market index fund (VTI is a good one). When kiddo is 18 he will thank you.

Due-Sea4841

Oh dear...!!! **From Google Finance: Expense ratio 1.14%, Front load 5.75%, YTD return 7.35%, 5 yr returns 11.88%, Yield 2.46%** They took a big chunk of your money from the beginning with that Front load fee, then the high ER, and low yields created low returns over a 5 year period vs. 85-90% for the S&P 500 Index fund such as: SPLG, IVV, VOO. I would sell your Russell fund so it's cash in the account, then I would open the Fidelity Roth IRA account and work with Fidelity reps to have them get Russell to xfer the cash over to the new Fidelity Roth. Then invest in a basic broad based ETF like: SPLG, SPYG, IVV, VOO, SCHG, VUG, VOOG, VONG, etc...or VTI for all US total market. Good Luck........;+)

LegitosaurusRex

How, after losing $130k, are you not confident enough that you're done trading to have to say "probably"?? /u/outoftime_x It clearly isn't working, and won't work anytime in the future. Just buy VTI.

grokfinance

It doesn't make sense to do both VOO and VTI. VOO already makes up a large part of VTI. You'd be over indexing on the S&P 500 companies. If you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, maybe even 50s I'd do something like 80/20 mix of VTI and VXUS to get some international exposure as well.

grokfinance

A Roth IRA is a great (probably the greatest) investment vehicle for retirement. It comes with many benefits. I think the funs you listed are fine. Personally, I'd pick VTI over VOO for additional diversification. I'd do something like 70/20/10 VOO/FSPSX/VWO. In 40 years every $1,000 you invest today should grow to something like \~$30k. And since it is in a Roth IRA it will be completely tax free. Not bad. [https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/personal-finance/retirement/nine-reasons-roth](https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/personal-finance/retirement/nine-reasons-roth)

trevor_barnette

Or just don’t worry about the above and staying on top of the markets and just invest in VT (or VTI/VXUS) and some mixture of bonds depending on age. There is no need to ever worry about making adjustments with this strategy as that could lead to performance chasing. Short term politics and worrying about dips etc could lead to some costly decisions. Total market index funds and let it ride, the only change you should worry about with this strategy is what percentage of bonds to hold and when. You never need to read an article about markets to succeed with this.

AndySummers13

Sorry are you not being sarcastic? Investing the $589 in VTI is better than literally everything else OP could ever conceive of, or any of us for that matter

AndySummers13

How is VTI sideways?

StrictlySanDiego

Your comments prove you don't have shit lol. You don't need $600 million by retirement. You need maybe $2-3 million by retirement to live well. And investing in VTI/VOO/whatever s&p 500 etf preference is what will get you there. Max out 401k, Roth/IRA, and HSA is a set it and forget strategy that lets you live more. Or you can salivate at hitting it big shorting Nabisco while going long on Purple fucking mattresses and rearrange the deck chairs,

igot2pair

Nah man VTI

SnS2500

The past ten years the total return on FSKAX is +273%. For VTI it is +278%. Since VT is worldwide and not just USA, its return the past ten years has been +198%.

SnS2500

Sure. One total US market ETF similar to FSKAX is VTI. Don't be in a hurry. Educate yourself then make decisions you are comfortable with, but it would be a good idea to at least buy a few shares of one or more ETFs now jut to see how they work.

Subie-

It’s absolutely boring. When you have the chance to make a shit ton of money people will risk it all to do so. Investing in VTI for a measly return of 10% a year is good for safe money, people who don’t take risks. You’ll never get rich from investing into it. People come on this sub and see daddy’s money, insanely lucky rich salary regards putting 100k easily into something for the chance to double or make a million. I know very few people who have 100k+ liquid to throw into something unless you go into extreme amounts of debt.

Swan990

QQQ has outperformed VOO long term by a good amount. But has the larger expense ratio, but factoring that still out performs. I'm doing both simply because I don't like my eggs all in one basket. [https://stockanalysis.com/etf/compare/qqq-vs-voo/](https://stockanalysis.com/etf/compare/qqq-vs-voo/) I'm also spreading in VTI & VYM. Has some small cap and dividends are higher. Plus some more in bottom half portfolio of ETFs for energy/utility/financial/small cap sectors.

Mguidr1

Desperation is what led you to this lowly state of financial gloom. Here’s an idea and it’s not advice but it is what I do. Research and invest in stocks that have a use function. Also invest in emergent technology such as quantum but don’t make this your main position. Put some profits in the S&P or total stock market (VOO or VTI)… have some cash on standby to invest in good stocks when the market drops.

affablemartyr1

Never too late to buy VTI

AltoDomino79

Is there any *disadvantage* to owning VTSAX (admiral share mutual fund) in a Brokerage account versus the ETF equivalent (VTI)?

DegenGonnaDegen

SPY down, VTI up. Makes sense

micha_allemagne

You’ve got a solid core with VTI + VXUS, but then you tacked on QQQM and SMH which kind of just pump up your tech exposure twice over. You’re already heavy US large cap with VTI, and QQQM is just pouring more into the same bucket. SMH makes it even more concentrated. Not necessarily bad if you want to tilt hard toward tech, but don’t kid yourself thinking this is diversified. Here’s a breakdown of your portfolio: https://www.insightfol.io/en/portfolios/report/9d7f389450/

ax_graham

In 2023 I took the L on $18k lost via various ARK funds I bought in February 2021. I redeployed as a boglehead (VTI, VXUS, small/mid value tilt) and definitely haven't looked back. Best time was yesterday, second best is today.

norcalnatv

You got it. Buy funds like SCHD, VOO, IWM, VUG, VTI, SCHY in your retirement accounts. Go look at morningstar to compare them. Reinvest the dividends through a DRIP. Don't go crazy picking individual stocks, 4-5% max exposure, and don't play options. Diversification is important, invest new capital regularly into what you've got (dollar cost averaging). Then leave it alone, literally for decades. What you're getting by hiring is someone to do that for you. They'll spread your capital out into a bunch of different ETFs (20-30) that are each slightly different, some international and bond funds and pay them 1% for the privilege. They will take things to the next level with tax loss harvesting and rebalancing. It's all automated with them, it's not like you're going to get a lot of hand holding. But you can do it yourself. You're getting it. It's not hard. (I have a high 7 figure retirement account that's all self directed that just took patience, a little bit of trial and error and the occasional course correction. There was a bit of luck in there too.) You're young enough to make some mistakes and it's not going to kill your account. Courage!

Based_Commgnunism

The Fidelity mutual funds are good. FXAIX is S&P500. For total US market there's FSKAX and FZROX. The Vanguard equivalents VOO/VTI are also fine if you prefer an ETF. Or any of the other many low fee S&P500/total US funds. As to whether you prefer to hold S&P500 or total US it doesn't really matter as their performance is essentially the same. Total US market is technically more diversified so I'd go for that if you only plan to hold one US fund. For international there's FTIHX or FZILX, or VXUS. I'd recommend holding them at market cap weights, so 65% US and 35% international. That way you just own the whole market. Another option is to buy VT, which is 65% VOO/35% VXUS in a single fund. With VT your whole portfolio can be just one fund. This also eliminates the need to do an annual rebalance. There are good reasons to hold small cap value funds, both US and international, but you shouldn't do it unless you really understand the thesis and why you are holding it and how it has performed recently and historically.

ZeOs-x-PUNCAKE

This reminds me of when people post charts from the Great Depression as if financial markets still function in any way similar to how they did back then. If the US is suddenly on the verge of complete economic collapse and losing a world war, this *might* become relevant, but until then, you can catch me VTI and chilling.

athlaka916

Is there a threshold to where it’s not worth it to do this? Everything’s relative but say you spent $5k on ARKG or BB or something and you’re down 80%. Is it even worth it to take your $1k, eat the loss and buy a few shares of VTI?

InjuryEmbarrassed532

VTI up only 0.48% so far today. What gives?

InjuryEmbarrassed532

VTI up only 0.30% today. What gives?

strangebutohwell

VT Or VTI + VXUS Add BND if you want bonds

Neat-Emu-8731

ACHR in there is interesting, that’s one of those longterm conviction plays. Not gonna move like VTI in the short run, but if Archer executes on defense & LA28, it co uld be a big multiplier for you down the road

Zestyclose_Ship6486

You’ve already made the hardest move.. getting started.. Now it’s just staying disciplined ETFs like VTI/SPTM will give you exposure to the whole market, and your growth bets like ACHR give you that shot at outsized returns. Solid strategy.