VTI
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
Mentions (24Hr)
150.00% Today
Reddit Posts
23 F advice on my long term portfolio: VTI/QQQM/Costco
Is it ok to never have bonds if you start investing early?
Let's go! For most, the best investment route is to just purchase a S&P500 index fund/ETF and hold on (*while adding to it often and extra when markets are in a down-cycle). Vanguard's VOO and VFINX have low expense ratios % and are great choices! VTI / VTSMX are also good (total market) options.
Let's go! For most, the best investment route is to just purchase a S&P500 index fund/ETF and hold on (*while adding to it often and extra when markets are in a down-cycle). Vanguard's VOO and VFINX have low expense ratios % and are great choices! VTI / VTSMX are also good (total market) options.
Let's go! For most, the best investment route is to just purchase a S&P500 index fund/ETF and hold on (*while adding to it often and extra when markets are in a down-cycle). Vanguard's VOO and VFINX have low expense ratios % and are great choices! VTI / VTSMX are also good (total market) options.
I hit $100,000 in Broad Market Index Funds (mostly VOO and VTI) this Jan
I have about 10k on hand. Thinking 50% VTI or VT,30% VXUS, and rest 20% in stocks. Unsure about my ETF choices though
Target Date Funds (TDF) in Taxable Account for Money Needed in 4-5 Years?
What to do with $300,000 just sitting in my checking account?
Thoughts on 31yo investment portfolio - big pay raise next year and questions
100% stocks is not universally good advice. Stock market indexes are not always the right benchmark for your performance.
Is FZIPX same as AVUV? Looking for Low ER small cap ETF
I'm creating a portfolio for my brother, any thoughts?
Lost eBay Lego bid war, now have 1.3k, what stock to invest for coping
Where to invest 10k leveraged from CC cash advance (5% fee)?
As a non-US resident is it worth getting Ireland-domiciled ETFs?
3rd year of maxing out my roth ira. How do my allocations look
Limited International Fund Options in Employer’s 401K Plan?
Choosing spouses growth stocks for taxable account
Three things that will happen in the next 1-2 months. Willing to ban bet any of these if you are.
Okay Portfolio Going Into 2024? [23 YOLD Looking for long term investments]
Thinking about a higher growth portfolio for the new year.
30 year old. What's got the greatest possible potential for returns? TQQQ?
What is the quality of stock markets in other countries compared to US?
Searching for advice on F1 NRA brokerage accounts (Vanguard Vs. Schwab)
Started 529 account for child, invested in "NH Portfolio 2042 (Fidelity Index)"
With IRAs about to reset for 2014 what are you all planning to buy?
Portfollio allocation after move from edward jones
Do you ever buy stocks outside of the indexes and Mag 7 near all time highs?
Investing brokerage accounts for my kids and nieces - best course of action?
Investing advice for moving around 100k into ETFs
I've got $500K burning a hole in my pocket: should I bet it all on tech stocks?
Mentions
How should I invest 20k? Hello, I have some money sitting in savings that I won’t need anytime in the near future and I decided I’d like to do something with it to make more money. I’m open to suggestions here’s what I can up with Chat GPT: 20k to invest -5k in High Yield Savings Account -15k in Index Fund VTI 100% OR VTI/VXUS 80/20 split Let me know your thoughts / advice please, thank you.
Put the rest in VTI/VOO and forget your password
I read his GameStop Substack. He is definitely clearly autistic. Also makes me wanna just VTI and chill. I am not smart enough for this shit lol
i have a 401k that is 50% sp500 and 50% life cycle funds. then me and wife each have fidelity accounts with a little over $100k which includes (our emergency funds in taxable accounts which are like 30% SPAXX / 30% treasury funds like sgov and usfr / 30% BOXX and 10% sp500) then we each have a traditional and a roth - hers are both ~ 30% each of ETFs ( VOO / VTI / QQQ ) and 10% in international ETF (similar to VXUS) mine is 1 account (Trad.IRA) has all kinds of ETFs and the other (Roth) is my gamble up individual stocks account - it made ~20% more than SP500 this year - so i will do it again next year - we agreed that if i cant beat the market - then i will switch to the all ETF approach. (i am only buying shares. no options and no shorting.)
Absolutely might work out that way. It also might work out that small caps and mid caps rear their head and jump forward. I mean, look at international equities this year. VOO is up 15.85% YTD. VXUS is up 28%. BTW - VTI is up 15.37% YTD, so it has captured almost all of the upside of VOO, but it has 5% less exposure to the Top 10 holdings, which makes me rest a wee bit easier (maybe 5% easier).
My thesis has been that mega caps are not likely to be broken up and are likely to retain a competitive, monopolistic advantage as incumbents. Therefore I do VOO over VTI
Fair point, now compare the past 15 years lol. Not sure one year is enough to change my whole thesis. Like I said, I personally perform better when I don't change much, it's why i didn't allocate more of my VTI to QQQ, even though QQQ has crushed VTI for the last 5 ish years. Because I saw how long it took for tech to recover after the crash in 2000. Again, I fully admit that I should have more VXUS, not sure I'd agree that it should be 40% like in VT, but I should probably have 25-30%. Personally, my biased brain just expects USA equities to outperform the rest of the world as a whole most years. Yes, single countries will outperform the USA often, but for every Korea or Brazil outperforming, there will be another country way underperforming, dragging down the ex-us average. I just trust USA resources and greed to outperform most of the time.
Makes me glad I'm more of a VT person vs VTI.
I’m considering VTI and it has Nvidia as well
Sorry for the most boring answer, but in 21 years of investing, I've learned that my portfolio earns most when I just don't touch it, or try to pick sectors or stocks. I would have significantly more money if I had just stuck to my current allocation of 65% VTI/ 20% VXUS / 5% VB (vanguard small cap)/ 5% GLD/ 5% IBIT. The only thing I've changed in the last 5 years is I had 10% GLD before IBIT started. I liked to have the gold for inflation/stagflation/US underperformance like 1969-1979 and 2000-2010. I rolled 5% of the GLD to Ibit, seeing it as "digital gold". I should probably roll some of my VTI into more VXUS, because of the US over performance recently, but it's really hard mentally for me to add more VXUS- I've read all the theory and intellectually I understand I should have more VXUS, it's just hard for me to pull the trigger on re-allocation when foreign has VASTLY underperformed for basically my entire investing career. Having said all that, I do expect worse US performance in the next 10 years, and I expect the US to keep printing- which is why i have the the GLD and Ibit.
The US is part of the world and it is currently 2/3 of the world’s stock value. If exus outperforms then it will shrink from 66. If US continues to outperform, it will grow past 66. That’s diversity. Nothing is stopping you from going VTI/VXUS and weighting VXUS more heavily like 60/40 or 50/50. You’re just trying to time the market if you do that though.
VOO has a higher concentration of big tech, which has done great recently. VTI has a much broader portfolio, but also a lot of big tech. If you think the future could include more gains for small and mid-cap, VTI could be a better choice. They have performed similarly recently.
VOO and chill.... VTI and chill...
Yeah, came here to say this. VTI is not total world. VT is. But it is only equities.
What about 70% VTI, 30% VXUS? I know it is wildly different than what you suggest in your title /s. In all seriousness, this would give you full coverage of the global stock market. You mentioned VTI having 15% international, this is not true, VTI is Total US Stock Market, so you would need to VXUS to gain international exposure. If you are looking for the “one and done”, you are thinking of VT, it has total world stock market exposure. IMO, VT is only better if you want to be completely passive and hands off, due to the auto rebalancing. If you plan on being involved at all, VTI & VXUS will give you a tiny bit more control.
I think you’re going to learn about yourself with this sudden influx of money. How often you want to check in on it, fiddle with it, how you feel about a drawdown might all change once you’ve tangibly taken the steps to invest. Personally, I’d have fun with 10% of the money, establish a cash reserve of six months of expenses and put the rest in VTI to make it simple and try to strike the right balance of fun, prudence and risk.
VOO, VTI, and SPY are basically the same ETF. If I am index investing, I only buy VT. It's the most diversified index in one ETF. You can buy stocks in addition to VT. I'd be careful about picking too many individual stocks at first if you are in experienced. You really don't want to get clapped on stocks like what happened to retail in 2022. I get it everyone wants to get rich quick, but also consider the risk as well.
I feel your pain. I know all the "geniuses" are talking about VTI being flat. Well grandpa im not 75 so im not only invested in VTI. Tech and anything related to crypto are getting absolutely slaughtered lately along with small caps taking a hit. And with that pretty much anything high beta is getting drug down with it. We are definitely in a risk off market environment. Things like VTI and to a lesser extent SPY are relatively flat because of the rotation into defensive plays. Although the volatility sucks,(unless you're selling options like I am)you have to remember that there's a reason why we call it rotations. When the risk on comes back we rotate back into high beta and thats when the face melting rallying returns. VTI will be up 1% and tech and crypto will be up 10%+
>So your reasoning for waiting until 1/01/26 is much less about possible tax loss harvesting and more about just holding onto the money and making whatever interest I can on it while it is still in my possession - which makes total sense. I guess with the tax loss harvesting being a *potential side* bonus if the market allows for it. Yes and yes. >Personally I'm really just wanting to hold VTI and VXUS long term for simplicity. Agree 1000%. I own a ton of each (and some other legacy holdings) in roughly a US/International 80/20 ratio, more or less. >Side note - the taxes are of course a concern and I want to be as strategic as possible with them, but they are secondary to my real reason for wanting out from under professional management which is a 1.3% portfolio fee I pay annually + an average of 0.3% annual fees from the high-cost ETF's they have me in. Altogether I currently have a roughly 1.6% YOY drag on my investments. The tax concern is currently a backseat issue compared to this whopper. Makes perfect sense and the tax is an annoyance, but you are not letting the tail wag the dog by prioritizing the tax issue, which I also agree with. And you're welcome.
This is a great reply and I really appreciate you taking the time to provide your input. Yes to #2 - mine and my wife's joint HHI exceeds $150k. Liquidating in 2025 vs. 2026 (assuming no unforeseen life changes) won't push us into a higher tax bracket either which was another consideration. So your reasoning for waiting until 1/01/26 is much less about possible tax loss harvesting and more about just holding onto the money and making whatever interest I can on it while it is still in my possession - which makes total sense. I guess with the tax loss harvesting being a *potential side* bonus if the market allows for it. I really don't care much for the tax-loss harvesting, considering my long term goals. Uncle Sam is going to come for those taxes sooner or later, whether I pay them now or kick the can 20 years down the road. I don't love the idea of selling my positions just to buy back into them and lower my cost-basis. In my (layman) mind, it makes sense if you were in speculative investments which dropped significantly and which you don't believe will come back up. Sell them, reinvest elsewhere, and use the losses to cover gains elsewhere if you have any. Makes sense. Personally I'm really just wanting to hold VTI and VXUS long term for simplicity. Side note - the taxes are of course a concern and I want to be as strategic as possible with them, but they are secondary to my real reason for wanting out from under professional management which is a 1.3% portfolio fee I pay annually + an average of 0.3% annual fees from the high-cost ETF's they have me in. Altogether I currently have a roughly 1.6% YOY drag on my investments. The tax concern is currently a backseat issue compared to this whopper.
"VTI/VTSAX and Chill" is the reason I sat through all of the 2010s and 2020 without selling. The decision to not to anything special was my most profitable decision.
VXUS is outperforming my VTI holdings by a lot this year, but also I don't think this LLM mania actually provides real economic value. It's currently just predictive slop that looks impressive to senior level executives that don't understand whether what they're looking at is even correct.
VTI and chill is better. You retiring in 5-10 years? If not, just keep adding. CD is for emergencies, not for timing markets.
>I guess my understanding of the general advice might be ranking the usual threes (VT, VTI,VOO) by the level of diversifications Sorry for the second reply: this is a poor way to think about it, as described above the additional diversification for each "tier" actually adds riskier (and what should be compensated) types of risk. Look at what the holdings are, not the count.
67% US 37% Int'l. Or in other words VTI+VXUS. So if you already have US based ETFs focus on VXUS. That's my strategy to get the balance.
I really don't know but it does definitely feel like the next 20-30 years should lean in favor of small/mid caps. In my estimation it boils down to large cap tech being able to grow faster than investor expectations, and getting back to historically normal interest rate environment. Probably the best approach is VTI and chill if you think the large cap reign is coming to an end. Keep the upside in case your early on a large cap exit and get some of the smaller cap upside.
The average advice here is to go VOO/VTI/VT and hold.
If you invest in VTI you get average returns on USA equities
Fair point if this is in a taxable account. With VT you still get some foreign tax credit, but it’s smaller because only the international portion generates it, so splitting VTI plus VXUS can be a bit more tax efficient and lets you set your US to international ratio. That said, the difference is usually pretty small on a 3000 balance, and VT is hard to beat for simplicity and staying invested. If it’s in a tax advantaged account, the tax credit angle matters even less, so I’d pick whichever helps you stick with it long term.
It's important to remember that as one of the largest companies in the S&P, it's automatically a huge portion of a bunch of passive investors portfolios. That means (for all of these huge companies) that price signals are muted. It'll be interesting to see what happens as giant ETF's like SPY and VTI try to rebalance their portfolios away from mag7 when the AI bubble pops.
People hate "VTI and chill" boglehead investing because its "boring." Who said it was supposed to be interesting???? If any part of your life should be boring, it should be your retirement investment and your doctors visits.
You sound like a gambler to begin with, good luck with that long term and beating VTI.
This is why just keeping a diverse portfolio if you're a long term investor is the best advice. 50% VTI 15% VXUS 10% AVUV 15% BND 10% Cash for dry powder
Although VTI, iTOT, and SCHB are all total US stock market ETFs they track indexes made by different index providers. So the three ETFs are not "substantially identical" as defined by the IRS. So you can sell one of those ETFs for a loss and replace it immediately by another one of those three ETFs without triggering a wash sale adjustment.
>Is there a reason why so many people on here suggest VOO instead of saying something like "an S&P500 ETF"? Simplicity, brevity. I also will say VTI rather than "a total US stock market ETF" and what I really invest in is a mix of ITOT, SCHB, and VTI as I tax loss harvest between those three "total US stock market ETFs".
Similar. But went VTI+VXUS Outside of that will put like 5% to individual picks
You've somehow never heard of VTI or VOO?
https://totalrealreturns.com/s/NOBL,VTI,VOO They've underperformed almost all of the past 10 years. It's still arguing with charts from the 80s when investing has changed significantly since then.
> in tech ETFs Habit 1 that more people don't do: invest in broad market index funds (VOO/VTI/VT) rather than individual stocks or sector-specific funds.
A custodial account in my makes sense to me. You control the acount until you transfer it to your grandson. I would invest in a mix of dividend funds and growth. That way when he get it it will produce some income he can use immendiently if needed. And the growth would be a good long term way to save money with low tax. For growth you could use funds lit VTI and VSUS. For dividneds you could use funds like SPYI 11% yield , PFFA 8% yield, and CLOZ 8% yield. SPYI is a tx efficient fund PFFA is reliable source of coperate dividned income. CLOZ is a very stable fund with an with a really good divined.
Thank you for sharing! I really appreciate the insight and different perspectives. And thank you very much for helping me understand the uncompensated risk concept. I kind of get the idea but the way you put it is very succinct. Love it. Re: Risk level, I get your points. My counter argument is that U.S.has a lot of concentration risk on AI compared to VT which is significantly more diversified. I guess my understanding of the general advice might be ranking the usual threes (VT, VTI,VOO) by the level of diversifications
I'm 45 years old, have an investment account other than those $3000 which are seperate. I am not based in the U.S. and sadly, my broker allows to buy only full units and not fractures, so it will be difficult to constantly add units over time. It's just so they won't sit on nothing. So, I'm leaning towards VTI + QQQM + SCHG and yes, I know there is some overlap, but I understand it is not really the same.
I’d lean heavier into an index fund like VOO, VTI, SCHG, I jumped out of Google like an idiot few months ago and I bought at 150 (small position) Given the AI landscape, Google seems like it might be the quickest to monetize AI, and their potential move to sell chips of their own could accelerate sales and profits long term if it takes off. Not to mention their balance sheet is strong with lots of cash and minimal debt (unlike Oracle) I’m thinking about buying back in myself, good luck.
Since you sound stupid I’ll help you. The ai trade isn’t one trade, it’s a series of trades that move along the entire ecosystem depending on where the need is greatest. Before it was chips. Hence nvdas meteoric rise. Since Jan 2025 it has been datacenters and dc adjacent devices ie cooling photonics etc. Many of those holdings have 5-10x’d in less than a year. You can be bitter that you missed the boat which clearly you are, but don’t get upset that others are able to forecast and make returns that far outperform dollar cost averaging into VTI. Stick your ETFs you’re not built for this.
VT should not be considered any more conservative than VTI or VOO. In fact, I would argue that your order of conservative to aggressive is backwards! * VOO is US (a developed market) large caps only. Large caps tend to be safer than smaller caps, developed markets safer than emerging (and even among developed markets I've seen people argue the US is extra safe). * VTI is US only, but adds smaller caps, which should be seen as adding a more aggressive area compared to VOO. * VT includes smaller caps and emerging markets, both can be seen as adding aggression compared to VOO. Single country risk is also an uncompensated type of risk, even if it is the US. 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.**
Please check out [https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/) In general, I'd say the advice are: \- VT - If you are more conservative. This is all world ETF. \- VTI - If you are a little less conservative. This is all U.S. market ETF. \- VOO - If you are more aggressive type investor. This is S&P 500 or the top 500 largest companies in U.S. Good luck.
If you're nervous about jumping straight to high ex-US, start with 80/20—it's what a ton of experienced investors here run. You get meaningful diversification without feeling like you're "betting against America." Rebalance once a year, add new money to whichever is lagging, and sleep easy. Run it yourself on Portfolio Visualizer: Search "VTI VXUS backtest" and play with ratios from 1970s onward. You'll see no ratio wins forever, but anything 70/30 to 90/10 has been solid long-term.
Just invest in stocks, don’t go the crypto route since u might try to ge trick quick through meme coins etc. just invest in the total stock market using ticket symbol VTI and invest in large cap growth using SCHG. Good luck
This, don't bet against the US. VTI til I die.
After the March/April crash and it recovered. I almost panic sold. My first real experience with one. Very glad I didn’t. I kept adding twice a month and I’m doing great now. The best advice I’ve seen: markets normally stay at or above ATH’s. Corrections lead to recovery. If the market never went up over time, *nobody would be able to retire*. I max my Roth every year and I add as much to my brokerage into VTI/VT. I don’t check it every day. It takes discipline and patience, but it will pay off.
You want some sort of diversified total US stock market ETF, then you want some international exposure. VT has both combined. If you prefer to control the ratio yourself or optimize for small amount of taxes, then VTI+VXUS. Both of those options have merits and I wouldn't agonize about either path. Just pick and get that money in the market. Some people are recommending VOO but its less diversified than VTI/VT so it's not my personal first choice but its fine. Keep in mind that every brokerage has versions of these funds and there are schwab and fidelity equivalent versions that you could also use. Since you only have 3k, I wouldn't worry about adding bonds yet. I'm not sure your age, but my 2c is to start worrying about that when you have at least 100k invested.
When I started investing, I put like $25 from each paycheck into VOO and then slowly increased that until I found the amount I was comfortable with. VOO is simple and you can't go wrong with it. A lot of people use it as their core, long-term investment. I still have my VOO but I buy VTI and VXUS now. You'll learn as you go which funds work with your plans.
lol that’s absolutely not true. For the US, VTI and VXUS have different tax benefits just like different dividend stocks. Important for any level of investing especially for those investing long term
What balance? VT has basically everything in SCHD and VTI
Nope just buy and hold until retirement. Look at the bogleheads strategy. They do only 3 funds-VTI, VXUS and a bond-like component
No because you just do 60% VTI, 40% VXUS
1) 70% VTI (broad US market) or SPYM (S&P 500, US large cap - pick whether you want the whole market or just large companies, either is a defensible choice) 2) 20% FIVA, IVLU, VYMI or DFIV - international value large caps 3) 10% AVDV or DISV - international value small/mid caps
I JUST opened a Vanguard account 1 month ago. Started initially with $1K and have been putting $400/wk in since (automatic contr from bank). Have $3K in there now. Only have VOO and VTI (50/50). Will keep this up for the next 15-20yrs for retirement. This is separate from my other 401ks, brokerage and company stock. I wish I would’ve started this long ago.
You lose the international tax benefit with VT, better to have VTI and VXUS separately
Solid choice! But maybe mix it up with VTI and SCHD for a bit more balance in your portfolio.
I'd go 60% VTI (total US market), 20% VXUS (international), 20% SCHD (dividend growth for stability).VGT is great but heavy tech concentration; this spreads risk while keeping growth potential. Good luck!
Good work, but remember this is supposed to be your nest egg for retirement. Maybe put your gains in VTI + VXUS and trade options on your initial contribution? Obviously, it's your account, but you know how things go in the casino...
Just because they have crazy valuations doesn’t mean they have impactful market caps or are represented significantly in VTI. I’m with you in that I prefer VOO at the end of the day but it’s just because I just don’t think we’re on a trajectory where the big players are going to be diluted by the masses anytime soon. But I think scam stocks are barely a rounding error in an ETF that diversified.
VMFXX is federal money market. VT is well diversified and easy. Personally I do VTI and VXUS. I want to have about 15% in diversified international etf which is why I don’t do straight VT. Just personal preference.
Lmao right? Same with "should I buy puts on NVDA" and "is now a good time to DCA into VTI" The daily AI bubble post is basically a meme at this point
VTI and VOO with stop limits just below the 200SMA will exit most crashes without triggering during retest. It does require you login at least once a month and make adjustments but makes sure you have a lot of cash the day after the market gets obliterated
idk how VTI would be hedging, emergency fund isn't gonna make me money on the way down
Isn’t just adding to VTI and keeping an emergency fund doing just that?
This is why VOO and VTI are going to be the best bets for most people. Building a "garden" is fun though, which is what I do. I essentially pick a sector (idea/theme/whatever) that I believe will do well going forward 10 years. Then I buy about 20-25 companies within that sector and see what grows and what dies. Seems to work pretty well!
Hold all the VTI/VXUS is currently have, and DCA into more as I get paid.
I did it boys! Lost $8k last year and thanks to RIVN I'm now up $8200 this year. Time to dump most of it into Voo/VTI and chill.
VTI, VXUS and ignoring all the noise
Is 80% VTI 20% QQQM too conservative for a legitimate 40 year time horizon portfolio?
Same as it is every year, VTI and chill
I have 2,169.2 shares of VTI Nice
1. **QQQ:** \~10.05% CAGR. 2. **VOO (SPY Proxy):** \~8.76% CAGR. 3. **VTI (VTSAX Proxy):** \~8.85% CAGR. this is the annualized return for the past 25 years. Again, you are fixated on finding a shorter time range that comes after a once a lifetime event for your argument. You outperform QQQ the decade after one of the worst crashes in stock market history then you eventually get outperformed after another 15 years. Granted we all have decades ahead of us, but number and return talk, and they are saying QQQ is the winner.
Respectfully, I think your reading comprehension needs improvement. We crown plenty of investors that outperform SPY for just over 10 years legendary and I just said math and fact literally prove that if you DCA into QQQ in 1999 the worst tech bubble bust, you still outperform VTI by at least 200%. If you can consistently invest for 26 years and outperform SPY, what more proof or literature do you need?
Respectfully, I don't think you understand financial research or the historical financial data. There have been and are going to be long periods where certain kinds of equities and certain sectors will overperform the market. By putting all your eggs into QQQ, you are making a bet that very large-cap, heavily tech-weighted, US equities will outperform everything else. That, simply put, is not supported by 100+ years of global financial data or the academic literature. Could QQQ continue to deliver amazing performances for the next 30 years? Maybe, maybe not. My stance is *that I don't know* what stocks/sectors (or what countries for that matter) will have higher or lower returns in the future, which is why a cap-weighted (global) market index should be the foundation of any portfolio. Now, there is quite a lot of academic literature that can guide adjustments from there, so people can make an educated guess that small-cap value stocks will continue to pay a premium in the long run, etc. But there is absolutely nothing in the academic literature that would suggest that large-cap tech stocks in the US will continue to outperform the broader market in the long-run or that reducing diversification to concentrate your portfolio amongst those stocks is a good idea. By the way, you really don't have to go back far to see an example of a long period when the total US market outperformed QQQ. Look up VTI vs QQQ since 1999 (when QQQ was launched). You would have been ahead with VTI until 2012, and significantly so until the financial crisis.
Need more stock exposure as interest rates are dropping. Look at some VTI, VIG, VYM and GPIX to establish a dividend stream of income, and allow for some growth on at least half the overall portfolio. You have the money, need to get it working more tax efficiently.
You’ve already won the game. Your $48k annual spend against $2.3M in liquid assets is a practically bulletproof 2% withdrawal rate. Your only real enemy here isn't a market crash, it’s inflation slowly eroding the purchasing power of that $1.5M cash pile over the next 30 years. Keep 5 years of living expenses in T-Bills or CDs for peace of mind, then put the rest into a low-cost S&P 500 index fund like VOO or VTI. You don't need to "maximize" returns and take unnecessary risks. You just need enough exposure to equities to ensure your money keeps up with the cost of living.
If I can put in my nickel (since the penny is obsolete), might I suggest SCHG it’s like a cross between VOO and QQQ, so a little more tech heavy but better returns than VOO/VTI
Well I could retire immediately at VTI 1000 so hoping you’re right
I bought VTI at 111 in 2020
Honestly from everything I’ve looked into regular independent investors can’t buy into OpenAI directly. It’s not a public company, and the only people getting a piece are huge firms like Microsoft and SoftBank through private funding rounds. The closest way for us “normal people” to get in on it is just buying Microsoft (MSFT)since they’re the biggest investor and basically tied at the hip with OpenAI. If you want even easier exposure ETFs like VOO, IVV, QQQ, or VTI all hold Microsoft as one of their top positions so you get indirect OpenAI exposure that way. But yea there’s no legit way for retail investors to buy OpenAI shares directly right now. Anything claiming they can get you OpenAI stock is most likely a scam.
QQQ top 10 holdings is 52%. VTI top 10 holdings is 38%. If any company that will disrupts the top 10, they are very likely in the top 100 international non financial companies. If not, they get included in QQQ fast enough to capture majority of upside. If holding the best non financial companies in the world is not enough diversification for you. You are likely diworsifying. DCA 500 month from 1999 into SPY snd QQQ. You end up 850k with SPY and 3m with QQQ.
I wish I had known in college that you could buy $20 of an ETF like VTI or VOO instead of needing to save up to buy a full share. Then again, the investment platforms have changed a lot, so maybe that wasn't really an option for me!
A lot of people downvoted you seem to not realize QQQ does not just hold tech companies. It holds 100 biggest international non financial companies. That’s just the right concentration and diversification one needs. A lot of companies in sp500 are zombie companies that has growths don’t even outpace inflation. VTI is worse. Past performance does not indicate future performance except that past performance has more than 20 years track record and for it to lag sp500 and vti, you need governments to come in and cap every single company from growing past a size.
You can but there's no guarantee it will perform well. Honestly it would be better to just stick to an S&P 500 ETF like VOO or a total market fund like VTI. Ideally for the lowest possible risk, a total WORLD fund like VT would be a truly "set it and forget it" long term investment.
VTI at 339 is kind of a milestone. I expect 680 before the end of the decade. 1000 not long after that.
If you plan to do options, then SPY: 1) SPY is roughly 1 x price of VOO or 2 x price of VTI (and has been that way for DECADES). The prices track each other closely so you're not really getting any type of performance / diversification by going with VTI. 2) Options volume and bid / ask spread. SPY has one of the most liquid options in the world. VOO and VTI options are much thinner with wider bid / ask spreads. If you’re regularly selling and rolling covered calls, a couple of crappy fills can easily blow the \~0.06% per year you might save in expense ratio going with VOO / VTI instead of SPY.
If your main goal is long-term compounding, VOO or VTI are usually better core holdings because the lower expense ratio matters over decades. The difference is small year-to-year but meaningful once your portfolio gets large. SPY isn’t “bad,” it’s just more expensive because it’s structured for liquidity and trading. People choose it when they plan to do a lot of options since the chain is deeper and spreads are tighter. You can sell covered calls on VOO or VTI, but the options market is thinner. As for income, covered calls typically add a modest yield boost, not huge upside because you’re trading potential gains for steady premiums. Analysts like Addison Wiggin often frame it this way: * VTI if you want total-market exposure and lowest costs * VOO if you want S&P 500 exposure with low costs * SPY if options liquidity is your priority Pick the one that matches your actual strategy, not the one you might use someday.
VTI, VXUS, and a minor stake in SGOV. Feed these three (45, 45, 10) and don’t mess with options until you get bonus money you can afford to lose. Eventually branch out into single stocks when you have a good nest egg
SPY is the better choice if you plan to trade SPY options and use your shares as collateral. That said, not trading options on your core fund at all will ultimately make more money for you than trading covered calls on SPY, over the long run. That being the case, it would be better to go with VTI, for broader market exposure and lower fees. If you want to play with options, just do the options part, with SPY or whatever, and don't cap the upside of your VTI shares.
This happened for me this morning with VTI as well.
Hello everyone! I am currently debating what to do for my investment portfolio in 2026, and am debating between 2 options. Sorry for the long post. To get this out of the way - yes, I expect a significant market downturn in 2026. Yes, I definitely also think it is very possible for there to be significant gains as well. I’m not trying to debate this point here, though it is fascinating it has been asked and debated a million times and nobody knows the answer. Instead I am looking for feedback on my thought process which I have outlined below. Are there any big flaws here? What have I not considered? Am I a raging idiot for forgetting something important? Probably. Thanks a lot for taking a look and any feedback! **General plan** * 10-20% immediate shift to HYSA (assuming 20% hereafter for simplicity) * Currently \~66% VTI, 7% VXUS, rest individual stocks. * Rebalance portfolio to even more heavily focus low-risk ETFs, deprioritize individual holdings, potentially increase VXUS(?) **Debate:** * **Note:** I previously harvested gains in 2024, and rebought on Dec 30th, so my window to harvest gains in 2025 is about as short as it can be * *Option A) Harvest all gains Dec 31st, immediately rebuy 80%* * Locks in 100% of gains, also minimizes advantageous sale opportunities through 2026 due to short term capital gains * *Option B) Harvest only 20% gains* Dec 31st * Maintains option to ladder sell further through 2026, keeping LTCG rates **Other Considerations:** * I do have a \~6 month emergency fund in a HYSA. * Assuming no layoff, I am putting money monthly into a retirement account that is 100% FXAIX. I plan no changes for this account. * I expect to make more $ in 2026 than 2025, and am right around the 0-15% transition income for long term capital gains (after factoring in all income sources and standard deduction). * This would indicate that harvesting all gains would be good to do this year. * However, layoffs are currently abundant and while I feel no personal current warning signs, I do not assume to be immune here. A layoff in the first half or even 3rd quarter of the year would strongly incentivize harvesting gains during the 2026 year instead.