VTI

rpachigo1

Don't complicate it. Buy VTI or similar and be done with it. We've been on a bull run since 1980 more or less.

Sbplaint

This has been the hardest part about learning to invest for me. Everyone says all this stuff, but if you’re used to not having money, your instincts tell you to hold out…if you could only see my back and forth with Chat GPT doubting every single stupid VTI purchase I make…second guessing myself constantly, thinking maybe if I just read and study more, I could somehow find the secret and turn my dad’s thousands (he died this year, so this is my first time at the investment rodeo) into millions! Honestly, sometimes I feel like the more informed I am, the worse my returns have become. Not sure if that’s just me. From April until now, I have been obsessively buying and selling, yet I probably would have just been better off with a more passive approach…more of a slow simmer, crock pot type of treatment than I ultimately took. Instead of being calm and measured, I sold most of my dad’s holdings and started over. I have had some good days and some bad days just like everyone else, but I also have all this useless information keeping me up at night about semiconductors and tariffs and Jerome Powell that hasn’t helped me make even $0.10 more than I would have just letting it sit how it was. Just adding to the conversation as someone who can definitely relate to OP’s sentiment (but who is also trying to force myself not to let cash sitting in an inherited retirement account stay unproductive out of fear or anxiety over waiting for the right price dip). I almost think it would have been easier to invest back in the day where you had to subscribe to the trade journals and WSJ type things. There is so much information out there it’s just overwhelming. Add AI to the mix, and pretty much forget it! “Why yes, Sawyer, Of CoUrSe you should buy more (insert name of meme stock here). To the moon we go, Captain Buffett!” (For reference, my chat gpt knows I like beauty stuff so he keeps telling me to buy ULTA, PERF and ELF. If the market isn’t already a social experiment gone terribly wrong, it definitely will be soon! (But yes, I will keep buying my VTI and VXUS, bc I’m dutiful like that!)

miraiyuni

VTI, VOO, QQQ However old you are, just leave it in there and forget for the next 10 years.

Designer-Bat4285

6 months in emergency fund and dollar cost the rest into VTI and VXUS. Make your investments automatic.

Aggravating-Bad-9448

It’s happening with VTI as well wtf

Headrighthand

VOO VTI MSFT and SP500 are doing the same thing

ShortUSA

When you're buying an ETF it doesn't generally matter where you have an account: Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc. You can trade any of the ETFs through it, generally with no transaction fee. If you want diversification check VTI over QQQ (and its related funds). QQQ while more diversified than FTEC, is pretty similar, and doesn't really diversify you very much.

teethbutt

VTI and forget about it

alijaniel

I'm 24, basically identical income situation and also still living at home. I can't make recommendations since I'm fairly new to this, but here's my current portfolio: \- $7,500 emergency fund - Fidelity SPAXX account earning 4% (7.5k is a bit excessive for my situation, considering going down to 5k) \- $2,000 checking - Fidelity SPAXX account earning 4% \- $15,000 Roth IRA - 60% FZROX (domestic), 40% FZILX (intl.) \- $22,000 taxable brokerage - 60% VTI (domestic), 40% VXUS (intl.) \- $3,000 crypto - 70% BTC, 30% ETH (purely speculative; probably not the greatest idea, but I only use excess budgeted money to fund this account) Something that's been really nice for me is setting up recurring transfers and investments using Fidelity. On the 1st of the month, a portion of my paycheck is sent to checking for expenses, and the rest is divided between taxable and retirement; just enough to max out my Roth by the end of the year. On the 2nd of the month, those funds automatically get invested. I only go in every few months to rebalance if I need to (i.e., maintain the 60/40 ratio) and put excess checking funds into the taxable account and cypto account.

jimnychoo

10 percent total over 4 years is really shitty performance. Leave and just put it in VTI.

thetreece

What are they charging for management, and what funds are you in? They are currently managing it, but that doesn't mean they should. There's no evidence that FAs or fund managers can outperform market benchmarks, beyond what is expected from random chance. The simple method that gives you the best risk adjusted returns is to stop paying advisors and active fund fees, and just buy VTI+VXUS, or VT. If you really want, to keep the current large cap set up, then you could buy a US extended market index, like VXF. This would complement large cap holdings and make a sort of bastard total US allocation. Something like 85% large cap and 15% VXF would approximate VTI.

thetreece

> VSEQX No, it's an actively managed fund with a higher expense ratio. Don't try to split your large cap from the small and mid. Just sell whatever large cap funds you have and buy VTI (indexed, not actively managed, lower expense ratio) or some other total US market fund. No, don't put bonds in your taxable brokerage account. They should ideally all live in a tax advantaged accounts. It's not tax efficient to hold them in taxable brokerage account.

thetreece

US small and mid cap. You should probably have more international as well. Swap the US large cap for a total US fund like VTI. Proportion more to international (20-40%) is reasonable (something like VXUS). You now own small, mid, large caps, and you own developed and emerging markets, and you own REITs. The final question is how much of a bond position you want.

catastronot

62k VOO 30k NVDA 10k APPL 7.5k Tesla 1k MFST 25k VTI

Any-Side-9200

I was wondering about the other commenters 50/50 VOO VTI recommendation but thanks lol

SirGlass

SCHG is a growth fund, now a growth fund is not guaranteed to "grow" more or return more. Its very tech heavy and although tech has outperformed in the last 20 years or so , it may or maynot outperform the next 20 . Personally I would just invest it in broad market fund like SCHB or VTI, it will have all the holdings of SCHG but it will have value companies as well. Historically value has out performed growth so the last 20 years have been somewhat of an anomaly

andybmcc

I suggest a total US market fund like VTI instead of SCHG. "Growth" here does not mean you'll have better returns. It has a special meaning in the investing world in this context. The companies in SCHG have shares that are expensive to buy relative to the company's current financials compared to the rest of the market.

Macswirve

VTI and chill into retirement when it comes lol

iOCharts_

Hey, you’re already thinking ahead with retirement and a future home, that’s a solid start. Totally get that it feels like a lot at first, but it gets easier once you get the basics down. So real quick: * ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) are bundles of different stocks you can buy all at once. They’re a simple way to spread your money across a bunch of companies without picking individual stocks. One popular example is VTI, which covers most of the U.S. stock market. * A Roth IRA is just an account you invest through. Think of it like a container — you can put ETFs (or stocks, etc.) inside it. The cool part is, the money grows tax-free as long as you wait until retirement to take it out. So yeah, you can open a Roth IRA and buy ETFs in it to start growing long-term wealth without worrying about taxes down the line. Since you mentioned adding monthly, that could be a solid, low-stress way to get going.

Emergency-Title-3572

I, personally, believe that a well-balanced portfolio includes both stocks and bonds. Therefore I would never own 100% QQQ or 100% TLT. My dad raised me "age in bonds" so for a 40 year old person that would be 60% stocks and 40% bonds. Then there is the separate question of "are TLT and QQQ the best bond and stock ETF, respectively?" I personally think they are too narrow in their focus. Maybe I am missing something obvious, but I don't understand the advantage of owning only 100 non-financial NASDAQ stocks (when I could own thousands of stocks with VTI or VT) or of only owning 20 year treasury bonds (when I could own a broad basket of bonds with BND or similar). If I guessed wrong and some other asset ends up outperforming (like corporate bonds outperform treasuries, or NYSE stocks outperform NASDAQ) then I would feel a terrible sense of FOMO that I had an opportunity to buy into these assets, but I was too narrow in my focus.

dissentmemo

Please. No crypto, no QQQ, no dividend funds. No individual stocks. Individual stocks introduce uncompensated risk. Generally the best plan is index fund ETFs like VTI + VXUS or just a single fund portfolio with VT. Set it and forget it and likely be wealthy eventually if you do that in all of your tax advantaged accounts and max them out asap.

thespacecpa

A lot of times when people dont invest its because they dont understand how the market works or they hear the stories about people losing money in 2000, 2008, etc. Education is the first step. Investopedia is a great resource to start with. Second, open a brokerage account with a reputable company like Fidelity, Schwab or JPMorgan. Put a small amount of money into a money market fund such as SPAXX which is yielding 3.97%. In a month you will get your interest and you will be able to learn about the general process with little risk. Once you understand that concept you can invest in index funds and ETFs such as VOO, VTI, SCHG, QQQ, etc. or jump directly into individual stocks such as APPL, NVDA, AMZN, etc.

wrathofnothing

what if im a newbie and invested already 2K in VOO, should i sell it and switch to VTI?

sunms1

Veto to the financial advisor. At your age Vanguard ETFs like VOO, VTI or Schwab SCHG very low expense ratio and sleep well at night.

PaleontologistOne919

Put a portion in VTI right? Don’t sit in cash. Cash is trash brother

Relevant_Staff765

smae here. I bought a bunch of Microsoft stock when it was $70 and I really regret not doing VTI.

Icy_Professional3564

Just put it all into VT or VTI

2025F150PowerBoost

VTI for USA market and VT for global and that’s it. Nothing more.

tommy2handzzz

Lots of conflicting advice on here, ultimately you’ll have to make the best decision for yourself. I lost my last remaining parent at 27 years old so perhaps we are in a similar boat. This was 10 years ago. Here’s my 2 cents with a decade of hindsight. I inherited my parent’s accounts which had a financial advisor. I should have fired the advisor immediately. They were not doing anything special and took 1% each year. 27 (or 28 in your case) is INCREDIBLY young. You in theory have 38 more years before you hit retirement age. That’s an unbelievably long time for money to compound in the market. You have a Boglehead’s dream scenario. Diversify that into an ETF like VTI which is the entire us stock market and don’t touch it until you want to make a major life change or retire. It really is that simple.

rainbowColoredBalls

VOO, QQQ, VTI, etc. Everything will be going up generally so pick any of these

Valvador

Depending on who you ask on this subreddit, it's any of those. VTI, VT, VOO, all depends on your desired diversification.

orkdorkd

Congratulations! I also just sold all of my NVDA and plan to DCA into VT over the next 11 months, also due to the Orange guy causing volatility. I only started investing in 2023, I fucked around with stupid stocks at first but ended up getting out of those and putting all my money into Shopify, NVDA and AMD. I have a retirement fund in HK solely on North American equities (similar to VOO/VTI) so I thought some individual stocks were fine. Ultimately I guess I value the fear of losing my gains more vs losing out on future gains. No where near the % of gains as you, but NVDA and SHOP has treated me very well, I plan to hold AMD until it reaches its previous ATH after that it's all VT for me. I'll be roughly 74%-26% in US VS Other markets once all my current cash is invested and even though I'm not from US nor live there, I feel this is the way forward for now. .. though similar to you, if NVDA does drop again, I probably won't be able to help myself but pick up some more shares.

tx_brandon

The saying is VOO and chill, not VTI and chill 😜 🙃🙃

TheBoringInvestor96

Not a bad idea to just sock it back into VTI and get 7-10% until another opportunity arises.

Ok_Appointment_8166

No - VTI (Vanguard's Total US Market ETF) has made 12.9% over the last 10 years. No luck or picking involved - that's just what the 'whole market' did.

jillpreston

Everyone is a genius in a bull market. My portfolio is beating the S&P by 8% the past year but not for the 5Y mark. That's why I invest only a portion of my "F you" money in individual stocks vs. ETFs and mutual funds, etc. I only hope to beat the market by 3-5% over the long haul, but I don't invest in stocks with money I can't afford to lose and feel it. If you're young, 20s for e.g., I always tells my nieces/nephews just keep DCAing into VTI or IVW or some such until you have a job paying you enough to easily put away the maximum 401K contribution and not feel strapped. Even if 50.00 a month. Have a favorite company you think will be around 10 years from now (vs say a Lulu Lemon where yoga pants may be looked at like "what was a I thinking?! in 10 years) and want to dabble for fun birthday money from aunt jean, then go for it, but don't watch it every day, DO listen to a quarterly conference call (or transcript it once in while) to learn. But please don't invest money you can't afford to lose in a single stock until you get that F you money built. Small caps have the ability to 100x more than large ones, so maybe research an investment group that focuses there and give yourself a chance to find a wealth maker, as long as it's money you don't care to see again for 5 years or ever again. But again, investing should be boring as hell, not what they play on HOOD. You can do both. Just not 50/50, get it? Good luck!

Ok_Appointment_8166

I recommend reading the investment advice on the sidebar links over at r/Bogleheads or any of John Bogle's books before committing to paying an advisor to manage investments. Basically the idea is that no one can 'beat the market' consistently. (Obviously everyone tries and everyone can't be above average...) so the best approach is to use low fee index funds that cover the whole market. Vanguard's VT is pretty much the ultimate 'whole market fund. Or a combination of VTI and VXUS gets the same thing. You can buy these yourself at Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. in self directed accounts instead of wasting money paying someone else who won't end up doing any better.

Brave-Chain-9436

I am a Russian citizen, and unfortunately, due to the sanctions, we have almost no brokers left to invest in American stocks. If you do not have a European residence permit, then access to brokers such as interactive brokers, etc. is not available. For a Russian, there were 2 brokers at the time of 2024 that could be dealt with: Freedom Finance, Just2Trade. For 2025, only Just2Trade remains. I already have about $1,660 in my MT5 Global brokerage account, taking into account a profit of $ 160, I am engaged in long-term investments, that is, I intend to hold shares for 5-10+ years. At the moment, I have bought 1 MSFT, 5 NVDA and 1 VTI. This company is located in Cyprus and is regulated by CySEC (Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission). I've read the reviews and they're mixed in terms of the broker. In fact, you can enter funds here using cryptocurrency and withdraw them in the same way. You can enter it in various ways, including tokens. By the way, the minimum withdrawal fee is $ 25, and so it is 1%, but this does not frighten me, because with large amounts it is not significant. But there are people in the reviews who complain that at one point they stopped withdrawing funds in tokens, one of the reviews was as follows: "They did not allow me to withdraw funds in tokens and told me to open an account not in a sanctioned bank, I did everything as they said, but they did not withdraw it to me. However, there were the same reviews with the broker Freedom Finance, which do not allow funds to be withdrawn. At the same time, I decided to make a test withdrawal and was able to withdraw $ 63 during the working day, they called me, said that the operation was approved and told me to wait. After that, 2-3 hours later, the money came to my wallet. That is, it's all kind of ambiguous, some say that everything is being withdrawn calmly, and I also checked with tech support, they told me that in my case there would be no problems with further withdrawal and deposit of funds in tokens. This broker also has quite transparent commissions, that is, I even calculated on my own that they only charged me $1.5 for buying and selling US shares. They didn't take any more commissions from me. One of the huge disadvantages of this broker is margin trading, which cannot be disabled, if you buy with your own funds, then only 1/12 of your funds will be blocked under margin, and everything else will be in free margin. The level margin is 11.15%. However, 25 minutes before the close of the trading session, the leverage changes and becomes 380%. A stop Out occurs when, in total, all assets fall by 87%, that is, the level margin = 50%. I don't know how realistic this is with the stocks I buy, but I take it very seriously. Stop out can be prevented by replenishing the brokerage account with an amount that compensates for all this. I earn about $2,200 a month. And I invest about 30-40% of this amount in stocks. But I do not know about the broker Just2Trade. 60% of their audience are natives of Belarus and Russia. Just2Trade has also been operating since 2007, but in 2015 it was sold to the Russian company FINAM BANK. In other words, Just2Trade is a subsidiary of FINAM (Moscow, Russia). Appealing to experienced people, what should I do in this situation? Should I continue investing or leave this broker? I would personally prefer to invest through it until I get a European residence permit (1-2 years for sure). Thanks

thetreece

I recommend adding 20-40% of an international fund, like VXUS. Investing only in VOO or VTI is taking on single country risk, which is not a form of compensated risk.

alijaniel

If you’re willing to occasionally rebalance, 60/40 VTI/VXUS is objectively better because it’s a 99% match to VT and has lower expense ratios. FZROX/FZILX is even better if you’re willing to stick to Fidelity

vpoko

That's highway robbery. You can just invest on your own, no advisor, and put your money into inexpensive index funds like VOO or VTI. There's no evidence that financial advisors can outperform the S&P 500.

xiongchiamiov

Neither of those investments are tracking what you think they are. They are both growth-oriented funds. Growth here is a technical term that in essence means "these companies are priced higher because we expect them to grow more". It doesn't mean they actually will grow more, and in the longterm the opposite side (value) has actually lead to slightly higher returns. The s&p 500 and the DJIA are both intended to represent the direction of the total market, ie no growth vs value filter. If you actually want to invest in the S&P 500, buy a fund like VOO. Other reasonable alternatives: * buy the total US market (VTI) * buy the total world market (VT) * perhaps the best option for you, buy your broker's indexed target date fund, which will buy the whole world's stock market, plus bonds and perhaps a few other assets, in a reasonable mix that adjusts over time My personal strategy follows https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Bogleheads%C2%AE_investment_philosophy, because it is well-supported by evidence and theory, and is extremely simple.

ppith

Our portfolio: 85% SPY/VOO/VTI 5% MSFT 5% QQQ 5% BRK.B We have some smaller positions in UBER, but it's so small it doesn't make the percentages here. Mainly buying VOO/VTI since 2022. My wife got about $100K worth of MSFT stock grants over more than two years before she was laid off. Otherwise, we wouldn't have any MSFT positions. We have around $10K in BTC. But again, it's a tiny position and we bought it years ago for a few thousand.

ppith

We used to keep a minimum of three months of expenses liquid cash. We raised it to a year of expenses recently. We are heavily invested in the S&P 500 through SPY/VOO/VTI. But it's too risky keeping your emergency fund invested. You're young and it's great you're thinking of investing now. If you live below your means and invest more than you spend, you'll be a millionaire in no time. We went from $600K invested to $2.1M invested in this way from January 2022 until June 2025 now mainly buying VOO/VTI and investing 3x (or more) of our spend rate.

Big-Prompt8991

The fund is preying effectively on fear. But there may be a person for whom that makes sense but I doubt it’s you. I am turning 55 and need to live off my RRSP and hopefully some disability insurance I paid into. Despite this, my lifelong instincts have been usually full risk on always staying in what I thought was the best mix of 5-8 stocks at the time. I did well beating the market but I can’t be in a position where I am suffering a sudden and mostly permanent loss of capital. I’m consider a 50/50 split between income and growth but having just switched to ETFs primarily I am still searching for the right products and mix if anyone has suggestions. I currently have VTI, IWF, CGGR, QUAL, and TDVI but have just had them for two weeks or so. If halved the pure growth - what names other than or in addition to TDVI would be recommended for good to high income but with perhaps a longer track record and more notorious management. Thanks.

thetreece

If you have significant gains on it, I probably wouldn't bother selling it and paying the taxes. I would just move into a better weighted strategy. I have like 25k of QQQM left over from when I hadn't learned much about investing. It has several thousand dollars of gains, so I've left it there. The rest of the portfolio is VTI and VXUS.

Bcatfan08

That's what I'm doing. I have a few other stocks I like, but most of my money goes into VTI.

Texasboss302

VTI

Various_Couple_764

Generally people try to deposit the maximum allowed into retirement accounts Right now that is your roth which is maxed out. And then any extra money they have goes into the taxable. Generally to minimize taxes peoOO VTI. These funds primarily grow through share price appreciation. Share price appreciation is only taxed when you sell the stock. However some fund or stock produce dividends, cash distribution of a some of the company profit. growth index funds hqve a very low yield of about 1.e % for SPY which isn't much. with a 100,000 invite in the taxable the taxes are not going to be a lot. You would need about a million to get any significant dividned tax. So I wouldn't worry about taxes on your taxable account right now In may case around age 50 I decided I wanted to retire really and my taxable account had well. So I reworked my taxable account so that it is invested in funds with dividned yields of about 6% to 10%. The account today produces enough money to cover all of my living expenses. yes I pay more in taxes but having 4k a month of income after taxes make live very relaxing. The book The Income Factory is a good guide to dividned investing. 7K a year is not much ther is a way to get around this limit. you invest in a high yield dividend fund like QQQI 13% yeild in the roth. It you build up QQQI to $100,000 the fund will produce about 1K cash deposit a month in your account. The dividends generated by funds int the Roth are not counted as deposits. This more than doubles your money flowing in. You can reinvest the money back into QQQI or reinvest the money into other funds in the roth.. I am doing this in my roth withQQQI and other dividen d funds resulting 20,000 cash flow into the roth excluding the deposit limit.

mrdankerton

I’m going to just stop consuming, fuck everything about this asshole administration, these fuckbag day trading degenerates and this bubble-wrap economy which is driven up by nothing more than cocaine and ragebait Twitter rambling. No puts, no calls, DCA the SPY or VTI, maybe start buying into indices from the EU or Asia that does not include China and HODL. Max out your ROTH contributions because you can’t win in this market. Also cash is going to be rough in the short term. TLDR you’re lowkey fucked in the short term, degeneracy runs the market and your job is your most important asset

NiknameOne

There is no tax advantage for Europeans by splitting them up. For US investors it’s slightly more efficient to do VTI + VXUS, although simplicity of only one fund is a bliss as well.

Feltzinclasp5

Honestly there's not much reason to venture outside of the S&P. People say "but what about the USD and the BBB debt". The truth is that if the US defaults on debt then it doesn't matter what currency your money is in - we're all going to get shafted. I'm in Canada so I buy some Canadian but I probably don't need to. The best approach to personal investing is a simple one. You can literally buy VTI or VOO and just DCA the rest of your life and you'll be fine. It's not exciting or fancy but it works. Take it from me, I've made lots of mistakes so you don't have to.

amg-rx7

*| I was thinking of buying up about 80% VTI and 20% VXUS* Yep. That's a solid strategy. Keep it up and you'll be in better shape over time. I personally do VOO instead of VTI but the performance is similar overall. I also have a bit in a Large Cap Tech ETF to spike performance a bit.

thetreece

Is this in a taxable or tax-advantaged account? If tax-advantaged, then dump everything but VTI, and move to VTI and some international fund. You have what is essentially 4 large cap growth funds. Large caps and growth are not factors associated with any risk premium, and there is no compelling reason to specifically overweight them (other than erroneously falling victim to recency bias and piling on large cap growth because those stocks have done well in the past 10 years).

thetreece

This is why you just hold the entire market with something like VT or VTI+VXUS. Stop trying to stocks based on cap size. Also, most of the growth of small value stocks will not turn into megacap S&P500 type positions. They increase in value 10-100x, become midcap, then stagnate or die. Small and value factors have shown to have risk premium, with higher expected long terms.

kingshuk3

Investing in index funds and sticking to a long term investment strategy is the most stable approach Continue with weekly fixed amount investments DCA remain patient and focus on low-cost broadly diversified funds such as VTI and VOO Diversify your investments, control your emotions, and hold your investments for the long term these are the keys to wise investing There is no need to worry about short-term fluctuations

SureAce_

If you’re interested in getting the entire market, I would highly recommend just getting something like VTI where it’s all cap weighted so even if the fund is being successful, it won’t have any bearing on VTI until it actually has enough weight in the entire US market so yes, you’re a part of it glow up, but it has such a little weight. It won’t make a difference to your entire performance.

Over-Computer-6464

The answer is to invest in total market ETFs such as VTI. The holdings in VTI include large, mid, and small cap.

kingshuk3

You’re doing great just by asking this! With 200 the best place to start is a Roth IRA which you already have and put that money into something simple like a total market index fund—look up VTI or FXAIX You can buy fractional shares, so don’t worry about the price Just keep adding little by little as you can It’s not about the amount—it’s about building the habit

Over-Computer-6464

It leads me to sell stocks high and buy low. Recently it led me to make purchases of ITOT (total US market stock ETF similar to VTI) on April 3 and 7, during the "liberation day dip". Those lots are up 22%. Some of my other stocks are also up significant,y and am now selling off some long term holdings. That rebalancing also led me to make significant purchases in late March 2020 and April 2020 during the big Covid selloff. Then the recovery led me to sell some other stocks in early 2021 to rebalance.

Incorrect-Opinion

Nice. Any reason you don’t do VTI + VXUS, since it’s kinda like VT combined?

Glad-Lie8324

VOO or VT or VTI or the many similar funds are basically as safe an equity investment as there is. You would be fine to throw it all in VOO in my opinion. 

kingshuk3

You’re in a great spot low expenses, high savings, and starting young. A solid split could be something like 80% in index funds like VOO or VTI for long-term stability, and 20% in individual stocks you believe in. That way, you get growth and excitement without risking too much. Just keep it consistent and you’ll be way ahead in the long run

kingshuk3

Your choices are solid, but you could simplify things by choosing either VTI or VOO (rather than both), as they overlap. One possible allocation could be: 50% VTI, 20% QQQ, 15% CIBR, 10% Vanguard Mega Cap, and 5% HOOD

Various_Couple_764

with your uneven limited income for now I would put put money in QQQI. this is a income fund with a dividend of 13%. IF you build up the money in QQQI to 100K that one fund will generate 10K a year of income that goes directly into your rothand you still can contribute 7000 per year of your taxable income. Once QQQI is at 100K you roth is basically self funded. So it will continue to grow even if you don't have money to depoist into the account. Once you have 100k in the fund you can divert the dividend from QQQI and use it to buy VTI VXUS in the end you want 50% of your portfolio in index funds like V%I VXUS. with the other 50% in dividend funds. That way the dividend funds can supply you with income while the index funds can be used for unexpected emergency cash needs, or periodically harvest the growth in the invest funds and use the money to adjust your dividned income. For the dividend portion of my retirment I am using funds like PFF 6%,UTG 7%, SCYB 7%, PBDC9%, EIC 10% ARDC 12%, SPYI 11% and QQQI. you basically want enough dividend income to cover all of your living expenses with some extra cash left over every month. And reinvest any extra money.

Surround-Obvious

I’m 21 years old, I have a 401k with 1k in it, a Roth 401k with 1k in it, and a Roth IRA with $450 in it. I am a full time student who will be pursuing her masters but I do work full time so I have some spare money for investing. I’m hoping to financially prepare myself well so that I have extra cash in my 30s and 40s that will make me comfortable. I’m planning on investing my portfolio (about $50 a week) in these stocks: VTI (market index) HOOD (fintech) CIBR (cybersecurity) VOO (market index) QQQ (NVDIA AND NVO) Vanguard Mega Cap fund (for mag 7 exposure) But I’m new to investing, and know nothing. What should my percent split be, and am I missing anything? Thank you!

thesketchyvibe

VTI

pobox01983

CONGRATS! VTI/VXUS split is fine. Keep on investing. In IRA accounts, I would invest everything and not keep in money market funds.

Direct_Remove509

VOO or VTI and call it a day. Don’t touch it, let it grow. 

Ok_Cake1283

I suggest just 100% in vanguard total market index. 100k isn't a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. You can't retire off of it. Goal is growth not asset protection and VTI is liquid and stable.

ppith

We don't have it all in one stock. But we do index. 85% SPY/VOO/VTI 5% MSFT 5% BRK.B 5% QQQ We have around $2.1M. No debts and paid off house (not included in this value).

zerkeras

Which provider you go with doesn’t really matter, they all offer more or less the same or equivalent funds. Just don’t go with one that is gonna try and upsell you all the time. Fidelity or Vanguard are generally the best picks. However, keep in mind that these are just brokers. They help you by giving you a *vehicle* for investments. Opening a vanguard account and just throwing cash into a Roth IRA doesn’t invest anything. It just holds it in a “Money Markey Account”. These earn HYSA like interest but it’s not a place for long term growth. Once funds are _in_ the account, you can buy investments with them. Mutual Funds or ETFs cover a spread of the market. But depending on provider you can buy straight shares of a single company if you want. IRAs also have an income limit, and contribution limit per year. $7,000 I think for 2025. If you want to invest more, it will have to wait until 2026. Otherwise, add to a brokerage account. These are another way to buy stocks or funds but don’t have the same tax advantages as retirement accounts. What I recommend you do, is open a ROTH IRA with one of those two providers, max out the contribution limit for the year, and put that money into total stock market funds like VTI or VOO, or the equivalent. This won’t put all your eggs in one basket so to speak. Total market coverage, so best balance of growth and risk IMO. If you want to invest a lot more than the yearly limit, also open a brokerage account and put the rest in there and do the same thing. Or save some for IRA next year if you want.

DaKrazie1

Thanks for the warning. Calls on VTI.

Doodl3s

Agree if timeline is one year, in the current market, the Sp500 could very well have a down year. Only if horizon is minimum 5 years would I say VTI makes sense.

ILoveKombucha

VOO is a good representation of the US stock market (it represents the S&P500). VTI is even better, though, because it includes small and mid caps as well (it represents the entire stock market). Both perform about the same, though, so VOO is a reasonable enough proxy for the US stock market. The reality is that no one has a crystal ball to know what will perform well in the future. Lots of folks try to "pick winners" and end up losing a lot of money. Investing in already successful companies is often a way to end up with mediocre returns ("chasing returns" - going where the money WAS yesterday, instead of where it is today). So buying a diverse representation of the market as a whole is a relatively "safe" bet. Read up on Warren Buffet and why he recommends investing in the S&P500. Read up about the investing philosophy of John Bogle. The US stock market (S&P500/VOO in particular) have been crushing it hard the last 15 years or so. That may or may not continue. So if you believe in diversification, it may be wise to add an international ETF (like VXUS). A lot of people start out with something like a 75/25 weighting (market weight would be more like 60/40 US/int). The advantage of a simple portfolio like this is that it is likely to outperform a solid majority of active investors (people who pick stocks), AND it is easy. You can have just two ETFs and sleep easy at night. Any money you might need in less than 10 years should probably be in more conservative investments, though (bonds, CD's, money market, etc). Good on you investing already. You'll be WAAAAAAAAAY richer than I am by the time you are my age (42).

thetreece

I would keep buying VTI and VXUS every pay period like I already do.

thetreece

You're 27? Is that correct? Get rid of VOO, and make VTI your entire US allocation. There's no point in holding both. If you're 27, I wouldn't recommend holding more than like 10% in bonds, unless you feel you are particularly susceptible to acting on bad news you see on the TV. If you might make some stupid behavioral error because of market volatility, then 15-20% bonds is reasonable. Your international allocation is low. Most allocations to international are something like 20-50%. I use 30% myself. A better 3 fund portfolio for you would probably look like: 55% VTI, 25% VXUS, 20% BND (or bond product of your choice). If you wanted more equity, then like 60% VTI, 30% VXUS, 10% bond. Many people will be 100% equities at age 27. Alternatively, skip past VTI and VXUS for your equities, and buy pure VT. It basically combines the US and international portions of the portfolio into a single fund, held at market cap weight. 80-100% VT with 0-20% bond is a perfectly fine choice.

Leroy--Brown

Do you want to work until you're 75? Or do you want to "just keep buying VOO" with a company match as early as possible and then retire early at 50 or 55 years old without having to worry about money? Just buy VOO. A company that matches a retirement account is offering free money on the table. VOO has advantages, similar to VTI. One advantage is that it's a simple low cost index fund. The other advantage is that it's THE index of THE biggest companies. These companies historically, year over year, outperform other indexes, and most other strategies. So yeah, just buy VOO. I wish I had started when I was 17

El_Tigre_Numero_Uno

If you're attempting the Bogle method, your portfolio should consist of a mix of the following three equities: - US equities -International Equities -Bonds Your allocation currently has VOO and VTI, both of which represent US stocks. Dump the VTI and look into VGLT or a similar treasury ETF

LanceX2

VTI is 100% US stock market. Its the safest bet for positive returns overall about 10-11% average.

LanceX2

just buy 100% VTI

Sofia_Chan00

If it were me, I would arrange it like this Core holding 50% VTI (all US markets) + 20% VXUS (global non-US stocks) to obtain a diversified foundation, retain 15% QQQM to express technological beliefs, keep 5% Bitcoin/speculative positions, and reduce cash to 10% Hope it can help you

CommandOk50

International has outperformed US over a 10 year period a few times before. VT might have a higher return over VOO or VTI in the next 10 years, but nobody knows.

Batting1k

If I’m reading your post right, you have 85% US, 15% international. VOO is the S&P 500, while VTI is the entire US stock market (which includes the S&P). The idea behind the three-find portfolio is not simply to have any three funds, but specifically total US (VTI), total international (VXUS), and optionally a bond fund.

Predator314

I’m an eBay reseller so I have to pay self employment tax and all that jazz. I take 10% of my gross sales every week and invest it in various places like VTI, VOO, and I have a money market account just to let cash collect some interest. I was doing 10% of my net profit but I’ve grown enough to switch to gross sales.

Careful-Series-3849

Looks like they are averaging about 10% @ year over the past 10years. maybe even a little higher - So basically your net worth and age determines if its a great move. It do seems to have a 20% Corrections aver so often - maybe every two years. Question is did the blip this year count if not it may be two good years coming. How does it compare to QQQ or maybe some good Positive growth 8% Dividend stock sadly I like the higher 20% Dividend Losing value Stock. in 5yrs VTI & QQQ faired about the same doubled in 5 years, thats more than 12%??? but in the past 5years QQQ have out performed VTI by a lot. vti (105 - 305) QQQ (100 -550) So Looks like timing is everything. and is your Long term 5yrs or 10yrs. cause you gonna get a 20% Correction and almost no Dividends to show Ive had $ET for a long time . . 10yrs chart is pitiful, but the 5 year chart is awesome I almost sold it and yep it dropped $3 from its high. Adding price growth dividend growth gives you a lot of security. $ET Yield has dropped to $7.5% because of its rise in Price so I'm thinking when I first start buying it it was paying 15% or higher. so in the past 5year the shares have doubled and the price have gone from (5.5 to 19) thats gotta be a better record than the index funds. Now on the other hand I have chased a lot of %20 Dividend stocks knowing the price will plummeth. OXLC, ARR, VOC, and probably 20 others. Just bought a liltle more of VOC But $OXLC have paid %20 for the past 3 years. price have went from $8 to $4.25 but over 5 or 10 years price wise you would be about even. but one time it was over $15 Again Timing is everything of course If one was a genuis they would sold near $12. but most probably was buying. thinking it was going to the moon. Now at $4 I'm Praying it gets back over 5. cause every 3 years my shares double. I feel if it holds close o 5 there will not be a reverse split or dividend reduction. I bought the bulk at $7.70 thinking it was going to the moon. added a little at $5.25 and some more at $5 think this has been since 2020 I'm 65 so its gonna be about time to collect the cash instead of re-invest. Age and timing we usually get both of those wrong (well I did) But $ET & $OXCL are bright lights. $ARR just now turning around but over 5 / 10years huge looser in price Bottom line VTI & QQQ chart looks about the same over a 10+year Period. Do you have the time to ride for another 10 years, then buy and hold, but a few 20% corrections coming

jwipez

Welcome back to investing. For 10+ year holds, you can't go wrong with broad market ETFs like VOO or VTI. Low fees, good diversification.

Extra-Ad-1513

The “most people don’t outpace the market” is because more than 50% of investors just but VTI and drag the average down. Don’t put $300k in a penny stock with 400 p/e but there’s some blue chips that will easily outpace basic indexes

DealBeneficial8928

Wow thanks. I’m still kinda new to all this but wanted to do the same thing actually. Put some cash into the Wealthsimple TFSA. And as for ETFs, how do I know which ones to pick that cover those sectors ? Like tech, healthcare, retail etc. just as you said read the descriptions ? What about VOO, VTI, SCHB, QQQ? I’m already basically in a similar thing with my main bank right now? (CAD and US ETF Funds)

Srnkanator

Some are easy (set and forget 529, BSPIX, XOM dividends, SGOV) SomeI have through friends that are brokers for a flat fee no management. VTI and a few select through a taxable brokerage account. If you can do simple excel spreadsheets, you can manage money. Real estate has been lucky honestly.

Srnkanator

I've kinda run out of places to put money. SGOV, HYSA, Max 401K into BSPIX, QQQ, VTI, remodel paid off $800k house, 529.for kids, Gold, NVIDIA, GOOG, SPY, RDDT, PLTR...?

kuonanaxu

If you need the funds in 3–6 months, VTI can be tricky cause markets don’t follow your timeline. A smarter move? Consider hUSDC on Haven1: stable, yield-bearing, and blockchain-native with lower volatility risk.

holdyaboy

VTI is the way to go. You’ll have some fomo when ppl brag about their wins but just know they’re not mentioning their losses and there are many losses. Over a 30 yr period, something like 99% of investors (including wealth advisors, pro stock pickers, and hedge funds) under perform the S&P. VTI and 😎

holdyaboy

VTI at $3.3m NVDA at $950k 🤫 don’t tell my boglehead brethren about the 2nd one

klbstrang3

1. VTI 2. 3. 4. 5.

Leroy--Brown

MSFT 7% V and MA. I put these in the same category, for obvious reasons. 8% PLTR 17% VOO and VTI 18% of my holdings. This used to be 60% of my portfolio but everything else grew so much faster. I'll need to renew my efforts at my old DCA strategy until this is back in the 50 or 60% range. WMT 6% My portfolio is admittedly in need of rebalancing. For example, I've held QCOM and AMT for quite a long time and I should sell off those positions and increase my position in VOO or VTI. Similarly I've opened small speculative positions in a wide variety of various stocks. Some of these are stagnant or haven't grown yet, and some of them have grown really well, and this growth has altered my ideal balance. The growth in MSFT and PLTR really altered my portfolio allocations My personal ideal balance for my portfolio is 60% VTI/VOO. 20% aggressive growth in tech/finance. 20% defensive stocks/utilities/staples. Back to the old boring DCA strategy I suppose.

bienpaolo

Wanting growth, but not wanting to get wrecked come tax time. Right now you’re super concentratd in U.S. large caps, which is fine while you’re young, but it leaves you expsed if the U.S. underperforms for a stretch. Also, $65k just sitting in a HYSA? That’s a lot of dry powder not workng very hard. Inflation’s still eating into that 4.2%. If you’re aiming for long-term growth in taxable, maybe look at tax-efficient ETFs like VTI or VXUS for glbal exposure. what’s that $65k actually for? Emergency fund? House? Or are you just stuck in analysis paralysis?

blueberrysteven

Excluding VTI and VOO, I have UNH, AMZN, ASTS, LMT, and RTX. All long shares.

InternetSlave

GOOG (by far), NVDA, VTI, VGT,

Historical_Air_8997

Excluding 401k (invested in ETFs) my individual portfolio top 5 is below. 401k is about 50% so can add half the VTI holdings to anything I have ie msft is 6% in VTI so can add 3% to my holdings. RKLB 8% (cost basis was 2.5% of contributions) SPOT 5.9% (cost basis 1%) AXON 5.8% (cost basis 1.3%) MSFT 5.7% (cost basis 3%) GOOG 5.4% (cost basis 3.5%)