VTI

KumingaCarnage

Can’t help but look at these types of posts and roll my eyes. Like man, you’re USING a RETIREMENT ACC. You’re supposed to hold long-term and these red spell days, weeks shouldn’t deter you. Shit I lump summed like nearly 50k altogether in the last month into VTI/VXUS across two brokerage accounts and I’m down like $2k and I’m not stressed out. Buy high, buy low. That’s the long game. If it’s too much for you sell your losses and don’t invest at all if it’s too much stress for you. There’s a reason people that panic sell are called paperhands.

dansdansy

Higher fee, you get the same diversification with lower fee just buying one-one VTI/VXUS rather than VT.

Eobardesmith

How is VT worse than VTI and VXUS. Isn’t it a combination of the two?

Queasy-Doughnut-5512

I’m doing VOO/VXUS 80/20 just started same as you Let’s circle back with each other in a year I’m curious if I messed up and should have done VTI

FunSheepherder2650

Shouldn't it be quite the same avarage earning? Also un the overall SP made +795%, VTI +271%

obidamnkenobi

Why S&P 500 when you can do VTI or VT?

Infinite_Playdate_XO

The older I've gotten and the more accounts I've accumulated or inherited, the trend there is to consolidate and simplify to help declutter and minimize overlapping holdings and to get a clearer picture of my asset allocation. * My rollover IRA is probably the most complex with 12 positions currently. * My Vanguard Roth IRA is 100% VT. * Inherited Roth IRA is 100% VT. * Inherited IRA is a 3 fund portfolio. * My M1 Roth IRA is running a modified version of HFEA with 4 leveraged positions. * 401k has 4 funds one of which it crypto. * HSA is 3 fund portfolio. * Taxable is BRK.B, VTI and VXUS.

Thuradzon

VTI for 401k VT for Roth IRA And more VTI in regular taxable brokerage

Consistent_Laziness

Yea I do voo and VXUS. Problem with that is VOO doesn’t have any small caps like VTI does.

Consistent_Laziness

Maybe he wants a bigger weight of international than VTI offers

3DGuy4ever

If VOO and VTI are redundant (your assumed definition) then so are VTI and VXUS

Longjumping_Key_5613

Is VOO and VTI together not redundant? I do VTI and VXUS for just weekly recurring buys

Retrobot1234567

All of the above. VOO, VTI

ClaritXai

If you’re young and investing in broad funds like VTI and VXUS, short-term drops are actually part of the process. Markets move in cycles, and trying to jump in and out usually ends up hurting long-term results more than helping. What matters most is the time horizon decades, not months. If the companies and funds you own still make sense for your goals, temporary volatility isn’t something to panic over. In fact, for long-term investors it often ends up being the period where the best future returns are built.

DecembersDragons

You look perfectly diversified at least as far as stocks go. In such a strategy you don't try and time the market. You buy and hold.  But let's say you're like me and hold 7 individual stocks. Then you should be worried about damn everything. See the difference?  The best thing about a VTI VXUS portfolio is your mental health. Take advantage of it. NVDA's awesome but sell it if it keeps you glued to your portfolio. 

OlleKo777

https://preview.redd.it/wwx60hkw2yng1.png?width=1813&format=png&auto=webp&s=dcfd88a10c1dd65d9de10f62332149343401cd2d Yellow arrows are when VTI hit the bottom weekly bollinger band and the associated 50% & 61.8% retracement levels. I don't buy very often, but that allows me to save up the capital in the meantime. For cheaper instruments like SCHD, SCHG, and GLDM, simply buy when there's two red weeks in a row.

Icy-Issue6958

so just like VT vs VTI, always better to invest within an INTERNATIONAL ETF rather than a US based? I just looked up VT vs VTI so I'm assuming the added M on QQQM means international? 

OlleKo777

I watch SPY and VTI on a weekly timeframe. I look at the last time it touched the lower weekly bollinger band, and as it goes up I have limit orders set at the 50% and 61.8% retracement levels. I've done that for 5+ years, with ETFs as well. It's bedn working out great. Crashes are my friend.

RichardFlower7

Stick to VTI/VXUS don’t do a TDF…

AtXrt

2024 to 2026 and 2002 to 2007 VEA or equivalent out performed VTI or its equivalent.

phd2k1

VTI and/or VOO and go live your life.

No_Resolution_9252

Which is irrelevant. Neither of those funds perform well enough for a short term investment, and there is no 2 year period where VTI doesn't outperform VEA, but no one would ever hold VEA for only 2 years either.

AtXrt

VEA has out performed VTI YoY.

Pink-Pony-6398

I’m Panicking, bought right before the dip! Down 15% I am 21 and only started investing in November with a total of \~10k. I have 70% in relatively stable ETFs (VTI, VT, VXUS, SPXT, VIG, Nasdaq?), but that remaining 30%… wow. I’ve been invested in GOOG and Taiwan and they’ve done well for me. But a couple weeks ago I decided to buy some riskier ETFs because they had like 3-5 year major growth and didn’t seem too volatile (like a random startup). These ETFs include South Korea, Spain, Brazil, Copper, Silver, and Gold. My portfolio was doing amazing. ALL of which are crashing hard. I literally bought days before the big dip when there was a tiny dip, figuring that when I check back in 20 years it’ll have some normal bumps but ultimately go up. But then Trump bombed Iran and everything fell apart. I have 50% of my net worth invested. I don’t know if these markets will come back well enough to make the purchase worth it. I know I should hold. I learned my lesson when I first invested and listened to my Crypto ex-boyfriend (who is very rich and told me not to worry, high risk high reward. And like an idiot I believed him), losing $800. But it’s still making me so anxious, people are saying this war could last for years, and I can’t help these emotions even though my logic is telling me to hold. Ugh. It just sucks.

notapersonaltrainer

I will laugh if Redditors all got onto the wrong side of the VTI/VEU boat at the bottom.

sailphish

It just makes everything more complicated. You can do it, but there just isn’t much reason. Of the big brokerages. Vanguard is typically felt to have the worst platform. Fidelity and Schwab are both good, and you can buy the Vanguard funds through them (you don’t have to be at Vanguard to buy VTI or whatever). My take is that Schwab ultimately has a better platform, but can be slightly more intimidating at first. Once you learn to use it, it’s very good, especially for executing multiple trades at once. Fidelity is a bit simpler, but I occasionally myself frustrated using the platform because it’s a little clunky. Fidelity offers fractional shares, which some people care about (I personally don’t think they are nearly as big of an issue as some people make them to be). My advice is to just pick one and go with it. If you plan to trade any volume, go with Schwab. If you care about fractional shares, so with Fidelity. At the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter. Any of them will do. Just pick one and go with it… as long as it’s not Robinhood.

hikibi_hunter

This is an update of my post from last year. Since my last post, I’ve gotten rid of one company - G7 holdings (Japanese diversified retailer) - and added a number of new companies. The new companies are: Internet Infinity (Japanese eldercare), MTN Group (South African telecom & fintech company operating across Africa & Iran), FIH Group (Falkland Islander Conglomerate), and the Brisbane Broncos (Australian Rugby team). During 2025, my portfolio outperformed VTI (+23.0% vs +17.10%), and continues to do so YTD (+5.0% vs +0.22%). I did underperform VXUS in 2025 (+23.0% vs +32.36%), and am slightly outperforming it YTD (+5.0% vs +3.37%). I still haven’t added any US or tech companies to my portfolio, as I haven’t found any that’ve piqued my interest. I don’t really plan on adding any more companies, unless any of my holdings become significantly overvalued. I may switch from the Swiss ETF to a Canadian one or VXUS. |Stock|Country|Mcap|Industry|Weight|Total Return|CAGR| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |Clínica Baviera|Spain|$917.4M|Eyecare|11.2%|\+101.2%|\+27.04%| |MTN Group|South Africa|$19B|Telecom & Fintech|8.5%|\+45.40%|\+77.62%\*| |cottaLtd|Japan|$37.1M|Confectionary & Beauty Salon Materials|8.4%|\+28.20%|\+8.17%| |Switzerland ETF|Switzerand|na|ETF|7.9%|\+22.10%|\+24.57%\*| |Jerónimo Martins|Portugal|$14.76B|Grocery|7.9%|\+26.13%|\+6.78%| |Eiffage|France|$14.13B|Infrastructure|7.8%|\+60.22%|\+15.48%| |Texaf|The DRC|$155.2M|Real Estate, Mining, Tech|7.4%|\+11.54%|\+8.05%| |GrønlandsBANKEN|Greenland|$272.7M|Bank|6.3%|\+69.85%|\+21.39%| |Internet Infinity|Japan|$25.36M|Eldercare|5.7%|\-4.20%|\-5.58%\*| |Metlen|Greece|$5.39B|Utilities & Metals|5.5%|\+15.54%|\+5.20%| |Van de Velde|Belgium|$464.8M|Lingerie|5.4%|\+7.90%|\+2.45%| |Brisbane Broncos|Australia|$115.8M|Rugby Team|5.0%|\-8.70%|n/a| |FIH Group|Falkland Islands|$40.7M|Conglomerate|4.8%|\-9.00%|n/a| |JP-Holdings|Japan|$398.7M|Childcare|4.2%|\-1.50%|\-1.08%| |MÁDARA|Latvia|$50.16M|Cosmetics|4.0%|\+2.39%|\+1.05%| \*means that I owned the company for more than 6 months, but less than 1 year. n/a CAGR means that I have owned the company for less than 6 months, so a CAGR % is not calculated yet. Geographic breakdown: 49.7% Europe, 23.3% Asia-Pacific, 15.9% Africa, 6.3% North America, 4.8% South America Sector Breakdown: 19.85% Healthcare, 17.84% Industrials, 13.61% Comms Services, 12.96% Cons Staples, 9.04% Materials, 7.83% Financials, 7.51% Real Estate, 5.76% Cons Discretionary, 5.52% Utilities, 0.08% Tech, 0% Energy Cap Breakdown: 31.80% Large Cap, 5.80% Mid Cap, 20.80% Small Cap, 22.70% Micro Cap, 18.90% Nano Cap

Jericho3434

Picked up more BABA today, looked kind of strong plus China sold off hard because of their oil situation. Got MSFT around $400 and added 60 more shares of AMZN around $209 last week. Will throw in 10k into VXUS and VTI each next week if we are really red.

Thorsten_Speckstein

Why VTI?

-PunsWithScissors-

Nope, I’ve been all cash since Monday. Then with the VTI breaking through so many support levels today it’s looking even more bearish in the short term. Based on TA alone I’d be short, but this conflict could end at any time, so I’ll be staying in cash short term unless an obvious trade comes along.

CleverName4

You take your gains from leaps and put them into VTI, but what do you do with your losses?

I_like_code

I didn’t really have an answer about the other ETFs as I’m not knowledgeable enough on them. I had just noticed VTI/VOO were mention and people are talking about VTI/VOO and investing in them. I didn’t mean to detract from your discussion. Just needed clarification. I will say looking at the volume at which these are traded is an interesting data point in terms of people allocating investments.

jadhavvv

Ha, fair catch and I deserved that. VTI yes, VOO was a mistake on my part. But I notice you sidestepped the actual question. The post was never really about VTI or VOO. It was about factor tilted products like AVUV, DFIV, SPHQ and SPMO, which are built on the same academic lineage but go further by explicitly targeting size, value, profitability and momentum premiums. Those are genuinely under discussed compared to their plain market cap counterparts. So yes, got me on the VOO slip, but you did not get the point of the post.

ShortHabit606

Why do you need any of this crap at all? If you just want SP500 then buy VOO* and buy as much as possible as quickly as possible. Focus your energy on making more money at work to buy with as soon as possible and not timing the market. Timing the market is not possible. It just doesn't work. (*Or VTI + VXUS if you want to go broader)

cjorgensen

You replace the get rich quick mentality with the get rich for certain mentality. Get Rich Slowly. At 33 the most valuable asset you have is time. You're 32 years away from 65. That's a lot of time for interest to compound and for stock to appreciate. Get yourself a Roth and max it out every year. Read and understand your employee benefits and take advantage of them. Get your 401k match. Put extra into your 401k if you can afford to to get the tax breaks. Invest in boring broad market index funds like VT or VTI/VXUS. Be consistent and act with purpose. The only other variable you control is your income. Do what it takes to make yourself more marketable. Get more education, certifications, or whatever your field looks at to make your wage higher. Make yourself marketable. There isn't a secret plan to wealth. Just spend less than you make and save and invest the rest. Live within your means and try to increase your income while decreasing your expenses. Then come back and read this post in 20 years.

DudeWithTudeNotRude

Probably max 401K and HSA first if reasonable. But personally I'd keep 2-3 months of salary in the hysa, and have the rest of my Emergency salary/house/car Funds to brokerage, maybe split into something like salary in Money Market, house in SGOV, and car in BNDS. As long as you have a few months salary that is easy to access, your credit cards, HELOC, et al can cover you for the ten days it might take to get to the rest of your emergency money out of brokerage. I wouldn't call it optimal, but it's a good intro to how taxes and everything are different in brokerage, and now you have a platform ready for after you've maxed all your tax-advantaged accounts. Taxable brokerage is where I tend to have "smaller" or more focused indexed ETFs, if that makes sense. If everything was available to all my accounts, I might have the most fund index like VT (with maybe some bonds) in 401k for simplicity, then in ROTH IRA would be VOO (with less/no bonds) since I want the most tax-free growth possible there, but then in brokerage, instead of VT I'll use smaller ETFs like VTI + VXUS (which together they are very similar to VT). That way i can benefit from the foreign tax credit in the brokerage, and I have more flexibility for re balancing as needed over all of my accounts. And bonds will go heavier into which ever account has a compelling tax reason. E.g. if I have a high state tax, some bonds might make more sense in brokerage, but otherwise I'll probably have more bonds in the 401K. Be careful of having the same funds (or funds that are practically identical) in brokerage that you have in other accounts. If you ever get to the point of tax-loss harvesting in your brokerage, you can't use that if you have the same or similar-enough funds in your tax-advantaged accounts. I'd lump sum from HYSA Have a plan for retirement, and then ignore dips until you are close to retirement (or have a plan that includes buying more during dips to benefit from the discount, but I'm not smart enough to time the market like that). Your plan should include the possibility of a crash during retirement. If you aren't actively spending money from your accounts as income-replacement, such as you would during retirement, then downturns mean little (unless we finally have The Downturn That Never Upturns Again, in which case, have extra ammo and water, since your accounts probably won't matter) You plan should cover all your accounts. If you want 10% bonds now and 50% bonds closer to retirement, that would apply to all your investments. Your accounts don't have to have the same distributions ides each one. Remember that only ROTH dollars are showing you your real invested dollars. E.g. a good portion of that money in your 401K belongs to the government, so subtract 22% if you want to know how much money you have in there (or subtract whatever your tax bracket will be in retirement, which we unfortunately can't know). For brokerage, it's more complicated.

marcelinehaha

most people just default to SPY or VTI and never dig deeper, and anything that requires reading a whitepaper gets ignored by 95% of retail.

iprocrastina

Sigh...finally dipped my toes into single stocks last week after years of only going VTI+VXUS. Put $20k into a basket of stocks that was doing really well right up until this week and now I'm down thousands. Like goddammit, if I had waited less than a week...

1burritoPOprn-hunger

> That may be pedantic, but an awful lot of investors really don't know the difference between an actual index, and an index fund. To the average investor, is there a substantiative difference, beyond the fees, which are essentially insignificant for something like VTI? Or are you just being pedantic?

DeeDee_Z

> Not all academic indexes are investable. In fact, **no** indices are investable -- you canNOT "invest in an index". You can buy a fund that **tracks** (or "replicates") an index, but the index itself ... no. That may be pedantic, but an awful lot of investors really don't know the difference between an actual index, and an index fund. Or they believe that "ETF" and "index fund" are interchangeable synonyms. I'd bet that, say, 25% of people who buy VTI or VTUX have **no friggin' clue** what their fund actually invests in, which index it tracks, etc. All they know is that certain trading symbols get batted around here a LOT!

oberwolfach

Yeah, I don’t understand the premise of this post. VTI has to be the single most recommended investment on this subreddit by a huge margin.

I_like_code

So VTI and VOO are an example of this?

AceMaxAceMax

Set and forget in VT or VTI/VXUS, plus recurring investment.

Dr_VanTasstik

Looks more complicated than it needs to be. Consider just going with VTI + VXUS if you are planning to buy and hold. Your current portfolio has a lot of tech and tech correlated concentration and some higher risk items (pharmaceuticals).

Arcabyte

Why not just buy ETFs instead of mutual funds? Since you're a US citizen, buy US domiciled ones. You could open an Interactive Brokers account using your Social Security Number and invest in ETFs like VOO, VTI, VXUS, etc... It’s cleaner, tax-compliant, and will save you hundreds of hours in spreadsheets. You might also be able to open a ROTH IRA using IBKR depending on where you reside.

RagnarokWolves

Diversity is good. If you want to have some direct control over how much is allocated between US and international, you can do VTI (mix of large, mid, and small US stocks) and VXUS. (International, non-US stocks). VT is currently weighted about 60% towards US stocks. But it'll automatically restructure if US starts to lose global dominance.

OriginalTouch6371

I would encourage you to mess around on sites like etf.com, etfdb.com, and the overlap tool from etfrc.com to get more familiar with the holdings of different ETFs like these and what their competitors/sibling ETFs are. r/ETF and this subreddit are my favorite market-related ones. AVLC is pretty similar to VOO (76% overlap) but has more holdings, so it is a bit less concentrated. AVUV is a great ETF specifically because it leaves out crappy small cap companies, of which there are a lot. Combining AVLC and AVUV does not result in holding the entire US market, but I’d argue it gives you most of what’s worth holding. VTI and its competitors are the “entire US market” ETFs. Similarly, AVDE plus AVDV would give you the biggest companies and best value small caps in developed markets. AVDE is the only international ETF I own because I don’t trust emerging markets and it has relatively less of the Shells and Nestles than similar ETFs. I’m not personally a fan of AVDV because its recent run has been largely led by mining companies.

understated_vibes

First off congrats, that’s an awesome position to be in at 25. Keeping a solid emergency fund like you mentioned makes a lot of sense, and a lot of people in your situation start building wealth by putting a big portion into broad ETFs like VOO or VTI so they’re invested in the overall market rather than trying to pick individual winners. Market dips will happen, but historically long term investing in diversified funds has been one of the more consistent approaches. Another thing some people do once they have their core stock investments is add a small amount of diversification outside the stock market. For example I’ve been looking into platforms like Fundrise, which allow investors to get exposure to private real estate projects and alternative assets without having to buy property directly. It’s not something most people put everything into, but it can be a way to diversify alongside ETFs and savings. Since you’re already generating income from your game, the biggest advantage you have is continuing to invest consistently and thinking long term. Books like *The Simple Path to Wealth* by JL Collins or *The Psychology of Money* by Morgan Housel are great starting points if you want to get more comfortable with investing and money management.

Then_Past_4646

agree, I'm 4 parts VTI to 1 part SCHD. Note this doesn't mean this will outperform VTI over long term

iamNotLyingMan

Buffet would pick VTI over SCHD

echoenchanter

Really appreciate all the responses, this is exatly the kind of discussion I was hoping for when I posted this. So it sounds like most people fall into a few buckets. Theres the "I already own it through VTI, not gonna chase" crowd which honestly fair enough. Then a few of you are actively DCA'ing into defense ETFs or individual names. And then the contrarian camp thats waiting for a pullback before touching anything, which I kinda respect. The european defense angle is what keeps grabbing my attention though. Like its not just a momentum trade, these are multi-year budget commitments from Germany, Poland, France etc. Thats a fundamentally different setup than chasing a sector thats already run. Problem is, how do you even get clean exposure as a US investor? IDEF exists but the volume is pretty rough still. One thing I noticed nobody really mentioned: if you hold a total market fund your defense exposure is basically just the big primes. LMT, NOC, RTX. You're not getting the mid-cap suppliers like HEICO or TransDigm that benefit from maintenance and upgrade cycles regardless of who wins the contract. Different risk profile entirely. **For those who already sold or trimmed, where are you putting that money now? Back into broad index or is there another sector you think has a better setup going forward?**

UnObtainium17

Just a little concern though still not as scared as the 2020. I sold around 10% of my Google, VTI and Micron last week, most of gains left as cash and some i used to get more netflix and MELI. It was few % off the peak but gains is gains. I have surrendered to the fact that i'll never time the peak or the bottom perfectly and it is liberating. I will keep on monitoring the situation, Because if things go worse I would sell more and move it to IAU and VDE.

echoenchanter

Nothing wrong with that. If you hold VTI you already have exposure to every major US defense contractor anyway. The only thing you're missing is European defense, which is where most of the new spending growth is coming from. But for a small portfolio, keeping it simple is probably the right call.

KumingaCarnage

I don’t. VTI/VXUS on a 70/30 split in my taxable brokerage accounts. FXAIX/FSPFX in my Roth IRA. Lump Sum, DCA, who cares. I just buy, buy, buy and live my life

Former_Tomato9667

I agree with your reasoning, but I’m only 10-20% SCHD in my IRA, which I manage as if it is the first part of retirement that I would liquidate if I had to. The returns will probably lag VTI/VOO and I don’t have SCHD in my longer term accounts.

Separate_Anxiety3347

I wouldn’t treat this as a winner-take-all call. VTI/VOO is broad core growth, SCHD is a style tilt. Core + a smaller SCHD sleeve is usually easier to stick with.

SignificantError6221

Passive investment dominates markets nowadays, with most ETFs being market cap weighted. TSLA is in many such popular ETFs (e.g. VTI, VOO, QQQ), so money just flows into the stock regardless of what it does...

Cruian

>That being said, I'd never do a single fund.  I would, not only ones that I consider properly diversified. VTI/VOO fail that test for me. Things like a total world (if aiming for 100% stock), target date, or target allocation are fine as only funds.

subpar321

There’s always reasons to be fearful, set up weekly automatic buys of SPY/VOO/VTI

McKoijion

Public index funds like VTI and SPY that are mostly held by regular people in their retirement accounts are relatively flat. Meanwhile, private funds that are mostly held by rich Wall Street types are a completely different story: > Big Lenders’ Risky Loans Are Rattling Wall Street > Lending troubles at Blue Owl Capital and other so-called private credit behemoths are setting off fears of a “bank run,” as one hedge fund put it. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/business/private-credit-crisis-blue-owl-capital.html > Blackstone’s Gray: Market ‘noise’ fueled record redemptions from world’s largest private credit fund > Blackstone president Jon Gray defended the quality of loans within the firm’s flagship private credit fund after investors as concerns in the sector are growing. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/03/blackstone-private-credit-fund.html

Cruian

>Why would anyone want to hold a small/ mid cap long term over just the SP500? They've tended to have better long term returns than large caps. Factor investing starting points: * https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/factor-investing.asp * https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/fidelity/fidelity-overview-of-factor-investing.pdf (PDF) * https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-black-hole-of-investing/ * But be aware that factor premiums can take a while to show up: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/1hmbwuw/what_every_longterm_investor_should_know_about/ >Have you not seen the historical returns of VOO vs VTI?? VOO has it beat by roughly 10% in 5 year and if you want to zoom out to 20 years, Are you using VOO itself? That's a fairly young fund that isn't even 17 years old. As we see things today (this is using older share classes of the same funds): yes S&P 500 is ahead after nearly 34 years here https://testfol.io/?s=8jhrzIzDdfY but rewind to 2021 and we see total market on top instead here after over 29 years. >The small & mid caps will have their moments but long term will drag down The links I posted on the first section of this reply suggest otherwise.

sc181818

Why would anyone want to hold a small/ mid cap long term over just the SP500? Have you not seen the historical returns of VOO vs VTI?? VOO has it beat by roughly 10% in 5 year and if you want to zoom out to 20 years, VOO wins there with roughly 7% higher rate of return than VTI. The small & mid caps will have their moments but long term will drag down returns. big dogs push the pack. Big dogs gotta eat market mentality.

LowerSeat2712

The cash is currently in savings and some CDs. I guess I am guilty of trying to time the market, rather than just putting it into something like VTI. The stock market is a scary place these days.

chongjin

VTI would be good since you have all int'l ETFs. Is the cash at least in a money market fund/HYSA if you don't want more equities?

rufio313

I’m a VTI + VXUS man myself

MitchCurry

Honestly, I'd recommend starting free and just reading and learning. This is something Claude and Gemini could be useful for. If you don't know what a term means, google or ask AI. The money you would pay for a service is better off being invested in VOO or VT or VTI or something similar. Putting it there instead of YF's pocket will reap you far larger dividends down the road.

Alterna9

VTI+VEA for the win.

therealjerseytom

> SCHD has much lower PE ratio There are reasons for this. It's important to consider what sectors a fund leans into, and what kind of PE is typical of those sectors. It could be sitting at a lower PE than the broader market, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's an attractive valuation. With that said, there are those, like Vanguard, who see value and smaller-cap style boxes, as well as ex-US equities, as being more attractive on a valuations basis than US growth mega-caps. Rather than VOO, VTI, or SCHD, if it's me I'd be looking at VT for your time horizon.

Dizzy-Monk-

I think OP meant VTI/VXUS, or VOO/VXUS. VOO is S&P 500 and VTI is Total US Market. It’s only necessary to choose one of them.

GomaN1717

Are you 55+? If not, VOO/VTI 100%.

SirGlass

Personally if I wanted to diversify or worried about the large tech weighting of VOO/VTI I would add in international what has a more favorable PE or look at some value fund vs a dividend fund Also add in bonds

Cav829

SCHD is experiencing recent success because of the surge in oil companies and the flight to safety of defensive stocks like Coke and Pepsi as well as the surge of LMT. It is not a replacement for VTI/VOO. I think it's a good ETF, but it was basically flat before dividends for almost a 5 year period until December.

ddroukas

The answer is VOO/VTI by a long shot. I’ll let every answer after this explain why.

___Art_Vandelay___

As a mostly Boglehead type who's been considering finally investing in some VXUS instead of all VTI, sounds like the upcoming few weeks/months may be a great time to start a position.

DigitalDensity

To elaborate on this, OP, FZROX is a zero-expense VTI and FZILX zero-expense VXUS. As others have said, this combination gets you (nearly) every publicly traded company. The only caveat here is you’d have to decide what you want your US vs Ex-US allocation to be which would be avoidable with VT. Something to note, these are not ETFs like how the Vanguard funds are. You place a buy or sell order for however much in dollars or shares and buy/sell when the NAV changes for the trading day. ETFs (VTI, VT, VXUS, etc) are bought and sold throughout the day. If you automate investments and don’t plan to actively trade the Roth IRA (which shouldn’t be done anyway), this is a non factor but I know some people get antsy about it. Last, these are Fidelity-locked. If you ever want to move your Roth IRA elsewhere, you’ll need to first sell the shares of the funds before you move the money elsewhere and buy the other ETFs/index funds in the other broker. In a tax sheltered account like a Roth IRA, this doesn’t really matter. In a taxable brokerage, this’ll force you to recognize gains or losses and to pay taxes on those gains. All that being said, I love my Fidelity Zero holdings and would definitely recommend them so long as you have no plans to move out of Fidelity any time soon.

Late_Exercise8462

Look at the long-term chart of VXUS compared to VTI and you'll remember why some of us stopped bagholding international

ConcentrateOk523

Buy VTI, US is safe haven

Excellent_Row8297

BND, GLD, VTI, VXUS all down in my portfolio today. But PINS is ripping. Who would have thought PINS would be my safe haven.

pokemonislife5

If it’s your savings then it’s not the end :) market is open every day, don’t feel rushed to make it back Just chill and VTI instead of options for now

Frank_Von_Tittyfuck

>Decided today to stop actively trading in my retirement account and VTI & chill instead >Stock falls 3% immediate after I buy in

rsisido

Buying VXUS and VTI

ThePermMustWait

I’ve lost $8,000 from my Raymond James account over the last 6 months. I inherited $420k last year.  I have to transfer every year $270k over 10 years. I met with an accountant who recommended a transfer schedule for this. They bought $80k worth of buffer notes about, 25% of my funds into buffer notes, which after researching I realized is a huge upfront fee of 2-4%.  I wanted to the money there for a year while I figured stuff out and didn’t do anything stupid. I’m so upset that I’ve lost money while my other 401k accounts made money. I feel like leaving the money was the stupid thing to do. I even told him very specifically last year that they were too defensive and I wanted to be more aggressive. At that time they switched from defensive (I had no tech stock other than Microsoft) to another managed brokerage account that was slightly more aggressive (-3%) but still the damn buffer notes. Anyways, I know this is rambling but I’ve decided I want to switch to fidelity or Schwab. I don’t think I can take the buffer notes with me and I need to let them mature at Raymond James. Will that be a problem? I have an inherited Ira, 529 for kids and Roth IRAs for my spouse and I. The Roth IRAs have various funds in them but I should be able to switch to one mutual fund and some bonds right? I’m thinking of targeting a low fee mutual fund like VTI (my 401k) and 10% bonds? Is Schwab or fidelity better to work with? I have an emergency savings with fidelity already and a rollover with vanguard. Should I meet with the advisors at fidelity? I don’t want to get pulled into a managed fund. Is this too complex to do on our own? 40 years old

acceinvestments

They absolutely matter — but not in a dramatic, “you’ll notice it next month” kind of way. It’s a slow compounding drag. An expense ratio is taken directly out of the fund’s assets. You don’t see a line item deducted from your account — the return you see is already net of fees. So if a fund earns 8% before expenses and has a 1% expense ratio, you effectively get \~7%. That 1% doesn’t sound like much. The issue is time. Here’s a simple way to think about it: If you invest $10,000 for 30 years at an 8% annual return, you’d end up with about $100k. If that return is reduced to 7% because of fees, you’d end up with around $76k. That’s a \~24% difference from just a 1% annual fee. Fees compound in reverse. Now, are all fees bad? Not necessarily. Paying 0.03% for a broad index fund like VTI is basically negligible. Paying 0.80%–1.20% for an actively managed fund is a much bigger hurdle — especially since most active managers don’t outperform consistently after fees. So here’s how to think about it practically: * Under 0.10% → almost irrelevant long term * 0.20–0.40% → noticeable but reasonable * 0.75%+ → you need strong justification You don’t need to lose sleep over tiny differences like 0.03% vs 0.05%. But you should absolutely care about 0.05% vs 1%. The easy way to calculate the drag is just to subtract the expense ratio from your expected return and run a compound interest calculator. That’s enough to see the long-term impact. So no — don’t obsess. But yes — be intentional. Fees are one of the very few things in investing you can control.

Awkward-Painter-2024

Bro, VTI barely moved yesterday. Shit makes no sense. 

D3Rpy_Un1c0Rn107

Ignore this guy completely, get Fidelity because with their fractional purchases stock price doesn’t matter. ETFs leaning tech are gimmicky/dumb but voo and schd are solid. Just know schd is for people who need cash flow (retirees) and slightly underperforms the regular market even with reinvesting dividends. You’re young enough to stay away from it also VTI > VOO if it’s the meat of the us part of your portfolio but that’s just me

D3Rpy_Un1c0Rn107

So cash (for some reason), VTI and then leaned way into tech anyways? Thats just qqq and a savings account with extra steps

CarpenterThese5372

VOO and VTI are both excellent foundations for long term growth, but keep an eye on how much tech overlap you get if you also add QQQM. I love using an AI powered natural language query system called trylattice to quickly research which ETFs align best with a weekly contribution strategy. It is super helpful for digging into stock filings to see what is actually inside these funds so you do not accidentally overcomplicate your first year.

livetotranscend

Fidelity has great zero expense ratio funds that will achieve the same results as VTI and VXUS but for cheaper. See my other comment for specifics.

cjorgensen

You can still contribute for 2025, so make sure any money you put in there goes to that year first. You have until Tax Day to contribute for the prior year. Just put your money in VT and forget it. If you want VTI/VXUS. You might want to check out r/bogleheads. If you take their philosophy to heart you won't ever miss out on the best stocks.

Strumtralescent

Agreed, even during those years, investors could have avoided multiple 8-20% drawdowns and got back in to take an additional 5-15% on the upside. Thats if they were just 100% in VTI. But I think people are reluctant to sell and wait in cash because of FOMO. I see it as risk management. Crossovers don't mean a big crash is going to happen, but they happen 100% of the time before a big crash. I mean I didn't come up with this stuff. Tom Hougaard, Minervini, Steve Burns, william O'Rielly, Ed Seykota. They all made their fortunes not by timing the market, but by listening to what it was telling them. It's okay to be in cash or something very stable and ride out those bearish trends.

Single_Ad_5294

I’m envious. Started a Roth at 22 a decade ago and haven’t contributed since… don’t be like me. Don’t learn about options trading and think you’re pretty smart. I very quickly made a bunch of money and lost slightly more than I put in. I really wanted to learn the ins and outs of trading so I didn’t stop, but became more cautious. Don’t trade, invest. The simple answer is to choose 1-3 etfs. They’re all remarkably similar but of your list I’d say VTI. The actual wealth answer is to throw seven thousand dollars a year into that account. Do that at your age and you can level up.

Adventurous_Elk_4039

VTI/VXUS will cover the entire market, anything else is a factor tilt. Which is fine if you have some particular knowledge or conviction, but otherwise I would stick with the broad market.

smartdrd

Here’s a short, clean, high‑value reply you can drop directly under that Reddit post. It’s calm, practical, and positions you as someone who understands money without sounding preachy or promotional: You’re in a great spot, and the goal now is to protect what you’ve built while giving it room to grow. A simple structure works best: * Keep your emergency fund separate (your $40k plan is solid). * Don’t invest the full $60k at once if that feels risky — spread it over 6–12 months so you’re not trying to “time” anything. * Broad ETFs like VOO/VTI are long‑term vehicles, not short‑term bets. They go through crashes, but historically they recover and compound. * Your game income is the real engine here — consistently investing a portion of that will matter more than the lump sum. * For learning, *The Psychology of Money* and *Simple Path to Wealth* are great starting points. You don’t need to rush or chase anything. You already have the two things that matter most: cash flow and time.

smartdrd

If you invest $1,000 every month for 10 years, the outcome depends entirely on the *behavior* of the assets you choose, not just the contribution amount. Most people only look at average returns, but long‑term results are shaped by three forces: * **Drift** (the natural directional tendency of the asset) * **Volatility regime** (how violently it moves) * **Trend structure** (whether the asset spends more time trending or chopping) For example, broad ETFs like **VTI** or **VOO** tend to have stable long‑term drift with moderate volatility, which compounds well over a decade. Sector ETFs like **XLK** or **XLE** behave differently — tech compounds aggressively but with higher drawdowns, while energy moves in cycles tied to macro conditions. Managed‑futures ETFs like **DBMF** or **KMLM** often provide uncorrelated returns, which can smooth the ride and improve long‑term outcomes when combined with equities. If you assume a typical long‑term market drift of 6–8% annually, $1,000/month over 10 years lands somewhere around **$165k–$180k**. But if you allocate toward assets with stronger structural drift or lower volatility drag, the range can shift meaningfully higher. The key is understanding *how* different ETFs behave across short‑, medium‑, and long‑term horizons instead of treating them all the same. Curious what ETFs you’re considering for the 10‑year window?

chfr

$2000 with no source of income goes right into a high yield savings account. Unfortunately, it's not worth getting into the investing game until you've got a source of income.  Once that's the case, pick a number you're comfortable with each month and dump that amount into VTI or VT. You'll get rich slowly, but you'll get rich.

Key_Lifeguard_8659

I was holding stocks but found it to be stressful with the AI disruption and it's impact on tech, especially. Most institutional investors and a god part of retail investors starting going for generic US holdings or international. That's why I maintain a core position of VTI and do a 50/50 with international. VTI 50% , VXUS 15%, AVDV 15%, FLKR 10%, SOXQ 10%... Run that in your simulator.

leaning_on_a_wheel

This is less diverse than just buying something like VOO, VTI or VT

Key_Lifeguard_8659

Stocks are volatile. Better to find EFTs. VTI for core position and shine international, like AVDV and FLKR. In 2025, the Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF (NYSEARCA:FLKR) delivered a robust performance with an annual return of approximately 75.00%. As of March 2, 2026, the fund's year-to-date (YTD) performance remains strong, gaining 47.02% since the start of the year. Wish I'd found this sooner.

HadrianXVI

Hang loose and see, may have missed it, VT and VTI started down but are coming back up. If this drags on and oil/commodity prices spike you’ll probably see a decline, but it was pretty well priced in last Thursday and Friday. But who knows. So much winning

CriticalBlackberry90

Any thoughts on if AMAT or KLAC can outperform VTI over the next 20 years