VTI

NaiveChoiceMaker

>So there will be more tax to pay at a later time if/when you eventually sell that VTI position. This strategy makes sense if you think you'll sell at a lower tax bracket.

therealjerseytom

That's totally reasonable. Though there is an element of short and long term trade off. Like let's say VOO and VTI continue to track very similarly as they've tended to. When you sell the $20k of VOO when it drops to $15k so you can harvest the loss, buying back in to VTI effectively gives you a lower cost basis on "the same" investment. So there will be more tax to pay at a later time if/when you eventually sell that VTI position.

Glum-Mortgage-1616

VOO to VTI is not wash sale

DirtbikeForLife

Great post. I invest in VTI and VXUS. My cash sits in SGOV. Moving $7k into VTI tomorrow and $3k into VXUS. Dollar cost average on big dips and moving on. :)

ubelblatt

So far in my experience VXUS has been "close" to VTI in terms of performance. So for example today VTI is down 1.97%, and VXUS is down 1.16% Obviously you would do better with VXUS on a day like today but on green days it tends to follow similarly. I haven't felt like my VXUS investment is helping to hedge my VTI investment if that makes sense.

Emotional-Power-7242

VT doesn't need to audit weights or rebalance because it buys every stock in the entire market at market cap weight. So the weights in VT naturally follow their weight in the market. Say Nvidia is 10% of the global market, you put money in VT, VT would spend 10% of that money on Nvidia. Then the price of Nvidia doubles. It is now 20% of the global market. Because the price of the Nvidia in VT abought also doubled, it naturally is now also 20% of VT without VT needing to rebalance or do anything. If you bought VTI and VXUS at market cap weights you also would never need to rebalance, they would grow or shrink proportionally in your portfolio. You would only need to adjust your contributions to match the cap weights. And VT changes it's contributions to match cap weight every day when it has inflows or outflows. How to view trends is go to anywhere with charts and add both VTI for US and VXUS for international to the chart. This will only allow you to go back to inception of the funds. Some places will let you chart "total US market" and "total international market" as asset classes going back 100 years or more, they do their best to construct the indexes from available historical data even though there wasn't an actual index to track going that far back. I like using Portfolio Visualizer for this sort of thing. Honestly I check US/International cao weights by just seeing what they are in VT. VT is very accurate. But if you wanted you could look at a different index like MSCI World. It'll be the same though.

the-real-batman3

I put 70k into VTI 2 days ago most of my excess cash talk about worst timing

shane1955

Here are a few things to consider: Step 1: Define Your Investment Policy (IPS) Before buying anything, answer these questions: \-Time Horizon: When do I need this money? (5, 10, 20+ years) \- Risk Tolerance: Can I stomach a 30% drop without panic selling? \-Goals: Retirement? House down payment? Financial independence? For your first year or two: Simple Three Funds    Fund                            Allocation         Purpose Total US Stock (VTI)              60%      US market exposure Total International (VXUS)     25%      Global diversification Total Bond (BND)                   15%     Stability Then make your portfolio in your own style, every investor is different. Best of Luck!

LordSnarfington

You chose an excellent time if you have a long time horizon. I would buy broad bases indexes; VOO is by far the top recommendation you will get on Reddit and it's a good one. Statistically you are better off putting all you have in at one time, today is a good day as the index was down as much as 2% today which is historically a good time to enter. If you're not comfortable with VOO which tracks the S&P500 you could go with VTI as well.

DirtbikeForLife

I’m adding $10k to VTI.

Maleficent_Spare3094

One additional note to this. Yes S&P is a really good broad index fund. But it is majority based US tech stocks specifically the mag 7. So for even more diversity look into other broader index funds like VTI and VXUS. But yes index funds 100% is the way to go.

Mobile-Bar7732

I did too. Also, had a very big allocation of VTI - US Total Market etf. I'm have Canada/World etfs now.

EfficientSnow2394

Hi everyone, I'm 19 and new to investing my own money, but not completely unknowledgeable on the topic. I'm looking to make my first contribution of $7000 for a 2025 Contribution to a new Roth IRA account on Fidelity, and this is going to be my first ever investment. Right now, I'm looking to do a 70, 30 split into a US fund and an international fund, respectively. I had a few questions, though: * Since I am doing it in Fidelity, I have the options for Fidelity mutual funds (FXAIX and FTIHX). What is the interest and difference between investing in these vs doing an ETF like VTI/VOO and VXUS? If I want to switch brokers at any point (for whatever reason, but probably not that likely), is there any downside to just investing in ETFs in Fidelity (fees/costs, transferability, etc)? * Considering the events going on in the world (Greenland, Iran, Syria, etc), is now even a good time to invest, or is it possible the market could go down in a few weeks or so with these events and be a better time to throw my money in? * I could DCA if that helps, but I understand that because I'm young the market will probably bounce back and not matter too much * Is it easier to set up automatic monthly investing with the Mutual Funds or the ETFs? I don't want to have to log in constantly to place trades. * How easy is it to rebalance my 70/30 split or even my investment strategy within a Roth IRA? Would appreciate any help on this. Thank you again!

Phandomtrigger

So VTI calls?

KroKart100

VTI stop playing options

Aviation_Space_2003

Yeah, I would do VTI !!

Justzyn_Jefferzyn

Added MSFT, AMZN, VTI, and will add more if this week dips further 🤑 

Musashi_13

I would not do anything.  However, if you feel the need to do something, you could exchange any shares of VOO with losses in a taxable account to either VV or VTI, and use the tax-loss to offset income on your tax return next year.  Otherwise, relax and stay focused on your daily life.  Best of luck to you. 

Panthollow

Looking at my investments I apparently prefer the needlessly complicated route of buying VTI/VXUS separately but still approximately mirroring VT. 

rjbarn

As someone who hit +50% on the year by timing liberation day, this is an excellent buying opportunity if you have cash. VOO/VTI buys DCA over the next few days will play well

WildTadpole

I want the market to crash and stagnant for 30 years just to fuck over the VTI and chill retards tbh

ordle

I'd put it in VOO or VTI and forget about it for 20 years.

AdmirableLead6134

VT or 75% VTI/25% VXUS. Essentially identical but VT has a 0.06% expense ratio while VTI and VOO have 0.05% and 0.03% respectively. Basically no difference. Pretty sure I read that even if you lump sum invested at an all time high and the stock market crashed right after, if you hold long long term you'll beat out dollar cost averaging because time in the market beats timing the market. Before all that make sure you max out your HSA and IRA contributions for the year ($4400 and $7500 respectively), tax savings are no joke, you can do 100% VT or 75%VTI/25%VXUS in those as well. Max out 401k match before that also

Jihelu

Getting back into options trading, I used to do a lot more (Credit/Debit spreads mostly, some condors/butterflies, etc) but was mostly doing it in stupid ways (Lots of earning plays. Made a lot of money, like 30% or more in a month, then got wiped because the numbers numbered in the wrong direction. Oops) Anyway I haven't done anything in really 5+ years and I've just started getting back into it. My personal risk tolerance and outlook has changed a lot, my goals seem to be a lot more "I want to do options" BUT "I want my worse case scenario to be a bag hold" That leaves me things like covered calls, jade lizards, a few other things. I had the idea of basically doing an earnings play on stocks I actively hold where I sell iron condors on them and if it moves in either direction to just be fine with it, so if a stock went down instead of my put credit spread being a loss I just sell the long for a profit and buy more shares, if it goes up I just sell the long and let the shares get called away. The optimal situation here is it stays neutral, or only slightly bear/bullish, and I collect all the premiums (Losing a bit of possible profit due to the longs) Am I over thinking anything here? I guess if I was confident things would be neutral I could cut out the middle man and just leave off the longs but then I lose some hedge. I use RH so I don't pay per legs, I just have awful fills instead (Yippee) Anyone have thoughts on this or other option strategies? I guess wheeling is probably a good idea for me (I usually hate starting with the put side of things, I'd rather roll a call out and up to follow a rising stock than sell a put and have the stock moon right after. I usually /want/ to own an underlying access, not use my cash to make money) Right now, barring that idea, I've been just buying things I intend on going long in. KO, VTI, VT, trying to get out of a position in NOK but still holding it (I'm up on it though), thinking of getting back into F. The Condor idea was mostly meant for earnings to take advantage of the higher volatility but I wonder if there's a use for it in other stocks that trade slowly/stay stagnant (KO/F/Some others), the call side of things especially as I tend to have more shares on hand than liquid cash.

Business-Ad-5344

if you want to start out simply, you can just research VOO, VT, and VTI. pick one and buy that one in your account. then look at your positions, and it will tell you how many shares you own. then that's it for now. you can then research bonds and stuff later and see if you want to add that to your portfolio. hold forever and don't sell if it goes down. other than that, get a HYSA (high yield savings account) and attempt to save up several months worth of rent, for emergencies. pay down your credit card. if you withdraw from retirement accounts, it gets taxed and there is a penalty you are charged. remember those things. don't withdraw unless you absolutely have to.

Zoriontsu

It happened before, and all indications point to it happening again. Just look at the outflow of capital from US equities. Compare the last 6 months return between VTI (Total Stock Market Index Fund - 99.4% US) and VXUS (International Stock Index Fund)

Aggressive_Finish798

If you're in index funds, look into Tax Gain Harvesting. If we dip a significant amount you can sell say VOO and immediately buy VTI and get credit for TGH. There more nuance than that, but you'd have to do your own research.

zeppo_shemp

my guess is the bonds and the international stocks are boosting yield, and DJIA also has a higher dividend yield than the S&P 500 at about 1.6% vs. 1.1%. international stocks typically pay higher dividends than US stocks. for VXUS vs. VTI, the dividend yield is about 3% vs. 1.1%. what type of bond fund(s)? an aggregate bond fund has a yield in the ~4% range, and yield might be higher from long-term bonds or lower-grade bonds.

CurveFront7807

The world doesn’t buy our tech and services because they like our president. They buy it because it gives them meaningful value. That trend is not slowing down, it’s increasing. The company I work for a global company with 70% US employees. We have had a huge boom from AI. That is the real trend. The president of the USA is noise. Buy VTI.

CurveFront7807

As much as the news cycle can make you feel that the president has the ability to drastically affect the world economy - I contend that he does not. The stock market is completely agnostic as to which party’s president is in power. Donald Trump has done things that have angered some allies and pleased others. Even within the EU there are countries with right leaning political groups in power that are more friendly with Trump while the ones on the left are screaming bloody murder. Also most of the largest companies in the world are multinationals, we have millions of relationships forged between Americans and Europeans at the business level that are mutually beneficial, long term and will be completely unaffected by Trumps policies. At the end of the day the right move is to keep buying the US stock market. It has a history of producing results for over 100 years including much much much more tumultuous times then these. Trump’s bombastic statements are nothing compared to the entire world economy grinding to a halt (Covid) or the housing/banking sector’s complete collapse (2008) or the countless wars the US has been embroiled in over the last 50-100 years. At the end of the day, buy and hold has been the best strategy and will likely continue to be the best strategy. TLDR: keep ur politics for the ballot box. When it comes to ur finances: buy and hold VTI forever.

kinetic_honda

Ok, I guess I'll wish you the best of luck divesting away from the US for the foreseeable future. I'll continue to throw money into my VTI + VXUS in regular intervals. Maybe in the future I might think back and say - "hey, sithlord98 was absolutely right for divesting away from the US." Only time will tell

JamesSt-Patrick

Yeah I would call that investing. I would not call buying VTI every two weeks investing

JamesSt-Patrick

It’s a philosophy. There is a difference between actively taking calculated risks on companies or fund managers that you believe in vs “VT/VOO/VTI and chill man!”

KD_Hub

**The Intelligent Investor** still rocks for timeless principles like margin of safety and Mr. Market, but bonds have changed; yields are decent now, yet they're no free lunch with inflation risks. Don't blindly rebalance to bonds in a bull; they're a hedge, but cash or BRK.B drag less in low-rate eras. Skip heavy bonds if you're young; tilt to stocks. Build a 60/40 stock/bond ETF portfolio (e.g., VTI/VGLT), rebalance yearly, and read *Common Stocks* next for growth picks.

EarlyBirdEmail

VTI doesn’t rely on magic. It’s a self-cleaning basket of productive companies that replaces losers with winners, and your 20% VXUS is the perfect hedge if the US faces a lost decade. Over a 41-year horizon, the biggest risk isn't a market plateau, but letting short-term political anxiety pull you out of the world’s most powerful compounding engine.

Additional-Pop9444

Short answer: VTI doesn’t need to go up “forever” to work in your favor. What it needs is: - population growth - productivity gains - inflation - reinvested earnings Even long periods of flat or volatile markets historically resolve upward over multi-decade horizons because ownership of productive assets compounds. Every generation has believed their political moment was uniquely unstable — wars, stagflation, debt crises, Cold War, dot-com bust, GFC, pandemics. Markets priced through all of them. The real risk isn’t that growth stops — it’s abandoning a sound plan because of fear during uncertainty. Your 80/20 VTI-VXUS allocation is reasonable, globally diversified, and gives you flexibility. If U.S. growth slows, international exposure helps. If innovation continues, VTI benefits. You don’t need certainty about the future — you need time, discipline, and ownership.

quintanarooty

That's why I have VTI and VXUS

Redcrux

You have less volatility because 20% of your money is doing nothing but dragging your portfolio for the past 20 years. You'd have the same effect (but better returns) if you put 20% in a HYSA. Even in the worst case of investing the 20% in VTI, that 20% would have gained enough in the past 5 years that you would still have a higher portfolio value after a crash than BND. There's no scenario where bonds magically save your retirement from a crash where another asset couldn't have done better. It's smarter to diversify into other areas or assets that are less affected by the current economic and political headwinds. Or at least ones that are not highly correlated with the market while still gaining each year.

Much_Friendship5497

You're supposed to have a well diversified portfolio that aligns with your risk tolerance and planned retirement date. You can do this with VTI/VXUS/BND, rebalancing yearly.  If you have a long ways to retirement, having no BND could make sense, but you'll need the stomach to not sell in a severe downturn. A bond fund will usually provide for less volatility. You can also adjust the ratio of VTI to VXUS but having a decent sized international component is a must if you want diversification. You could also omit the VTI/VXUS and just hold VT which I believe is around 60% US and 40% Ex-US. I am currently 5-10 years from retirement and have roughly 55/25/20 VTI/VXUS/BND and I sleep well at night. I will add to the BND as I get closer to retirement.

ineedsomerealhelpfk

Micron is up 231% in the last year and had a long span of incredible buying opportunities to give an even higher roi. Just because VTI averages 12% doesn't mean having a good year is gambling.

KeyboardArbitration

As soon as Trump was elected, I reallocated all of my passive retirement positions from VTI to VXUS.

Proper-Raise-1450

But it's objectively true for last year lol. VXUS way outperformed (by double) VTI, it may not continue but it's not "one more year" it's literally "the past year", you were dumb if you invested American vs European/international in the last 12 months.

Exciting-Whereas6935

Made $15k, mostly on VOO and VTI

ReliantToker

If the 'Safety Premium' is dying because of erratic centralized policy, looking toward other centralized fiat markets abroad is just choosing a different flavor of the same risk. Real asymmetry exists in an asset class that doesn't have a 'White House' or a policy-by-tweet risk at all. Have you considered that the eroding 'Trust Premium' in the US dollar system is exactly why 'Digital Gold' has outperformed both VTI and VXUS over the last decade?

NotGoodSoftwareMaker

VXUS is barely doing 100% after 10 years? VTI has done 200+ It gets worse the longer you look at it

TraditionalMango58

US market has been a relative decline since Trump was elected. Case in point VXUS is up 30% over the last year while VTI is up less than 15%.

ObservantWon

Assuming you have no debt, and you have 3-6 months of expenses saved already, then open a RothIRA if this is earned income that has already been taxed. I’d put $14,500 in the Roth IRA since you can still contribute for last year ($7000) and this year ($7500). Some combination of VTI, QQQ, VT. Then let time and compound interest do its thing over the next 40 years

AnyMarzipan6859

I have a slightly different take on this. Rather than dump it all into large cap, I did a lot of research and optimized a similar amount across 5 positions: VTI, VXUS (intl), BND, VBR (small cap) and VWO (emerging markets). Can’t lose long term with this allocation.

thuwa791

Okay now post VTI

sss100100

Put that money in VTI, you would make more money.

Beantowntommy

If you don’t need the money soon, selling won’t change much, but if gains are your goal here depending on a few things it might make sense to just hold those, don’t pay cap gains, and put future investments into VTI. Google and Amazon aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. - how old are you (if you’re 25, just leave the money, if you’re 70, idk may want to rebalance)? - how much do you have invested total (if you have 5 mil in each of these, may want to rebalance, if it’s 5k total, is just leave it)

ITCHYisSylar

The same thing I do now.  Invest everything left over after paying my bills and budgeting in whatever VOO/VTI or variation and chill.

Historical_Low4458

We also know that a diversified fund VTI is better at managing risk than an individual stock.

Think_please

90% in VT, 10% in cash/bonds/whatever dumb stock idea that you want to lose money on. Losing a little money on dumb investment ideas at your age will be incredibly valuable as you age, but the 90% in VT will make sure that you don’t lose everything. Then get a 401k at a job and keep putting more funds into VT, VOO, VTI, or whatever is available to you

KosherDillTickles

bro throw it in VTI and take 3.5% each year. Live on 120k into perpetuity. Brilliant wins - please live well!

AnyMarzipan6859

I think you are sitting on 3 long term winners. Sofi is the most exciting from a future growth perspective. If you want to be conservative trim your positions and play with the house’s money. Put the rest in VTI. Too many people think it’s a binary choice.

Stock-Ad-4796

It’s very tech heavy. That’s fine but know you’re concentrated and light on global diversification. You could simplify by trimming single stocks and adding more VTI or VXUS.

Portfoliana

Solid foundation for 24 honestly. QQQM + VTI core is smart, low fees and good diversification. But real talk - those 5% individual stock positions are kinda pointless? Like Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon are already huge parts of QQQM anyway. Your basically double dipping without any real impact on returns. Either go bigger on individual picks (10-15% if you actually belive in them) or just cut them and add to your index funds. Also only 1% PLTR at your age with “moderate to severe” risk tolerance? Thats the one position I’d actually size up if your bullish on it. Your young enough to take some swings. The Roth being 100% FXAIX is perfect tho, dont touch that.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Christopher_Ramirez_

Congratulations, you won the game. Now turn off the console. 80% SGOV 20% VTI. Live off the interest.

Important-Cap-8467

1. Because I already have a lot of cash at a different bank/brokerage 2. Because I don’t want to check Robinhood every day for my maintenance margin according to VTI, QQQ, NVDA price changes

agrula9

What do you suggest for the ratio then? 70/30? I see some people say 100% VTI.

Cruian

>I am considering changing it to 80% VTI and 20% VXUS A little light on the VXUS side for my taste, but more logical than your SWPPX + SWYJX pair. >Or should I just go 100% into SWYJX? This works. TDFs are designed to be "one and done," the only fund you hold. >Also, does the target retirement date really matter at this point if I am between 2055 and 2060? Only a little. At the top of each of these you can see the glide path they follow, scroll down and open up the "portfolio" dropdown section to see current ratios. * https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/products/stir?product=swyjx * https://www.schwabassetmanagement.com/products/stir?product=swynx

LitterBoxServant

VTI and VXUS is what you would get from a Vanguard robo advisor

dabesdiabetic

Amazon is poised to be one of the best stocks this year. Outside of conditions that will affect everything Amazon is going to crush it. As for Google, why the fuck would you sell a company on a tear. If you have losers offset gains with them. If you’re concerned about it going down sell covered calls against your position and take the premium money and start your position into VTI

mhoepfin

Take $3,950,000 and put it in VTI and do it again with the $50k. Never work again.

StopBitchinStartLivn

It is quite strange. He’s basically compounding nothing. He should keep it simple. 2 or 3 ETFs that don’t overlap. VTI VXUS VGT or similar. Fuck the overlapping ETFs off Fuck the 5% mega caps off because they’re already in VTI Fuck the 1% risky trade off If you want to leverage with alternative stocks, learn how to swing trade on a small account before scaling that, not tiny portions that won’t earn anything note-able

xcexoztykl

Tax advantaged accounts first (ROTH IRA and 401k), because of the well, tax advantages. Also, it’s best to plant a tree now, so it can grow later. So even though they are retirement accounts, when you’re 60, you’ll have a ton of money. Then after a brokerage account. If you just wanna chill, either VOO/ its alts (S&P 500), VTI + VXUS/its alts (US total + International respectively) or VT/ its alts (Total world market) It’s not that deep so just pick one and stay contributing and buying shares consistently, no matter how small. The particular stock doesn’t matter as long as it tracks either of those indexes. (S&P 500, total US, etc etc).

Beantowntommy

How old are you? I did this on some stuff, realized VTI (well, VOO, since pivoted) is the way, and just put all my future investments in there. I didn’t rebalance but changed my future investment strategy. No need to rebalance unless you have a huge proportion of your investments in these assets and not a lot of runway to reallocate future earnings.

TheSpicyDeluxe

As most people suggested already, it would be wise to start a Roth IRA now. Contribute the max for 2025, and 2026 into a good ETF like VTI or SPY. You’ll already be way ahead of other people your age if you do so.

ramkris1988

I will absofucking-lutely do this first thing this month. I will come up with a plan like you to slowly sell and move to VTI and forget. I will plan for tax as well.

warrior5715

sell -> cause taxable event -> buy VTI -> FOMO back into winners at higher cost basis o7

warrior5715

Keyword is might. You are trying to ask Reddit for a crystal ball. All we know for certain is that you'll hurt compounding by causing a taxable event. You will diverify by VTI but most indices are also heavy on large tech stocks.

Valvador

> What if you sell and buy VTI and markets drop 50%? > > So many what if’s. The certain thing is you’ll pay taxes and ruin compounding early on. What even is this discussion. You're comparing the chance of three individual companies losing a lot vs the entire market losing the same amount. Yeah selling concentrated positions and diversifying does cause Long Term Capital Gains tax, but any financial advisor worth their salt will still tell you to do this. We also don't know what % of their total portfolio this is. If it was like 20% or more, it would probably be worth it to diversify.

ramkris1988

If market drops 50% then individual stocks might lose even more. In that case, it's a good decision to sell individual stocks and invest in VTI long term - say 20 yrs. Dont need money for next 20 yrs

warrior5715

What if you sell and buy VTI and markets drop 50%? So many what if’s. The certain thing is you’ll pay taxes and ruin compounding early on.

ramkris1988

VTI

Ashmizen

I would argue no just because you lose on capital gains, and VTI is not massively different from Google + Amazon. There is no risk of Google and Amazon going under or even under performing the rest of VTI, so while VTI is “safer” it’s like going from 99.999% safe to 99.99999%.

Inevitable_Pride1925

A year ago I anticipated the market drop and sold out of my positions at about 97-98% of market high. I then held a very significant portion of my assets in a money market at about 4%. The market dropped and I held, I thought it would continue to drop, well it reversed and increased. I still held because I thought it was a dead cat bounce. Well it wasn’t. I eventually bought back in for more than I sold for because I held too long. I had the opportunity to buy back in at multiple points and didn’t pull the trigger. That’s the point where I realized I was not cut out to be a trader. VTI’s 2025 return was ~17.14%, my portfolio which is invested 95% in VTI and 5% in a required target date fund was about ~11%. I hope I learned my lesson it could have been a lot more painful. Time in market is much more important than timing the market. I don’t have the time, temperament, or knowledge to try and successfully time the market. So hopefully I won’t try again. So I hold my investments in a market based ETF. I have a pension so it can take the place of bonds to a degree especially since I don’t trust myself to sell out of them at an appropriate time anymore. As I get closer to retirement I’ll rebalance my tax advantaged accounts to make my total asset profile match my risk tolerance and spending plans.

JadedApple6854

I would’ve done SCHG SCHD VTI

Spiritual-Tailor9209

For real.  The more I researched this stock, the more I was like “holy shit.”  It’s my only individual stock.  Everything else is in VTI

Fun-Personality-8008

Yeah I just don't look at it, except for end of year in case I can tax loss harvest some lots. I'm still 100% VTI and equivalents so nothing to rebalance either. Nowhere near retirement yet so there's nothing to be gained by overreacting to the news (especially with a president who is clearly manipulating the market for his buddies to insider trade on).

Bubbly-Hope6968

You’re welcome to do whatever you wish, it’s your money. I’m not being so shortsighted as to only look back 5 years. You’re welcome to read Fama and French if you’d like to get an introduction as to why this is good financial advice. (Go look into the 5 factor model of the economy) Now if this is pocket change do whatever you want. However, if this is important money to you that you are counting on for your future and you have at least a 10 year timeline, I’d strongly consider a different approach. Frankly, you’d be best just buying VTI for US market exposure. I added an idea as a way to potentially improve long term returns. Based on this conversation I’d just stick to buying VTI do you don’t have to make any rebalancing decisions.

X0036AU2XH

Right now I’m mostly in VT which does help my anxiety to know there’s some diversification there - I’m glad I’m not straight VOO (it was tempting but I was just too risk adverse.) I’m thinking of putting my money into VXUS for a bit and then sitting down to do the math to rebalance into a cleaner VTI/VXUS portfolio that better matches my risk appetite - but maybe when I’m not feeling so panicked and am feeling a little more clearheaded.

X0036AU2XH

That’s a fair point. Trying not to panic but it’s only been the past 2 years where I could really start investing more aggressively and actually fund a Roth IRA. I’m getting anxious that everything I’ve put in is going to get wiped and because I didn’t have much saved prior to 2022/23 (just around 50k), it will all get decimated if we end up crashing to 2022 or even earlier levels. If I hadn’t gotten such a late start on retirement, I’d probably be a lot more chill about these levels. I’m glad I’ve been more focused on VT and less on VOO/VTI during this period at least, so I have some built in diversification. This Greenland shit is making me anxious though.

InjuryEmbarrassed532

Am I right in thinking that VTI is up almost 3.5% YTD, since the USD gained 1.6% against the Euro in that time?

crazybutthole

You are not going to lose anything. Just open an account through fidelity or schwab whichever you prefer. Make two accounts 1 Roth 2 taxable brokerage account Takes ten minutes. Then add a deposit method (link a checking account) It's usually easier to transfer money from bank to taxable brokerage - then transfer the money from taxable to the IRA That also takes about two minutes. Give it like 3 days maybe four. For the accounts to get all set up and then buy some ETFs like VTI or VOO or whatever. Keep adding money. Keep buying more. Easy. By like the tenth day - call the place where your mom created the custodial account and tell them you want to transfer the shares to your new taxable account. They should be able to help you do it in a quick ten to fifteen minutes phone call. Might need your mom to be present to verify she agrees to transfer the funds to your new account (In most cases they only transfer full shares so if you own any partial shares you might want to sell those and just transfer the cash.) But you could also call schwab and ask to verify that before you make any decisions.

Bubbly-Hope6968

I think you’d likely do better with VTI and AVUV if you want US market exposure. The largest U.S. companies will have true most international exposure and while you do want access to those, I’m not sure you only want access to those. I like NLR for what it is as a tactical part of a portfolio, but keep it a low percentage of your overall portfolio (under 5%). If you want to also have a tech tactical sleeve for QQQ, you should keep it under 10% of your portfolio and rebalance annually. Keep in mind these companies doing business in USD so you expose yourself to currency risk at a time when USD has been falling.

fincook-12

What I think the main downsides are.... US-only exposure and heavy tech concentration. In my opinion, you miss global diversification and could get hit hard if US markets lag. Because- 1. No international stocks means currency risk and missing growth elsewhere. 2. Overlap between VOO (S&P 500) and VTI (total US) with 80% same holdings wastes diversification. 3. Small/mid caps in VTI add volatility during downturns while mega caps dominate returns. Consider adding international ETF or bonds based on your age and goals. What's your time horizon?

leaning_on_a_wheel

Ok and why do you think that’s better than more VTI?

IdioticPrototype

In a taxable acct. dividends create an unnecessary tax drag. I'd stick the other 10% in VXUS or VTI and call it a day. 

ercpck

But but, you should only buy bonds and VTI (30/70 split), work and invest for 45 years and then withdraw 3.5%, how dare you! Congratulations and fuck you!

trix_is_for_kids

It’s a whole book just to say buy VTI but I think it is important to read to get people into investing and to put 90%+ of their investments into VTI or a close equivalent.

Randomshiii4

Noobie question as well, Investing in my Roth IRA I'm doing 80% fzrox and 20% fzilx through fidelity. However my question is I have a brokerage through Robinhood that I had before my Roth and had some money in it would it be a good option to put some in VTI? The expense ratio is 0.03% so it'll get taxed in the brokerage and was just wondering if it'll be a good investment or just stick doing my Roth for now? Put some aside in a HYSA account as well for emergencies but just getting into them at 24m so still learning?

Ok-Educator5253

VOO, IVV, SCHG, VT, VTI, QQQM You want to capture the growth of the market as a whole for most of your money.

Cruian

I'd diversify to at least international. There's plenty of times where market favor is outside the US for stretches. A global approach can be beneficial to both returns and volatility compared to the US only that VOO is (no, foreign revenue doesn't make it international). You could also consider the US extended market (add say VXF, or to cover both with one fund, replace no with VTI for example).

shane1955

This might help. Step 1: Define Your Investment Policy (IPS) Before buying anything, answer these questions: \-Time Horizon: When do I need this money? (5, 10, 20+ years) \- Risk Tolerance: Can I stomach a 30% drop without panic selling? \-Goals: Retirement? House down payment? Financial independence? The 4 Rules That Never Change  1.          Keep Costs Low — Every 1% in fees costs you \~25% of your wealth over 30 years 2.           Stay Diversified — No single stock should be more than 5% of your portfolio 3.           Rebalance Systematically — Emotions are the enemy; rules are your friend 4.           Know What You Own — If you can’t explain it, you shouldn’t own it “The Simple Three”    Fund                                Allocation                        Purpose Total US Stock (VTI)                  60%      US market exposure Total International (VXUS)      25%      Global diversification Total Bond (BND)                      15%     Stability    \*\*Short-Term Conditions (Next 3–6 Months):\*\* Consider what the economy and markets may look like in the near term—not to time the market, but to plan for volatility and stay disciplined. If you’re uneasy about short-term swings, consider \*\*adding to BND first\*\* to increase stability and reduce the risk of panic-selling. Then, \*\*rotate from BND into equities gradually\*\* (e.g., on a monthly schedule) until you reach your target allocation. This keeps you invested, lowers “all-at-once” timing risk, and maintains a rules-based process.

cheesecakk3

I’ve decided to go through with my idea, the plan is to max out my ROTH with VTI and VXUS in a ratio of 80/20. I would go with VT but doing VTI and VXUS would allow me to control the amount I would like to invest if US market or International Markets rise and fall. For my dividend portfolio I went with the good hard hitters like Realty O, QQQI and IAUI to name a few.

Few-Chemist-3463

SCHD is for someone who is 74 lol. Should be in VTI / VOO + growth picks.

dalr3th1n

VT, VTI, VXUS. Might get spicy and buy VOO.

LanceX2

I sold my SCHD in 2023 and have had no regrets. Bought VTI and VGT with it. Gained alot more. Hell VTI has 1% dividend. SCHD is only 2.5% more give or take but VTI grows alot more