VTI

agentictribune

VTI is US-only though. you might want to try VT with the same patience.

edWurz7

Sell all and get VTI or VT.

R101C

You think you know enough to beat the broader market and the full time professionals? Indexes like VTI exist for a reason.

mx5plus2cones

I use schwab because like fidelity if you have a linked checkibg account, its unlimited free ATMs worldwide. You pay for atm fees up front and they reimburse you back the fees at the end of the both. Super easy check scanning mobile app for mobile deposits and also has zelle so my tenants can pay me easily...and at least for where i live, there's more schwab branches than fidelity. What i dont like about Schwab is their cash sweep function sucks. Cash that you have left in your brokerage account automatically gets "sweeped up" and auto invested. The choices of how it gets invested is pretty lame. Basically very interest 1% or lower. It used to be you can specify their money market funf SWVXX as the default cash sweep, and that pays an almost 4% interest... But you cant anymore. Fidelity and Vanguard allows you to specify the default cash sweep to be their version of the money market fund... Unfortunately, I dont like fidelity (and finally got rid of them)...and vanguard is very very old and clunky... If i didnt have very old Voyager class index funds and didnt have my kods 529k college account in the Vanguard/Nevada plan , I would close that account in a heartbeat too. The remaining 38 accounts are all at Schwab. My parents gave me a small custodial account at Schwab a long time ago to learn how to invest when I was 15-16, so I grew up with Schwab. My kid has a custodal schwab account since they were 10. And now second year in college has a Roth IRA at schwab (I match the money my kid earns working at part time jobs that doesnt get spent with a dollar for dollar contribution to their Roth IRA up to the annual roth IRA contribution... It gets auto invested in VTI and VXUS.)

ATPsynthase12

So I am currently getting into investing and learning the basics but would appreciate some input on my current portfolio distribution. The goal is long-term sustained growth over 30 years or so with a “buy and hold” mentality. I like the Bogleheads mentality, but got a 3 day ban from their sub for even mentioning investing in QQQ. Currently my distribution is based on a standard 3 fund portfolio with tilts in tech and real estate because I think those markets will continue to improve over the next 30 years. My distribution is: 40% VTI 20% VTXUS 20% BND 10% VNQ (REIT) 10% QQQ Any input or changes you’d recommend? I’m aware the REITs aren’t the most efficient in a taxable brokerage, but with my income tax bracket, it would be negligible bump. I like them as an inflation hedge and the extra investable income via dividends. If I were to cut something, I’d sell my. Shares here and move it to VTXUS for more foreign market involvement. I am also aware that tech and QQQ is volatile in the market, however, I do not think we are going to see tech become less of an integral part of our society or economy especially with the rise of AI. It seems silly to not tilt your portfolio to tech a little given that we are closer to colonizing the moon than going back to analog clocks and dialup internet.

FairMongoose5583

when someone says “VOO and chill”, they mean to buy into the broad market and let it sit for a while. this of course is assuming they have decades to chill. also, VOO here is interchangeable with any broad market ETF. for some people it’s the S&P 500 (SPY, VOO, SPYM, IVV, SWPPX, among others). some people it’s the broad US market like VTI, some people it’s the broad world market like VT. the catchphrase is more investing advice than anything

Open2Lrn

$600 VTI and $400 VXUS tbh

Icy-Sheepherder-7595

ADBE and LULU im considering but my losses are kind of too much to stomach. If I do sell in just buying more Microsoft or VTI

FIREinParis

My ITOT/VTI is higher today than it was when the war started. While I have gold etfs as well, it’s not like the equity markets have collapsed. The total US stock market is up since the conflict commenced.

zangor

A few months back I moved one of my IRAs. When you move they give you cash and you rebuy. So I bought some VTI and SMH, both ETFs. VTI is +3.4% and SMH is +38.0%. Seems normal and healthy.

Iccrem

Genuine question but people say VTI/VOO for long term like Roth IRA, how about if I have a short term horizon for brokerage account? Do people still recommend the 70/30 split or is the split only for long term?

Dirkredblade

If I could go back in time and re-start with what I know now, I would just do my current allocation- 65% VTI, 25% VXUS, 5% gld, 5% Ibit. Sectors have too many ups and downs, and you have to time them right- QQQQ (simulated) was terrible from 2000-2015- earning 2% cagr. It took 2020-2025 to pump the numbers back up. If you want to try to outperform, I'd recommend the same allocation, but take 10% at most to actively pick stocks/sectors with. S&P 500 has cagr'd 9.4% and averaged 11% since 1871, that beats almost all funds/stocks over a 20 year period. Make this the majority of your funds, then add some VXUS for time periods when EX-USA beats USA equites like 1969-1989 and 2000-2010 (and 2025). As long as those are the bulk of your retirement, everything else is details, and the amount you contribute is the biggest factor.

IdioticPrototype

VTI 'til I die. 

iamdebbar

I like that! I need to come up with something for VTI since that's what I actually invest in :)

Beautiful_Club_6061

VTI is triple what it was in 2016 500k 401k is now 1.5 million, zero effort , did nothing special , changed jobs like 8 times during covid, all sales and retail Did nothing special and no I am at FIRE The last 6 years have been the best years to have been a worker since before 2008, numbers don’t lie bro

Icy-Sheepherder-7595

I would say I had or have long term conviction in all of them, except LULU I bought that at the recommendation of a friend who works in IB so thought he couldn't be wrong. I actually did see it go over $400 at one point but since then it just keeps going lower. NVO I still have conviction in, I've seen how well GLP-1 works and that obesity is one of the biggest health issues in the U.S. however I also know LLY has the home field advantage, but still believe the Ozempic brand name has value. MSFT and UNH pretty self explanatory, bought them low and will be forever holds (the shares of UNH I offloaded as I wanted to lower my risk and felt o may have bought them too high, $245 is a price I don't think we'll ever see again but who knows it got close a month ago). ADBE I liked as they keep growing revenue despite the SaaSpocalypse narrative and they are a strong legacy company I feel but again I can't predict the future of this stuff so who knows what AI will do to it. MELI I liked for the Mercado Pago system they have implemented in societies that are still cash reliant where many people don't have traditional bank accounts, and the fact that they are fending off Amazon's e-commerce growth in Latin America, I liked them as a hedge against the U.S. market but they seem more affected by it than I realized. META just makes a ton of money and I bought the dip, don't know if I want to hold them long term as it's really all ad revenue and they don't really provide anything of use to the world beside data centers now I guess. FXAIX and VTI are my index fund/ETF holdings. Hope that answers your question. Thanks for reading

Icy-Sheepherder-7595

I'm not. I panic sold a little bit of UNH last month to buy more Microsoft and missed out on the huge runup on those shares, bought some MU at the bottom a month ago and sold that too early, I made money but it could've been more if I were patient. Sold Google too early last year for a measly gain when I could doubled my investment. I just am at a point where it stresses me out so much that I really do think long term I should mainly do index funds and then hold some good ones and buy them when they crash hard like I just did with Microsoft but it's just too much for me mentally. I only started stock picking because I felt FOMO from missing out on buying the broader market 2-3 years ago when it was down and this is my way of catching up to where I should be but it never seems to work. I really hate that I bought NVO, LULU, and ADBE right now. I wish I just put that in VTI or VOO but can't change that now as I don't want to lock in the loss it just hurts to watch.

Icy-Sheepherder-7595

Need opinions on my portfolio and wether or not I should sell it all besides my top 3 holdings. Yesterday I was feeling confident again after watching the bloodbath that was last month but losing confidence again now that the fear is back. 99 MSFT shares at $395, 42 UNH shares at $245, 42 VTI shares at $328, 82 LULU shares at $194, 48 ADBE shares at $272, 13 META shares at $595, 204 NVO shares at $46, 2 MELI shares at $2,076, 7 FXAIX shares at $207. I hate the idea of locking in a loss but I also don't want to be part of a sinking ship.

MitchCurry

VOO is an ETF that tracks the S&P 500 index. VTI is an ETF that basically owns a sliver of every public US company (3,700+ I believe). To compare them to the metrics you provided (15% returns annually the past 3 years, 0.15% fee), VOO has returned 21.5% annually the past 3 years and has a fee of 0.03% and VTI has return 21.1% annually the past 3 years and has a fee of 0.03%.

Rhyd95

Im thinking long term so don't intend on selling anytime soon, just wanted to get the ball rolling. I keep my savings in a Monzo account and it showed that I can start a flexible S&S ISA via their app for a 0.15% fee. The previous returns were all upwards of 15% for the past 3 years, but I appreciate its post covid etc so will likely drop down. I'll be honest, I dont know what VOO or VTI is. Would it be better to invest in those instead? I just want something i can drop money into each month and forget about.

MitchCurry

It's never a bad time to begin your investing journey. Future you will be happy you did, [even if you buy in at the very top](https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2014/02/worlds-worst-market-timer/) (just don't panic sell and keep buying and holding). Genuine question though. Why not just go with VOO or VTI or something?

ATPsynthase12

They may not rise at all. The long-term outlook for Ubisoft as a company has not been good for probably a decade. What’s your plan if you invest $100 in Ubisoft and their new game flops (which based on their recent track record, very well may) and you lose a good chunk of your investment? Do you intend to stick with Ubisoft for several years or buy additional stock if the price tanks? Or are you going to panic sell because you planned for a short term return on investment? I’m assuming if you are basing your investment portfolio on video game news, you are probably in your late teens or early 20s. My advice would be to take $100 once per month and invested in ETF like VTI or VOO. If you invest $100 per month for 40 years, by the time you turned 60 your investment will have grown to over $1.2 million and yield around $15,000 in quarterly dividends. It’s fairly idiot proof, the only caveat would be in a recession where the market takes a big hit. That will slow your earnings in the short term, however, if you continue to invest aggressively during a price dip, you may come out better off at the end of the recession as long as you don’t panic and sell everything.

Icy-Sheepherder-7595

99 MSFT shares at $395, 42 UNH shares at $245, 42 VTI shares at $328, 82 LULU shares at $194, 48 ADBE shares at $272, 13 META shares at $595, 204 NVO shares at $46, 2 MELI shares at $2,076, 7 FXAIX shares at $207. I was feeling good yesterday and now back to feeling like it's over and I should sell everything but the first 3. But don't want to take a loss

nostratic

I'll answer in two parts, for the portfolio first and the other questions second. PORTFOLIO Those investments are all OK individually, but combined they're a little odd. VSEQX is a fund that emphasizes mid and small size US companies. It's very good for its type, but seems out of place as the largest position *and* combined with the other options. This would be considered a more aggressive fund, because smaller company stocks are usually more volatile than larger company stocks. VWNAX is the Vanguard Windsor Fund, which is a more conservative fund focused on larger US companies. VXUS is most of the global stock market outside the US. VUG is also larger US companies, but with a different strategy than VWNAX so possibly a good balance. VTI is most of the US stock market, so it overlaps with VSEQX. VWNAX, and VUG. You're holding basically the same stocks in 3 different containers. OTHER ISSUES I don't mean to be insulting but this is all highly vague and not realistic. It seems more like you're dissatisfied with life or bored, rather than having any real goals or ambitions. some time with a therapist or counselor might be a good thing, or with a priest if you're religious. to me, this is more a meaning-of-life question and less a financial question. the amounts of money and investments you describe are probably not adequate to finance your expenses if you wanted to avoid work, especially in a VHCOL area. especially in the EU, where taxes are much higher on investments outside a tax-sheltered retirement plan. buying a home in a VHCOL area may not be realistic on a current combined income of about $160k. that's higher income for some cities, but in most of LA proper it's barely enough to survive. you could liquidate all the investments and cash, and still have a large mortgage on a tiny condo or house in the LA area. This plan might be effective if you could relocate to a smaller, rural area in the US. buy a small house for maybe $300,000, and invest the rest of the assets for income but keep your spending low. there are towns of small but not tiny size (say 20,000 to 50,000 people) where there are enough amenities and infrastructure to have access to stores, medical care, reasonable social services like libraries and police departments, etc. but that would be a very drastic lifestyle change, and your jobs may or may not be portable. >willing to fuck off to Europe with dual citizenship opportunity from what I see on reddit, Europeans are highly pessimistic about Europe. https://www.reddit.com/r/eupersonalfinance/comments/1rmdjke/since_when_was_getting_rich_so_hard_in_eu/ and it's objectively easier to start a small business in the USA than in the EU, if the hospitality/travel business is successful. that's why Europeans with any ambition or entrepreneurial sense are more likely to immigrate to the US.

kinnadian

VTI is just US total market. VOO plus mid and small caps. So even more overlap than VOO+VT

austinvvs

Buy a broad based index fund like VTI and forget it exists for 10-40 years

Totti302

Just come to grips that you will not outperform the market. Matching its performance is more than enough for 99% of people Buy low cost index funds like SPY, QQQ or VTI. Lose your password and check back every few years.

H0stusM0stus

You seem to be in a similar situation as I was up until recently. I had a relatively large amount (\~175K) of VWIAX. I started investing in that fund, along with VTSAX and VWUAX, when my annual income was low and my knowledge of investing was minimal. Fast forward 8-9 years and I find myself getting absolutely crushed in taxes every year due to 1) huge capital gains distributions by VWUAX, 2) moderate capital gains payouts by VWIAX. It appears very similar to VSEQX and VWNAX. Not sure what your taxes usually look like, but those capital gains hits can be brutal So what I did is on Vanguard's site, I went to the "Sell" page for VWIAX and selected "SpecID". With that, I was able to see each lot that I had purchased and whether those lots were sitting with long term gains or losses. In my case, I was able to sell my whole position in VWIAX and the net effect was still $4700 long term loss (7900 loss / 3200 gain). I did the same thing with VWUAX and was able to harvest another $2800 of long term capital losses. The nice thing is now I have over $10K to help offset any capital gains that my remaining shares of VWUAX pay out, and I was able to move \~175K into a MUCH more tax efficient structure. Right now you are in a good position with low AGI, but once that business grows the capital gains payouts of those two actively managed funds could be the difference between being in the 22% or 24% tax bracket. If I was in your shoes, I would be looking at the SpecID for both of your actively managed funds to see what kind of losses you might have. Perhaps try to harvest some losses now to help offset the capital gains payouts, especially from VWNAX because that one looks notoriously high. And even if you do have gains, your AGI is still low enough to where you could realistically sell a significant portion of those two funds without moving into a higher tax bracket. Granted you would have to pay the 15% capital gains tax on any of those gains, but better now than when you are making $100K+ per year. I'd look at putting the proceeds towards your VTI ETF. That's just my 0.02

Djent_Reznor1

Continuing as usual. DCA 70% VTI 30% VXUS every month.

cupa001

I am relatively close to retirement and have decided to start divesting my individual stocks. My rule is that I will sell if I have at least 100% LTCG. Proceeds go to SGOV or VTI depending on account. This is out of my “play” account, not a big deal if I hold for long or never sell. Will also use for tax loss harvesting if needed.

cheddarben

My biggest problem is that so may "well diversified" etfs have straight up boofered all tech. Spy isn't diversified. VTI or VTO aren't diversified. You mostly own tech.

InvestingNerd2020

E*Trade allow you to buy fractional shares of ETFs, but only in auto investing mode. It's actually a good idea for long-term investing. VTI or SCHD auto invested in a taxable brokerage account works well long-term.

howtoretireby40

VTI babyyyy\~

Major-Bad-1203

Holy shit I sold all of my VTI a hour ago cause Im poor. Who said you cant time the market?

goodmorningcptahab

Just FYI, this portfolio was largely set up by one of Vanguard’s financial advisors about four or five years ago, so it’s not exactly without strategy. I added VTI shares a year ago—strategically, I thought. So there is thought and reason behind the original portfolio and the changes I’ve made/will make.

wandererarkhamknight

What will be the percentage of SpaceX will be if it’s hypothetically added to VOO or VTI at the said valuation?

yohannanx

Why hold VTI/VXUS and VT?

mistressbitcoin

If index investors are the cash cow, can you blame the market for taking advantage of it? And if the SPY/VTI/VTSAX is so safe, why cant the average person borrow against them? Why only millionaires?

BackgammonFella

4 etf forever “index” portfolio 20-40% SGOV (100% short term treasuries, may be worth diversifing with municipals if in NY, CA, MN, etc) 20-40% VTI (100% US stock market) 20-40% VXUS (100% international stock market) 10-80% VT (100% world stock market) If indexing, why not fully index the entire equity market?

SnooMarzipans9536

Thanks! Fingers crossed, dug myself a 37k hole this year so far so a big win would be epic. If I get it I’ll be responsible and put most of it into VTI or something. Or, OR! Escalade haha

Hot_Cap4943

You’re actually in a very strong position already, with solid assets, a large cash buffer, and meaningful upside from your business. It’s not necessarily about being more aggressive, but about aligning your portfolio with your goals. If part of your HYSA is earmarked for a home purchase within 1–3 years, holding cash makes sense. But any excess beyond short-term needs could gradually be shifted into broad equity index funds like VTI and VXUS to support long-term growth. At 31 with potential business income growth ahead, your true risk capacity is higher than it may feel today. The key is avoiding excessive cash drag while still maintaining a portfolio you’re comfortable holding through volatility. A simple framework: short-term cash, long-term equities, and your business as the upside driver.

micha_allemagne

The actively managed funds are where I'd start. You're paying \~0.3% ERs for exposure you could replicate with VTI at 0.03. Also VUG overlaps quite a bit with VTI's mega cap tech positions, so you're overexposing on that sector and market cap. Here's a full breakdown of your current allocation: [https://insightfol.io/en/portfolios/report/f0ad0b4808/](https://insightfol.io/en/portfolios/report/f0ad0b4808/) What's the tax situation on potentially exiting VSEQX/VWNAX?

14PESO

You don't believe in US stock market more? I would not be that heavy in VXUS and move more into VTI. But what do I know you have way more money than me lmao Aggression? Look into SPMO, QQQM, SMH, VGT

rodentmaster

If you're intent on getting started, 80% in SPMO and 20% in VGT. I used to say VOO/VTI, but barely beats S&P and VTI hasn't even matched it for a while, so I've changed my mind in recent years. I also put my money where my mouth is and dumped VTI for VGT and SPMO.

everyeargiants

OP, I did the same. Kinda tough seeing VTI go from $319 to $350 in short time. The war is not over. We still have 2 more years of Trump. Macro issues persist. It seems like another big / bigger plunge will come, so may as well wait for that.

drew-gen-x

I bought $XLE on Friday. Just like $VT, $VTUS, and $VTI or $SPY were underpriced on March 31st; $USO and $XLE are underpriced now for the amount of risk the markets are discounting. I like poking the bear vs bull arguing here; but really people should never be too bearish or bullish. The market is overvalued vs the amount of risk it is taking right now.

Ok_Inspection_8203

50 QQM / 25 AVUV / 25 VTI. Ride the waves down and up. Only susceptible to series of returns risk, but any stock worth investing in is.

counterhit121

I sold like 2/3 of my VTI and threw it in SPAXX, but I'm holding on to my much bigger positions on RDDT and NFLX

Mental_Antelope_7202

Start with an ETF like VTI. But I fear the time to invest a large chunk has passed. Dollar cost average your way into the market. Maybe $250 a week until you get to $20,000.

Economic-Bee-Hoon

VT and VOO have lots of overlap. Suggest you do %VTI (US), %VXUS (international).

456M

>VOO + VTI I'm sorry but that's an even dumber combo. Like 85-90% overlap.

Koolaid_Jef

Im 25 and was in the same spot. I lost a lot as soon as the covid bull run ended. When things turned down in I think 2023, I cut losses and dove into weekly investments in VOO, VTI, VXUS, and a little bit of conviction stocks, though those are heavily overlapped already in the funds. I just wanted a little more of certain ones. I forget im investing and its been working great. To be fair, I essentially started it at the beginning of essentially a constant upturn and possible bubble, but if it crashes ill just increase the weekly buys

Beginning-Novel-4213

Try investing it regular intervals, maybe $2k a month for the next 10 months? That will help the psychology of all this. If the market is up, you’ve made money! If the market is down, you get to buy cheaper and make more money in the future! Just stick with something well diversified like VOO/VTI/VT.

Typical_Web_2125

Again, only an amateur would only go 100% VOO which is why it is important to hold international (and small cap value) as well which in fact beat VOO over the early 2000s. VTI > VOO

intheyear3001

Wife got options in ADBE at $550/share and total value around 1MM. Gifted. I told her to diversify at least half if not all of it into VTI, VOO, fucken anything. Checks notes…$250 now.

Floridian_Capitalist

It’s so tragic that we live in a time where people can’t even acknowledge or appreciate their luck in life. Even OP acknowledges his privilege. Your advice in this thread (like everyone else on this subreddit) is to DCA VTI. Do you know VTIs average rate of return? Do you think it’s remotely feasible to achieve 7 figures net worth by your age without significant starting capital. Classic rich/lucky midwit.

braveyam2

Goal is to keep 80K in broad US stocks? Define your goal… then buy it like others are saying without thinking too much about timing the market. 80K single buy. If market falls, TLH into similar ETFs. VTI >VOO. Paper losses are harvested but you are always stay invested per your goal. If you sit in the sidelines, it will turn into months or even years looking for entry point.

Floridian_Capitalist

It’s fine, everyone on this Reddit will tell him to dca VTI. If you’re good at something never do it for free. Especially for trust fund kids.

HlpM3Plz

I did something similar. Put 80% of my $ in VTI/VXUS. Invested the remaining 20% in individual stocks. That way I can try to make extra $ playing my hunches without risking the majority of my nest egg.

xiaodown

Here @OP, I did it for you. This is investing $20,000 as a lump sum, 5,000,000 simulations, picking an ETF out of the given list, picking a date for which data exists (generally, from the start of the fund up until 2020), and investing the whole thing on the next trading day. Then the results are averaged for each year. Prices are accurate as of yesterday's close. (**note:** repost, and i'm removing the little emojis that my stock backtester script spits out because the bot doesn't like them) (lumpdca) xiaodown@lab:~/code/lumpdca$ python simulate.py 5000000 20000 --tickers \ SPY,QQQ,IWM,VTI,EFA,VEA --lump-only --yearly Investment Strategy Simulation Running 5,000,000 simulations with $20,000 investment Using 16 processes on 16 available cores ============================================================ [████████████████████████████████████████] 5,000,000/5,000,000 (100.0%) EFA from 2011-07-01: LUMP value $51,425 IWM from 2006-03-10: LUMP value $99,098 QQQ from 2000-09-23: LUMP value $168,170 SPY from 2006-11-01: LUMP value $147,153 VTI from 2019-08-10: LUMP value $52,176 SPY from 2014-10-05: LUMP value $86,602 VEA from 2020-08-17: LUMP value $38,454 SPY from 2013-12-18: LUMP value $95,755 ============================================================ SIMULATION SUMMARY ============================================================ Total Simulations: 5,000,000 Starting Capital: $20,000 Time Elapsed: 7.26 seconds Ticker Filter: SPY, QQQ, IWM, VTI, EFA, VEA Mode: Lump Sum Only Returns Analysis: Strategy Median Average Min Max ------------------------------------------------------------ Lump Sum $85,098 $123,298 $29,098 $760,309 Best Lump Sum: QQQ $760,309 (from 2002-10-09) Worst Lump Sum: IWM $29,098 (from 2020-12-24) Lump Sum By Start Year: Year Count Median Average Min Max ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2000 119208 $159,826 $162,953 $129,510 $285,438 2001 201827 $186,581 $200,347 $91,365 $541,237 2002 201538 $204,530 $254,106 $93,398 $760,309 2003 202085 $208,704 $246,108 $82,828 $641,108 2004 202670 $184,469 $198,549 $69,617 $469,717 2005 202302 $166,867 $182,504 $59,454 $434,923 2006 202378 $149,265 $165,042 $48,579 $420,748 2007 261626 $90,588 $120,699 $41,465 $355,670 2008 262790 $108,706 $146,935 $44,311 $583,763 2009 261679 $147,686 $175,261 $57,726 $579,253 2010 262606 $107,333 $137,207 $54,169 $347,938 2011 261781 $93,333 $119,791 $49,900 $292,526 2012 263127 $84,000 $109,512 $52,543 $255,799 2013 261088 $69,451 $91,014 $43,294 $216,495 2014 261798 $57,098 $75,756 $40,957 $168,170 2015 261902 $54,353 $70,230 $41,059 $141,753 2016 262398 $57,098 $70,069 $44,471 $143,686 2017 260976 $46,321 $57,508 $36,485 $114,046 2018 261759 $43,066 $50,524 $34,351 $93,428 2019 261866 $42,000 $48,390 $34,859 $89,562 2020 262596 $43,066 $44,110 $29,098 $78,608 Note: Large outliers detected. Median may be more representative than average. ============================================================ The point is, some years are better than others, but it all comes out in the wash, and time in the market generally beats timing the market.

Fastest_light

Depends on your time horizon and if 20K means a lot. Usually dollar average into the market is safer, meaning, for your 20K, you can buy 0.5K worth of VTI each week, say Tuesday afternoon, and keep doing the same for the rest of 40 weeks. Do not try to time the market, or panic selling. If market went down, just hold tight. Time in the market eventually wins the game.

kinetic_honda

Only 20? Wow. Use time to your advantage. It's your best friend. Put your money into VT or VTI + VXUS, keep doing that regularly. Ignore noise and do this for decades. Then, profit.

AceMaxAceMax

My Roth is VT, my taxable is VTI/VXUS. Simple as that.

Gimme_All_The_Foods

VT for Total World, s fund like VTI for Total US Market, and a fund like VXUS for Total International. If you're looking for one global fund, choose VT.

BarefootMarauder

If you want to stick with Robinhood, VTI, VOO, SPY, and I'm sure there are many others if you do a search on what is available.

SnoopDoug523

you're totally correct, there's zero reason to pick VOO + VT , when VT already has all of VOOs holdings ... VOO + VTI or VEA would be the best choice

TemperMe

Who 50/50 VOO & VTI that crazy overlap. Should mix in VXUS or something else. Maybe 80% VOO and 20% VXUS or something

TheHollowHedonist

5% in IBIT, 5% in ETHA, 5% in IAU (GDX if it's a taxable account), 5% in SIVR, 15% in VXUS and 65% in VTI. Tweak it from there. That'll cover your bases since you want to be a little speculative with your crypto.

TemperMe

I prefer to keep about 60% in VTI, 20% in VXUS, 10% in bonds, 5% Bitcoin and Ethereum, 5% individual stock picks

Ok-Psychology7619

I started investing 7-8 years ago, almost entirely into VTI/VOO. I am up 200K+ since.

AlfB63

Pick one of the three. VTI and VTSAX are the same thing and VTI/VTSAX holds everything in VOO and more but the overlap by weight is over 88% so they will all have similar returns.

FutureMobile399

Bro you're 21 with 16k already in Roth, you're doing great 🔥 But yeah that commenter is right - VTSAX and VTI are basically same thing, just one is ETF and other is mutual fund. You'd be doubling up for no reason I went through this same confusion when I started few years back. VTI already gives you total market exposure so adding VOO (which is just S&P 500) is kinda redundant since VTI includes those companies anyway. Maybe just stick with VTI for now and add some international later when you understand it better, even if returns aren't as flashy the diversification helps 😂

InternetSlave

All you have to do is buy VTI. If you bought 2 months ago you'd be in the green. If you bought 2 years ago you'd be in the green. Stop listening to Zoomer stock influencers

Immediate-Run-7085

Have you actually looked into what VTI, VOO and VTSAX hold? Put in some work into researching instead if of just blindly following

razehound

Yeah not interchangeable. Ik its wierd but you really should just have it all in VT Or if you like to "diversify", do 60% VTI and 40% VXUS (same thing) 

Mr_Beast

Are you able to keep putting a consistent amount in each month? If so, I would just put it all in now in something broad and diversified—VT, VTI, VOO, or hell I guess even a target date fund—and set up an auto-contribution. Then, here’s the important part, forget it about it, and don’t stress over every up and down. Just set and forget.

JealousFuel8195

VT includes international. VTI is similar to VOO

Typical_Web_2125

I hold VTI which already has all of these funds. The basic principles of broad, diversified ETF exposure apply to all account types. The main difference outside your retirement accounts is being tax-aware; you want to prioritize low-turnover, passively managed ETFs like VOO (S&P 500) or VTI (Total US Stock Market). These are highly 'tax-efficient' because they rarely sell internal holdings, meaning they don't trigger the frequent capital gains tax hits you might find in actively managed funds. The more important issue is your timeframe. Often, people use taxable accounts for mid-term goals like a house down payment. If you need the money in 3–5 years, that suggests a more conservative strategy (like a money market fund or SGOV), not individual stocks, which are far riskier. If you’re in it for the long haul, an aggressive strategy weighted heavily toward broad stock ETFs makes sense. The individual stock game is ultimately just that—a game. It rarely makes sense as a primary strategy. If you have an itch to gamble, keep it to a 'sandbox' account. If your 401k has $100k and your taxable has $3k, losing that $3k won’t ruin your future, but personally, I’d rather keep all my money working hard to fund my life.

Typical_Web_2125

Dude just DCA into VT or VTI or VOO & VXUS (Boglehead style) and you are guaranteed to make money in the long term. Never do single stocks because it is too risky and not diversified.

MovingToSeattleSoon

SPY is large-cap only (S&P 500 index) and VTI includes large, mid, and small-cap. Large cap has done exceptionally well for \~15 years but that is not always the case, historically. VTI could easily outperform SPY over the next 10 years, but who knows. Large caps show no signs of slowing right now

bigmac9

VTI and chill.

Lynx-1

This may be true, but the comment you replied to was comparing SPY to VOO, not VTI.

hamilkwarg

Voo is diversified. Putting it in anything other than, say, VTI would undiversify it.

kirlandwater

Is this savings in addition to your retirement accounts? Or is this all you’ve got? If you’re just looking to add more with your savings instead of letting it sit, you can toss it into SWVXX which is a money market fund paying ~3.8% (last I checked) and should always be at $1. Much better than your savings account paying 0.1% If this is your only investment and you want to start saving for retirement and to create long term wealth, stick it into VTI and continue to add money into it every paycheck, even if it’s just a little bit, and then don’t worry about the global recession tomorrow, or next year, or anything for the next 30 years. There has been no 20 year long period where the overall US market has not gone up. You’ll be alright.

MovingToSeattleSoon

SPY is large-cap only (S&P 500 index) and VTI includes large, mid, and small-cap. Large cap has done exceptionally well for \~15 years but that is not always the case and may not be going forward. VTI could easily outperform SPY over the next 10 years, but who knows. Large caps show no signs of slowing right now

MysteriousCoat1692

Put the money in SGOV. Every last day of the month go in and sell 1,700 of SGOV and buy 1,700 of VTI (total US market if in the US). If you're able to do that whether the number is up or down, you're ready to invest. Also, consider reading up on Boglehead philosophy given your anxieties. 1,700 per month will let you DCA the money over a year and learn in the process.

1ManMilitiaa

ETFs, by far, are the best option for you right now. Stop trend chasing and go for some long term growth. VT, VTI, VOO, SPMO, or SCHG are all general tickers you’ll see a lot. *Not financial advice*

newmes

VTI or VT and chill

sperginsturgeon

Everyone is giving you conservative etf. I would say to also consider QQQ or QQQM. VOO and VTI are cool, but who cares. Go straight for the meat and potatoes. If QQQ takes a fat shit the rest of the world will too. You're young, risk is acceptable IMO.

fatogato

Compare your graph over the same time period as an index fund like VTI

Smart-Plantain4032

I really like spy. I know it’s like VTI but I made more money with spy somehow 

Mr_Strol

VTI is up 3.5% and you’re blaming your horrid -30% on fears, tweets n trump? 😂😂

whamra

VOO, VTI, VXUS. Just 3 examples, but enough for most of the world. Put 80% of your money in them. Never touch them. No selling winners, no buying losers, nothing. You don't touch them. The remaining 20%? I won't be a harsh parent, play there. But only 20%.

oldschoolczar

VTI/VXUS. Pick your ratio. Typically in the past it’s been recommended to do 75/25. These days I’ve seen advisors recommending even 60/40.

SebbyNietz

I just moved from VTI/VXUS to VYM/VYMI yesterday in my retirement accounts. Not a perfect situation, but I'm not comfortable holding MAG7 right this second. VYM's single biggest holding is 6% Broadcom, which I think still mostly benefits from the AI craze as a pick-and-shovel seller. And at least I get some sweet, sweet dividends in the meantime.

WallStreetBoners

She also has a lot of treasuries. And that’s exactly what I’m reallocating to. VTI -> SGOV. Still has a lot of RSP, BRK, VTI. IMO since the port is >$3M it doesn’t make sense to be 100% treasuries.

mx5plus2cones

Sold my 20 calls of UNH . Sold 50% of my 401k and IRA , about $1.4m almost exclusively camped on in VTI and VXUS yesterday, for the 5th time this year.... Hedging against TACO man to see what happens on Thursday morning. Since TACO man is getting to be pretty consistent at stirring up shit, it almost an exception to long term hold and dont touch. 25.4% ytd for me so far.

Dirkredblade

Good luck, this is literally how my parents turned about 200k in 1998 to about $1 million now. Never sold their losses, but when things looked rocky, kept new contributions in their retirement HYSA equivalent, waiting for the perfect time. I guess they did ok, but if they had just kept that 200k invested in 75% VTI / 25% VXUS they would have $1,850,000- so 185% more. Hartford funds has a study showing if you miss the 10 best days in a 30 YEAR period, you cut your return rate in half and if you manage to miss the 30 best days, you cut your returns by 85%. I'm sure you won't though, you're different and smarter than most investors.

TheSchneid

I want to know what his time horizon is because I also don’t fuck w options but I’m up like 115% in the past 5 years too I meant VTI is up more than 35% in the past year alone…

Cute_Mountain3956

Honestly if your restaurants are solid and throwing cash, I’d treat stocks like a long term side quest, not the main game. Max something boring like VOO/VTI or global index funds on autopilot, maybe 70 to 80 percent, then keep 20 to 30 percent in stuff you’re actually curious about so you don’t get FOMO. Since you’re not trying to day trade from a kitchen line, I’d focus on: low fee index ETFs, diversify outside your region, and just DCA every month no matter what the market is doing. WSB answer is YOLO calls on SPY, actual answer is let your restaurants be the risk and your portfolio be the chill one.