VTSAX

Cruian

No, that's a comment on the downside of holding both. Since VTI/VTSAX fully contains S&P 500, by holding both, you benefit less than you would had you been 100% VTSAX when smaller caps are in favor. By holding total market, you benefit no matter if it is small or large caps in favor. By adding S&P 500 to that, you reduce the weight of those smaller caps.

SirGlass

No there is no real drawback besides being less diversified then just holding VTSAX (VTI) The biggest reason to look at overlap is sometimes people think holding a bunch of different funds gives then diversification when it may not. If you hold something like equal parts VTI , VOO, QQQ, VUG you might think you are diversified, you are holding like 4 funds right and holding 4 funds sounds more diversified then just holding 1 fund right ?Well really all those funds are ust a subset of VTI so adding them is just concentraiting your position in USA large caps , you are actually less diversified then just holding 100% VTI VOO is a subset of VTI, VTI already holds all the companies that make up VOO. Infact VOO makes up something like 85% of VTI holdings by market cap VTI is approx 85% large cap/ 10% mid cap, 5% small cap, so by holding both you are just concentrating your position into large cap. What is fine, I guess if you think VTI has too much exposure to mid/small cap companies but you still want a small amount of exposure to them go ahead and hold both there really is not draw back to holding them both.

Gliese_667_Cc

VTSAX and chill. Trying to get unstuck will just make you broke, dude. That money is gone.

Rymasq

i like VTSAX more than VOO right now. The SnP500 gains are overly reliant on tech.

regilucio

I believe it will be about 1200 a month. About half is parked in a CD that will expire in June at about 5%. The other half is a mix of 401k, taxable brokerage invested in VTSAX and checking account for expenses

g_vfx_art

Thank you for this advice! I guess I'm trying to figure out what to do with the VGHCX I own. It hasn't gone up too much in the past 5-10, and it has a high expense ratio of .34%. Perhaps swapping a different mutual fund, since as you say I already have VTSAX in my target date fund?

Cruian

The target date fund is already over 50% VTSAX right now. You'd be watering down the VTIAX and bond parts of the TDF.

6a7262

I'd exchange the VGHCX for VTSAX and let that ride for 10-15 years. When you're closer to retirement you can rebalance again.

futurespacecadet

There an account performance over the last 15 years was an average of 7% per year, that is not including taxes were applicable, and also not including the 1.35% FA fee. As I mentioned before their only income is SS, which is maybe like $7k/year. I would say they are more risk averse but would still like to see their account grow. Basically, this money has to last them the rest of their lives. While I don’t financial advisor, a 7% return (not including fees) doesn’t seem worth it to me. I mean, the advisor has them holding 120 different equities and 12 different mutual funds. If we took their money and put it in VTSAX and another bond fund with a 60-40 split. Would that be just as effective without over complicating it and while avoiding fees?

g_vfx_art

Thanks for that! Maybe I can just swap the VGHCX (medical) for VTSAX while keeping the target fund.

brianmcg321

Vanguard. Put it in VTSAX.

Formerly-Anxious

VTSAX and chill

No-Maintenance5378

Lol I just bought my month VTSAX today if only I could've predicted WWIII

NullIsUndefined

Long term trends of VTSAX and SSO look fine. Market is working!

brianmcg321

VTSAX

Valhalla_Elite

Looking for some advice/input on how I should invest my Vanguard Roth IRA. Currently I have the minimum $3k in VTSAX, as well as another $3k in VTWAX. I'm aware of the 120 rule, and at my age it states I should have 90% of my portfolio in stocks. What are some good fool-proof, set and forget stock options I should be looking at???

Cruian

>ex-US ETFss generally underperform S&P500 Only if you don't zoom out far enough. For example: using even 1950 as a start date, all extra US performance that we see has been only from the most recent US favoring part of the US/ex-US cycle. The 1960s saw the US as a larger percentage of the global market cap than we are today, but the 70s, 80s, and 00s all favored ex-US. Over 45% of rolling 10 year periods favored developed ex-US over the US. Ex-US has had some periods of great over performance. Remember that going global can also help increase sector diversification. As of the 31st of January 2024 (the most recent info available when I last updated this), the US is 31.9% technology (according to VTSAX: https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vtsax#portfolio-composition). Ex-US (according to data from the 31st of January 2024 from https://www.schwab.wallst.com/Prospect/Research/mutualfunds/portfolio.asp?symbol=vtiax since Vanguard for some reason doesn't provide a breakdown of VTIAX sectors themselves, at least in an easy to find location) technology is only 12.5% and only financials are above 20% at 20.1%. Be aware that this is using GICS classifications, which put Google, Tesla, Facebook/Meta, and Amazon outside tech, so if you go by what the common person would think of as tech instead of GICS, that's even higher.

mattzees

S&P500 YTD growth is over 5.8%. One year growth is over 20%. You could just buy an index fund (like VTSAX) and literally do nothing, and wind up with better returns than 5%. Just FYI.

Valhalla_Elite

New to investing. Would appreciate some guidance in terms of how my Vanguard Roth IRA portfolio spread should look. Currently I have the $3000 minimum in VTSAX, as well as another $3000 minimum in VTWAX. The rest is in short-term reserves (VMFXX). I'm aware of the 120 rule, and at my age the rule states I should have 90% of my portfolio in stocks. What are some good set and forget stock options apart from VTSAX & VTWAX to diversify some more???

Sonarav

VTSAX hasn't let me down! 

taplar

Not quite. VTSAX is a mutual fund. As such they trade once a day, at the end of the trading day, at whatever the closing price is. So if you have a desire to treat this fund as any other investment that can be traded through out the day, you're not going to be able to do that.

XSC

I was thinking of buying some VTSAX now that it’s down and letting some money sit on that and other mutual funds/ETFs. These work just like individual stocks right? Can buy and sell as I want in investment accounts? No penalties?

Arse_hull

I'm just a little Bogleworm with $2.5m in VTSAX and VTIAX 🪱 Can you please explain derivatives to me in the most condescending way possible? 🥺🪱🥺

Dear_Library6411

Yeah, the issue is in most cases a professional is not going to beat a diversified total market fund (i.e. VOO, VTSAX, etc.) over a long enough term and then you've got fees on top of that which will eat into your earnings. Good suggestion though for someone who just doesn't want to deal with it at all.

Bratscorcher

It is difficult to time the market. VTSAX that you mention and VOO — those are both good long- term investments.! Don’t be too hard on yourself. I don’t think you or anyone is cursed. We, and the markets, have good days and bad days - but long-term I believe we are getting incrementally better.

Dear_Library6411

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I guess in my head the intention is not trading, it’s investing. But then constantly second-guessing and tinkering with my investments out of fear of loss or FOMO. And it’s not so much about losses. The $300k is what I missed out on by not being 100% in something like VTSAX over the last few years and instead trying to time the market - stuff I know not to do but can’t help myself.

Dear_Library6411

I feel like investing is comply toxic. Between getting burned when everything is tanking and FOMO when you miss an opportunity… How do you all stay sane? I am so disappointed with myself I could scream. I pulled everything out of the market on Jan 1, 2022 just before we entered a bear market. My thought process was risk/reward was too high at the time. I thought I was so smart that I avoided the 25% decline. Fast forward to beginning of 2024, now I’m irate that I missed the huge run up and now in a net worse position than had I just closed my eyes, threw all my money into VTSAX and never looked at it. So now I DCA in starting in March and by April 1 100% of my portfolio is in stocks. Just before we start declining again. I don’t truly believe I’m cursed but it honestly feels that way. I’m constantly anxious checking what the market is doing. I’m terrified of losing money. And honestly I feel like I’m wired to just keep making mistakes like this. I literally spend hours daily (hundreds of hours a year) reading articles about the economy or stock market, tinkering with my investments, building spreadsheets to tracking and benchmarking my investments, etc. All for nothing. I’ve calculated I’ve lost about $300k over the last few years in opportunity cost. I loathe myself for this. Does anyone have any serious suggestions?

gandorf62

Open up a ROTH IRA. All $10k in a vanguard index fund like like VTSAX or VT. Gains grow tax free in a ROTH IRA.

paintedLady318

I understand. We all have to start somewhere. An advisor is not who I would choose to learn from. One of the first lessons is to keep expenses low. They fail on that front. When added to this mistake, yes I would definitely fire them. Not that you have to use them, there are other great firms, but Vanguard has all kinds of educational material on their site. I like them because their fees are low (investor owned company instead of shareholders). You can absolutely do this yourself with much lower fees. VAnguard's Total Stock Market Index (admiral shares) VTSAX for example is 0.04% fee and most of the Target date retirement funds if you like those are 0.08%. 1% doesn't sound like a lot but it really is. JL Collins, Author of A Simple Path to Wealth has great educational advice on his blog and he does interviews too.

Arse_hull

I use my bare hands. That way I can put an additional $15.34 a month into VTSAX.

Arse_hull

I'm just a little Bogleworm with $2.5m in VTSAX and VTIAX. Anyone here want to manage my money for me 🥺🪱

Arse_hull

Hello. I have invested into VTSAX for my whole life. But now that I've melded with a sandworm and become nearly immortal, my investment horizon has changed. Should I consider options? 🪱🤔

Arse_hull

I'm just a little wormy that only own shares in VTSAX and VTIAX. It's set to autoinvest and I never look 🪱

brianmcg321

Call Vanguard and they will convert VTSAX to VTI and it will not be a taxable event.

SirGlass

VTSAX and VTI are the same fund, one is just structured as a mutual fund and one is an ETF but really they are just different share classes of the same fund VOO is a subset of VTI/VTSAX , infact VOO makes up approx 85% of VTI

TetaniAuricularis

Is holding VTSAX and VTI redundant in a Roth IRA? For context, Roth was set up long ago when I was employed and I'm just holding until I can contribute again (current student). I've learned little bits here and there but know next to nothing about tax differences and efficiency, all that stuff. While it sits and reinvests dividends, I want to make sure its doing the best it can (with the small amount that's in there). I also have VT, VOO, VEU, and VBK in there. The largest holdings are in VTSAX, VTI, then VOO, respectively. ​ Appreciate the advice!

1hotjava

High yield dividend ETF isn’t “safer” it’s still just as open to price fluctuations as anything else. And if you are dependent on 5% of X, what happens when X is halved by a market downturn, then 5% of 1/2X is a bit of a problem Also is this in taxable account or tax advantaged? That makes a HUGE difference if talking about selling and buying something else. There isn’t “converting” that’s not a thing (unless a rare case like it’s VTSAX to VTI). Cap gains tax could be significant

AddictedtoBoom

I would "aggresively" buy more VTSAX. Just like every month.

Hot_River978

Investing is not a one-off "event" where you go and put in $X amount in something special, hoping it would result in anything meaningful. Investing is a "process" of regularly investing $X amount in something and slowly building that up by letting your regular contributions, time and compounding create something special in 10, 20 or 30 year timeframe. I know its boring but that's the secret to success. It is like asking people what workout should I do when i go to gym today and become a beast. If you are going to go to the gym just one time, it doesn't matter what you do in the gym. It wont get you anywhere. You have to go many many times to become something meaningful . You have to work at it for 10,000 hours , throw the basketball 10,000 times , hit the baseball 10,000 times over a long period, day after day after day to become a great player. There is no other way to meaningful success. Your results are a direct outcome of the quality of the question you ask. No offence, but when I see people ask these types of questions, I know the kind of results they will get in life. Garbage in garbage out is how we say it in the IT field. Another secret of success is ask good questions. A much better question would be, what can i invest in day after day after day for 10 or 20 years and ultimately have a million dollars, or retire early? The answer is surprisingly simple. Invest regulary in broad based index equity fund, like VOO , VTSAX, and chill.

goodboifren

VTSAX

jeffh19

just buy some growth funds (or probably total market if you're holding forever which is always the smart thing VUG VGT (tech not technically growth fund) QQQM (nasdaq not technically growth but full of the biggest growers/tech companies) But my recommendation is just buy as much VTI or VTSAX as you can as often as you can and never sell it and become a millionaire way faster than you'd think instead of making some wrong guesses and not timing stuff right etc etc

Otherwise-Fuel-9088

It is good that you start thinking about and saving for the future. You practically earning minimum wage and probably will pay very little tax if any. So, it is better for you to open a Roth-IRA account and invest in VTSAX. You can watch the following video for why we recommend VTSAX: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71ibcZAX3I&t=3s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71ibcZAX3I&t=3s) Finally, try to finish college or at least learn a trade that will help you earn more money than what you currently earn, and save at least 20% of what you earn.

brianmcg321

VTSAX

Otherwise-Fuel-9088

That sounds fishy. If they offer VEIRX and VWIGX, they should have VTSAX and VFIAX, or something similar. You should look for "US Large Cap Growth", or "US Total Market."

Raveen396

It’s wild to me that in a thread where you explicitly said you are looking to invest and already have your money in a treasury trust fund (TTTXX) that has a 30 day yield of 5.1%, the top voted comment is “stick it in a HYSA or T bills”. Seems like they didn’t even read your post. Anyway, your decision is sound if you go into it with the understanding that you may not have positive returns in the next decade. VTSAX/VTI are popular total stock market funds that have low expense ratios. I have FSKAX because I have a fidelity account. SPY is fine but total market funds like VTI/FSKAX will capture the small/mid cap and then you don’t have to mess with the 70/30 choice.

YoureInGoodHands

Save 20%, no matter what, dump it in VTSAX, check the balance when you turn 50 and decide next steps from there. 

wolley_dratsum

VTSAX and relax. It really is that easy.

GargoyleBlue

Hello I am trying to calculate how much my Roth balance would be worth in 29 years based on historical returns, without contributing anymore myself. I have $110,000 and every penny is in VTSAX. Do you have any advice on how I would calculate this?

Accomplished-Yam-100

I use to work for big green. So those robó or Porfolio advisory is like free money to them. You are good to just add fund to VOO or VTSAX. They always get a fee whether you make or lose money in the market quarter. I watch a poor lady get charged $250 per quarter by an independent advisor on something I could have taught them 10 years ago selecting mutual funds. And I made sure she left the dude and gave her my extension at the time to assist. Also financial consultants in the branch are just sales ppl. If you know we use to hire a bunch of Edward Jones’s guys later to hussle in the sales department and transfer them to all these FC for a small quarterly bonus. Do some research and stop picking stocks if you hate to lose money.

three-sense

VTSAX and a combination of adding + compounding.

itspastmybedtimeee

Hello everyone, I'm pretty new to investing and just opened a vanguard account last year following my 18th birthday. I have a regular brokerage account and also a roth ira opened. I have about 2,000 in each but only a few hundred actually invested so far as I'm still deciding where to put it. I will also continue to add more funds whenever I get the chance but I do not have a job or steady income, just inheritance + allowance from parents, but if I do get a job down the line I will make consistent contributions. Since I'm young I keep seeing people say I should be able to take more risks but being a full time college student, I've found it difficult to find the time to learn about investing and keep up with individual stocks so I think I've decided I won't be investing in any individual stocks or anything that requires a lot of research or to be watched closely. But I was wondering what should I be investing in then? Up until this point I figured I would invest in mostly index funds like VOO, BND, VT, VTSAX, SCHD, and QQQ since they seem to be the safest for a foundation, but I don't know where to go from there. Is it okay to have a portfolio of just index funds? Will that do me any good? Are there other things I should look out for? My intentions with the money I invest are most likely going towards retirement in 40 years or maybe to buy a car or house way down the line. Also should I consistently make small investments every month or should I wait for a dip in the market to buy in? I've seen most people say to do the monthly investments since it will most likely average out but at the same time I feel like currently the market is at an all time high and I don't know if that's smart? Thanks for reading and I appreciate any advice!

Numerous-Bluejay-501

Real financial advice for you though little bro, max your tax advantaged accounts (401k, IRA) and put it into a total market index fund litke VTSAX or FZROX and you'll be golden and have a shot at retiring early. That 6k you lost would be worth 90k in 40 years with a 7% average annual return

GargoyleBlue

What do you use for the estimated interest rate box? I have everything in VTSAX so would 10% be a good choice if the length of box time is 25 years?

Numerous-Bluejay-501

VTSAX and wait 20 years

MotivatingElectrons

VTSAX and relax

Wendlstin

Max retirement accounts first. 401ks and IRAs. Open a brokerage account to put the rest of the savings and by VOO or VTSAX depending on your risk tolerance.

MattsFinanceThrowdow

> I lost more day trading than I made holding. So now you know: buy and hold, long term. That first $100k is the hardest. But now you have something that can grow. Dump that $100k and something like VTSAX and leave it the hell alone for the next 10 to 15 years. I've been almost 100% invested in US broad market index funds and have consistently doubled my money about every 6 years - for the past 30 years.

StatisticalMan

Dividends are not free money even in retirement. Getting 2% in dividends is no different then selling 2% of your portfolio. Persuing dividends is always fool's errand. Today, tomorrow, next year, on retirement day, 30 years into retirement. Stop trying to beat the market and just own the market: VTI/VTSAX (or equivalent). That is true today, tomorrow, next year, on retirement day, and 30 years into retirement.

StatisticalMan

Dividends are not free money. Focusing on dividends is a fools errand. Every $1 in dividends paid per share reduces the share price by $1. Stop trying to beat the market and just own the market: VTI/VTSAX (or equivelent).

NotADoucheBag

VTSAX is the Admiral share version of Vanguard’s market wide index mutual fund.

Numerous-Bluejay-501

VTSAX and relax

arcanition

With $100k, you can invest in something very safe, like a broad total stock market index (VTSAX or FZROX are good options). For example, in the last 5 years VTSAX has returned 14.24%/year and FZROX has returned 14.42%/year on average. If those averages continue, your $100k invested at age 29 would grow to about... * $195k by age 35 * $745k by age 45 * $2.8 million by age 55 * $10.8 million by age 65 Now granted, the market has been very good the last 5 years and it's unlikely to increase at that rate for decades, but this shows you how having this much invested early can set your retirement by itself. If the market returns closer to average, say 8.25%/year on average like VTSAX has over its entire life, your $100k invested at age 29 would grow to about... * $148k by age 35 * $328k by age 45 * $725k by age 55 * $1.6 million by age 65 While certainly not as much of the riches in the previous example, but definitely still a large amount by age 65... perhaps enough to retire off of.

Otherwise-Fuel-9088

You need to start letting your money work for you. Your IRA can be invested in VTSAX (a mutual fund that invests in ALL publicly traded companies), or VFIAX (a fund that invests in the 500 largest companies in the US). You should have your emergency money in money market fund that earns you about 5% of interest. I think you can benefit from this video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71ibcZAX3I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71ibcZAX3I) Good luck!

eat_sleep_shitpost

I had no issues transferring my VTSAX from vanguard to fidelity

brianmcg321

VTSAX

Janus67

If they aren't with vanguard they don't have access to VTSAX without paying fees. Also ETFs are easily transferrable to other brokerages, at least easier than MFs

BallerGuitarer

Why do people buy VTI instead of VTSAX?

JaqueStrap69

Elsewhere in the thread, someone points out that VTSAX is just the VTI ETF, which was news to me. I’m also all in on VTSAX and it stressed me out that I never saw people recommending it. 

Indecisive_Iron

Yeah- that irritated me. It’s what got me to switch from VTI to VTSAX. I also feel like I never see pure VTSAXers in forums and it’s all just VTI lol

Indecisive_Iron

Exactly! I wanted to be able to set it and forget it. VTSAX all the way, baby!

Indecisive_Iron

VTSAX and relax

Cruian

>Currently I have a Vanguard Roth IRA with about ~50/50 split into VLXVX and VTSAX I'd use VTWAX instead of VTSAX if you insist on holding a TDF + something else. >VFIAX Is unnecessary as it is fully contained within the TDF, VTSAX, and VTWAX. If you want to go even more aggressive, look into factor investing. 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)

Cruian

>But during that decade you would've been invested around 50%+ in US stocks anyway, so the outperformance would never have been that great. On top of that the expense ratios are higher. The first 2 links in that list help show how a mix of US and ex-US can be better than 100% in either direction. >On top of that the expense ratios are higher. International index funds can be incredibly cheap these days, Fidelity even has 2 cheaper than VTSAX and 2 more that are only 2 basis points higher. >But you can't name one world ETF that has outperformed the S&P 500. Many of the popular international funds are pretty young. But because we have info on the index or asset class tracked, specific fund performance isn't needed to show how they can be helpful.

Orbit_Advice

Both are good options...if you started 15 years ago. The past performance is not likely to repeat over the next 15/20 years. While VOO / VTSAX are still most likely good options for the next 20 years, I think most advisors or knowledgeable investors would tell you the glaring flaw is missing more international exposure over the next decades. True, your top holdings in either VOO or VTSAX are still large US based companies that have great international exposure, but the concern is missing out on the other growing economies that have a burgeoning middle class. The US is still the number one consumer, but other countries are catching up and, more importantly, have more room to grow. Also, there is the argument that the US dollar is at its peak (heavy debt and slowing growth) so international companies might have a currency advantage during the time until your time to retirement. I would complement your VOO or VTSAX with international indexes like VXUS or IXUS. Maybe 70% US and 30% foreign. Even starting with 10% foreign and slowly increasing over time would likely be beneficial. The strategy needs to be reassessed periodically too. Let's say US stocks drop big, like 10%-50%, then I would tell you invest heavily into VOO or VTSAX, shifting from cash or any international exposure. The real key to your plan is to consistently add funds to your savings and DCA into stocks. I would also suggest another investment account to supplement your Roth IRA so you can put more into retirement savings.

Fore_Shore

VTSAX also allows you to purchase exact dollar amounts instead of having to purchase shares like VTI

1e7643-8rh34

VTSAX is too risk adverse for me. And then you have the other two low ceiling plays. And then you're confused about it's minimal performance. Lol!

arcanition

VTSAX (US equities market) have performed really well, however the others (international equities market & bond market) have not returned nearly as much return, which make up more than half of your portfolio.

doboi

Honestly go read a book and sink yourself in some research instead of asking for an easy answer. So many people come on here just looking for the most upvoted 5 letter acronym. $2k isn't even enough to buy into VTSAX. Simply reading The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing would take you a day and give you more confidence than just yolo'ing into some random guy's suggestion.

MattieShoes

The truth is it doesn't make much difference -- they generally move in lockstep. Over the next 20 years, one will surely outperform the other by a small amount, but it's not going to make or break your retirement. VOO is an exchange traded fund, VTSAX is a mutual fund. In a retirement account, there's really not much reason to prefer one over the other. Plus if you for some reason preferred a mutual fund to an ETF, you could buy VFIAX which is equivalent to VOO. Or if you preferred ETFs, VTI is the ETF equivalent to VTSAX. So the format of the fund isn't really a reason to pick one index over another.

Janus67

Depends on the brokerage. Not at vanguard. But you wouldn't be buying VTSAX anywhere else

Historical_Low4458

Personally, I would go with VTSAX since it is a total market fund instead of VOO which is only a S&P 500 ETF.

nharKdivaD

For the average investor, low cost broadly diversified index funds should be able to accomplish your goal. VT will achieve this. VTSAX might be fine, but then you arent diversified across global markets (empirical and theoretical research suggests this is best). If you specific financial advice for your situation, fee free to DM me. I am a licensed advisor in metro Detroit.

nilgiri

The one benefit of VTSAX is automated investments. Does VTI allow this too?

mspe1960

VBTLX has had a pretty bad 2.5 years. If you put money in that 2.5 years ago, you took a hit which is slowly being made up by dividends. Without doing the math, I am guessing you about even on that one. VTSAX is a fairly aggressive fund modeling the entire USA stock market. Unfortunately it hasn't done as well as just the S&P500 in this time span - just bad luck really. VTIAX is an international stock index fund. While having it is not a bad idea, international stocks have not done nearly as well as US stocks in the past 2.5 years.

rackoblack

Several mentioned VTI, but didn't mention that it's the ETF version of VTSAX. Go with VTI.

ImplementGreedy5441

Hard to go wrong with VTSAX long term.

dutchaneseskilz

I wouldn't hold bonds anymore, which is essentially giving a loan to somebody else for them to profit. It especially doesn't make sense buying a government bond, from their rampant money printing and operating deficit. Bonds aren't even outpacing inflation. Makes no sense, unless you just want to accept a slow decrease in purchasing power as opposed to a fast decrease. Secondly, US capitalism seems to be superior compared to the rest of the world. Because of this I'm mostly 100% in on VTSAX, a couple of hand chosen stocks, and bitcoin. This is not financial advice. You will need to learn and apply your own knowledge with your own risk tolerance.

Ikuwayo

For your vanguard total US stock market (VTSAX), it's only up a small percentage because you bought near the top, at the end of 2021, when most stock prices were at all-time highs at the time. Then in 2022, stocks plummeted for almost the entire year. The market started going back up again in 2023, but since you started investing near the end of 2021, when everything was near all-time high prices at the time, your investments didn't go up that much. Regarding vanguard international stock market (VTIAX), and bonds (VBTLX), their performance has been a lot worse compared to the US stock market. The US is the strongest economy in the world compared to other countries. Bonds are a safer investment than stocks, so they'll get a smaller return. Generally, the safer the investment, the smaller the returns. The riskier the investment, the potential for greater returns.

Ikuwayo

For your vanguard total US stock market (VTSAX), it's only up a small percentage because you bought near the top, at the end of 2021, when most stock prices were at all-time highs at the time. Then in 2022, stocks plummeted for almost the entire year. The market started going back up again in 2023, but since you started investing near the end of 2021, when everything was near all-time high prices at the time, your investments didn't go up that much. Regarding vanguard international stock market (VTIAX), and bonds (VBTLX), their performance has been a lot worse compared to the US stock market.

Sonarav

When things dipped in 2020 I actually increased what I was investing. Index funds is all I do (VTSAX and Target Date)

Key-Mark4536

Modeling it out I'd expect $108K, but it depends on the exact dates too. [https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=75K8fbS3NUFdyUqNvGlqJL](https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=75K8fbS3NUFdyUqNvGlqJL) >I thought the market has been on fire? Yes and no; 2022 saw about a 20% drawdown (more for certain segments) and then 2023 *by itself* could be seen as a boom year ([especially for mega caps](https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/29/investing/stock-market-record-winners-and-losers-2023/index.html)) but most of that was just recovering from the drop. The S&P wouldn't pass its former high [until January 2024](https://www.axios.com/2024/01/19/us-stocks-high-market-record). Of course it also depends on which parts of the market you're looking at. * If you'd been fully in VTSAX that whole time you'd have $121,765, a CAGR of 8.2% for those 2-1/2ish years. * The international market was basically flat during that time. [Some see this](https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/trading-investing/international-stocks-outlook) as a setup for ex-US stocks to [perform better](https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/outlook-overview) in the mid-future since it gives those companies more modest valuations relative to their US counterparts. Then again that depends on [how you read valuation](https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/global-equity-market-outlook-2024). * Bonds [got hammered in 2022](https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/07/2022-was-the-worst-ever-year-for-us-bonds-how-to-position-for-2023.html). As interest rates rise existing bonds become less valuable, and of course rates have increased several times in '22-23. Hopefully that'll turn around whenever rates come back down.

Cruian

>You're forgetting or ignoring how much foreign exposure one has already with VSTAX or VOO. I'm not forgetting it, I just know that thjey provide zero international exposure of the type that actually matters. >A big chunk of S&P 500 or total stock market funds is already foreign exposure, then putting an additional 40% on top of that in purely foreign likely takes the foreign exposure well over 50%. Revenue source isn't what matters, capturing how foreign stock markets behave is. Capturing that imperfect correlation between different markets is what matters. US stocks will still act far more like the US market. * https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1FXuMs6YRCY * https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/vpv7js/share_of_sp_500_revenue_generated_domestically_vs/ - The argument that “US companies have plenty of foreign revenue is sufficient ex-US coverage” is highly tilted towards a few sectors, some have almost no coverage. Also what about in reverse- how many big foreign companies have lots of US exposure? * Going global can also help increase sector diversification. As of the 31st of January 2024 (the most recent info available when I last updated this), the US is 31.9% technology (according to VTSAX: https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vtsax#portfolio-composition). Ex-US (according to data from the 31st of January 2024 from https://www.schwab.wallst.com/Prospect/Research/mutualfunds/portfolio.asp?symbol=vtiax since Vanguard for some reason doesn't provide a breakdown of VTIAX sectors themselves, at least in an easy to find location) technology is only 12.5% and only financials are above 20% at 20.1%. Be aware that this is using GICS classifications, which put Google, Tesla, Facebook/Meta, and Amazon outside tech, so if you go by what the common person would think of as tech instead of GICS, that's even higher.

Key-Mark4536

Why VTSAX over VTI? (Or FSKAX or any number of other options)

Cruian

>It's well known that S&P500 is the best performing stock based fund on the planet. It is a fund, not a stock. Also it is factually untrue. Small and value are known to beat S&P 500 long term. This can also help boost US total market (VTI) above S&P 500 only. The small and value also hold true when going global. And there's been periods of even 50+ years that ended with international with better returns than the US. >Just dump all your money into it and stop trying to be smarter than the market. OP's VTSAX + VTIAX is much closer to "the market" than S&P 500 only is. S&P 500 is only a bit over 50% of the market. >You are way more into bonds than you think. Each one of those funds hold a large chunk of bonds. VTSAX at minimum is listed as not having any fixed income holdings. https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-funds/profile/vtsax#portfolio-composition

BaconKittens

Just dump it all in VTSAX or FZROX if you are with Fidelity and call it a day

mrb235

So ... I used portfolio visualiser (https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com) to back test this portfolio since October 2021. Pardon the garbage formatting, I'm on mobile. Year VTSAX. VTIAX. VBTLX Balance 2021 40.00% 40.00% 20.00% $100,000 2022 41.79% 39.09% 19.12% $86,795 2023 40.48% 39.52% 19.99% $102,233 2024 43.31% 38.75% 17.94% $108,233 So you should be overweight VTSAX and underweight your others. A rebalance of this would be doing the math to sell the positions that are too big and add to the ones that went down. In the case of this example above, sell $3582.51 VTSAX, buy $1352.91 VTSAX, and buy $2229.60 VBLTX. Then you'd be back to your original 40/40/20 balance.

1hotjava

We’re talking about fractions of a percent here. NVDA in VTSAX is 3.75%. In SPY is 4.56%. Let’s not make this out to be some astronomical difference in assets held. And SPY out performance vs small cap is recency bias, historically small cap out performs. Total stock market holds it all

MattieShoes

* Go to finance.yahoo.com. * search on VTSAX * click on "chart" * click on the pretty calendar button. * set a start date of 10/1/2021 * click "apply" * Click on comparison * Add VTIAX * Click on comparison again * Add VBTLX TA DA! That's what happened to your money. You lost money with all three for most of 2022, and VTSAX has been blowing the doors off since then, but your other two have not.

1hotjava

VTSAX is “total stock market” so yes OP is in SPX and NDX. They are also in RUT. They are in every stock

OutOfLuck918

Keep reading the same..VT or VTSAX. This combo seems promising