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Vanguard Account

VOO, VTI, VFIAX. All basically the same thing. You can't look at an overlaid graph of them and tell them apart. They own basically the same stocks, earn the same amount, charge the same fees, etc. VTI is theoretically slightly more diverse, but the amount of small stocks in it is so miniscule that there is no real benefit to it. Buy any of those and you'll have a great start to investing.

VLXVX would be also worthy of consideration. It is a set it and forget it fund. Good for starting out.

But ultimately, when you are just starting investments, the fund you choose has almost no impact. What matters is how much you invest and how soon you invest it. Once you have a sizable chunk, then consider where to invest it. When you are just starting out, choosing a "bad" fund that pays 2% less is nothing if you only have say $1000 invested. That is a loss of only $20. But being paralyzed trying to choose just the right fund and not investing soon enough could cost you many tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands of dollars over your life.


More important questions before we can really answer any more details: What type of account? What is the purpose of the investment?
 
brianmanahan said:
that makes no sense lol, just do one or the other
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All three are mostly the same thing, actually. VYM is just VOO's step-sister. And an underperforming ugly one at that. The two track each other almost perfectly, except VYM grows less.

VYM is mostly VOO minus Apple, Alphabet, Facebook, and Bershire. Four big stocks that you would have been sad to miss out on.
 
If you are still young (20's) and have no debt and have a 6 months emergency fund, then do this.

80% in stock funds (US blue chip, mid cap, small cap plus international stock).
15 % in bond funds (US and foreign).
5% in cash.

(Feel free to make adjustment, you can go up 90% or higher in stock and vice versa)

Keep them there until you are about to retire and you will do better than 90% of US population. Don't take my words for it. Warren Buffet said so.
 
Sadaiyappan said:
It's just for fun investment of $100,000. I have 25% VBR, 10% VO, 20% VSS, 25% VTI and 20% VV.
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Not a bad distribution. You are probably a bit heavy in mid-sized stocks and maybe a bit light in large and/or foreign stocks. You could ditch VO and get more large stocks and/or more foreign stocks. But I think that should be a fine start.

Later, maybe add some real estate, bonds, metals, etc. But with just $100k, that is a good start.
 
Sadaiyappan said:
It's just for fun investment of $100,000. I have 25% VBR, 10% VO, 20% VSS, 25% VTI and 20% VV.
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your holdings are a little redundant, but nothing harmful.

basically you're 80/20 US/international with a small cap/value tilt. not bad. a little odd that you only do small cap international but not VXUS for large cap, but whatever floats your boat.

no bonds, but if it's just for fun and you won't potentially need to withdraw the money if stocks drop %50 for a few years, you should be OK.
 
brianmanahan said:
basically you're 80/20 US/international with a small cap/value tilt. not bad. a little odd that you only do small cap international but not VXUS for large cap, but whatever floats your boat.
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I agree, ditch VO for VXUS and I think he is pretty close to what I personally own with real money (not the same funds, but roughly the same distribution of size, value/growth, and US/foreign).
 
Yeah, if you're just starting out you should just put most of it in an S&P-500 index fund. Put the rest in a well rated international stock market fund if you want to diversify.

I would be ready to move it all to money market soon, though... this bull market has gone on longer than it probably should have and is overdue for a correction. Ask people who had their 401k's fully invested during the crash of 2008 why just leaving it in there was a BAD idea.
 
ultimatebob said:
I would be ready to move it all to money market soon, though... this bull market has gone on longer than it probably should have and is overdue for a correction. Ask people who had their 401k's fully invested during the crash of 2008 why just leaving it in there was a BAD idea.
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on the flipside of that though, ask people who didn't get back in at the right time. they waited and waited and next thing they knew it was 2013 and the previous 2007 market highs had been surpassed, and they still had everything sitting in cash or money market funds.
 
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