Jun 22nd, 2009
What’s in My Portfolio: Vanguard Total Stock Market Exchange Traded Fund
Here’s an exchange traded fund (ETF) in my portfolio that’s an incredibly small part of my portfolio (we’re talking not even a tenth of a percent): the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI). This is an ETF I own in a regular brokerage account, so if I sell it at any point I will be subject to capital gains taxes.
The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF is essentially the ETF version of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund. In fact, if you graph the two together since the inception of VTI (sometime in 2001), the graphs are identical (it looks like only one line because it really is one overlayed on the other).
With this ETF, you get the performance of the entire stock market, a 2.64% dividend yield, and the diversity that’s built into the entire market. I only own a few shares of this ETF because it’s essentially a brokerage account I set up to receive a $50 referral bonus from Firstrade (with $100 to start) and I decided this would be the way to go rather than just keeping it in a money market fund. This account may go to my now nine year old niece when she gets older.
If you’re interested in ETFs and index investing, this is a great ETF to get!
