Vtsax. Help with the 5 w’s?

Saw dCulbertson reference the Vtsax and, since I am not a finance guy, I googled it.  Frankly, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was reading about.  

What is it and why would it be a good investment??

Vtsax is a total stock market index fund. Basically, you're buying a small percentage of a share of [almost] every stock on the market. I think that it is 99.75% made up of the 2800 and change stocks on the NYSE. It probably has some other equities involved as well. 

You want this because it is the easy button, and the safe button. It also happens to be the best performing button in most situations when you look at it over a long time span. Chances are your 401k is in this or a similar fund. If it isn't, it should be. Same for your IRA.

Oh, if you want to buy it on the open market, VTI is the stock that mimics VTSAX. VTSAX has a  minimum buy in of $10k; VTI you can buy a single share for whatever it is trading for ($125ish right now)

lol.  I immediately googled it too.  Here's the search results page which I bookmarked.  I might be getting my hopes a little too high for the new year but we'll see. 

vtsax googlfu.

Drat, my company doesn’t offer that one. Anything else remotely close to it or give me a few other options for me to look it up?

My company is primarily Fidelity. Only 4 Vanguards available. 

VEIRX

VMGRX

VTSNX

VGSLX

I do have a PRJIX which I am heavy in. Since the tariff wars started by President Trump, my foreign global stocks have taken a beating. Should I stay the course or ride it out or foreign global market should be avoided altogether? I keep hearing about China this and China that. Makes me think there is still a huge market in that still left untapped or is that a Chinese playbook ploy to keep their Yuan currency afloat?

I still have 20 + years to go.

Sorry for the thread drift btw

For Fidelity look and see if you have FSKAX.  That is pretty much the Fidelity version of VTSAX.

moxnix said:

For Fidelity look and see if you have FSKAX.  That is pretty much the Fidelity version of VTSAX.

Sadly, they don’t offer that either. It’s one of the worst 401k portfolios I have ever seen offered. This is ALL the company offer as stock investment options to me listed below  

Out of those you'll want FXAIX. Just my opinion. But that will be the SP500 fund, which is a good option. 

I'd also look into the target date funds, see what they're actually holding. And what these fund options cost. You showed only the 2015, but there may be more?

Hey, glad my offhand comment sparked some interest! Mtn's right on the money here, and if you wanted a really good but long read intro to this stuff try the jcollinsnh stock series here:

https://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/

But you don't really need to read the whole thing to get a feel for it. If you can set aside about 15 minutes to read this and try to understand it, you'll be doing better than the vast majority of people:

https://jlcollinsnh.com/2011/06/08/how-i-failed-my-daughter-and-a-simple-path-to-wealth/

I with I'd had that page to read over a few times when I was 18. And again at 20. And again and again until it stuck. I didn't do badly but I didn't start saving seriously until my 30s .. mid 30s really.

@Sine_Qua_non: FXAIX is good. It's low expense ratio and reasonably diverse. It doesn't have shares of as many different companies as VTSAX but it's still a solid index fund.

mtn said:

Out of those you'll want FXAIX. Just my opinion. But that will be the SP500 fund, which is a good option. 

 

I'd also look into the target date funds, see what they're actually holding. And what these fund options cost. You showed only the 2015, but there may be more?

Here is the rest of it. I was told by coworkers to avoid all of those below and keep the money in the stock investments portions since they have poor rate of returns.

Sine_Qua_Non said:

mtn said:

Out of those you'll want FXAIX. Just my opinion. But that will be the SP500 fund, which is a good option. 

 

I'd also look into the target date funds, see what they're actually holding. And what these fund options cost. You showed only the 2015, but there may be more?

Here is the rest of it. I was told by coworkers to avoid all of those below and keep the money in the stock investments portions since they have poor rate of returns.

Lets look at Vanguard Target 2040, since it seems to be selected for you.  

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/VFORX 

Vanguard Target Retirement Funds offer a diversified portfolio within a single fund that adjusts its underlying asset mix over time. The funds provide broad diversification while incrementally decreasing exposure to stocks and increasing exposure to bonds as each fund’s target retirement date approaches. The funds continue to adjust for approximately seven years after that date until their allocations match that of the Target Retirement Income Fund. Investors in the funds should be able to tolerate the risks that come from the volatility of the stock and bond markets. The 2040 fund invests in 4 Vanguard index funds, holding approximately 85% of assets in stocks and 15% in bonds. You may wish to consider this fund if you’re planning to retire between 2038 and 2042.

 Expense: 0.15% (it may be even lower with your company plan)

Now lets see what it is holding: 

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares........................51.10%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Investor Shares.............33.60%
Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund Investor Shares**................10.70%
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund Investor Shares............4.60%

 

That first one is basically VTSAX. 

This is not a bad option at all. Sure, a little conservative (too conservative for me, but I'm only 28), but you certainly could do a LOT worse. 

mtn said:

Sine_Qua_Non said:

mtn said:

Out of those you'll want FXAIX. Just my opinion. But that will be the SP500 fund, which is a good option. 

 

I'd also look into the target date funds, see what they're actually holding. And what these fund options cost. You showed only the 2015, but there may be more?

Here is the rest of it. I was told by coworkers to avoid all of those below and keep the money in the stock investments portions since they have poor rate of returns.

 

Lets look at Vanguard Target 2040, since it seems to be selected for you.  

https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/VFORX 

Vanguard Target Retirement Funds offer a diversified portfolio within a single fund that adjusts its underlying asset mix over time. The funds provide broad diversification while incrementally decreasing exposure to stocks and increasing exposure to bonds as each fund’s target retirement date approaches. The funds continue to adjust for approximately seven years after that date until their allocations match that of the Target Retirement Income Fund. Investors in the funds should be able to tolerate the risks that come from the volatility of the stock and bond markets. The 2040 fund invests in 4 Vanguard index funds, holding approximately 85% of assets in stocks and 15% in bonds. You may wish to consider this fund if you’re planning to retire between 2038 and 2042.

 Expense: 0.15% (it may be even lower with your company plan)

 

Now lets see what it is holding: 

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares........................51.10%
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Investor Shares.............33.60%
Vanguard Total Bond Market II Index Fund Investor Shares**................10.70%
Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund Investor Shares............4.60%

 

That first one is basically VTSAX. 

 

This is not a bad option at all. Sure, a little conservative (too conservative for me, but I'm only 28), but you certainly could do a LOT worse. 

The fee is .015% for FXAIX

The fee is .65 for PRJIX

With everything I have, all lost money this year except for PRJIX

Are you sure you want to invest right now?

Sine_Qua_Non said:

The fee is .015% for FXAIX

The fee is .65 for PRJIX

With everything I have, all lost money this year except for PRJIX

 

This year. Who cares about this year? What has it done on a 5 year stretch? 15? 25?

Here is the last 3 months, compared to FXAIX and your target date fund: 

Here is a year. Really rough end of year for PRJIX: 

Here is 3 years, which is all that PRJIX has been around for: 

The guy running that fund (and it is actively managed) may be the prodigal, but that fund already is already in the hole .65%. That is ridiculously high.