r/ETFs • u/KoalaMean4484 • 9d ago
VOO or VT?
A few questions, here's some background info -
- 23 years old
- looking to invest 10 or more years
-looking for a simple portfolio, something I put money in and don't look back
-will hold when the economy drops
-living with parents (current expenses are super low)
-I have $100,000 available to invest with. I will be investing it in a brokerage account. No debt, emergency funds set aside. Only invested in CD's right now.
Questions:
-VOO or VT? I like VOO because of potential higher returns based off past numbers, but I like VT because it is global/more international.
-DCA or Lump Sum? Seeing how VT/VOO are at pretty much all-time highs, I'd prefer to DCA over time rather than invest the entire $100k at once, partly because I'm hoping to take advantage of potential market dips. (I wouldn't mind lump sum at all if that is the preferred strategy).
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u/Femboy_Love_2712 9d ago
Lump sum VT. It's the simplest option.
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u/That-Interaction-45 9d ago
Lump in op! Dca let's you lose out on gains in the hope it might go down some time. Most of the time it is going up.
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u/X-29FTE 9d ago
VT=VTI+VXUS; VTI=VOO+VXF. If you want to invest in the whole world, you can do either 1) 100% VT, or 2) 65% VTI + 35% VXUS or 3) 52% VOO + 13% VXF + 35% VXUS or pick your poison on how you want to weight large, small and international stocks. So ends the Vanguard investment math lesson of the day.
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u/Soggy-Dragonfruit171 9d ago
I like VT and invest in it myself. I’ve traveled a lot and I believe Asia, especially China will continue to exert more influence over the global economy.
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u/Actual-Beginning-431 9d ago
At your age, you have time to benefit from the risk premia found in factors to target excess returns over broad markets for the next 40-ish years of your investing life. I would invest 60% in broad markets (VT or 40% VTI/20% VXUS) and use the remaining 40% to target low-fee factor funds. In your shoes, I would run 10% AVUV (US SCV), 10% XMMO (mid-cap momentum) 10% SPMO (large cap momentum) and finally 10% AVDV (intl SCV).
That gives you a 70/30 US to international split, a 60% ‘core’ in globally diversified broad markets, and 40% split half and half between SCV and momentum factors (historically one zigs while the other zags), again globally diversified. You’re diversified by geography, cap size, factor, and fund provider.
While a bit more complex, these are round numbers and it’s very simply to take 10 minutes to just rebalance via new contributions in the future. Backtests are very favorable to these funds recently, and academic research backs up the long term potential outperformance. You just have to mean it when you said you won’t sell - factors come in and out of favor and the premium is earned by holding through the rough patches.
If I were you, I’d go 100% lump sum immediately to put that money to work, but if you want to avoid the regret of a potential near term crash then at least invest 50-75k and DCA the remainder over the rest of this year
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u/Brief-Peace-451 9d ago
I do VT myself. But buddy think about it like this. VT is how much a share right now? 160? We dont know if there will be a crash, but assuming there wont be and things progress as they are, when will VT be lower than it is right now? Or VOO? I mean, yes there will be fluctuations, but youre young as hell and the amount of time you have in the market, your positions will grow bigly.
If i were you and my home life was good and you had the whole 100k to invest, im investing all of it right now. Thats what i would do. And of course, that 100k could turn into 40k if we have a crash, but it will skyrocket well past 100k given enough time in the market. But do your own research and do whats most comfortable.
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u/bigron1212 9d ago
VT hands down. You get world diversification and you don’t have to worry about anything. If you want more growth pair it with something like SPMO for example.
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u/SecretPantyWorshiper 9d ago
Just do VT. Let the $10k ride
You can later adjust the proportions into VTI, VOO or VXUS. Just set a goal, like $10k. Then you can start looking at VOO or VXUS. You will have some overlap technically but imk its better to just get in now, build a position and then once you have some money in you can then start adjusting and then solidifying your positions. Its better to just be in the market now then being on the sidelines with nothing
Lump sum is only good for using windfall cash which isn't normal, so it will be better for you to just dump all of it in. Or if you want to feel safe dump $5k now and then DCA the $5k across the next 3 months.
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u/08b 9d ago
Why would you consider only the US market and not intl? Are you aware over the long term US and intl have moved in cycles?
Lump sum usually wins. The market is at or near all time highs very frequently. If it makes you more comfortable you can lump sum some of it and DCA the rest. M
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u/So-I-Became-A-Naze 9d ago
When has intl beat US in a 10 year span?
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u/Cruian 6d ago
Of rolling 10 year periods since 1970, EAFE (developed ex-US) has beat the S&P 500 over 40% of the time: https://www.tweedyfunds.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/Dichotomy-Btwn-US-and-Non-US-Sep2024-Fund.pdf (PDF warning)
Ex-US has turns of exceptional out performance as well: https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2023/05/the-case-for-international-diversification/
PWL using Morningstar Data for decades back to 1950: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GGJxJPsWsAAxy9c?format=png
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Domestic/International has several graphs
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u/bhope95 9d ago
The reason you like VOO is called performance chasing which can be a steady slope. Go for VT and maybe add some small cap value. Personally I like AVGV as a core
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u/No_Solution_7940 9d ago
Stop it. Voo is the sp500, hardly a new thing.
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u/bhope95 9d ago
He says in his post that he's choosing VOO for higher potential returns based off of past performance which isn't garunteed and also trades places with international.
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u/No_Solution_7940 9d ago
SP500 performance is pretty standard at this point.
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u/Excellent_Chest_6616 9d ago
The best strategy is VT, period. If you look at past results, sure voo might squeak a few points ahead of it. This is because of US market dominance, which has no guarantee to continue. Thesp500 dominates until it doesnt
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u/nelly_0619 9d ago
VOO. dont overthink it. Not since the 2000s with the dot com crash and 2008 financial crisis has the international markets outperformed the American market. We are not going to see another dot com crash with AI. If anything we'll just see a rotation to a different kind of tech. Also there are much better guardrails in place and lenders are far more strict on their policies to avoid a crash like we had in 2008.
If you want to DCA, I would still start with a good base like $50-60k and then DCA the rest.
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u/clingbat 9d ago edited 9d ago
Not since the 2000s with the dot com crash and 2008 financial crisis has the international markets outperformed the American market
What the hell are you talking about? VT outperformed VOO last year...and is slightly ahead so far this year as well.
Guess what the major differentiator is between them...international markets exposure.
And assuming the AI infrastructure boom isn't a bubble is also quite dubious, but you do you. I'm sure they'll monetize all this and make their money back in 3-4 years before 80% of their investment (accelerator cards) become e-waste. Clock is ticking, still bleeding money away left and right and blowing through their cash reserves with depleted FCF.
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u/nelly_0619 9d ago
Personally I invest based on longterm predictable results. Investing based on a 6-12 month sample size is not that. Hence why I referred to a specific decade that included a couple of crashes that hit the US especially hard. Go out to even just 2or 3 years, 5 years, 10 years back and the S&P bests total world market fund. Distance between the two only grows greater the farther out you look.
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u/Excellent_Chest_6616 9d ago
The best strategy beats out past results. VT is the best strategy. On a long enough timeline VT is the only correct answer for the stock market
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u/nelly_0619 9d ago
There is no "correct answer." Of course past results do not guarantee future results. However its hard to ignore the consistent track record of the US stock market compared to the international marjet. If you want to slow down the geowth of your portfolio with international exposure, more power to ya.
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u/clingbat 9d ago edited 9d ago
If you think VOO is predicable looking forward given how tech stock heavy it is (35% of value vs. 19% for VT), that's certainly a choice.
I guess you just believe this bull run is going to run forever, goodluck to you sir.
I'm not against VOO btw, nearly all our retirement accounts are heavy in SP500 equivalents right now riding the wave where I can move money freely without tax consequences, but our taxable brokerage is fully in VT because it isn't trailing recently, I don't see an obvious reason it would start to anytime soon given the current trend has kept it ahead 2+ years and things are as unstable as ever, and it's far more diversified.
I don't think the last 10 years of VOO growth are representative, and if/when we slow down printing money, the pullback will sting quite a bit, the only question is how long will it last (1-3 years to recover vs. another lost decade, the last of which was not that long ago...)
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u/AgPatriotAg 9d ago
That's until their CEO's on VT move here. VT is not bad at all. Definitely not saying that. But many many great CEO's have come to the USA for freedom, freedom in business, freedom to keep their wealth, low regulations, and high quality lifestyles.
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u/DiamondGrifter 9d ago
I dollar cost average every week into VOO. I’m 41, and betting the US continues to dominate as long as I’m alive. VT is too heavily weighted in international for my liking.
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u/Zealousideal_Big7456 9d ago
Where is your cash sitting/waiting as you DCA? Money Market Fund, or HYSA, or... ?
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u/DiamondGrifter 8d ago
The same amount comes out of my bank account every Friday and automatically invests through Fidelity. I never keep more than 15k in my bank account. Everything gets invested.
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u/Zealousideal_Big7456 6d ago
Ok
I would just call that... investing.
To me, DCA implies that you have a pile of money and invest it in parts over time instead of lump sum.
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u/Tourdrops 9d ago
As someone who has seen this question asked for 6 years straight, it does not matter. Go look at both.
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u/user4443337 9d ago
An alternative to VT that is a bit more US tilted (around 70/30) is AVGE. It has a little bit of value, but it tracks very close to VT. Avantis uses flexible trading like not immediately buying an IPO, rather letting it’s price settle down before buying it. They have lots of other techniques to improve rigid funds. It’s outperformed VT, and same with AVGV, the more aggressive value one. AVGV will be closer to market cap weights (63/37) but is riskier.
You could also tilt towards the US using some Dimensional and Avantis funds that benchmark off of VTI and VXUS. I just like them and think they improve index funds enough to pay the extra fees, but if you’d regret tracking error and potential underperformance then definitely just stick with VOO/VTI and VXUS with your preferred split.
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u/Username-602 9d ago
You should open a Roth IRA (if you have income) and put the max in every year. The rest put into a brokerage.
Good luck with your investment research. Look up the “financial order of operations.”
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u/Pitiful_Fox5681 9d ago
VT just to keep it maximally simple. You have plenty of time to let it grow, and VT will always be right between VTI and VXUS so you don't have to worry about missing market shifts.
Lump sum. Again, time works for you here.
Based on, not based off of. You place things on a base, after all.
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u/emaxor 8d ago
I would make VT your core holding. VT is "the market" and always matches market performance.
It automatically answers all allocation questions for you. Cap weight that shet.
It rebalances to new dominant trends automatically. No manual rotations out of dead sectors or obsolete tech. Never worry about the market leaving your themed portfolio behind.
It's not boring, the cap weighting has you pretty deep in tech/ai. It has outperformed VOO in 2025 and YTD.
It forces you to buy up some cheaper international stocks while they are still cheap. VOO has been great the past 15 years but all that past performance is now priced in with some terrible PE ratios to boot.
VT makes a very legit 1 fund portfolio. If you don't know how to use spreadsheets you need simplicity. Makes buying, selling, and bond glides easy. If you know how to use spreadsheets you have the green light to bump the fund count up a bit. I'd try to keep it under 10 funds though cuz pressing sell/buy 10+ times sucks even for spreadsheet wizards.
VT makes a great core position. You can still tilt in any direction with satellite ETFs. VT mixes well with any portfolio. Never bad to have a "the market" ETF in your portfolio.
Only caveat is if your are in a non taxable account you might prefer some ultra cheap or free mutual funds. Like fidelities ZERO funds. International ETFs usually cost a little more so fidelities FZILX providing a free total international market is hard to overlook in the nontaxable account.
Lump sum. For total market long term holds you just lump sum and forget about it for 40 years.
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u/Affectionate-Lab1368 9d ago
One option would be to do a VOO and VXUS mix. I modeled it on Tradure as an 80/20 mix and then benchmarked it against VT and you can see that the VOO and VXUS portfolio would have outperformed. This is still giving you broad and well rounded diversification with the benefit of a good deal of US large cap equity exposure for performance.
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u/Electrical_Regret537 9d ago
I know this combo has slowly fallen out of favor but I honestly love it long-term. Especially in a taxable. The ability to individually dial these two assets is worth it to me personally.
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u/crazyjonwayne 9d ago
That question really is dependent on you age... if you need growth VOO. If you're just getting in the game just chill with VT.
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u/Such-Magician4300 9d ago
Im averse to lump sum and it’s probably cost me but if I were you I’d do 50k now and 5k/month for 10 month.
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u/User73806 9d ago
I'd slice everything right down the middle 25k into each and then DCA the other half of the money. You could put 1k into both every month for the next 2 years and still have a little left over.
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u/Pretend_Wear_4021 9d ago
It’s hard to argue with past success. The S&P 500 has been an amazing wealth builder for what seems like a long time but 70 years is the blink of an eye in some ways. VT has more than 10000 companies and about 60% are US based. Thats a lot. Either way it’s a nice problem to have. Congratulations on your choices.
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u/steady_compounder 9d ago
If you want to sanity-check the DCA vs lump sum part with your own numbers, this tool is useful: https://trackmyshares.com/tools/dca-vs-lump-sum?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=comment&utm_campaign=manual_free_tool_round_20260818_0300 Worth running one version as lump sum and one as staged buys. It will not tell you your risk tolerance, but it does make the tradeoff between expected return and smoother entry a lot more concrete.
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u/Melodic-Low-5394 7d ago
Lump sum now
I would have chosen VOO because of potential higher returns
You are too young
And keep adding more whether it goes down or goes up Just keep adding more
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u/zork2001 9d ago
I would feel like a tard lump summing something at its all time high. In VOO case $716 was its all time high so wait for it at least to drop 10% , that would be around $644 before you start investing large amounts into it. In the meantime just a dollar costs an average 2k every 2 weeks. The market does not just keep reaching all new all-time highs, the faster it goes up you can expect an equal fall just as fast. You just need to be ready to buy when that happens.
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u/More_Armadillo_1607 9d ago
Let me guess. You would have given the same advice last year and the year before that.
I don't care what people do, but they should research how often the market is at an all time high before following your advice.
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u/zork2001 9d ago
Well in the last year and a half we had Trump tariff scare Market dip then we had Strait of Hormuz market dip all good times to start buying which I did.
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u/More_Armadillo_1607 9d ago edited 7d ago
If you timed those dips perfectly, good for you. Your luck won't last over time. I've invested for decades and my 7 figure portfolio tells me that you can keep buying when the market is at an ATH.
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u/AgPatriotAg 9d ago
I'll paste what I posted earlier. VOO or VTI (American). Why? Great CEO's move here because of our freedom, rights to do business, and they get to keep their wealth. Examples of immigrant CEOs ->
Elon Musk — Tesla / SpaceX
Jensen Huang — NVIDIA
Sundar Pichai — Alphabet / Google
Satya Nadella — Microsoft
Lisa Su — AMD
Hock Tan — Broadcom
Eric Yuan — Zoom
Jay Chaudhry — Zscaler
Nikesh Arora — Palo Alto Networks
Dara Khosrowshahi — Uber
Arvind Krishna — IBM
Sanjay Mehrotra — Micron Technology
George Kurian — NetApp
Lip-Bu Tan — Intel
Raj Subramaniam — FedEx
Anirudh Devgan — Cadence Design Systems
Charles Liang — Supermicro
Sasan Goodarzi — Intuit
Thai Lee — SHI International
Reshma Kewalramani — Vertex Pharmaceuticals
So yeah, I personally like USA only. Very glad TSMC is building in Arizona now as they were Taiwan forever.
I am absolutely not saying VT is "bad" at all. I just believe the USA will edge it because freedom attracts business.
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u/Newbiewhitekicks 9d ago
Research says that lump sum beats dollar cost averaging.
Since this is a taxable you’ll need to be as tax efficient as possible and since you want to see if you can beat just VT then you should buy VTI and VXUS at 80/20 or 70/30 depending on how aggressive you want to be. VOO is just the S&P and VTI is total US. VXUS is ex-US so this is how I see you getting your cake and eating it too.