Index Funds Go Head to Head


Should you’re balancing VTI vs. VOO, you’re in all probability taking a look at placing cash into an index fund. That’s typically going to be a great resolution. Index funds help you diversify your portfolio even when you don’t have a lot to take a position, and even funding professionals typically fail to choose shares that beat the index efficiency.

However which of those funds do you have to select? Let’s begin with the fundamentals.

VTI vs VOO: By the Numbers

VTI vs VOO - By the NumbersVTI vs VOO - By the Numbers
VTI VOO
Full Identify Vanguard Whole Inventory Market ETF Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
Index Tracked CRSP U.S. Whole Market Index S&P 500 Index
Belongings Beneath Administration* $318.6 billion $339.7 billion
Variety of Holdings 3839 507
Expense Ratio 0.03% 0.03%
Dividend Yield* 1.54% 1.56%
Issuer Vanguard  Vanguard 

* As of Sept. 2023

5-12 months Efficiency

VOO - VTI Five year performance chartVOO - VTI Five year performance chart

Supply: Barchat

VTI vs VOO: What’s the Distinction?

A very powerful distinction between VTI and VOO is that every fund tracks a distinct index:

  • VTI tracks the CRSP U.S. Whole Market index. The CRSP U.S. Whole Market index is an index of virtually 4000 corporations headquartered within the US, from mega to micro capitalization. This makes the index a great illustration of the complete US inventory market, not simply the most important corporations.
  • VOO tracks the S&P 500. The S&P 500 is an index of the five hundred high largest corporations within the US.

These indices and the ETFs that monitor them are market cap weighted. That signifies that they provide bigger corporations a heavier weight.

📈 Be taught extra: Unlock the fundamentals of constructing wealth with our step-by-step investing information for rookies.

VTI vs VOO: Sector Publicity

VTI and VOO use barely totally different phrases to interrupt down their sector publicity.

VTI Sector Breakdown

Sector Weight
Info Know-how 30.20%
Client Discretionary 14.40%
Industrials 13.00%
Well being Care 12.60%
Financials 10.30%
Client Staples 5.10%
Vitality 4.60%
Actual Property 2.90%
Utilities 2.70%
Telecommunication 2.20%
Primary Supplies 2.00%

VOO Sector Breakdown

Sector Weight
Know-how 28.20%
Well being Care 13.20%
Financials 12.40%
Client Discretionary 10.60%
Communication Companies 8.80%
Industrials 8.40%
Client Staples 6.60%
Vitality 4.40%
Actual Property 2.50%
Primary Supplies 2.50%
Utilities 2.40%

One factor that instantly stands out in these breakdowns is that each VTI and VOO are closely weighted towards IT (tech & communication) particularly VOO, reflecting the present massive market capitalization of those sectors within the US inventory market.

  • VTI tracks a bigger variety of corporations from a wider vary of company sizes. It’s weighted extra closely towards the patron and industrial sectors, which include extra medium and small-size corporations. The bigger variety of holdings and better variation within the corporations’ profiles make it extra diversified.
  • VOO tracks a smaller variety of corporations with a barely larger focus in tech. It offers a better half to healthcare and financials, which are typically dominated by massive corporations (typically known as Large Banks and Large Pharma).

Neither of those choices is basically higher or worse. They supply publicity to barely totally different sectors of the market, and that may result in totally different efficiency traits.

VTI vs VOO: The Similarities

VTI and VOO have lots in widespread. They’re each extraordinarily massive ETFs. Each funds are managed by Vanguard, which has a popularity for offering low-cost funds.

Should you’re in search of massive, extremely liquid funds with credible administration, each of those ETFs will go your display screen.

There are additionally much less apparent similarities, explaining the very comparable efficiency charts stemming from three primary information.

  • As market cap-weighted indexes, they each give a predominant house to mega-caps price trillions of {dollars}, most of them tech corporations.
  • Plenty of the efficiency of the CRSP U.S. Whole Market Index is pushed by the highest largest holdings, that are all a part of the S&P 500.
  • The inventory market worth of mid and small-cap shares tends to maneuver in unison with larger-cap shares.

What does that imply in apply? Let’s take a look at the ten largest holdings of VTI and VOO.

Prime Holdings: VTI vs VOO

The highest holdings of each indexes are equivalent for the primary ninth largest holdings, solely in a barely totally different order. It consists of:

  • Apple Inc.
  • Microsoft Corp.
  • Amazon.com Inc.
  • NVIDIA Corp.
  • Alphabet Inc. Class A
  • Alphabet Inc. Class C
  • Tesla
  • Fb Inc. Class A
  • Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Class B

So the one distinction among the many high 10 holdings is that VTI incorporates insurance coverage and healthcare inventory UnitedHealth Group whereas VOO incorporates oil & fuel Exxon Mobil Corp.

The identical might be true even when wanting on the subsequent 10 holdings for every fund. The record is equivalent for ninth of them, with a really comparable order:

  • Exxon Mobil Corp or UnitedHealth Group
  • Eli Lilly & Co.
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co.
  • Visa Inc. Class A
  • Johnson & Johnson
  • Broadcom Inc.
  • Procter & Gamble Co.
  • MasterCard Inc Class A
  • House Depot

The distinction is within the twentieth largest holdings: pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co Inc. for VTI and power firm Chevron Corp. for VOO.

The one actual distinction is for the highest holdings of VTI to be barely much less of the entire ETF, making house for the smaller holdings of smaller corporations.

Which Is Finest for You?

Each VTI and VOO are good selections for an investor who’s in search of a high quality diversified index fund. Each are among the many largest and most distinguished ETFs within the nation, each are extremely liquid, and so they have very comparable monitor information. In addition they have the identical low payment of 0.03%.

Your selection will likely be based mostly on what you might be in search of in an funding.

  • VTI is giving some publicity to corporations with a smaller market capitalization. This provides a barely totally different profile when wanting on the sector foundation, giving extra significance to the commercial and client sectors.
  • VOO is a extra aggressive, much less diversified fund targeted on main tech corporations. This provides it larger potential for beneficial properties in bull market intervals but additionally opens up the potential for vital losses in a bear market.

The way you see the markets makes a distinction: when you assume markets are going to maintain favoring massive caps, then you’ll want an index targeted solely on them. Should you imagine that smaller corporations would possibly be capable to outperform, you’ll want an index capable of rebalance towards them and enhance their weight into the index whereas their market capitalization grows.

If you’re weighing VTI vs VOO and also you’re having hassle making up your thoughts, think about allocating a portion of your portfolio to every fund. Conserving a number of ETFs in your portfolio can present the perfect of each worlds.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *