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An Extremely Simple 3 ETF Portfolio to Consider
Investing for the long term does not have to be complex
Let’s say that you are not interested in conducting fundamental and technical analysis to discover the individual companies you will invest in for the long term. You want to put your money into ETFs monthly that you are comfortable with because they cover a wide range of assets, and the ETFs themselves are managed by one of the largest asset managers in the world. I want to let you know that you can happily do exactly that. An extremely simple three ETF portfolio you can consider is the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTI), the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Index Fund ETF Shares (VEU), and the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund ETF Shares (BND).
VTI is an ETF that seeks to track the performance of the CRSP US Total Market Index, which is an index that measures the investment return of the overall US stock market. Top holdings in VTI include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook. As of September 14th, 2021, VTI has a price of $229.21 per share and an expense ratio of 0.03%. You can consider making VTI 60% of your portfolio.
VEU is an ETF that seeks to track the performance of the FTSE All-World Ex-US Index, which is an index that tracks the performance of stocks of companies located in developed and emerging markets outside of the US. Top holdings in VEU include Tencent, Alibaba, TSM, and ASML. As of September 14th, 2021, VEU has a price of 63.79 per share and an expense ratio of 0.08%. You can consider making VEU 30% of your portfolio.
BND is an ETF that seeks to track the performance of the Bloomberg Barclays US Aggregate Float Adjusted Index, which is an index that measures the performance of a wide spectrum of fixed income securities in the US, including government, corporate, and international dollar-denominated bonds, as well as mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities all with maturities of more than one year. As of September 14th, 2021, BND has a price of $86.61 per share and an expense ratio of 0.03%. You can consider making BND 10% of your portfolio.
In backtesting a portfolio of VTI (60%), VEU (30%), and BND (10%) over the last ten years with an initial amount of $1,000 and monthly contributions of $1,000, the portfolio grew…