Three ETF global equity portfolio with modest US tilt and income and low cost focus
Report created on Apr 27, 2026Risk profile
4/7
Diversification profile
3/5
Positions
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VO Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
VOO - US9229083632 50.00% -
VX Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares
VXUS - US9219097683 30.00% -
SC Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
SCHD - US8085247976 20.00%
This portfolio is a simple three‑ETF mix, fully invested in stocks. About half is in a broad US large‑cap index, 30% in a global ex‑US index, and 20% in a US dividend‑focused ETF. So structurally, it’s “all equity” with a blend of growth and income. This kind of structure is easy to understand because each fund plays a clear role: US core, international core, and dividends. Having only three holdings keeps management straightforward, but it also means concentration in those specific index strategies. The overall setup is aligned with common low‑cost, diversified equity approaches, giving exposure to thousands of companies through a very compact lineup.
Growth
From 2016 to early 2026, a hypothetical $1,000 in this portfolio grew to about $3,416. That translates to a 13.13% compound annual growth rate (CAGR), which is the “average yearly speed” of growth over the full period. It trailed the US market benchmark, which grew faster at 15.05% per year, but beat the global market benchmark at 12.33% per year. The worst drop, or max drawdown, was around ‑33.8%, very similar to both benchmarks in the 2020 crash. This shows the portfolio behaved like a typical diversified equity mix: strong long‑term growth with sharp but temporary setbacks. As always, past performance doesn’t guarantee future results.
Projection
The Monte Carlo projection uses that historical return and volatility pattern to simulate many possible 15‑year futures. It’s like running 1,000 alternate timelines where returns are randomly drawn from a distribution shaped by the past. The median outcome takes $1,000 to about $2,818, with a “middle” range (25th–75th percentile) from roughly $1,848 to $4,501. There’s about a 75% chance of ending above the starting amount. An average simulated annual return of 8.41% is lower than the recent historical 13.13%, reflecting some built‑in caution. These simulations are helpful for framing uncertainty, but they’re not predictions and can’t capture new market regimes.
Asset classes
- Stocks 100%
All of this portfolio is in stocks, with 0% in bonds, cash, or alternatives. That means returns are fully tied to equity markets, which historically offer higher growth but also larger swings than mixed stock‑bond portfolios. Compared with many “balanced” mixes that hold a meaningful bond slice, this allocation is more growth‑oriented in asset‑class terms. The upshot is that long‑term results will be driven almost entirely by how global companies’ earnings and valuations evolve. There’s no built‑in ballast from fixed income during equity sell‑offs, but there’s also no drag from lower‑return assets when stocks do well. The diversification here comes from what types of stocks are held, not from different asset classes.
Sectors
- Technology 25%
- Financials 15%
- Health Care 11%
- Industrials 11%
- Consumer Discretionary 9%
- Consumer Staples 8%
- Telecommunications 8%
- Energy 7%
- Basic Materials 3%
- Utilities 2%
- Real Estate 2%
Sector exposure is spread across the economy, with technology the largest at 25%, followed by financials, health care, and industrials clustered around 11–15%. Consumer sectors, telecom, and energy all have meaningful but smaller roles, while basic materials, utilities, and real estate are minor slices. This looks broadly similar to major global equity benchmarks, which is helpful because it avoids extreme bets on any single industry. A tech weight in the mid‑20s is common in modern indices, and it does mean some sensitivity to innovation cycles and interest‑rate moves, but not an outsized tech gamble. Overall, the sector mix is well‑balanced and aligns closely with widely used global standards.
Regions
- North America 72%
- Europe Developed 11%
- Japan 5%
- Asia Developed 4%
- Asia Emerging 4%
- Australasia 1%
- Africa/Middle East 1%
- Latin America 1%
Geographically, about 72% of the portfolio is in North America, with the rest spread across developed Europe, Japan, other developed Asia, emerging Asia, and smaller allocations to Australasia, Latin America, and Africa/Middle East. That’s a clear but not extreme US/North America tilt versus a pure global market, where the US weight is often a bit lower. The non‑US share, close to 30%, still gives exposure to many different economies, currencies, and policy environments. This balance means performance will be heavily influenced by North American markets, but shocks in any one non‑US region are less likely to dominate. It’s a moderately diversified global footprint with a home‑region emphasis.
Market capitalization
- Large-cap 42%
- Mega-cap 36%
- Mid-cap 18%
- Small-cap 2%
By market size, the portfolio leans strongly toward mega‑ and large‑cap companies, which together make up about 78% of exposure. Mid‑caps add another 18%, and small‑caps are a modest 2%. Large and mega companies tend to be more stable, widely followed, and liquid, which can reduce company‑specific surprises but may dampen the impact of smaller, faster‑growing firms. This profile is very typical of broad index funds, which weight holdings by market value. The relatively small small‑cap slice means the portfolio behaves mostly like a big‑company portfolio, with less sensitivity to the more volatile small‑cap cycle. That can smooth some of the ride while still keeping diversification broad.
True holdings
-
NV NVIDIA Corporation 3.79%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
-
AA Apple Inc 3.33%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
-
MS Microsoft Corporation 2.46%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
-
AM Amazon.com Inc 1.82%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
-
GO Alphabet Inc Class A 1.50%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
-
AV Broadcom Inc 1.31%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
-
GO Alphabet Inc Class C 1.20%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
-
TX Texas Instruments Incorporated 1.12%
Part of fund(s):- Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
-
ME Meta Platforms Inc. 1.12%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
-
23 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. 1.04%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares
- Top 10 total 18.68%
Looking through the ETFs’ top holdings, a handful of very large global companies stand out: names like NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Broadcom, Meta, Texas Instruments, and Taiwan Semiconductor. Each sits around 1–4% of the overall portfolio within the covered data. Because these giants appear in multiple funds’ top tens, there’s some overlap that creates hidden concentration at the individual company level. For example, NVIDIA at about 3.8% is meaningful, especially given its volatility. Only about 30% of the portfolio is captured through these top‑10 snapshots, so overlap is likely understated. Still, the pattern is clear: the portfolio is diversified across thousands of firms, but the biggest global leaders do carry extra weight.
Factors
Factor exposure is fairly balanced, with most factors near “neutral,” meaning similar to the broad market. The notable tilts are in yield and low volatility, both in the “high” range. Factor exposure is like seeing which characteristics your stocks share; in this case, there’s a mild lean toward companies paying higher dividends and showing somewhat steadier price behavior. That matches the role of the dividend ETF slice. A higher yield tilt can increase income today, while a low‑volatility tilt can sometimes soften the impact of market swings. These tilts aren’t extreme, but they nudge the portfolio slightly away from pure growth‑at‑any‑price behavior toward a more income‑and‑stability‑aware equity profile.
Risk contribution
-
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF
Weight: 50.00% 53.1% -
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares
Weight: 30.00% 28.6% -
Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF
Weight: 20.00% 18.4%
Risk contribution shows how much each ETF drives total ups and downs, which can differ from simple weights. Here, the S&P 500 ETF is 50% of the portfolio but contributes about 53% of the overall risk, so it punches just slightly above its weight. The international ETF at 30% weight contributes about 29% of risk, and the dividend ETF at 20% weight contributes about 18%. This tells us there’s no single holding that is massively amplifying risk relative to its size. All three funds’ risk/weight ratios cluster close to 1, suggesting position sizing is broadly aligned with how volatile each sleeve is. The overall risk is therefore mainly about total equity exposure rather than any one outlier position.
Risk vs. return
This chart shows the Efficient Frontier, calculated using your current assets with different allocation combinations. It highlights the best balance between risk and return based on historical data. "Efficient" portfolios maximize returns for a given risk or minimize risk for a given return. Portfolios below the curve are less efficient. This is informational and not a recommendation to buy or sell any assets.
Click on the colored dots to explore allocations.
The efficient frontier analysis shows the current mix sits on or very near the frontier built from these three ETFs. The Sharpe ratio, which compares return to volatility using a risk‑free rate, is 0.58 for the current portfolio. The optimal mix of the same holdings reaches a Sharpe of 0.82 with slightly higher expected return and risk, while the minimum‑variance mix has lower risk and a Sharpe of 0.69. Being close to the frontier means the existing allocation is already making efficient use of these building blocks for its chosen risk level. In other words, given these three funds, the trade‑off between risk and return is already broadly well‑tuned.
Dividends
- Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF 3.40%
- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF 1.10%
- Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares 2.80%
- Weighted yield (per year) 2.07%
The combined dividend yield of the portfolio is about 2.07%, blending a higher‑yielding dividend ETF at 3.40% with lower yields from the broad US and international funds. Dividend yield is the annual cash distribution as a percentage of price, like an interest payment from stocks. Here, the dividend ETF meaningfully lifts the overall income level compared with a pure broad‑market allocation. Over time, reinvested dividends can be an important part of total return, especially in sideways markets where price gains are modest. This portfolio’s yield sits in a moderate range: clearly above growth‑only strategies, but not at the very high end where yields can sometimes signal elevated risk or concentrated income bets.
Ongoing product costs
- Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF 0.06%
- Vanguard S&P 500 ETF 0.03%
- Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares 0.05%
- Weighted costs total (per year) 0.04%
Costs are impressively low. The total expense ratio (TER) averages about 0.04% per year across the three ETFs, with individual funds ranging from 0.03% to 0.06%. TER is the annual fee charged by the fund, taken out of returns behind the scenes. On every $1,000 invested, a 0.04% TER is just $0.40 per year, before compounding. Keeping costs this low is a strong structural advantage, because fees are one of the few things investors can reliably know in advance, and they reduce returns every year regardless of market direction. This cost level is in line with the cheapest index‑tracking options and supports better long‑term performance compared with higher‑fee alternatives.
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