Two index funds pretending to be complex while quietly doing almost everything reasonably well
Report created on Jun 25, 2026Risk profile
4/7
Diversification profile
4/5
Positions
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VT Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
VTI - US9229087690 50.00% -
VX Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares
VXUS - US9219097683 50.00%
Portfolio composition here is aggressively boring in the best possible way: half “own every US stock,” half “own the rest of the world,” and absolutely nothing else. It’s like you read one Boglehead blog post and decided that was enough homework for a lifetime. No satellites, no flashy themes, no heroic bets — just two monolithic funds doing all the lifting. The upside: the structure is impossible to misunderstand, and even harder to accidentally wreck. The downside: there’s zero nuance. This is a blunt instrument, not a scalpel. If anything interesting happens, it will be because markets moved, not because this portfolio tried to be clever.
Growth
Historically, the portfolio turned $1,000 into $3,431 over about a decade, with a 13.17% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). CAGR is just your “average speed” over the whole trip, potholes included. Nice result, but the US market alone sprinted ahead at 15.79%, while the global market slightly outpaced you at 13.59%. So this thing has been jogging while the US benchmark ran a bit faster. Max drawdown was about -34%, basically in line with the crash in 2020 — no magical downside protection here. Translation: you got broadly market-like pain with a mild performance haircut versus a pure US bet. Past data is helpful, but it’s still just yesterday’s weather.
Projection
The Monte Carlo projection throws this portfolio into 1,000 alternate futures and asks, “How weird could this get?” Median outcome: $1,000 becomes about $2,589 in 15 years — not exactly yacht money, but not embarrassing either. The likely middle band ranges from about $1,800 to $3,900, while the full “things got wild” band stretches from basically flat to almost $8,000. Annualized return across all simulations sits at 7.93%, noticeably tamer than the recent historical 13%+ party. That’s the catch: simulations are conservative on purpose. They’re like a grumpy weather forecaster reminding you that sunshine forever is not a real plan, especially in markets.
Asset classes
- Stocks 100%
Asset class “diversification” here is a trick question because there isn’t any: this is 100% stocks, 0% everything else. No bonds, no cash buffer, no real assets — just pure equity exposure from wall to wall. It’s the investment version of an all-caffeine diet: efficient when things go well, but it will shake a bit when the world panics. For a portfolio labelled “Balanced Investors,” the asset mix is not actually balanced; it’s just globally spread equities. The risk score of 4/7 reflects that: not insane, but definitely not gentle. When markets drop, there’s nowhere in here to hide — everything is on the same roller coaster.
Sectors
- Technology 26%
- Financials 17%
- Industrials 13%
- Consumer Discretionary 9%
- Health Care 8%
- Telecommunications 7%
- Consumer Staples 5%
- Basic Materials 5%
- Energy 4%
- Utilities 3%
- Real Estate 3%
Sector-wise, this is basically “own the world as it currently exists,” which means a tech-heavy, finance-laced stew. Technology at 26% is the largest slice, but that’s just what broad indexes look like now — you didn’t pick a tech obsession, the index picked it for you. Financials at 17% and Industrials at 13% keep things from becoming a pure software cult, while the rest are small but present cameos. Nothing here screams sector craziness; it’s mostly a mirror of the global economy. The catch is that “I own everything” can secretly mean “I’m very exposed to whatever’s fashionable in market-cap land,” and right now that’s big, profitable, tech-adjacent giants.
Regions
- North America 54%
- Europe Developed 18%
- Asia Developed 8%
- Japan 8%
- Asia Emerging 7%
- Australasia 2%
- Africa/Middle East 2%
- Latin America 1%
Geographically, this portfolio is actually more grown-up than most: about 54% North America and 46% everywhere else. That’s far less “America or bust” than a typical US-heavy setup. Europe, Japan, developed Asia, and emerging regions all get real slices, even if they’re not equal. This is one of those rare cases where the “Total International” in the name actually shows up in the numbers. The roast, if anything, is that the portfolio feels more cosmopolitan than the average investor holding it. You’ve ended up with something surprisingly sensible across regions almost by default, just by picking two global workhorse funds and walking away.
Market capitalization
- Mega-cap 44%
- Large-cap 30%
- Mid-cap 18%
- Small-cap 5%
- Micro-cap 1%
Market cap exposure is tilted hard toward the grown-ups: 44% mega-cap and 30% large-cap dominate the stage, with only a modest supporting cast of mid (18%), small (5%), and micro caps (1%). This is standard for cap-weighted indexes — the giants hog most of the spotlight and the tiny companies get whatever crumbs are left. You’re not really making a conscious “size” bet; you’re just accepting the default rule of “biggest companies call the shots.” That means the portfolio behaves like a large-cap machine with a faint seasoning of smaller names, not some scrappy small-cap underdog story.
True holdings
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NV NVIDIA Corporation 3.35%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
-
AA Apple Inc 3.15%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
-
MS Microsoft Corporation 2.30%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
-
23 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. 1.98%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares
-
AM Amazon.com Inc 1.80%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
-
GO Alphabet Inc Class A 1.53%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
-
AV Broadcom Inc 1.46%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
-
GO Alphabet Inc Class C 1.20%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
-
SS Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 1.09%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares
-
ME Meta Platforms Inc. 0.95%
Part of fund(s):- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
- Top 10 total 18.79%
Look-through holdings reveal the obvious: the big kids are in charge. NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft, TSMC, Amazon, Alphabet, Broadcom, Samsung, and Meta show up as familiar overlords. Between the two funds, these names get repeated exposure, which creates hidden concentration even if each fund claims to be broad. Only about 24% of the portfolio is captured by the ETF top-10 lists, so overlap is surely bigger than what’s visible. The end result is a “total market” portfolio that’s still heavily steered by a handful of mega-cap tech and tech-adjacent beasts. Diversified on paper, but in practice a small club drives a lot of the storyline.
Factors
Factor exposure — the hidden personality traits of the portfolio — is almost painfully normal. Value, size, momentum, quality, and yield all hover around neutral, meaning this thing isn’t leaning meaningfully into any of those styles. It’s like the portfolio filled out a dating profile and answered “average” to every question. The one mild quirk is a tilt toward low volatility at 62%, suggesting a slight preference for steadier names over drama queens. Nothing extreme, though. Overall, this looks like a “take the market as it comes” setup, not some grand factor-engineered creation. If it behaves oddly, it’ll be because markets are odd, not because this thing is secretly weird.
Risk contribution
-
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares
Weight: 50.00% 52.0% -
Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares
Weight: 50.00% 48.0%
Risk contribution is refreshingly boring: the US fund is 50% of the weight and about 52% of the risk, the international fund is 50% of the weight and about 48% of the risk. Risk contribution basically tells you which holdings are causing the portfolio’s mood swings. Here, both halves are pulling their fair share — no tiny wildcard position secretly thrashing the whole ship. When the portfolio moves, it’s because both sides of the globe are doing whatever they’re doing that week. For once, there’s no “8% position causing 25% of the drama” story to mock. This is structurally about as fair and symmetrical as it gets.
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.
On the efficient frontier chart, this portfolio is basically behaving itself. Its Sharpe ratio — return per unit of risk — is 0.57, while the max-Sharpe version using the same ingredients hits 0.82 and the min-variance version lands at 0.68. The kicker: the current portfolio sits on or very near the frontier, meaning that for its specific risk level, it’s not obviously wasting potential. That’s annoyingly competent for something this simple. Yes, a different mix of the same two funds could squeeze out a better tradeoff on paper, but there’s no smoking-gun inefficiency here. For a two-fund hobbyist structure, it’s suspiciously optimized.
Dividends
- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares 1.00%
- Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares 2.60%
- Weighted yield (per year) 1.80%
Dividend yield clocks in around 1.8% overall — roughly 1.0% from US stocks and 2.6% from international. That’s more “modest pocket change” than “income machine.” Dividends here are more of a background feature than a defining trait. They’ll quietly drip some cash into the account, but the real story is capital growth, not steady checks. If someone claimed this setup was a high-yield strategy, the numbers would laugh them out of the room. This is basically a total-market growth engine that happens to hand out small periodic snacks along the way. Nothing wrong with that, but let’s not pretend it’s an income play.
Ongoing product costs
- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund ETF Shares 0.03%
- Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund ETF Shares 0.05%
- Weighted costs total (per year) 0.04%
Costs are almost offensively low: a blended TER of 0.04%. That’s basically couch-cushion money. You’re paying four bucks a year on every $10,000 to own almost the entire investable equity planet. This is as close as it gets to getting the market for free without breaking into Vanguard headquarters. There’s not much to roast here besides the fact that active managers charging 1% to lose to this probably wake up in a cold sweat. Fees are under control — impressively so — which makes every other flaw in the portfolio purely about asset mix, not about money quietly leaking out to middlemen.
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