Two index funds one personality and a mild addiction to stock market rollercoasters
Report created on May 30, 2026Risk profile
4/7
Diversification profile
4/5
Positions
-
VT Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares
VTSAX - US9229087286 60.00% -
VT VANGUARD TOTAL INTERNATIONAL STOCK INDEX FUND ADMIRAL SHARES
VTIAX - US9219098186 40.00%
This portfolio is the investing equivalent of a two-ingredient recipe: all stocks and only two funds. On the one hand, that’s refreshingly honest — no closet trading, no bizarre niche products, just “own everything and go home.” On the other hand, it’s a one-speed machine: when global stocks are up, this flies; when they’re down, it just eats pavement with no cushion. There’s zero ballast from bonds or anything remotely defensive, which makes the “Balanced Investors” label feel more like marketing poetry than description. The structure is clean and coherent, but it also means the entire experience is chained to global equity moods, with no Plan B when stocks collectively decide to sulk.
Growth
The historical performance looks shiny at first glance — turning $1,000 into $3,463 is nothing to sniff at. CAGR, or Compound Annual Growth Rate, is the “average speed” of that ride, and 13.26% is objectively strong. The issue? The plain US market did even better at 15.54%, so this globally diversified beauty quietly lagged the hometown hero. It barely beat the broad global benchmark by 0.34%, which is basically statistical small talk. The max drawdown at -34.37% shows it fully participated in the COVID crash too. Past data is useful, but it’s yesterday’s weather — this track record says “good, but not special” rather than “secret performance weapon.”
Projection
The Monte Carlo projection takes that past behavior and shakes it through 1,000 alternate futures, like running the same movie with slightly different scripts. Median outcome of $2,735 from $1,000 over 15 years sounds decent, but the range is where the drama lives: anything from roughly flat at $970 to “that went well” at $7,320. An 8% average simulated return is nice on paper, yet 24.5% of runs still end up losing money in real terms. Simulations are glorified “what if” games built on past patterns, not crystal balls — this one says the portfolio is generally fine, but fully exposed to whatever mood swings global stocks feel like having.
Asset classes
- Stocks 100%
Asset classes: 100% stocks, 0% everything else. This is marketed as “Balanced Investors,” but the actual mix is more “stocks or bust.” In asset class terms, that’s like building a house entirely out of glass and calling it “robust architecture.” It will look great in good weather and absolutely suffer in a hailstorm. No bonds, no cash buffer, no alternatives — just full equity beta all the time. Again, not inherently wrong, but the label and the reality are having two very different conversations. It means portfolio ups and downs are dictated purely by the global stock cycle with zero internal shock absorbers.
Sectors
- Technology 27%
- Financials 16%
- Industrials 12%
- Consumer Discretionary 9%
- Health Care 8%
- Telecommunications 8%
- Consumer Staples 5%
- Energy 4%
- Basic Materials 4%
- Utilities 3%
- Real Estate 2%
Sector-wise, this thing is a textbook market-cap-weighted index: tech leads at 27%, then financials, industrials, and a smattering of everything else. Translation: the portfolio’s sector exposure is just whatever the global market is currently obsessed with, especially large, tech-heavy names. That makes it highly plugged into innovation and growth stories, but very exposed if high-flying sectors ever remember gravity. Utilities, real estate, and other boring stabilizers barely register. So the sector mix is “respectably mainstream,” but it still leans into the fashionable parts of the market more than the defensive wallflowers that help soften the blows when sentiment flips.
Regions
- North America 63%
- Europe Developed 14%
- Asia Developed 6%
- Japan 6%
- Asia Emerging 5%
- Australasia 2%
- Africa/Middle East 1%
- Latin America 1%
Geographically, this is “America plus some friends.” North America at 63% dominates, with Europe and developed Asia getting respectable-but-secondary invites, and emerging regions pushed to rounding-error status. This isn’t unusual — global market-cap indices are heavily US-weighted — but it does mean the portfolio’s fate is tightly welded to US equity conditions. If US markets shine, it rides along; if they stink, the tiny allocations to Latin America or Africa aren’t going to save the day. The map looks diversified at first glance, but in practice this is still a US-centric storyline with international subtitles.
Market capitalization
- Mega-cap 43%
- Large-cap 30%
- Mid-cap 18%
- Small-cap 5%
- Micro-cap 1%
The market cap mix is another “just follow the index” story: 43% mega-cap, 30% large-cap, then mid and small as supporting characters. Mega-caps run this show, which means a handful of global giants are quietly steering performance far more than the sheer number of holdings suggests. That’s standard for cap-weighted funds, but it turns “broad diversification” into “a lot of tiny crumbs surrounding a few very large meals.” When mega-caps thrive, the portfolio looks smart; when they lag, all the mid- and small-cap exposure is too small to seriously change the script. It’s diversified in count, concentrated in influence.
Factors
Factor-wise, this is almost aggressively neutral across value, size, momentum, and quality — it’s the “I’ll have whatever the market is having” of factor profiles. Factor exposure is like the ingredient list behind the label; here the ingredients are pretty standard. The two notable bits: low volatility is mildly elevated at 62%, while yield is low at 30%. So it’s leaning slightly toward steadier names while not bothering with high dividends. That’s like picking the calmer kids for a team but not caring if they ever hand out pocket money. Nothing extreme, but definitely more “total-market autopilot” than consciously engineered factor tilts.
Risk contribution
-
Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares
Weight: 60.00% 64.5% -
VANGUARD TOTAL INTERNATIONAL STOCK INDEX FUND ADMIRAL SHARES
Weight: 40.00% 35.5%
Risk contribution lays out who’s really causing the mood swings. Despite being 60% of the weight, the US Total Market fund contributes 64.48% of total risk — punching just a bit above its size. The international fund, at 40% weight, chips in 35.52% of risk, so it’s actually the slightly calmer sibling. Risk contribution is basically asking, “who’s shaking the portfolio most?” And here, the answer is firmly: US equities. With only two positions, there’s nowhere to hide; when the US market sneezes, this portfolio doesn’t just catch a cold, it writes a blog post about it.
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 risk–return chart, this thing sits right on or near the efficient frontier, which is the nerdy curve showing the best possible return for each risk level using these same ingredients. The Sharpe ratio — return per unit of risk — is 0.58 for the current mix, while the maximum possible Sharpe using just these funds is 0.8 at slightly higher risk. That means the allocation is pretty sensible and not wasting potential, especially for such a simple structure. It’s annoyingly efficient for something this basic, proving you don’t need a 20-line portfolio to land in the mathematically respectable zone.
Dividends
- VANGUARD TOTAL INTERNATIONAL STOCK INDEX FUND ADMIRAL SHARES 2.60%
- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares 1.00%
- Weighted yield (per year) 1.64%
The total yield at 1.64% is very “modern equity market”: not embarrassing, not exciting, just there. The international fund does the heavy lifting at 2.60%, while the US side barely chips in at 1.00%. So income is more of a side effect than a feature. Anyone expecting this portfolio to regularly shower cash is basically bringing a thimble to a drizzle. It’s tilted clearly toward growth and price returns rather than fat dividend checks. Dividends here act more like pocket change than rent money, which matches the total-market, accumulation-first personality of the overall setup.
Ongoing product costs
- VANGUARD TOTAL INTERNATIONAL STOCK INDEX FUND ADMIRAL SHARES 0.09%
- Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares 0.04%
- Weighted costs total (per year) 0.06%
Costs are comically low at a blended 0.06% TER. That’s “couch cushion” pricing — you could probably fund a year’s fees with whatever falls out of your pockets on laundry day. The US fund at 0.04% and the international at 0.09% are about as cheap as it gets without someone paying you to invest. So there’s really nothing to roast here except the fact that the fees are so low they remove any excuse when performance lags: it won’t be the costs’ fault. If anything goes wrong, it’s going to be the markets, not the expense ratios, misbehaving.
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