Index Funds Go Head to Head


When you’re balancing VTI vs. VOO, you’re most likely taking a look at placing cash into an index fund. That’s typically going to be a great resolution. Index funds can help you diversify your portfolio even if you happen to don’t have a lot to take a position, and even funding professionals usually fail to select shares that beat the index efficiency.

However which of those funds must you 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 Below 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-Yr Efficiency

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

Supply: Barchat

VTI vs VOO: What’s the Distinction?

Crucial distinction between VTI and VOO is that every fund tracks a unique 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 your complete US inventory market, not simply the biggest 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 learners.

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 Expertise 30.20%
Shopper Discretionary 14.40%
Industrials 13.00%
Well being Care 12.60%
Financials 10.30%
Shopper Staples 5.10%
Power 4.60%
Actual Property 2.90%
Utilities 2.70%
Telecommunication 2.20%
Fundamental Supplies 2.00%

VOO Sector Breakdown

Sector Weight
Expertise 28.20%
Well being Care 13.20%
Financials 12.40%
Shopper Discretionary 10.60%
Communication Companies 8.80%
Industrials 8.40%
Shopper Staples 6.60%
Power 4.40%
Actual Property 2.50%
Fundamental 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 giant 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 buyer and industrial sectors, which comprise 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 higher focus in tech. It offers the next half to healthcare and financials, which are usually dominated by giant corporations (generally known as Massive Banks and Massive 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 giant ETFs. Each funds are managed by Vanguard, which has a popularity for offering low-cost funds.

When you’re on the lookout for giant, extremely liquid funds with credible administration, each of those ETFs will go your display.

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 area to mega-caps value trillions of {dollars}, most of them tech corporations.
  • Lots 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 follow? 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 similar 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 may be true even when wanting on the subsequent 10 holdings for every fund. The record is similar 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
  • Dwelling 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 area for the smaller holdings of smaller corporations.

Which Is Finest for You?

Each VTI and VOO are good selections for an investor who’s on the lookout for a top quality diversified index fund. Each are among the many largest and most distinguished ETFs within the nation, each are extremely liquid, they usually 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’re on the lookout for 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 higher potential for features in bull market intervals but in addition opens up the opportunity of vital losses in a bear market.

The way you see the markets makes a distinction: if you happen to assume markets are going to maintain favoring giant caps, then you’ll want an index targeted solely on them. When you imagine that smaller corporations may have the ability to outperform, you’ll want an index capable of rebalance towards them and improve 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, take into account allocating a portion of your portfolio to every fund. Retaining 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 *