Vanguard Total Stock Mkt IdxVTSMX

Morningstar Rating

Fund Research and Analysis

by Dan Culloton

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index still has it all as a core holding.

This fund is no longer the cheapest total stock market index in town, but it still offers a good deal. Its expense ratio, while twice that of its lowest-cost rival among traditional open-end mutual funds, is still one the lowest levies for no-load large-cap funds. Read more

Kudos

Low costs.

Broad market exposure.

Small tax bite.

Low turnover. Read more

Risks

Fund could lag its peers when smaller stocks fall out of favor.

Can be slightly more volatile than S&P 500 funds, as measured by standard deviation.

It's no longer the cheapest total stock market option. Read more

Strategy

This index fund tracks the MSCI U.S. Broad Market Index. Both indexes include nearly all publicly traded domestic stocks. It would be impractical to own each small company in the index, so, among the tiniest firms, management selects a representative sample. Read more

Management

Gerard O'Reilly, a longtime member of Vanguard's indexing team who assisted former manager and current Vanguard chief investment officer Gus Sauter on this fund since 1994, has been lead manager of this fund since 2005. Read more

Inside Scoop

For low-cost exposure to the broad stock market, this fund fits the bill. But it's no longer the cheapest game in town. Read more

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