Hey Community,

Today I'm talking about my 4 ALL TIME Favorite Funds. To keep things simple I'm breaking down each fund by:

•  Their names & ticker symbols,
•  Why I love/like them,
•  Their Expense Ratio (also known as the yearly maintenance fee of the fund),
•  What they track and
•  The 10 year average annual growth of each index.

This post (and anything I write is for educational purposes only. Remember to always do your own research when investing.

1. FSKAX/SWTSX/VTSAX (as well as the ETF version of this fund: VTI)

Name: Fidelity/Schwab/Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund

Why I love these funds: The diversity (4000 US companies) lowers risk while the 100% stock nature keeps it growing at an average rate of 10-13% a year. That’s a win-win in my book.

Expense Ratio: 0.015%/0.03%/0.04% respectively (0.03% for VTI)

What they track: These total stock market funds try to mirror the CRSP total stock market index. This index is weighed by market capitalization (meaning the companies are not equally weighted; capitalism respects the companies that profit the most and in this index the big companies have more of a percentage than the smaller companies).

10 year average yearly growth: 12.50%

2. FSPGX/SWLGX/VIGAX (as well as the ETF versions: VUG, SCHD)

Name: Fidelity/Schwab/Vanguard Large Cap Growth Index Fund

Why I love these funds: These funds are made up of the biggest US companies with the largest growth potential. Growth portfolios invest primarily in big U.S. companies that are projected to grow faster than the broader stock market. So if you want to add more risk for more reward, these funds can help. 

Expense Ratio: 0.035%/0.035%/0.05% respectively (0.04% for VUG)

What they track: These large cap growth funds seek to track the performance of the Russell 1000 Growth Index and CRSP US Large Cap Growth Index.

10 year average yearly growth: 15.75%

3. VGT (the similar Fidelity version of this fund is FTEC):

Name: Vanguard Information Technology Index Fund ETF

Why I love this fund: I just started dipping my toe in this fund in 2023 and so far I love it. It’s a fund that tracks 100% tech and if we’ve learned anything in the last couple of decades, this is where the supercharged growth of the economy is. What makes this fund special is that because there are 100s of companies within it, the diversity helps reduce the risk (and volatility) of just buying one or two companies (like just apple stock or Facebook stock).

Expense Ratio: 0.10% (0.08% for FTEC)

What they track: Vanguard Information Technology ETF seeks to track the investment performance of the  MSCI US Investable Market Information Technology 25/50 Index, an index of stocks of large, medium-size, and small U.S. companies in the information technology sector

10 year average yearly growth: 20.75%

4. VTTSX (the similar Fidelity version of this fund is FDKLX):

Name: Vanguard Target Retirement 2060 Fund (all Vanguard Target Date Index Funds are index fund that’s why they don’t have index in the name)

Info about this fund: If you like simple and that’s exactly what you'll get with this fund. Target date index funds are special for 2 reasons:

        1. They are actually Funds of funds. This one is made up of 4 huge funds! A US stock fund, an international stock fund, a US bond fund, and an international bond fund.

      2. They change their allocation (the percentage of stocks and bonds) over time and become more conservative as you get closer to the target date you set (this one is year 2060). Hence the name target date index fund. This is great if you want to set it and forget it (since that’s done automatically) because as you get closer to retirement, you want to have bonds in your portfolio to decrease the volatility of stock funds in your portfolio.

What I really don't like about these funds: Both international stock and bonds in general have tended to hold back the growth of Target Date Funds. This makes these funds less interesting if you are in the beginning of your wealth building journey.

Expense Ratio: 0.08% (0.12% for FDKLX)

What this fund is composed of: This fund doesn’t track a particular index but instead it’s comprised of 4 Funds:

       1. A Total Stock Market Index Fund (55%)

       2. A Total International Stock Index Fund (35%)

       3. A Total Bond Fund (7%)

       4. A Total International Bond Fund (3%)

10 year average yearly growth: 8.7%

You’ll notice that all the funds above are index funds or index ETFs. I love index funds because they are passively managed which means lower fees and they tend to do better 80% of the time than actively managed funds!

 Hope you've found this Monthly Wealth Talk helpful. If you want to learn a step by step approach on how to invest for financial freedom, START HERE.

Be well,

Mahi