Alternative to VT

Hi guys,

I use VT as investment for my small daughter.

I would like to use VT for “my” money too, but it gets messy to compute the dividends.

I found IShares MSCI World ETF, is this roughly the same? Or do you know other similar ETFs to VT?

Thanks,

There’s the European VT, “Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (USD) Accumulating”.

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What exactly do you find messy and don’t like about VT? Dividends are a natural part of any equity investment. Even with accumulating funds you’ll have them and will be forced to pay taxes on them. There’s no way to avoid them.

If you’re allergic to any sort of dividends, you could buy gold, I guess. That one never pay any divs. Only has costs.

If you’re worried about bookkeeping, then just open a secondary account for this side portfolio. Either real (IBKR allows multiple accounts, all can be linked to same login and account holder; but there could be extra fees) or paper trading account just for keeping track of pure loss/profit.

Lastly, why the hell does your daughter even need a separate portfolio? How old is she? If under 18, her wealth is your wealth for most practical purposes, so focus on maximizing your wealth and don’t drag yourself into pointless accounting gyrations.

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Thanks both for your answers.

@pandas , I said I am looking for something similar to VT, never said I have any trouble with dividends aside that i need to be tracking all the time the % that belongs to me vs my daugher.

I would like to have two separate products for the sake of bookkeeping and cost optimization. Making another IB account or with other broker will translate in extra fees. It’s a pitty you can’t have different portfolios within an IB account.

Yes my wealth is hers, but still I think it makes sense to keep separate her money from “gifts” and my small monthly allocation. I think it’s not a crazy idea…

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So, get a paper trading account to simulate the growth of “her” part of your portfolio? While physically keeping it in your main account.

And how exactly does this need of yours (to have separate bookkeeping) relate to the other need of switching from VT to something else? Even if you pick two separate product for your two subportfolios, you will still have mix them up in cash and taxes from the dividends they generate. Better learn some proper accounting tools. MS Money, GNUCash, Beancount, whatever.

Exactly. You can have the extra account with all bells and whistles if you want, you just gonna pay for it

Paper trading account would be free, though.

Mix VXUS & VTI (50:50 or 45:55 depending on the weighting of US you decide on) for yourself for a pseudo-VT.

Will be separate from your daughter’s VT & u will have more companies & a mini lower TER compared to VT.

VXUS FTSE Global All Cap ex US Index. Broad exposure across developed and emerging non-U.S. equity markets. TER 0.09%

VTI TER 0.04%. CRSP US Total Market Index. Large,mid,small-cap diversified across growth&value styles. US-domicile i.e. can reclaim wthhldg tax.

Combined gives a total of 10’000 co’s & lower TER than VT. VOO (S&P500) would also be an alternative for VTI, but VTI more co’s.

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VWRL (irish based version of VT). Since the wht loss is a bit more than VT, make VWRL your daughter’s ETF, and you “take” VT. (assuming the value of her investment is lower than yours)

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Well, I don’t know. It definitely makes sense to plan future expenses to finance your child’s education, but why exactly would you invest your own money in her benefit? In the end, if in 20 or 30 years you want to give her some money, it will be your (and your spouses) discreet decision how much you want to give.

Anyway, since it’s all “imaginary”, why not assume that she is entitled to the shares, but you’re entitled to the dividends? Then you just need to keep track of how many shares you “owe” her. Or even simpler: assume that 20% of your portfolio is hers. I mean, why do you have to be so strict, it really doesn’t matter.

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good point, touché!

@rolandinho actually VTI+VXUS is what I’ve been doing so far, just wanted to simplify my strategy but maybe I will leave as is.

Thanks guys!