Mustachian portfolios

[Bojack]

@nugget

you should have a rock solid, strong reasoning to not just buy VT. I don’t see one, but that doesn’t mean there is none

@Joey has linked to a very nice post by @lupo:

Tax optimisation for ETF investing

In short lower costs and better diversification but let me copy & past the answer given by the famous boglehead Taylor Larimore in this post . Usually lower Fund/ETF Expense Ratios: Total Stock Market (VTSAX & VT) = .05%; Total International (VTIAX & VXUS) = .11%; Total World (VTWSX = .21%; VT = 0.11%). Lower Turnover (hidden cost): Total Stock Market = 4.0%; Total International = 3.1%; Total World = 14.8% Tax Efficiency (5 years): Total Stock Market =.56; Total International = 1.09; Total W…

Who in turn linked to a post by Taylor Larimore:

https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=88005#p1263932

To recap, avantages of VTI+VXUS vs VT:

• lower TER
• lower turnover
• deeper market penetration (some 2’000 stocks more)
• flexibity (ability to overweigh or underweigh USA)

You know, maybe in the end all these sum up to something like 0.2% difference. So for portfolios under 100k it’s just pennies. But for larger portfolios I would say it makes sense. It definitely makes more sense for Americans, because they are better off being able to overweigh USA.