My total international funds are doing terribly, but I guess that’s the nature of a “hedge” when US stocks have killed it for so long.
I don’t expect I’ll invest in anything other than S&P 500 and Total US index going forward (although I did have some luck investing in a US growth fund for a 529).
And at least with Vanguard, I will say the one way mutual funds are superior to ETFs is you can auto invest a set amount of money every week easily, whereas for ETFs you have to first transfer money into a settlement account and go from there.
I guess I need to do more research on ETF vs mutual fund. Simplicity is really what I'm going for here.
The biggest downside to mutual funds is that the lowest fee ones (at least in Vanguard) are like $3k to initially invest. Otherwise you should be able to find one with similar fees and returns as other ETFs. VTSAX is what I use primarily for total stock market.
On the fees I believe the Vanguard Admiral Shares require $10k min. At least they used to. They are also much slower to enter and exit and don't value throughout the day since they lack the T in ETF. This is actually what the dave ramsey's (complete psychopath) of the world like about mutual funds. it's the saving envelope of our personal finances or whatever crap they talk about and it's a pita to mess with.
Since this impacts the people I care about most (me) I looked up the numbers:
VTSAX (Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares)(Minimum investment: $3,000)
Expense Ratio: .04%
1-yr average annual returns: 18.52%
3-yr: 19.85%
5-yr: 16.08%
10-yr: 15%
Since 2000: 8.25%
VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF)Expense Ratio: .03%
1-yr average annual returns: 18.58%
3-yr: 19.82%
5-yr: 16.08%
10-yr: 14.99%
Since 2001: 8.67%
VOO (Vanguard S&P 500 ETF) Expense Ratio: .03%
1-yr average annual returns: 23.30%
3-yr: 20.64%
5-yr: 16.73%
10-yr: 15.38%
So my takeaway is:
1. Pretty clearly no advantages to mutual funds OTHER THAN ease of recurring deposits
2. You can find a mutual fund with returns and fees in line with the best/most popular ETFs if you truly do want to set and forget it