mutual funds

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VTSAX, VTIAX.

That's all you need because bonds are for pussies and time's better spent chasing tail than chasing returns.

>>1876443
VTIAX seems to have not grown at all in 10y

Am I missing something?

>>1876470
These things go in cycles. Some decades the US outperforms, other decades international equities outperform.

Not to mention those assets being overseas acts as a buffer against any domestic inflation or stagnation or whatever.

>>1876481
Thanks anon

Also small cap vs. large cap in general? Which is best for longterm growth?

>>1876520
Small cap will generally grow faster but be more volatile than large cap. You also, again, have cyclicality there where that's not the case every decade.

If you can stomach the extra volatilty (not selling when "omg it's dropped so much!", not buying when "holy shit small cap is on a run. buy!") then it might be worth tilting to small caps, but VTSAX includes both since it's a total market fund.

In any case, starting out your job/salary/savings rate matters more than exact investments. Like, what's the breakeven portfolio size for an extra 1% in return vs. an extra $5,000 a year in salary?

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>>1876470
>VTIAX seems to have not grown at all in 10y
Internationals are really volatile, even more than normal. The Emerging Markets component is subject to wild year-to-year swings. But you're not wrong that the years since the 2008 crash have been lean for Internationals until last year. But look at how they performed before then

As anon said, this stuff is cyclical. No one wants to own EM when it falls 53%, but you're glad as hell you have some when it rises 79%

>>1876443
I go with VASGX because I don't have enough money to go with the underlying funds directly. The savings from the difference in expense ratios is really very small anyway.
Also, with some bonds, there is benefit from poorly-correlated assets, so there is hypothetically more return with less risk from having some bonds (though it is not clear which percentage of bonds is necessary for this: VASGX provides 20% bond allocation, but the optimal amount may be something like 5-10%).