NEW YORK, July 13, 2026, 13:09 (EDT)
If you split cash half-and-half between Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF NYSEARCA:VTI and Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:VUG), nearly 48% of your portfolio ends up in just nine shared stocks. Those names drove both funds lower Monday. VUG dropped about 1.2% by 12:54 p.m. EDT. VTI and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:VOO) were both down about 0.7%. Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF NYSEARCA:VYM edged down 0.2%.
The Motley Fool on Sunday called VTI a Vanguard fund that “never let long-term investors down.” Yahoo Finance called it an overlooked lifetime holding. In a July 8 list, 24/7 Wall St put VTI alongside VOO, VUG and VYM as Vanguard ETFs to buy this month. The bigger question for investors: does picking another ticker offer new returns, or just repeat the same play? The Motley Fool
VTI owned 3,484 stocks at the end of May. But because it’s market-cap weighted, the biggest firms get the largest slices. Its top 10 made up 34.6% of its assets. VOO had the same top 10, but at 39.2%. For VUG, the top 10 names took up 64.6%.
| Fund | Main mandate | Top 10 as share of assets* | Top-10 names shared with VTI | Monday move |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VTI | Tracks the full U.S. stock market | 34.6% | 10 out of 10 | -0.7% |
| VOO | Focuses on S&P 500 stocks | 39.2% | 10 out of 10 | -0.7% |
| VUG | Large-cap growth focus | 64.6% | 9 out of 10 | -1.2% |
| VYM | Picks higher dividend stocks | 26.0% | 1 out of 10 | -0.2% |
Shows holdings on May 31, 2026. Market prices around 12:54 p.m. EDT. Numbers are rounded.
Nine stocks made up 33.1% of VTI’s holdings and 62.1% of VUG. In a portfolio split evenly between the two, those names would cover 47.6%. The top three—Nvidia NASDAQ:NVDA, Apple NASDAQ:AAPL, and Microsoft NASDAQ:MSFT—would take up roughly 26% of the total.
| 50-50 combination | Concentration signal | What the second fund changes |
|---|---|---|
| VTI + VOO | 36.9% overlap in the top 10 | Top holdings stay about the same; S&P 500 tilt rises |
| VTI + VUG | 47.6% in the same nine stocks | Bigger bet on large-cap growth names |
| VTI + VYM | Only one top-10 name is the same | Pushes up yield and adds banks and energy |
Calculations are based on rounded May 31 weights. The VYM comparison looks just at the top 10 holdings for both funds; there are more shared holdings lower down in the portfolios.
Big gains have made the overlap easy to ignore. As of July 9, VOO posted an average annual return of 15.36% over the last ten years. VTI returned 14.90% in the same period. VOO was the first ETF to clear $1 trillion in assets in June. “Investors continue to turn to low-cost broad market exposure,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi. The Motley Fool
Monday brought a real-time market test. Fresh U.S.-Iran tension sent crude futures up about 5%. Tech led losses in the S&P 500, falling 1.4%, while the Philadelphia semiconductor index was off 3.7% near midday. “A broader pullback in risk taking,” said Brian Mulberry at Zacks Investment Management. Reuters
VYM stood apart. Broadcom NASDAQ:AVGO was the only name in the top-10 for both VYM and VTI. VYM’s yield is about 2.3%, with its rules targeting stocks with higher than average dividends, so it shows a different income mix. Yahoo Finance put its year-to-date total return at 13.23% through the latest close.
The difference isn’t just protection. VYM had around 20% of its assets in financials and 9% in energy, so it’s still vulnerable if credit losses go up or oil drops; VUG could pull ahead again if AI investment and chip stocks bounce back. On Monday, the 10-year Treasury yield hovered near 4.6%, about double VYM’s dividend yield, so equity-income buyers are still taking equity risk for the chance at bigger dividends and capital gains.
Investors are looking at a busy week starting Tuesday, with U.S. inflation data and Fed Chair Kevin Warsh set to testify in Congress for the first time. Producer price numbers come out Wednesday and retail sales follow on Thursday. Big banks also kick off earnings this week. S&P 500 second-quarter profits are seen climbing 23.7%. “It just seems like a lot of factors coming to a head all at once,” Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede, said. Reuters
The fund labels are simple, but the portfolio story isn’t. VTI covers a lot of stocks, VOO has many of the same top names, and VUG loads up even more on them. VYM shifts things, swapping some tech for banks, energy, and dividends. Just having more ETF tickers doesn’t guarantee a more diverse portfolio.
