I plan to start a taxable account at Vanguard but can’t decide the best fund choice(s). To be clear, I am 100% VTWAX in my Roth IRA and do my best to approximate the same in my 401k. I’m thinking of investing around $1000/month for the first year, which may increase in the future. I’m between a few similar options:
1. VT. Slightly lower expense ratio than VTWAX. I’ve heard that ETFs weren’t able to be autoinvested and had issues with fractional shares but that is all resolved now?
2. VTWAX. Simple, same as my Roth IRA. Slightly higher expense ratio than VT and requires $3000 initial investment, which wouldn’t be too bad but throws off my $1000/month plan.
3. VTI and VXUS split at market cap weightings. More complex and more effort because I will want to ensure the allocation is correct every month or so. Lower expense ratio combo, ability to claim foreign tax credit, and potential for tax loss harvesting in the future.
Knowing how much I overanalyze this stuff, option 1 feels really nice from a simplicity perspective. Option 3 would provide the most “juice”, but don’t know if it’s worth the squeeze. Probably not at $1000/month, but I will likely increase future contributions, have decades of growth ahead of me, and want to set it up right.