I'm 18 years old in college in the US; recently came into about $7k from scholarships. My tuition has been covered entirely and I live at home, commuting in an EV to school, and I should be receiving \~$3k in payments per year for at least 3 years in scholarship over-rewards. As such I currently have no expenses because my parents cover me while I'm a student and I will hopefully graduate with no debt.
In the next few years I realistically see my major expense being paying for a master's degree, as I plan to do a 3+1 program at my school and graduate with my master's within the 4 years it would normally take for me to get a bachelor's. I am currently not employed, but I am shopping around for a decent part time job that can start putting some money away for that. My parents have made it clear that I will not be forced to move out until I am on my feet, so I aim to move out between the age of 25-27 depending on how good my savings are, where I'm at with my career and personal relationships, and how terrible the housing market is. Basically, I have no forseeable long term expenses until I turn at least 25, likely closer to 27, giving me an investment horizon of 7-9 years.
I read the Little Book not too long ago and like the philosophy so I opened a brokerage with Fidelity. Due to the... volatility of the current US market, I took a more conservative asset allocation of 65/35 in FSKAX and BND. That's currently only the first half of my $7k invested as I got it paid in two installments. The final $3.6k is set to hit my Fidelity account within the next week or so, and I am wondering which foreign stock blend to go with: FTIHX or VXUS? Should I keep my allocation the same or increase my equity exposure? More domestic or international exposure?
Additionally, I have to admit I am fairly ignorant on how tax laws and all that work. I understand that selling my stock can make a taxable event on capital gains if not in a Roth IRA, and that I do not need to disclose my taxes for the time being because I have basically no income outside of like $20 in capital gains, but feel like I don't really know the tax stuff well enough to be sure there isn't something I am missing for all that.
Any answers are much appreciated