7 Best Vanguard Funds to Buy and Hold

For those of you who like Vanguard, which so many of the DIY investors do, here's their latest and greatest. 

 

FEBRUARY 8, 2023 Invested Advice, rankings and stock market news for investors.

Good morning, investors. Markets rise after Powell offers soothing commentary, and the chatbot wars are heating up. Highlights of today's newsletter include our market insights plus these new articles: 7 Best Vanguard Funds to Buy and Hold 10 of the Best Bank Stocks to Buy for 2023 U.S. Debt-Ceiling Clash: What Investors Should Know TODAY'S FEATURED STORY 7 Best Vanguard Funds to Buy and Hold The "Oracle of Omaha" Warren Buffett once famously said "our favorite holding period is forever." What Buffett meant by this was that investors who owned high-quality stocks should maintain a long-term perspective in the face of market volatility. However, properly identifying a portfolio of high-quality stocks is harder than it seems. Knowing which stocks are safe and profitable to hold long term is something even professional fund managers struggle with. To avoid this problem, consider investing in low-cost mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, from firms like Vanguard. Vanguard offers investors a suite of more than 400 mutual funds and ETFs, most of which boast low fees and high diversification. The company's funds are a great way to kick-start a long-term investment portfolio with little research or stock market knowledge required. Here are the seven best Vanguard funds to buy and hold in 2023: Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (ticker: VFIAX). Investors looking to buy and hold the most well-known stock market index worldwide can invest in VFIAX, which tracks the S&P 500 index. This mutual fund holds 500 large-cap U.S. stocks selected by an S&P Dow Jones Committee to be representative of the overall U.S. stock market. Thanks to its transparent low-turnover indexing methodology, VFIAX charges very low fees. Currently, the mutual fund costs an expense ratio of just 0.04%, or $4 annually for a $10,000 investment. All else being equal, lower fees means greater long-term returns for investors. The fund has performed very well historically, returning an annualized 12.6% over the last 10 years as of Jan. 31, 2023. However, the fund does require a $3,000 initial investment. Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). The ETF equivalent of VFIAX is VOO. Unlike VFIAX, shares of VOO trade throughout the day on exchanges. While the net asset value of VFIAX is priced once a day at market close, the share price of VOO will fluctuate throughout the trading day as investors buy and sell. Finally, the minimum required investment for VOO is simply the price of a single share, which is around $378 as of Feb. 3, 2023. Otherwise, VOO performs virtually identically to VFIAX given that they track the same index and have similar holdings. The ETF is slightly cheaper with an expense ratio of 0.03%. Click here to continue reading. 7 best Vanguard funds to buy and hold: Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX) Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) Vanguard Balanced Index Fund Admiral Shares (VBIAX) Vanguard Wellington Fund Investor Shares (VWELX) Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund Investor Shares (VWINX) Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTWAX)