Making sense of Vanguard funds

Posted by Mossy
February 2, 2010 6:11 AM

For investing, I prefer Vanguard funds for their low expense and low taxable turnover. However, the array of funds can be dizzying. As a quick primer, we can group most funds together as many funds are slices of other funds. For now, I will ignore the actively-managed stock funds as they often can cross categories depending on the manager's discretion.

STOCKS
  • REGION SPLIT
    • Total World Stock Index
      • Total Stock Market Index (U.S.)
      • Total International Stock Index / FTSE All-World ex-US Index
        • Developed Markets Index
          • European Stock Index
          • Pacific Stock Index
        • Emerging Markets Stock Index
  • SIZE/STYLE SPLIT
    • Total World Stock Index
      • Total Stock Market Index (U.S.)
        • Large-Cap Index / 500 Index
          • Large-Cap Value Index
          • Large-Cap Growth Index
        • Mid-Cap Index
          • Mid-Cap Value Index
          • Mid-Cap Growth Index
        • Small-Cap Index
          • Small-Cap Value Index
          • Small-Cap Growth Index
        • REIT Index
    • Total International Stock Index / FTSE All-World ex-US Index
      • FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap Index
FIXED INCOME
  • TAXABLE FIXED INCOME
    • Prime Money Market
      • Treasury Money Market
      • Federal Money Market
    • Total Bond Market Index
      • Short-Term Bond Index
        • Short-Term Treasury
        • Short-Term Federal
        • Short-Term Investment-Grade (Corporate)
      • Intermediate-Term Bond Index
        • Intermediate-Term Treasury
        • Intermediate-Term Investment-Grade (Corporate)
      • High-Yield Corporate (Intermediate Junk)
      • GNMA (Intermediate)
      • Long-Term Bond Index
        • Long-Term Treasury
        • Long-Term Investment-Grade
    • Inflation-Protected Securities
  • TAX-FREE FIXED INCOME
    • Tax-Exempt Money Market
      • California Tax-Exempt Money Market
      • New Jersey Tax-Exempt Money Market
      • New York Tax-Exempt Money Market
      • Ohio Tax-Exempt Money Market
      • Pennsylvania Tax-Exempt Money Market
    • Short-Term Tax-Exempt
    • Limited-Term Tax-Exempt
    • Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt
      • California Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt
    • Long-Term Tax-Exempt
      • California Long-Term Tax-Exempt
      • Florida Long-Term Tax-Exempt
      • Massachusetts Long-Term Tax-Exempt
      • New Jersey Long-Term Tax-Exempt
      • New York Long-Term Tax-Exempt
      • Ohio Long-Term Tax-Exempt
      • Pennsylvania Long-Term Tax-Exempt
      • High-Yield Tax-Exempt (Long Investment Grade)

Finally, we have funds that combine options from both Stock and Bonds. Most of them will usually will use some combination of Total Stock Market, Total International Stock Market and Total Bond Market.

  • Target Retirement Income
  • Target Retirement 2005
  • Target Retirement 2010
  • Target Retirement 2015
  • Target Retirement 2020
  • Target Retirement 2025
  • Target Retirement 2030
  • Target Retirement 2035
  • Target Retirement 2040
  • Target Retirement 2045
  • Target Retirement 2050
  • Balanced Index
  • LifeStrategy Income
  • LifeStrategy Moderate Growth
  • LifeStrategy Conservative Growth
  • LifeStrategy Growth
  • Managed Payout Distribution Focus
  • Managed Payout Growth and Distribution Focus
  • Managed Payout Growth Focus


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