Best Vanguard Funds

Mutual funds can help diversify your retirement portfolio, whether you’re looking for growth through equity exposure or dividend income. Vanguard has a reputation for offering low-cost index funds and exchange-traded funds to help investors achieve their retirement goals.

Vanguard’s index funds are among the most popular holdings for long-term investors. They have attracted such a large amount of investor assets that Vanguard Investments has become the largest mutual fund company, worldwide.

Since there are so many funds to choose from — you’ll find a list of top notch Vanguard funds below.

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index

Ticker: VTSAX

Expense ratio: 0.04%

Minimum initial investment: $3,000

The portfolio provides exposure to the entire U.S. stock market, including small, mid, and large cap stocks. This portfolio mix includes over 3,500 securities.

Vanguard Wellesley Income

Ticker: VWINX

Expense ratio: 0.23%

Minimum initial investment: $3,000

VWINX, holds a conservative (low risk) allocation of approximately 40% stocks and 60% bonds

Vanguard 500 Index

Ticker: VFIAX

Expense ratio: 0.04%

Minimum initial investment: $3,000

This index fund tracks the S&P 500 index, which means it holds about 500 of the largest U.S. stocks. So, VFIAX shareholders will get exposure to stocks like Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), and Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL).

Vanguard Total Bond Market Index

Ticker: VBTLX

Expense ratio: 0.05%

Minimum initial investment: $3,000

The VBTLX portfolio consists of more than 9,000 U.S. government and corporate bonds.

Vanguard STAR

Ticker: VGSTX

Expense ratio: 0.31%

Minimum initial investment: $1,000

The STAR fund invests in a diversified mix of 11 Vanguard funds, making it a solid standalone option for beginning investors or those wanting a single fund solution for investing.

Vanguard Total International Stock Market Index

Ticker: VTIAX

Expense ratio: 0.11%

Minimum initial investment: $3,000

VTIAX tracks an index that includes over 6,000 non-U.S. stocks and includes both developed markets (i.e., Europe and Japan) and emerging markets (i.e., China, India, and Brazil).

Vanguard Growth Index

Ticker: VIGAX

Expense ratio: 0.05%

Minimum initial investment: $3,000

This index fund holds large-cap growth stocks that have historically outperformed the S&P 500, especially for periods of 10 years or more.

Vanguard Balanced Index

Ticker: VBIAX

Expense ratio: 0.07%

Minimum initial investment: $3,000

VBIAX has a moderate (medium risk) allocation of about 60% stocks and 40% bonds. The stock portion invests in a total stock index, and the bond portion invests in a total bond index.

Vanguard Mid-Cap Index

Ticker: VIMAX

Expense ratio: 0.05%

Minimum initial investment: $3,000

Small- and mid-cap stocks have historically outperformed large-cap stocks in the long run, but mid-cap stocks can be the wiser choice of the three. Although mid-cap stocks generally have higher market risk than large-cap stocks, they typically have a lower risk than small caps. Therefore, investors often consider mid-caps the sweet spot of investing because of their returns in relation to risk.