Approximating total stock market

 shows how funds can be combined in order to mimic the composition of the U.S. stock market.

Investors wishing to invest in Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund often face a situation where they have to approximate it with the funds available in their employer sponsored plans and quite possibly some other funds available in other accounts such as a Roth IRA.

This page shows a few examples of approximating Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund with funds covering specific parts of the market.

Examples

 * These percentages were computed on Aug 16, 2008, except where otherwise noted.
 * The style box numbers were computed by Morningstar Instant XRay.
 * Computation was done by the method of least squares.
 * Investors contemplating on using an S&P MidCap 400 fund, for example, may consider the example above that uses IJH. However, there may be slight implementation differences between the S&P MidCap 400 fund you have access to and IJH.
 * Two funds may appear to track the same portion of the market (say, mid-cap), but their holdings may differ depending on the indexes they track.