Talk:Approximating total stock market

I see that these percentages havent been updated in 4 years. Do we think they are still accurate? --Hoppy08520 12:12, 4 August 2012 (CDT)

I checked one in 2010 (see footnote), but that's about it. --LadyGeek 14:13, 4 August 2012 (CDT)

Reader feedback: It would be good to offer a ...
199.87.80.148 posted this comment on 3 January 2014 (view all feedback).

"It would be good to offer a suggestion on the closest allocation if you only have a large-cap fund (S&amp;P 500) and only *one* of a small-cap or mid-cap fund ... this is often unfortunately the case in 401(k) plans."

Any thoughts?

Blbarnitz 02:26, 3 January 2014 (CST)

Since the S&P 500 is roughly 72% of the total market, it's not possible to allocate anything other than 25% to a single small-cap or mid-cap fund. The better approach is to consider the total portfolio and try to accommodate the difference in another account.

Otherwise, choose whichever fund is available for the remaining 28% (either small-cap or mid-cap), as this is the best you can do.

The intent of this page is to show how to approximate the total stock market. Not having sufficient fund choices is out-of-scope here and is best discussed in the Bogleheads' forum. Additional insight can be found here: How to build a lazy portfolio --LadyGeek 21:32, 3 January 2014 (CST)

Reader feedback: Could this be updated annual...
96.28.223.141 posted this comment on 31 October 2015 (view all feedback).

"Could this be updated annually or every other year?"

Any thoughts?

LadyGeek 23:20, 31 October 2015 (UTC)

The page has been updated to current. We'll try to monitor the page for possible updates. --LadyGeek 17:48, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Reader feedback: I used Fidelity's hypothetic...
98.164.216.125 posted this comment on 13 September 2020 (view all feedback).

I used Fidelity's hypothetical trade tool to determine what the stock styles would be for three different options that aspire to capture the total US stock market. Differences occur in bold.

Note that option (3) is the one explicitly mentioned on this Bogleheads wiki page:

FSKAX 24-26-26   06-06-06    02-02-02

FXAIX (83%) + FSMAX (17%) 24-26-26   06-06-06    02-02-02

FXAIX (83%) + FSMDX (10%) + FSSNX (7%) 25-26-24   07-06-05    02-02-02

Conclusions:

The stock styles of options (1) and (2) are equivalent.

Option (2) better approximates the total US stock market than does option (3), which the wiki page currently recommends.

The Bogleheads wiki page should be edited because its presentation and language are ambiguous and can be misleading.

My proposed changes to the wiki page are therefore to explicitly mention options (1) and (2) as approximating the total US stock market, in addition to option (3).

Any thoughts?

LadyGeek 00:32, 18 October 2020 (UTC)


 * Makes sense to me. Although at some point the sheer number of different funds that could be used to approximate total stock market might become overwhelming.
 * Cwenger 00:55, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I would agree. You also have to consider that the approximations are snapshots in time. Variations of 1% are not that significant. --LadyGeek 01:06, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

Proposed cosmetic update
Hello, I have a draft update at this link. The changes I made are mostly cosmetic: My motivation for (1) was to have the content more easily accessible. Users would not have to read/scroll through the details of the classification system before getting to the the fund examples. Of course, all the details are still available in section 2.
 * 1) Moved the examples section above the classification system description,
 * 2) Reorganized table by number of funds used, and
 * 3) Updated percentages to current.

And since the table is getting long, I feel the reorg (2) makes it easier to look through. It's arranged by number of funds used, and then roughly from more to less accurate.

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

--Okwriter 21:43, 31 May 2021 (EDT)


 * I like the cosmetic update and have further modified the page to create a separate table for each portfolio type. This reorganization makes it easier for new investors to understand the intent.
 * I would further suggest Approximating total international stock market be organized in a similar manner. --LadyGeek 08:39, 1 June 2021 (EDT)