Ursus Major - thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.
While I don't necessarily agree with the posters who tell you to only stick with index funds (though it's decent enough advice), buying into a fund just based on recent performance without regards to people or process of the fund strikes me as not so smart. To give you an example look at the Fairholme Fund (FAIRX). The manager was Morningstar's "Fund Manager of the Decade" in 2010. And the fund hasn't performed up to par since then.
I have been looking at FOCPX today. They have incredible performance 10-year, 11.75%; 5-year, 12.58%; 3-year 16.01%. All of this I'd usually chalk up to luck (at least at those returns), but with a 32 year track record at 13.11% (inception in 1984) they've survived some tough periods and still made good money. They are doing something right. Of course, I'd read up a bit more before actually investing in this fund - not that I'm going to... just playing devil's advocate in the 'only index funds' mentality that is so popular lately.
You don't mention what the other funds in your employer's plan are, but you might consider 50% VBAIX and the other 50% in your brokerage account in cheap index funds.
I was hoping someone would make this suggestion. That is exactly what I've been considering doing. I also don't get a company match so I've also been considering contributing to an IRA with more options first rather than the 401k. VBAIX is a weak fund. I think it's only there so that we have a Vanguard option. It tries to track two different index funds and ends up trailing the S&P usually. I'm more inclined to use the BlackRock Russell 3000 Index, but I get your point about spliting things up into two accounts and not worrying too much about the small percentage of my portfolio in any of these accounts. I just really hate BlackRock. They usually don't perform as well as Vanguard and Schwab Index funds and perform worse. It's like pissing away money.
Below is a list of all of my available funds, (expense ratio), ticker, and my current distribution amounts. I'm 34 and my wife is 35 this is the only account account we are currently contributing to. I like to have a 20% bond, 20% Large Cap, 40% Mid/Small, and 20% Int'l At least that's been a pretty good mix for me so far - I just wish I had true index funds for these distributions.
Voya Target Solution 20XX (0.81%)
Stable Value Fund (0.78%)
BlackRock US Debt Index (0.32%)
Fidelity Total Bond (0.45%) FTBFX 20%
Vanguard Balanced Index (0.08%) VBAIX
Voya Large Cap Value Port (0.75%) IPEIX 10%
BlackRock Russell 3000 Index (0.28%)
Voya Large Cap Growth Port (0.67%) IEOHX 10%
JHancock Dspl Val Mid Cap (0.87%) JVMIX
T.Rowe Mid Cap Growth (1.03%) PAMCX 40%
Federated Clover Sm Cap Val (1.13%) VSFIX
T. Rowe Price New Horizons (0.79%) PRNHX
BlackRock Global Equity Ex US (0.38%)
American Funds EuroPacific (0.84%) REREX 20%