I couldn't find info on the forums on this particular question, so please just point me in the right direction if this has already been addressed. Hoping one of the seasoned investors on this forum can help me understand this better.
So, I understand the concept of buying the market, which I have done via Vanguard ETFs. I have no problems with the concept of buying the total stock market.
However, my question is about investing in the whole market solely through one company. Isn't it kind of risky? It's like I'm giving all my eggs to one surefooted servant named Vanguard and saying, here, go to the big city sell them for me. If this servant is waylaid and killed, or, let's not be so morbid, if he trips while running to the city and falls on all the eggs, I have now lost all my eggs.
However, if I split the eggs between two trustworthy and surefooted servants named Vanguard and iShares, who each charge me the same fee for running eggs to the city, then even if Vanguard falls, I've only lost half my eggs. Now, I'm not saying that Vanguard or iShares will trip and fall -- they both have reputations of being VERY surefooted runners, but it's the concept of putting all my eggs into one basket that I'm having trouble figuring out.
Yet on these forums, I often read of how some people only trust Vanguard to do their running, even though iShares (or other companies) has the same fees for a similar ETF, with similar returns since they're all index ETFs. It doesn't cost me extra to purchase two different funds - I could simply buy Vanguard once during the year, and the equivalent iShares ETF once during the year. I only purchase twice a year, and put in approx. $20-30k each time. Or if you're doing monthly contributions to a mutual fund, instead of contributing $500 to one MF each month, you could simply contribute $250 each to two equivalent MFs each month. (Dollar figures for illustrative purposes only)
Is there some benefit to only having one type of ETF from one company, even though I can purchase both types from my discount brokerage? What am I missing or not seeing?