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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Investor Alley => Topic started by: BTDretire on July 27, 2016, 07:21:03 PM

Title: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: BTDretire on July 27, 2016, 07:21:03 PM
I find it odd that the Nasdaq Was up 0.58% and VTSAX was down 0.13%.
  That just had to be a weird combination of stocks that were up and down to do that.
 I don't ever recall a day when they didn't move up or down in tandem.
Oh well, thought I was going to make 1/2% today and didn't.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: SwordGuy on July 27, 2016, 07:30:41 PM
If you weren't selling you weren't making anything today anyway.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: seattlecyclone on July 27, 2016, 07:52:10 PM
Apple announced earnings and went up 6% today. That could be responsible for much of the discrepancy between the NASDAQ and the S&P 500.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: Frugal D on July 27, 2016, 08:03:14 PM
Doesn't VTSAX try to mirror the returns of the entire market? Dow and S&P were both down today...
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: solon on July 27, 2016, 08:39:44 PM
Yeah, the NASDAQ is an index, but not the index that VTSAX tracks. VTSAX tracks an index called CRSP US Total Market Index, and those indexes don't necessarily agree with each other.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: seattlecyclone on July 27, 2016, 09:00:21 PM
Yes, VTSAX is the whole market. The NASDAQ index is only part of it. Apple's weight on the NASDAQ composite index is over 7%, while it's just over 2% for VTSAX. It makes up about 3.5% of the Dow, which could explain why the Dow was down less than the S&P 500.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: BTDretire on July 28, 2016, 06:54:21 AM
If you weren't selling you weren't making anything today anyway.

  So I should subtract the 1/2 million in gain since the dip 2009 from my net worth?

I'll bet that's news to a lot of people tracking their money for retirement.

To each their own.

 It was an oddity that I had not seen, generally the two flow the same direction and
reasonably close in amount.
  I don't pay much attention to the Dow and little to the S&P, I just watch the Nasdaq to get an idea what my VTSAX is doing. Although as I get closer to retirement, I'm thinking diversifing some of the assets into an S&P fund would be reasonable.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: BTDretire on July 28, 2016, 06:56:21 AM
Yes, VTSAX is the whole market. The NASDAQ index is only part of it. Apple's weight on the NASDAQ composite index is over 7%, while it's just over 2% for VTSAX. It makes up about 3.5% of the Dow, which could explain why the Dow was down less than the S&P 500.

 Yep, that makes sense, I wonder if there was any other big gainer that has a larger percentage in the nasdaq than in VTSAX?
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: neil on July 28, 2016, 12:01:09 PM
VTSAX and the S&P 500 have nearly 1.0 correlation even though returns are not identical.  The correlation of VTSAX and FNCMX (a quick google search for a Nasdaq index fund came up with this) is 0.93.

Used https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/asset-correlations to pull that number.

So, yes, Nasdaq composite is not really a perfect reflection of the US market and can significantly deviate.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: tj on July 30, 2016, 09:58:33 AM
If you want to track the NASDAQ, then buy QQQ.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: Indexer on July 30, 2016, 07:34:55 PM
I find it odd that the Nasdaq Was up 0.58% and VTSAX was down 0.13%.
  That just had to be a weird combination of stocks that were up and down to do that.
 I don't ever recall a day when they didn't move up or down in tandem.
Oh well, thought I was going to make 1/2% today and didn't.

What is odd about that? They don't track the same index.

For instance it took the NASDAQ until 2015 to recover from the tech bubble crash in 2000. It is barely higher right now, 5162 VS 5048 in 2000. The SP500 recovered by 2007, fell again, recovered again by 2013 and has continued to grow above and beyond that. 2173 today VS 1527 in 2000. The total stock is a third index, but it is closer to the SP500.

It is a fairly common thing for them to move in different directions any given day.
Title: Re: VTSAX on 7-27
Post by: waltworks on July 31, 2016, 09:05:44 AM
  I don't pay much attention to the Dow and little to the S&P, I just watch the Nasdaq to get an idea what my VTSAX is doing. Although as I get closer to retirement, I'm thinking diversifing some of the assets into an S&P fund would be reasonable.

!!! That's awesome. You are already diversified about as well as you could possibly be (in US stocks, anyway) since VTSAX is the entire market, not just the NASDAQ. Where on earth did you get that idea?

If you want an "S&P fund" you can buy more.... VTSAX!

:)

-Walt