SCHB vs VTI
Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF and Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF side by side. Fees, fund size, returns, yield and risk, all from live data. Add a third or fourth ticker to widen the comparison.
About this comparison
Schwab U.S. Broad Market ETF (SCHB) is a Schwab exchange-traded fund in the Total US market category, with price history going back to 2009. Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) is a Vanguard exchange-traded fund in the Total US market category, with price history going back to 2001. Both trade through the day like a share and both publish what they hold. The table on this page puts them next to each other and fills in cost, fund size, returns, yield and risk from live market data.
The two sit in the same category, Total US market, which is why their return lines tend to travel together. What separates them is cost, scale and track record: VTI has price history back to 2001, SCHB back to 2009. Read the expense ratio, fund size and years-in-existence rows first, then check whether the return and risk rows really do diverge or only look like they might.
Which is cheaper, SCHB or VTI?
The expense ratio row in the table above answers it live, and the lower figure carries a best tag. A fee is a yearly percentage of what you hold, taken out of the fund rather than billed to you, which is exactly why it is easy to shrug at over one year and hard to shrug at over thirty.
Which holds more companies, SCHB or VTI?
Holdings counts shift at every index rebalance, so scope is the honest answer. SCHB covers effectively every listed US company, large, mid and small. VTI covers effectively every listed US company, large, mid and small. The wider scope is the one that spreads your money across more positions.
Can I hold both SCHB and VTI?
Nothing stops you and plenty of people do. The question worth asking first is how much the two overlap: funds drawn from the same pool of companies leave you with one bet wearing two tickers, while funds with genuinely different scopes widen what you own. Put the pair through the portfolio backtester and the correlation tool to see which of the two you would actually be doing. General information, not advice.
Which suits a taxable account, SCHB or VTI?
Both are exchange-traded funds, and the structure itself is the part that usually matters: an ETF can hand appreciated shares off in kind when large holders leave, which keeps forced capital-gains distributions rarer than in a traditional mutual fund. What separates two ETFs is how much income each throws off, since dividends and option premiums are taxable in the year they land, and how often the underlying index turns over. Read the dividend yield row with that in mind and check your own tax position before acting.