📝 Editor's Note — July 27, 2026 — by David Park

VTI vs VOO overlap: 85% identical — why I'm consolidating

I've been holding both VTI (total market) and VOO (S&P 500) in my taxable account for about three years. Thought I was diversifying. Turns out I was just buying the same thing twice.

Per Vanguard's overlap tool, VTI is 85% VOO by weight. The top 10 holdings are identical — Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Meta, Google, Berkshire, Tesla, JPM, Visa. The extra 15% small and mid-caps in VTI only add ~0.3% tracking difference.

I sold my VOO position today (about $14,200) and added to VTI. Here's why:

• Simpler rebalancing — one fund instead of two
• Tax-loss harvesting — can't TLH two funds that are 85% correlated without triggering wash sale questions
• Expense ratio — both 0.03%, but fewer trades means less bid-ask spread drag

I kept the VOO shares that had short-term gains. Those I'll hold until they flip to long-term (February 2027), then consolidate.