u/amwalter

Trying to build out my core holdings right now and my budget's pretty tight, so I'm stuck picking between the four core ETFs everyone won't stop recommending: VAS (Aussie shares), IVV (S&P 500), VGS (global developed), and BGBL (global).
Got so sick of jumping between random websites and PDS docs trying to line up the numbers, so I just said screw it and threw all four onto one screen side by side. Compared the MER, the regional exposure, and the US overlap between IVV, VGS and BGBL.
And yeah, that's where I'm stuck. Do I really need both VGS and BGBL, or is one of them plenty? And IVV and VGS overlap so hard on the US side, feels like holding both is just doubling up for nothing? How did you all actually figure this out?