# Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Holds the whole stock market in one fund, and people say it is simple to buy and forget, with almost nobody beating it over a decade or more.

## Why people recommend it

- Holds whole market, not just 500 firms (3 comments): "which hold the entire market and should be more resistant to being gamed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48325669)) "even 500 companies is too much of a bias towards one group" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46135939)) "put your money in VTI/VTSAX instead of a S&P 500 fund" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48425696))
- Long horizon favors holding (2 comments): "Turn wealth building into a time problem instead of a skill/luck/cash problem." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49058802)) "Almost nobody can beat that, if you have a decade or more." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47596983))
- Simple buy and hold (2 comments): "Simply buy vtsax and forget for 30 years." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48008613)) "Holding index funds seems reasonable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46135441))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [S&P 500 index fund](https://hackerapproved.com/p/s-p-500-index.md): 28 recommend
- [Invesco QQQ Trust](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qqq.md): 11 recommend
- [Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vanguard-total-stock-market-etf.md): 11 recommend
- [Vanguard S&P 500 ETF](https://hackerapproved.com/p/voo.md): 10 recommend
- [Vanguard S&P 500 ETF](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vanguard-s-p-500-etf.md): 9 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vanguard-total-stock-market-index-fund/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).