Core Building Blocks: Large, Mid & Small Cap US ETFs

Core Building Blocks: Large, Mid & Small Cap US ETFs List
(click on symbol for data and articles)

iShares Morningstar Series ETFs
iShares Morningstar Large Core Index Fund (JKD)
iShares Morningstar Mid Core Index Fund (JKG)
iShares Morningstar Small Core Index Fund (JKJ)

iShares Russell Series ETFs
iShares Russell 1000 Index Fund (IWB)
Shares Russell Midcap Index Fund (IWR)
iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM)
iShares Russell Microcap Index Fund (IWC)

iShares S&P Series ETFs
iShares S&P 500 Index Fund (IVV)
iShares S&P MidCap 400 Index Fund (IJH)
iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Index Fund (IJR)

StateStreet SPDR S&P Series ETFs
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
SPDR Mid Cap 400 ETF (MDY)

StateStreet SPDR Wilshire Series ETFs
SPDR DJ Wilshire Large Cap ETF (ELR)
SPDR DJ Wilshire Mid Cap ETF (EMM)
SPDR DJ Wilshire Small Cap ETF (DSC)

Vanguard ETFs
Vanguard Large-Cap ETF (VV)
Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO)
Vanguard Small-Cap ETF (VB)

What Are They?

• Market-cap weighted index fund ETFs hold each stock in the index in proportion to its market value, and are arguably the core building blocks of a diversified portfolio.
• Weighting by market cap (the most traditional form of indexing) results in low turnover, because as stocks rise in value their weighting in the index rises, so they don't need to be sold. Low turnover reduces trading costs and raises tax efficiency.

Why & How To Use Them

• Long term investors looking to build an ETF portfolio need to decide how many ETFs to use to cover US stocks. Fewer ETFs are simpler and more convenient; more ETFs are more expensive to buy and more effort to manage, but provide greater opportunity for rebalancing (see Further Reading below). The choices, from fewer to more numerous, are: (a) 1 Total Market ETF; (b) 2 ETFs covering growth and value; (c) 3 ETFs covering large cap/mid cap/small caps; (d) 6 ETFs covering large cap value, large cap growth, mid cap value, mid cap growth, small cap value and small cap growth; and (e) 7 or more ETFs dividing US stocks by sector.
• If you're assembling a long term, diversified portfolio, don't mix underlying indexes (such as S&P and Russell) because that will lead to overlaps between the funds. Stick with all S&P, all Russell, all Wilshire or all Dow Jones. For that reason, we've grouped the ETFs in the list by family.
• Market-cap weighted index fund ETFs have many advantages, including low cost and tax efficiency. However, if you don't believe in traditional indexing, an alternative for your core portfolio may be dividend or earnings weighted ETFs or "quant" ETFs. See Further Reading below.

What to Look Out For

• The Morningstar series ETFs may be less liquid than other ETFs. Morningstar was relatively late to the ETF market and by the time they arrived the Morningstar series ETFs seemed redundant to many people, potentially resulting in lower liquidity and wider buy-sell spreads.
• StateStreet's S&P 500 ETF was among the first ETFs to launch. However, after launching the Mid Cap 400 ETF (MDY) which was later sold to another sponsor, StateStreet failed to complete its S&P series with a small cap ETF. So long term investors wanting to cover large, mid and small caps with three ETFs should use the StateStreet SPDR Wilshire series or the series from Barclays or Vanguard.
• The iShares Russell series is the only one to include a micro cap ETF. However, that ETF can be added to any of the other series without risking overlap.
• Vanguard's ETFs have a different structure from other ETFs, and may be less tax efficient. See Further Reading below.

Further Reading

• For a discussion of assembling a core portfolio using ETFs, see Seeking Alpha's ETF Investment Guide.
• Simple ETF portfolios using a total market ETF are easier to manage, but provide fewer opportunities for rebalancing. Here's a list of Total Market ETFs, and a discussion of rebalancing. For an alternative view on rebalancing, see Vanguard's Jack Bogle on Rebalancing: Don't!.
• If you want to get more granular still, consider also Sector ETFs for the core of your porfolio. The downside is that they cost more and involve too much work; see Should You Use Sector ETFs?.
• Some people believe that market-cap weighted indexing underperforms other strategies. More exotic alternatives to consider for a core portfolio include Broad US Dividend ETFs and Leveraged Market Cap ETFs.
• Vanguard ETFs have a different structure from those of other providers. For more discussion of this, see Herb Morgan's The Problem With Vanguard VIPERs ETFs.

This page is part of The Seeking Alpha ETF Selector which sorts ETFs by type, highlights how to use them and what to look out for, and provides links to articles that discuss key issues for investors.

Comments

[Lisa]

Which ETF families have the lowest expense ratios? Are all the Barclays iShares family the same expense ratios?

[JAS]

It seems to me that Vanguard's VV (Large Cap) effectively includes VO (Mid cap) -- reading their description, the VV tracks MSCI Prime 750, which the VO tracks MSCI Midcap 450, and the MSCI site says that the Prime 750 includes the Midcap 450! Does anyone have any idea why they "double-up" the midcap? I.E. My initial plan was to split 33% of my US allocation to each of VV/VO/VB, but on further examination I see that this would give me overexposure to the midcaps. Thoughts/comments? Thanks!