Five Steps to Find the Holdings in a Mutual Fund or ETF
Many Americans save for retirement by contributing to an IRA, 401(k), or other investment account. But, how many of those savers understand what assets are in their accounts?
Prudent long-term planning and careful risk management includes understanding the characteristics of the assets you own. Target-date funds, lifecycle funds, and other age-based funds attempt to simplify retirement planning. However, since the fund names alone say nothing about the underlying assets, investors need to understand each fund’s holdings. This article illustrates a process to find the underlying holdings of a popular Vanguard target-date fund. Since the process applies to funds generally, use it to help inform your own research.
Interesting Points to Consider
Target-date, lifecycle, and other age-based funds are often a fund-of-funds. So, to see the actual holdings, you will need to research funds within the fund.
Many funds are heavily weighted towards large cap technology names (ie, FAANG stocks). Make sure to understand the risks associated with owning richly valued stocks concentrated in a single sector.
Step 1
Find the name and/or symbol of your Target-Date fund. The fund name will be available on your account statement if you own the fund.
Example: Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX)
Step 2
Use Google to find the fund sponsor’s website and the corresponding page for the fund.
Step 3
Once on the Vanguard page for the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund, click on the Portfolio & Management tab. Then, scroll down to see which funds are in the Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Fund (VTIVX). VTIVX is a fund-of-funds.
Step 4
We now have a listing for each fund in the fund (remember, VTIVX is a fund-of-funds). Repeat Step 2 for each fund in the fund.
To illustrate we will start with the largest fund in the fund and use Google to search for the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares fund.
Step 5
Click on the Overview tab and then scroll down to the Portfolio Composition section.
Click on either the “Month-end top 10 holdings with weighting” link or the “Portfolio holdings” link to explore the fund’s holdings (see below).
Final Thoughts
Understanding what you own is a critical component to risk management. The previous example illustrates how to find the holdings in a Vanguard mutual fund. However, the same process can be used to research Fidelity, Blackrock, Schwab, and other funds.
Take a few minutes today to understand what you own. Remember, the fund’s holdings are the assets you own. Future investment returns will be driven by the characteristics of the holdings.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.