Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth ETF

What this fund is

Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) from Vanguard, traded under the ticker VIOG (ISIN US9219327940). In a single purchase you get a diversified basket of holdings rather than a stake in just one business. In plain terms it is about owning small slices of companies, so you share in their growth when they do well — and their falls when they don't, spread across its target market. Rather than a manager picking stocks, it simply replicates the S&P SmallCap 600 Growth Index index — the passive, low-cost approach, and its largest holdings include Primoris Services Corp., Viavi Solutions Inc. and Argan Inc..

With about 339 holdings (the ten largest ≈ 9.5%), your money is diversified rather than concentrated in a handful of names. Its biggest country exposures are ~96% United States, ~0.8% United Kingdom and ~0.8% Ireland. Its heaviest sectors are ~20.8% Industrials and ~16.1% Technology. It is commonly used to tilt a portfolio towards one market, usually alongside broader, more global funds rather than on its own.

Its ongoing charge (TER) is 0.1% a year — about €10 a year on a €10,000 holding, taken automatically from the fund. It holds the underlying investments directly (physical replication); it is domiciled in the United States and trades in USD. Its price has swung about 17.9% over the past year — a gauge of how much the value moves, not a judgement of quality. As with any investment, its value can go down as well as up, and past performance is not a guide to future results. (Fund data sourced from Vanguard.)