VT vs VYM: how much do they really overlap?
VT (Vanguard Total World Stock ETF, tracking the FTSE Global All Cap) and VYM (Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF, tracking the FTSE High Dividend Yield) overlap by roughly 20% by weight. 1 of VT's top 10 holdings also appear in VYM. A 50/50 blend of the two behaves like about 157 equally-weighted bets (diversification grade A). In short, the two funds have only a small shared core — they mostly hold different things and are largely complementary.
The same companies, in both funds
These 19 holdings appear in both VT and VYM. The weight columns show how much of each fund each name represents.
| Holding | in VT | in VYM |
|---|---|---|
| AVGO Broadcom Inc. | 1.74% | 8.51% |
| JPM JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 0.64% | 3.14% |
| XOM Exxon Mobil Corp. | 0.52% | 2.53% |
| JNJ Johnson & Johnson | 0.46% | 2.24% |
| CSCO Cisco Systems Inc. | 0.40% | 1.98% |
| CAT Caterpillar Inc. | 0.34% | 1.67% |
| ABBV AbbVie Inc. | 0.33% | 1.59% |
| ORCL Oracle Corp. | 0.32% | 1.57% |
| UNH UnitedHealth Group Inc. | 0.29% | 1.43% |
| CVX Chevron Corp. | 0.29% | 1.41% |
| PG Procter & Gamble Co. | 0.28% | 1.39% |
| BAC Bank of America Corp. | 0.27% | 1.40% |
| HD Home Depot Inc. | 0.27% | 1.30% |
| KO Coca-Cola Co. | 0.26% | 1.27% |
| MRK Merck & Co. Inc. | 0.25% | 1.22% |
+ 4 more shared holdings.
Only in VT
Vanguard Total World Stock ETF — global all-cap. Its biggest holdings that VYM doesn’t have:
| NVDA NVIDIA Corp. | 4.17% |
| AAPL Apple Inc. | 3.79% |
| MSFT Microsoft Corp. | 2.82% |
| AMZN Amazon.com Inc. | 2.19% |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. Class A | 1.89% |
| 2330 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. | 1.52% |
| GOOG Alphabet Inc. Class C | 1.48% |
| META Facebook Inc. Class A | 1.16% |
Only in VYM
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF — US high-dividend. Its biggest holdings that VT doesn’t have:
| QCOM QUALCOMM Inc. | 1.11% |
| RTX RTX Corp. | 0.99% |
| WFC Wells Fargo & Co. | 0.99% |
| MS Morgan Stanley | 0.97% |
| LIN Linde plc | 0.96% |
| C Citigroup Inc. | 0.85% |
| ADI Analog Devices Inc. | 0.83% |
| VZ Verizon Communications Inc. | 0.83% |
So — mostly different. Should you hold both?
VT and VYM have only a small shared core — they mostly hold different things and are largely complementary. Held together they genuinely broaden your exposure — a 50/50 blend reaches ~157 effective positions (grade A), because they hold largely different securities.
Holdings as of — VT: May 31, 2026 (Vanguard); VYM: May 31, 2026 (Vanguard). Refreshed monthly. Overlap is measured across each fund’s largest holdings (top 50); the diffuse long tail barely moves the math.
See this for YOUR whole portfolio, free →VT vs VYM — FAQ
- How much do VT and VYM overlap?
- VT and VYM overlap by approximately 20% measured by portfolio weight — that is the share of the smaller fund's holdings (by weight) that also sit inside the other. 1 of VT's 10 largest holdings are also held by VYM. They share 19 of their listed top holdings in total.
- Is it redundant to hold both VT and VYM?
- Because they have only a small shared core — they mostly hold different things and are largely complementary, holding both is not redundant — each fund covers largely different holdings, so together they broaden your exposure. A 50/50 blend has an effective 157 positions and a A diversification grade.
- What does VYM hold that VT doesn't?
- VYM's largest holdings that VT doesn't hold include QCOM, RTX, WFC, MS, LIN. Its category is US high-dividend, versus VT's global all-cap.
- Which is more concentrated, VT or VYM?
- VT's top 10 holdings are 58% of its listed weight; VYM's are 44%. The more concentrated fund leans harder on its largest names.