What I actually invest in — and my index fund portfolio explained
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I am not a financial advisor. Everything in this post is based on my personal experience and research. Please consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.
If you read my last post, the one with the year-by-year numbers showing how $30 a month grew to $23,000 over six years and your first question was okay but what exactly did you buy, this post is for you.
I’m going to tell you exactly what I invest in, which platforms I use, what it costs, and why I made each decision. Not because my portfolio is the right answer for everyone. But because when I was starting out, I wanted someone to just show me their actual setup and explain their actual reasoning. Most people don’t do that. I will. And if index funds for beginners is where you are right now, this is the post I wish I had found when I started.
One thing first though. The specific funds I chose matter less than I used to think. What matters more is the mindset behind them, staying in when the numbers are discouraging, not making moves you’ll regret, letting time do the work you can’t. We’ll get to that. But I want to say it upfront so the rest of this post has the right frame around it.
Why index funds? And not individual stocks
When I started investing in 2020 I had $30 a month and a missionary budget that left almost no margin for error. The last thing I needed was to pick the wrong stock and watch that money disappear.
But honestly the low cost argument is what convinced me more than anything else.
Index funds — funds that track a broad market index rather than trying to beat it Typically charge management fees of around 0.1% per year or less. Actively managed funds that try to pick winning stocks often charge 1% to 2% per year or more. That difference sounds small. On a small portfolio it isn’t.
To give you a real example, 0050, my Taiwan ETF, has an expense ratio of around 0.11% to 0.14%. That’s already very low. VTI, my US fund, charges 0.03%. VXUS charges 0.07% to 0.07%. When you line those numbers up next to the 1% to 2% that actively managed funds typically charge, the case for index funds becomes very hard to argue with, especially when the research consistently shows that most actively managed funds fail to beat their benchmark index over the long term anyway.
If you invest $30 a month for six years and your fund charges 1.5% per year in fees, you lose a meaningful percentage of your returns to management costs before you see a cent of growth. When you’re starting with almost nothing, high fees are the enemy. Low cost index funds keep more of your money working for you.
The three reasons I chose index funds and have never looked back:
Low cost. Minimal management fees. More money stays invested and compounds over time. This was the deciding factor for me when I was starting small.
Simplicity. I set up the automatic transfer, chose my funds, and didn’t need to actively manage anything. No researching individual companies. No watching quarterly earnings reports. No emotional decisions about whether to buy or sell a specific stock.
Diversification. When you buy an index fund you own a small piece of every company in that index. If one company has a bad year it barely moves the needle. You’re betting on the market as a whole, not on any individual business.
Want to read up on this more? Here is a link to a well-known study by SPIVA’s annual scorecard published by S&P Global
Fund 1 — 0050 (Taiwan 50 ETF)
What it is: 0050 is Taiwan’s most well known ETF. It tracks the top 50 companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, the largest and most established Taiwanese businesses across technology, finance, and manufacturing. When you buy 0050 you own a small piece of TSMC, Hon Hai, Mediatek, and 47 other major Taiwanese companies in one single fund.
Why I started here: Two reasons. First, 0050 gave me exposure to Taiwan’s strongest companies without having to pick individual stocks. Second, I was living in Taiwan and earning in New Taiwan Dollars. Buying a fund denominated in NTD meant no currency conversion, no exchange rate risk on the purchase, and no complicated cross border transfer. It was the most natural starting point given where I lived and how I earned.
Where I buy it: Fubon Securities, one of Taiwan’s major brokerages. Straightforward to set up as a Taiwan resident. The platform is in Mandarin which is obviously no barrier for me but worth noting for international readers.
Expense ratio: Approximately 0.11% to 0.14%, already very low by any standard, which was one of the reasons I chose it over other Taiwan funds.
Current role in my portfolio: 0050 remains my foundation and my largest holding by history. As I transition to America I am shifting the majority of new monthly contributions toward my US holdings, but I am keeping 0050 and adding a small fixed amount each month to keep the position growing. Six years of compounding in that fund is not something I want to abandon just because my address is changing.
Fund 2 — VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF)
What it is: VTI tracks the entire US stock market, not just the S&P 500’s 500 largest companies, but essentially every publicly traded company in America. Over 3,500 companies in one fund. Large, mid, and small cap. Technology, healthcare, finance, consumer goods, energy. Everything.
Why I added it in 2023: I want to be clear about something. Adding VTI was not because I was planning to move to America. It was a portfolio decision. Pure and simple. I had my entire investment portfolio in a single market. That concentration felt like an unnecessary risk. The US stock market is the largest and most liquid in the world. Adding exposure to it was a straightforward diversification move that made sense independent of any life plans.
Where I buy it: Firstrade. A US brokerage that accepts international investors and charges zero commission on trades. For someone outside America who wants US market exposure without paying per-trade fees, Firstrade is one of the most accessible options available. Opening the account as a Taiwan resident will take some documentation, but it’s manageable. In my case, I was able to use my wife’s US bank to avoid double taxation. Here’s a link to the Vangard’s official fund page.
Expense ratio: 0.03% a fraction of what 0050 already charges, and one of the lowest expense ratios of any fund anywhere in the world. On a $10,000 portfolio that’s $3 per year in management fees. For context a 1% fee on the same portfolio would cost $100 per year. When I saw this number during my research it was one of the clearest signals that I had found the right fund.
Current role in my portfolio: VTI is my primary growth vehicle going forward. As I move to America and my life, expenses, and income shift to USD, having the majority of my investments in the US market makes increasing sense. My monthly contribution to VTI is currently the largest of my three funds.
VXUS (Vanguard Total International Stock ETF)
What it is: VXUS covers international stock markets outside the United States, developed markets like Japan, the UK, Germany, and Australia, as well as emerging markets like China, India, and Brazil. It holds over 8,000 companies across every major non-US market in the world. When combined with VTI, you own the entire US market through one fund and everything outside the US through another complete global coverage with no overlap between them.
[Editor’s note: I originally held VT (Vanguard Total World Stock ETF) in this position. I switched to VXUS in 2026 because VT holds approximately 60% US stocks, creating significant overlap with VTI. VXUS covers international markets only, with zero US exposure, giving me clean global diversification without duplication. The section below has been updated to reflect the current portfolio.]
Why I switched to VXUS: My original third fund was VT, which covers the entire world including the US. The problem: VTI already covers the US market fully. Holding both VT and VTI meant roughly 60% of VT’s holdings were duplicating what VTI already owned. VXUS eliminates that overlap entirely. It tracks international markets excluding the US, so VTI handles America, VXUS handles everything else, and there is no duplication between them.
There is also a longer term simplicity argument for this split. VTI plus VXUS is the cleanest possible two-fund structure for global coverage, one fund for the US, one fund for the world outside it. As my life becomes more internationally mobile, having lived in Taiwan, moving to America, potentially living elsewhere in the future, owning funds that together cover everywhere feels philosophically right.
Expense ratio: 0.07%
Covering international developed and emerging markets across thousands of companies. Combined with VTI’s 0.03%, the total cost of owning both the US market and the rest of the world is still under 0.10% per year.
Current role in my portfolio: VXUS is my smallest position currently, a seed I am growing intentionally. As I settle into American life and my income stabilizes I plan to grow this position gradually. The long term vision is a three fund portfolio where 0050 represents my Taiwanese roots, VTI represents my American present, and VXUS represents the rest of the world cleanly, without overlap.
Quick re-cap: VTI vs VXUS
VTI – US stock market
VXUS- Whole world stock market
Adding both VTI and VXUS to your portfolio is all about DIVERSIFICATION
The hardest part nobody talks about
I researched extensively before choosing these funds. I understood the theory. I believed in the strategy.
And I still found it genuinely hard to stay the course.
Buy and hold sounds simple when you say it out loud. In practice it means sitting completely still while the market drops and every instinct you have is telling you to do something. Sell, wait, move the money somewhere safer, do anything except watch the number go down.
The hardest thing about managing my own investments without a financial advisor wasn’t choosing the right funds. It was knowing whether I was doing okay or whether I should sell. It was blocking out the noise, the headlines, the predictions, the people who were certain the market was about to collapse and trusting a process that by definition requires you to do nothing.
I remember looking at my 0050 position in 2021. COVID had hit markets hard. The balance had barely moved despite a full year of consistent deposits. I thought about stopping. I genuinely considered it.
I didn’t. And that one decision, boring, undramatic, requiring nothing more than inaction. Turned out to be the most valuable thing I did across six years of investing.
The strategy only works if you stay in it. And staying in it is genuinely hard when the numbers are going the wrong direction and you don’t know when they’ll turn. I’m not sure there’s a way to make that part easier. I think you just have to decide in advance that you’re not going to be moved by short-term results and then actually not be moved when the moment comes.
I wish someone had told me that more directly at the start. Not the fund names. Not the platforms. That.
The market rewards patience not prediction. Time in the market consistently outperforms timing the market. Not because it sounds good as a phrase but because the data across every major market over every meaningful time period says the same thing. The people who stayed in through the bad years are the ones sitting on portfolios that surprised them.
Trust the process. Not because it feels comfortable. Because the alternative which is trying to predict when to get in and out has an even worse track record.
The ONE THING I wish I had done differently
If I could turn back time. I would have done one simple thing differently.
I wish I had started earlier.
Not with more money. Not with a better strategy. Just earlier. Every year I didn’t invest in my twenties is a year of compound growth that doesn’t exist in my portfolio today. The math on starting at 22 versus 27 versus 32 is not subtle, it’s dramatic. Time is the one input you cannot buy back.
If you are reading this and you haven’t started yet, that’s the only thing I want you to hear from this entire post. Not which fund to pick. Not which platform to use. Start. Today. With whatever amount feels slightly uncomfortable but manageable. The fund matters far less than the date you begin.
My current setup — the practical details
For anyone who wants the complete picture:
Taiwan portfolio Fund: 0050. Taiwan 50 ETF Platform: Fubon Securities Contribution: Small fixed monthly amount. Keeping the position growing Expense ratio: ~0.11%–0.14%
US portfolio Fund: VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) Platform: Firstrade Contribution: Largest monthly contribution — primary growth vehicle Expense ratio: ~0.03%
Global portfolio Fund: VXUS (Vanguard Total International Stock ETF) Platform: Firstrade Contribution: Smallest monthly contribution, building this position gradually Expense ratio: ~0.07%
Total monthly investment: $150 split across three funds with the majority going to VTI as I transition to American life
How I buy: Fixed monthly transfer on the same day every month plus additional contributions when the budget has unallocated surplus. Red envelope money, higher than expected income months, anything extra goes in before it can be spent on something else.
As life changes and with a newborn arriving and a move to America ahead, it is about to change significantly, my contribution amounts will change too. I will update this post when they do. I will write about the Roth IRA once I have actually opened one and lived the process. I will share the wins and the mistakes in real time rather than looking back from a tidy finished story. That’s the commitment. You are not reading a highlight reel. You are following someone who is figuring it out, honestly, carefully, and one month at a time.
What about retirement accounts in America
I want to be honest here. I am still researching this.
A Roth IRA is widely considered one of the best investment vehicles available to American residents. Contributions grow completely tax free and withdrawals in retirement are not taxed. For someone in my situation transitioning from missionary income to a regular US income and likely in a lower tax bracket right now, the Roth IRA is almost certainly the right move. Locking in today’s lower tax rate on contributions that will grow for decades is a genuinely powerful advantage.
But the specifics of opening and contributing to a Roth IRA as someone new to America, the rules around earned income, contribution limits, and how my existing foreign investments interact with US tax obligations are things I am navigating carefully and honestly do not yet have complete answers to.
What I know: I will open a Roth IRA as soon as I have US earned income and have confirmed the tax implications with a qualified professional. I will bring the same discipline I brought to 0050 in 2020. Start as soon as possible with whatever amount makes sense and automate it from day one.
I will write about this in detail once I have lived it. That’s the only kind of writing I know how to do.
The portfolio in plain English
Three funds. Three purposes.
0050 — Taiwan. My roots. The market I grew up in. Still performing. Still growing. Still worth holding.
VTI — America. The largest market in the world. Where my life is heading. The primary engine of my portfolio going forward.
VXUS — The world outside America. Because true global diversification means owning the US market through VTI and everything else through VXUS, cleanly, without duplication.
Low cost. Diversified. Automated. Patient.
That’s the whole strategy. It was the right strategy at $30 a month on a missionary budget in Danshui. It’s the right strategy now. It will be the right strategy in America.
Again. Trust the process.
Where to go from here
If you want to understand the budgeting system that made this investing possible, including how I built an investing category into a $1,200 a month missionary budget. Read this post first. How we built investing into our monthly budget
If you want to see the year by year numbers, exactly what six years of small consistent deposits actually looks like. That’s here. Our real investment numbers from 2020 to 2026
And if you want to track your own journey the same way I track mine, grab the free Investment Tracker below. It covers multiple accounts, logs windfall investments, and shows your annual growth in one view.
Download your free Investment Tracker here — no sign up required
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