Buy These 2 Vanguard ETFs for Long-Term Safety Amid the Market Crash

2 months ago 12

David Jagielski, The Motley Fool

Thu, Apr 17, 2025, 5:37 AM 4 min read

Through Wednesday's close, the S&P 500 was down astir 11% successful 2025, and the Nasdaq Composite has been connected an adjacent steeper autumn -- crashing astir 16% since January. And determination whitethorn beryllium much of a diminution to come. If tariffs enactment a dent into firm net successful upcoming quarters and the system falls into a recession, this whitethorn lone beryllium the aboriginal signifier of a bigger crash.

So, what should investors do? One bully strategy involves looking for information successful exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which springiness you vulnerability to dozens, hundreds, oregon adjacent thousands of antithetic stocks and tin beryllium easy bought and sold done your favourite brokerage. ETFs fto you put successful an full index, oregon conscionable the stock-market sectors you want.

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A mates of Vanguard funds that investors whitethorn privation to see adding to their portfolios contiguous are the Vanguard Utilities Index Fund ETF (NYSEMKT: VPU) and the Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund ETF (NYSEMKT: VDC), 2 ETFs that absorption connected sectors with peculiar absorption to recessionary pressures. Whether you're looking astatine investments to bent connected to for the agelong word oregon conscionable for immoderate information successful the abbreviated run, here's wherefore these tin beryllium charismatic funds to load up connected close now.

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The Vanguard Utilities Index Fund invests successful a assemblage of the marketplace that inherently makes for a harmless investment. Utility companies payment from a precocious grade of recurring revenue, and that makes them incredibly unchangeable and harmless investments to bent connected to. While budget-conscious consumers mightiness commencement redeeming wealth by cutting backmost connected discretionary spending -- similar however often they devour retired astatine restaurants oregon however overmuch they walk -- they're little apt to marque drastic changes to their energy oregon h2o use.

There are 69 stocks successful the Vanguard Utilities fund, including NextEra Energy, Southern Company, and Duke Energy. Those 3 stocks marque up astir 26% of the full portfolio. But those are reasonably large players successful the industry, and that precocious attraction shouldn't interest investors much.

The ETF has rallied a small implicit 2% this twelvemonth amid the marketplace downturn, and that's without adjacent factoring successful its dividend, which yields astir 3%. The Utilities Index Fund charges a debased disbursal ratio of 0.09%, ensuring that fees aren't taking retired a large portion of your wide gains. This ETF is simply a large illustration of a buy-and-forget concern you tin tuck distant successful your portfolio and bent connected to for years.

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