Finally, turning to risks and downsides, the fund's focus on value does present a risk of underperformance. During the past 10 years, the Vanguard Growth ETF has outperformed the Vanguard Value ETF by more than 150%, which includes a significant advantage for the value fund from dividends paid and reinvested.

In short, investors with many decades left until retirement may be better served to increase their risk levels, so that they don't underperform the market. However, for investors looking for passive income or those who want to take on less risk, the Vanguard Value ETF could be the right choice.

Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF

Finally, there's the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (NYSEMKT: VTI).

What's special about this fund is that it occupies a space between the growth and value funds noted earlier. As an index-tracking fund that seeks to provide a broad exposure to the U.S. stock market, this fund has a little bit of everything.

Source: Vanguard fund filings

Similarly, its 10-year performance fits right in between the growth and value funds. It has generated a 10-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.5%. That compares to 16.4% for the Vanguard Growth ETF and 11.5% for the Vanguard Value ETF.

Turning to fees, the fund is even cheaper than the growth and value funds. Its expense ratio of 0.03% means investors only pay $3 a year for every $10,000 invested in the fund.

As for passive income, the fund has a dividend yield of 1.3% -- not great, but not terrible and roughly in line with the S&P 500 average.

Finally, regarding risks and downsides, the fund lacks any major risks, since it is so diversified. In truth, its main downside is that it has such a broad exposure to the market that it could be considered over-diversified.

Nevertheless, the fund will still decrease in value when the stock market falls, or enters a bear market. However, one shouldn't forget that's normal, and, over time, the stock market has always recovered and made new highs after every bear market.

Therefore, for investors looking for a diversified, cheap, and middle-of-the-road fund, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF could be a wise choice.

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John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Jake Lerch has positions in Alphabet, Amazon, ExxonMobil, Nvidia, Procter & Gamble, Tesla, and Visa. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends AbbVie, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Equinix, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, Synopsys, Tesla, Vanguard Index Funds-Vanguard Growth ETF, Vanguard Index Funds-Vanguard Value ETF, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, Visa, and Walmart. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom, Johnson & Johnson, and UnitedHealth Group and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

3 Simple Vanguard ETFs to Buy With $1,000 and Hold for a Lifetime was originally published by The Motley Fool