Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
The rough market cap of the holdings in VSCIX is about $3.6 trillion while VIMAX is about 3.9, so a 50/50 split would be pretty close to market weighing the holdings across the two funds.
Based on what I read on M*'s fund analysis, VIMAX targets the 70-85% range of market capitalization and VSCIX targets the 85-98% range of market capitalization. When I read about the index they replicate, that means they should each be covering roughly the same total portion (a bit more for VIMAX) of US market capitalization, so if you want a market cap weighted approach you would allocate roughly equal amounts.
@mns, how did you get the total market cap for each fund? I was trying to estimate the same but without any luck so I'd be grateful to know what I overlooked.
One thing that gets tricky is that M*'s "average" market cap is a geometric average, not an arithmetic average, but I agree with your thought. The market cap of the largest positions in VSCIX is above the market cap of the smallest stocks in the S&P 500. The thing I'm having trouble with is that I can't find the biggest positions in VIMAX in the S&P 500. I only checked a couple, but I would have expected to find most of the top positions in the S&P 500 based on market cap. Based on the market cap, I would have expected to find a few of the top positions in VSCIX in the S&P 500 also but I didn't find that either. Maybe my sample of a couple wasn't big enough...
I also think you'll find that most of the smallest companies in the Russell 2500 are not included in VSCIX so if that's important to you then you might need to find a fund that addresses those stocks. VSCIX is about 1500 stocks and I suspect a decent portion of what's missing from the 2500 are the smallest ones based on the criteria CRSP uses for the index that VSCIX follows.
The firm manages four US mutual funds (as you'll see on their website). The same fund managers as your trust manage GW&K's small cap core (as opposed to your small/mid cap core) strategy. The small cap core strategy has a corresponding mutual fund (GWEIX), so that may give you a little better insight into the managers and the company
They also manage a fund offered in Finland, which supposedly invests in small and mid cap (American) companies, 55-85 of them, just like your trust. So it might be a closer match to the trust. Here's google's translation of M*'s Finish page for that fund.
When I can't track a portfolio directly, I usually look for a clone. But even if this Finish fund is a clone, I'm not sure it's going to help you too much with tracking.
Here's a WSJ article on Collective Investment Trusts (CITs)
Comments
I also think you'll find that most of the smallest companies in the Russell 2500 are not included in VSCIX so if that's important to you then you might need to find a fund that addresses those stocks. VSCIX is about 1500 stocks and I suspect a decent portion of what's missing from the 2500 are the smallest ones based on the criteria CRSP uses for the index that VSCIX follows.
They also manage a fund offered in Finland, which supposedly invests in small and mid cap (American) companies, 55-85 of them, just like your trust. So it might be a closer match to the trust. Here's google's translation of M*'s Finish page for that fund.
When I can't track a portfolio directly, I usually look for a clone. But even if this Finish fund is a clone, I'm not sure it's going to help you too much with tracking.
Here's a WSJ article on Collective Investment Trusts (CITs)