Should You Follow the Crowd? Maybe With This Big-Picture Trade.

Through the first five months of the year, roughly $836 billion of cash has been invested in exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Vanguard Total International Stock Index ETF (NASDAQ: VXUS) was the fifth-largest beneficiary of that cash, but there's an important twist here. Normally, following the crowd is a risky approach, but in this situation, you may want to consider doing it.

Where's all the money going?

Of the cash flowing into ETFs so far in 2026, the three with the largest inflows are all broad-based U.S. equity ETFs, two of which track the S&P 500 index. Number four is a short-term bond ETF, which is basically just a step above cash. Which makes number five, Vanguard Total International Stock Index ETF, stand out.

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Most U.S. investors focus heavily on domestic stocks. That makes sense, since these are the companies investors see and know well. However, the U.S. accounts for only around 25% of global gross domestic product (GDP). If all you own are U.S. companies, you are ignoring a material portion of the global economy. To be fair, many U.S. businesses operate internationally. But even that fact will likely leave you underexposed internationally.

Vanguard Total International Stock Index ETF to the rescue

Investors looking to quickly and easily add international exposure to their portfolio are clearly choosing to buy Vanguard Total International Stock Index ETF. It is a good choice. For starters, its expense ratio is a very modest 0.05%. That's notable because it is fairly costly to trade stocks internationally, but the size and scale Vanguard offers help to keep the costs low. The ETF has more than $600 billion in assets.

But the other big story here is that Vanguard Total International Stock Index ETF provides instant international diversification. It basically buys all investable non-U.S. stocks using a market-cap-weighted approach. With a single purchase, you will be adding exposure to all of the most important stocks the world has to offer.

Diversification is overlooked, but super important

Investors often end up with undiversified portfolios because they don't pay enough attention to diversification. It is actually pretty normal for this to happen because investing in a broad basket of stocks to create a diversified portfolio materially increases complexity. Vanguard Total International Stock Index ETF lets you materially expand your investment universe, thereby increasing diversification, without adding significant complexity. That's likely a big reason for the huge cash inflows to the ETF and why you may want to follow the crowd this time around.

Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.