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I see SCHD + VYM and VOO + VTI recommended constantly as "diversified portfolios" and it's just not true. 86% of SCHD's holdings are also in VYM, and their correlation is 0.95, meaning they move in lockstep. VOO and VTI is even worse, 0.99 correlation, because VTI is literally VOO plus a thin 15% layer of small and mid caps. You're not diversifying, you're paying two expense ratios to own the same 30 mega-caps twice. Real diversification means uncorrelated assets, like adding VXUS for international, BND for bonds, AVUV for small caps, or VNQ for REITs. Not another flavor of large-cap US dividend stocks. Most people who hold both didn't diversify on purpose, they just couldn't pick one and hedged by buying both, which is indecision dressed up as strategy. Pick one as your core and add something genuinely different around it.
What do y'all think?