The Vanguard philosophy has traditionally been simple: keep costs low, diversify widely, stay invested and avoid unnecessarily complicated portfolios. But over the past couple of months, Vanguard has quietly expanded its UK ETF range with seven new equity ETFs, and I think a few of them are really quite interesting.

The latest additions are the Vanguard FTSE Global All-Cap UCITS ETF, charging 0.07%, the Vanguard FTSE Global Small-Cap UCITS ETF, charging 0.22%, and the Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-U.S. UCITS ETF, charging 0.12%.

Of the three, the Global All-Cap ETF is easily the headline launch. It provides exposure to more than 7,000 companies across developed and emerging markets, including large, medium-sized and smaller businesses. In other words, a single ETF can now provide exposure to almost the entire investable global stock market.

The part that really caught my attention, though, is the price. An ongoing charge of just 0.07% is extremely competitive for such broad diversification. On £100,000, that equates to roughly £70 a year in fund charges. For investors who simply want to own the world and leave it alone, this could become one of Vanguard's most compelling products.

I have always liked the concept of a Global All-Cap fund because it removes much of the decision-making from investing. You do not need to decide whether the US, Europe, Japan or emerging markets will perform best next year. You do not need to choose between large caps and small caps either. You simply own all of them.

That simplicity is difficult to beat. It is also why I have decided to use the new Global All-Cap product as a core holding within my own SIPP. I switched my entire holding to this ETF this week.

Investors sometimes assume that a more complicated portfolio must somehow be a more sophisticated one. I increasingly think the opposite is true. If one low-cost fund gives you exposure to thousands of companies around the world, every additional investment should have to justify why it deserves to be there.

The new Global Small-Cap ETF is another welcome addition. Smaller companies are often underrepresented in portfolios dominated by market-cap-weighted global funds and the S&P 500.

Look at the largest positions in most mainstream equity portfolios today and the same American giants repeatedly appear: Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Meta. There is nothing wrong with owning these companies — I own all of them indirectly — but diversification should mean more than owning several funds containing many of the same businesses.

A dedicated small-cap ETF gives investors a straightforward way to increase exposure to thousands of smaller companies whose performance may be driven by completely different factors. I would see this as a useful satellite position rather than a replacement for a broad global core.

Before the three global launches, Vanguard introduced four Russell-based US ETFs: the Russell 2000 U.S. Small-Cap, Russell U.S. Mid-Cap, Russell 1000 U.S. Value and Russell 1000 U.S. Growth ETFs.

Of these, the Mid-Cap fund interests me most. Many investors already have enormous exposure to America's biggest companies through global funds or the S&P 500. US mid caps offer something genuinely different: exposure to established American businesses below the mega-cap giants that dominate the headlines.

That makes the fund potentially useful for investors who want more US exposure without simply adding even more Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft.

Ironically, the new fund I find least interesting is the Russell 1000 U.S. Growth ETF. That is not because I dislike growth companies. The problem is simply duplication.

Anyone already holding an S&P 500 tracker or a market-cap-weighted global fund has substantial exposure to America's biggest growth companies. Buying another fund concentrated in many of those same businesses could increase portfolio concentration while giving the appearance of diversification.

The Value ETF is more interesting because it deliberately targets a different investment style, but I would still view it as a tilt rather than a core holding.

The FTSE All-World ex-U.S. ETF could also prove very useful. It essentially allows an investor to buy the developed and emerging world while excluding America.

That creates some interesting possibilities. Someone already holding a large S&P 500 position could pair it with the ex-US ETF and control their American weighting themselves. Equally, investors concerned about the US becoming an increasingly large part of global indices now have a simple way of increasing exposure elsewhere without buying multiple regional funds.

It is a specialist tool, but a potentially very useful one.

This is the important takeaway. Vanguard launching seven new ETFs does not mean investors suddenly need seven more investments.

If anything, the new Global All-Cap ETF demonstrates exactly the opposite. One fund can now give an investor exposure to thousands of businesses across the entire world for just 0.07%.

The remaining ETFs are better thought of as building blocks. Want additional small-cap exposure? Vanguard now provides it. Want US mid caps? There is a fund for that. Want less America? Buy ex-US. Want a deliberate value tilt? That option now exists too.

For me, the Global All-Cap is the star of the new range. Broad diversification, an exceptionally low fee and virtually the entire global equity market contained within one investment.

Vanguard may have given investors more choice, but the biggest takeaway for me is that great investing can still be remarkably simple. One fund, full global diversification and an incredibly low fee — that combination is difficult to beat. It is exactly why my SIPP is now 100% allocated to this fund.

The Compounder
Long-term investing made simple.

The Compounder is for financial education and commentary only. I am not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and I do not provide financial advice, investment advice, or personal recommendations. Nothing published here should be taken as a recommendation to buy, sell, hold or switch any investment, fund, pension, ISA, crypto asset or financial product. Always do your own research and consider speaking to an FCA-authorised financial adviser if you are unsure.