Want to invest but don’t want to spend all your spare time researching the stock market? No need to fear. You could be a perfect candidate for an index exchange-traded fund (ETF). These funds hold a wide variety of stocks, giving investors exposure to a ton of great companies, meaning they can spend less time managing their portfolios.

By owning just two ETFs — one international and one domestic — a person can cover the whole globe. Let’s learn about how the Vanguard Morningstar Total Stock Market ETF (VTI +0.39%) and the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS +0.15%) can serve as an excellent starting point for a long-term investment strategy.

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Start with American businesses

We’ll start here: What…