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Personal Finance Advice and Education! (2 Viewers)

Am I right in thinking that I should be more aggressive in my Roth than in my traditional accounts?  I hadn't really thought about that and have my overall allocation pretty similar across both types of accounts, but perhaps my bond holdings should be in my IRA/401K, and I should go all equities in my Roth?

 
Pretty much, yes. All individual stock holdings, anything that earns dividends, equity holdings, etc. in the Roth. That way if they blow up huge and you hit a home run, it's all tax free. 

Stable growers like bond funds should lean to the 401k. 

At some point, though, the lower contribution limit on the Roth will mean you'll have less room there than in the 401k, so the growth stuff will have to spill over to the 401k as there's just nowhere else to put it. But still try to get anything that could be a big earner, or high-reward play, into the Roth. 

Here's a basic guide to "asset location", which is what you're thinking about: https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/investing-ideas/asset-location-lower-taxes
Thanks, that's pretty much what I was thinking. I just haven't been treating the two types of accounts differently, but as I rebalance I'll push toward being more aggressive in the Roth accounts.

 
question for the group. 

If I wanted to become a certified financial planner / advisor in 1-3 years (upon first retirement), what steps should I start taking?  I have almost no formal training but a decent understanding of planning and personal finances.  The main part I don't think I'd like in the profession is any push to sell things to people that might not be in their best interest (so the new law is a very good thing IMO).  I'd want to be fee-based, not commission.
Been thinking about a mid-career shift into CFP, did a search and found this post. Did you go through with it? Wondering if it's worth it to take on the coursework and the tests, or if other paths are better suited to me. I've been an educator (teacher and administrator) for 27 years. I've got a good 18 more years left of working in me, and this may be a good time to make a change. Thanks for anything you can offer.

 
, but perhaps my bond holdings should be in my IRA/401K, and I should go all equities in my Roth?
Generally it's bonds in tax deferred accounts and stocks in taxable accounts.  If you still have room for more stocks inside your at allocation putting the rest of those in the Roth is good.  

Just don't ignore your overall allocation.

 
There's no tax benefit if that's what you're asking.  You're taking a huge risk on betting on the market doing it this way vs. dollar cost averaging.
Not a huge risk. Time in the market beats dollar cost averaging. Do this every year and you'll be better off. 

 
Am I right in thinking that I should be more aggressive in my Roth than in my traditional accounts?  I hadn't really thought about that and have my overall allocation pretty similar across both types of accounts, but perhaps my bond holdings should be in my IRA/401K, and I should go all equities in my Roth?
No. You're actually the opposite of "right" here. Backwards. 

 
Pretty much, yes. All individual stock holdings, anything that earns dividends, equity holdings, etc. in the Roth. That way if they blow up huge and you hit a home run, it's all tax free. 

Stable growers like bond funds should lean to the 401k. 

At some point, though, the lower contribution limit on the Roth will mean you'll have less room there than in the 401k, so the growth stuff will have to spill over to the 401k as there's just nowhere else to put it. But still try to get anything that could be a big earner, or high-reward play, into the Roth. 

Here's a basic guide to "asset location", which is what you're thinking about: https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/investing-ideas/asset-location-lower-taxes
This is incorrect. Do not do this. 

 
pecorino said:
Been thinking about a mid-career shift into CFP, did a search and found this post. Did you go through with it? Wondering if it's worth it to take on the coursework and the tests, or if other paths are better suited to me. I've been an educator (teacher and administrator) for 27 years. I've got a good 18 more years left of working in me, and this may be a good time to make a change. Thanks for anything you can offer.
I'm actually in the middle of doing this myself. Have a relative who is a CFP and he said he would (very likely) hire me at his firm. Passed the SIE, taking the 7 hopefully in mid-June (depending on CV) and then the 66 a couple of months after that. 

CFP certification will come down the road because I believe you need to be working for a number of years before you take it. 

 
I'm actually in the middle of doing this myself. Have a relative who is a CFP and he said he would (very likely) hire me at his firm. Passed the SIE, taking the 7 hopefully in mid-June (depending on CV) and then the 66 a couple of months after that. 

CFP certification will come down the road because I believe you need to be working for a number of years before you take it. 
Cool. Where did you do your coursework?

 
Warrior said:
Not a huge risk. Time in the market beats dollar cost averaging. Do this every year and you'll be better off. 
You're right...I shouldn't have said "huge risk"(probably had recent market events in my mind)....but there is definitely risk.  The original poster didn't detail out any thing with respect to time horizon....so hard to tell what proper advice would be....but it's also definitely not "do this every year and you'll be better off"

 
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You're right...I shouldn't have said "huge risk"(probably had recent market events in my mind)....but there is definitely risk.  The original poster didn't detail out any thing with respect to time horizon....so hard to tell what proper advice would be....but it's also definitely not "do this every year and you'll be better off"
I’m 49. Also have a pension so probably won’t need right away even after I retire. 

 
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So been lurking here and the stock thread lately. Big thanks to everyone who contributes on here regularly. I wish I would have paid attention to this years ago, but trying to move forward and correct what I can correct.

TLDR, but starting investing for retirement way too late in life (44). We ended up going with someone a friend uses as a planner who works with Ameriprise. Now that I know we've been getting abused for the last 7 or so years we are in the process of moving all of our accounts to another brokerage. We've got all of our accounts over to the new brokerage except for 1 IRA, which was a variable annuity, so we had to absorb the surrender penalty and will be getting a check deposited into the new brokerage account hopefully in the next 2 weeks.

I've discovered the Bogleheads forum and am trying to learn as much as I can and it seems some folks here practice that principle. The people on the forum really seem to be all in on it though to the point that there's not even another option.

Currently what we've done is gone to an 80/20 allocation.

I've sold off a TGMNX Bond fund that the planner had placed in our taxable account and have bought VTSAX (Total Stock Market) in its place. I deposited in 3 lumps but have a little remaining to put in.

We were fortunate to get a few good stock picks by our planner which consist of AAPL(20% of portfolio), (MSFT 4% portfolio) and JNJ (5% portfolio).

I saw something in the stock thread where @Todemsaid that when a stock doubles up it's a good idea to split it and move into another. Well AAPL has more than tripled and JNJ has doubled. We just got in on MSFT at about $140 this year, so that's just starting.

I guess one of my questions would be do I go all in on the Bogleheads philosophy and sell off these things for VTSAX and the like? I still feel there's growth for AAPL & MSFT, while I'm on the fence about JNJ.

Also, this will get into the whole timing the market is a fools game thing, but assuming we get our check from the annuity in a couple weeks, would you stay cash with it right now and see how much the VTSAX falls and maybe do a DCA type thing breaking the some up over 6 contributions? This check will represent  about 35% of our total. Plan to do a 70/30 with this with all 70% being VTSAX & the other 30% to the Bond index.

Would love to hear opinions from the gurus in here like Todem, @-OZ-, @siffoin, etc.

Thanks for listening...

 
@steelerfan1 - the one thing I know is we get timing wrong, a lot. You almost never get it quite right. Once you know that you won't be "right", I think you have two basic decisions.

1. What's YOUR goal? You find so many arguments about debt reduction vs investing, risky vs safe, etc. But these are all personal choices.  Even in the stock thread there's really smart people day trading, with their focus being on making money immediately. Honestly, I rather don't care what my net worth is tomorrow (I do track monthly but I've realized my emotions really don't change when it drops). My goals are to cover half of college for the kids, retire at 60 without limitation. I'm fairly conservative with the college funds but have around 10% in bonds in our retirement accounts, I used to have zero.

My risk tolerance is not your risk tolerance.

My journey is not your journey.

(We all have different needs and plans)

2. How do you want to be wrong? How would you feel if you carefully selected stocks and those companies underperformed the total market? I don't mean Exxon/ bankruptcy, but gained less than the total market. Now how do you feel if you get the total market, invest like most suggest on bogleheads, and the companies you would have bought do really well? That's a personal choice but I know I'm happy to do 90% of my investments in an easy, set and forget allocation. Then I have another account where I buy individual companies. Some do well, some don't.  

Same question regarding timing. DCA is "safer" but you could lose out on gains. How do you feel if the market slides 5% the day after you buy? What if it gained 5%?  I DCA most of my investments but max the Roth IRA immediately in January ("mistake" this year).

I haven't used the 3 fund portfolio, I've used the Paul Merriman approach, but that requires more holdings. There's definitely a benefit to the 3 funds. As I'm helping my 17yo set up his Roth IRA, assuming he listens to me, he'll be 100% total market until he has more than his annual salary (once he gets a full time job). Then he'll go with the bogleheads approach.

TL/DR - if I were to advise a random person, it would be to follow the 3 fund approach, keep it simple, DCA over the remainder of 2020 (I do have concerns about the rest of the year) and if you have more than absolute basic tax issues, hire a fee only FA to help assess. 

 
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Pretty much, yes. All individual stock holdings, anything that earns dividends, equity holdings, etc. in the Roth. That way if they blow up huge and you hit a home run, it's all tax free. 

Stable growers like bond funds should lean to the 401k. 

At some point, though, the lower contribution limit on the Roth will mean you'll have less room there than in the 401k, so the growth stuff will have to spill over to the 401k as there's just nowhere else to put it. But still try to get anything that could be a big earner, or high-reward play, into the Roth. 

Here's a basic guide to "asset location", which is what you're thinking about: https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/investing-ideas/asset-location-lower-taxes
I know you're just using "Roth" to mean Roth IRA, but it's a pet peeve. Many 401ks have a Roth option for contributions. 

We need to stop assuming the 401k / TSP are all traditional. 

In general though, yes, having large gains in your Roth accounts is better.

 
Getting a lump sum of about $7,500 and want to add to my retirement savings.

Currently maxing out my 401k, Roth IRA,  and HSA this year and did so last year as well. Suggestions? Mutual funds inside my fidelity brokerage account?
 

I only recently opened a brokerage account with fidelity to buy some individual stocks. My work 401k is also through fidelity.

I know not a ton of money but got a late start on my retirement saving and would like to put it to good use. Retiring in 10-12 yrs

TIA

 
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Getting a lump sum of about $7,500 and want to add to my retirement savings.

Currently maxing out my 401k, Roth IRA,  and HSA this year and did so last year as well. Suggestions? Mutual funds inside my fidelity brokerage account?
 

I only recently opened a brokerage account with fidelity to buy some individual stocks. My work 401k is also through fidelity.

I know not a ton of money but got a late start on my retirement saving and would like to put it to good use. Retiring in 10-12 yrs

TIA
Put it in your brokerage account. As @Sand posted stocks are great in taxable accounts. The reason why is that if you are holding long term your tax rate is 15-20% based on your income levels, likely 15%. If married and making under 80k, you pay 0 capital gains taxes. People seem to forget how good capital gains tax rates can be. If you are retired long term rates can be low. Even short term rates can be relatively low if you are retired already.

Honestly, for self directed accounts (IRA or taxable/brokerage), I invest the same way. I don’t have a Roth because I’m not eligible with my wife working and I’m not going to do 401k Roth because my income tax rate now is likely well above when I retire. I want to maximize tax savings now especially since so many deductions are gone.

 
So been lurking here and the stock thread lately. Big thanks to everyone who contributes on here regularly. I wish I would have paid attention to this years ago, but trying to move forward and correct what I can correct.

TLDR, but starting investing for retirement way too late in life (44). We ended up going with someone a friend uses as a planner who works with Ameriprise. Now that I know we've been getting abused for the last 7 or so years we are in the process of moving all of our accounts to another brokerage. We've got all of our accounts over to the new brokerage except for 1 IRA, which was a variable annuity, so we had to absorb the surrender penalty and will be getting a check deposited into the new brokerage account hopefully in the next 2 weeks.

I've discovered the Bogleheads forum and am trying to learn as much as I can and it seems some folks here practice that principle. The people on the forum really seem to be all in on it though to the point that there's not even another option.

Currently what we've done is gone to an 80/20 allocation.

I've sold off a TGMNX Bond fund that the planner had placed in our taxable account and have bought VTSAX (Total Stock Market) in its place. I deposited in 3 lumps but have a little remaining to put in.

We were fortunate to get a few good stock picks by our planner which consist of AAPL(20% of portfolio), (MSFT 4% portfolio) and JNJ (5% portfolio).

I saw something in the stock thread where @Todemsaid that when a stock doubles up it's a good idea to split it and move into another. Well AAPL has more than tripled and JNJ has doubled. We just got in on MSFT at about $140 this year, so that's just starting.

I guess one of my questions would be do I go all in on the Bogleheads philosophy and sell off these things for VTSAX and the like? I still feel there's growth for AAPL & MSFT, while I'm on the fence about JNJ.

Also, this will get into the whole timing the market is a fools game thing, but assuming we get our check from the annuity in a couple weeks, would you stay cash with it right now and see how much the VTSAX falls and maybe do a DCA type thing breaking the some up over 6 contributions? This check will represent  about 35% of our total. Plan to do a 70/30 with this with all 70% being VTSAX & the other 30% to the Bond index.

Would love to hear opinions from the gurus in here like Todem, @-OZ-, @siffoin, etc.

Thanks for listening...
Oz had a good post but just to add a couple comments, it's fine to have a few stocks outside of funds, but with 20% of your portfolio in Apple, while it's been a great stock is probably too much and if it were me I might reduce that by 1/2 or so.  I'm not sure about the double rule and not sure of the context but that seems a bit arbitrary to me and don't think I'd worry about that too much in your case. As for investing the money now or wait that's a tough one to answer right now due the current environment.  Timing the market is nearly impossible but I'm pretty cautious about today's market. A DCA type approach not a bad idea there I suppose.

 
@steelerfan1 - the one thing I know is we get timing wrong, a lot. You almost never get it quite right. Once you know that you won't be "right", I think you have two basic decisions.

1. What's YOUR goal? You find so many arguments about debt reduction vs investing, risky vs safe, etc. But these are all personal choices.  Even in the stock thread there's really smart people day trading, with their focus being on making money immediately. Honestly, I rather don't care what my net worth is tomorrow (I do track monthly but I've realized my emotions really don't change when it drops). My goals are to cover half of college for the kids, retire at 60 without limitation. I'm fairly conservative with the college funds but have around 10% in bonds in our retirement accounts, I used to have zero.

My risk tolerance is not your risk tolerance.

My journey is not your journey.

(We all have different needs and plans)

2. How do you want to be wrong? How would you feel if you carefully selected stocks and those companies underperformed the total market? I don't mean Exxon/ bankruptcy, but gained less than the total market. Now how do you feel if you get the total market, invest like most suggest on bogleheads, and the companies you would have bought do really well? That's a personal choice but I know I'm happy to do 90% of my investments in an easy, set and forget allocation. Then I have another account where I buy individual companies. Some do well, some don't.  

Same question regarding timing. DCA is "safer" but you could lose out on gains. How do you feel if the market slides 5% the day after you buy? What if it gained 5%?  I DCA most of my investments but max the Roth IRA immediately in January ("mistake" this year).

I haven't used the 3 fund portfolio, I've used the Paul Merriman approach, but that requires more holdings. There's definitely a benefit to the 3 funds. As I'm helping my 17yo set up his Roth IRA, assuming he listens to me, he'll be 100% total market until he has more than his annual salary (once he gets a full time job). Then he'll go with the bogleheads approach.

TL/DR - if I were to advise a random person, it would be to follow the 3 fund approach, keep it simple, DCA over the remainder of 2020 (I do have concerns about the rest of the year) and if you have more than absolute basic tax issues, hire a fee only FA to help assess. 
Thanks for the reply OZ.

I side along your way of thinking about looking long-term, not the quick gain. I don't feel I have the knowledge to do the day trading thing. It is very tempting though because of so far behind I am and all the years I feel I need to recover. I know back in March I had actually emailed my planner and said I wanted to move on DIS, CYDY and BA and was told it was not a good decision at that point. Well, we all know what happened there, right : -) I still am not over it, but that goes more to the day trading thing and although it went that way this time, there could be another 10x where it goes south, and I don't feel that I have that kind of cash to burn, in fact I know I don't have that kind of cash to burn.

So, it seems your main portfolio you are fairly aggressive at 90% equities? Do you mind me asking your age? I'm 53, so I think some would say my 80/20 may be a bit too risky, but again I feel I need to try to make up for lost time. I'd like to work another 9 years and be out. We really don't make enough to max out our contributions. The wife does better than I do (self employed, so not so much now with COVID), but we aren't in FBG's league with income. But we also live in a smaller area and cost of living isn't crazy, our house will be paid off (God willing) in 2026. I also will look into moving to 1 of the more tax friendly states. We both like the TN area and it's close enough to family for the wife to be onboard.

The plus side is that I will have a couple smaller pensions with the first 1 kicking in in 2 years, so I plan to dump that all into the pot. 

I'm leaning to the rather have maybe less return instead of getting an Exxon type scenario. I started looking at the QQQ, VUG, MGK type funds and was impressed by their performance and fairly low ER, but then you go on Bogleheads and people are saying why on Earth would you want those types of things and just because they have out performed the market the last 10 years doesn't mean it will continue. Even though they range from 100-300 or so holdings they feel it is not diversified enough.

I can already tell you from last-week the DCA thing infuriated me when I bought high 1 day lol. I still feel though it is better that way than if I had put the whole thing in that way. I was actually wishing instead of the 3 buy ins I had made it 6...It's kind of like a draft where you get the player you really want but find out you didn't have to spend that much on him...

I haven't heard of Paul Merriman but will search him and see what he's about.

Thanks for your insight and response

 
Oz had a good post but just to add a couple comments, it's fine to have a few stocks outside of funds, but with 20% of your portfolio in Apple, while it's been a great stock is probably too much and if it were me I might reduce that by 1/2 or so.  I'm not sure about the double rule and not sure of the context but that seems a bit arbitrary to me and don't think I'd worry about that too much in your case. As for investing the money now or wait that's a tough one to answer right now due the current environment.  Timing the market is nearly impossible but I'm pretty cautious about today's market. A DCA type approach not a bad idea there I suppose.
Thanks Tool,

I also agree that it's probably a tad high on the Apple. As far as Todem's comment about once it doubles, I also may have misunderstood. I'm trying to take in a ton of info from everywhere and may get stuff mixed up.

I kind of like was OZ mentioned above, maybe DCA the remainder of 2020 once our final transfer comes through.

Thank you for your reply.

 
Thanks for the reply OZ.

I side along your way of thinking about looking long-term, not the quick gain. I don't feel I have the knowledge to do the day trading thing. It is very tempting though because of so far behind I am and all the years I feel I need to recover. I know back in March I had actually emailed my planner and said I wanted to move on DIS, CYDY and BA and was told it was not a good decision at that point. Well, we all know what happened there, right : -) I still am not over it, but that goes more to the day trading thing and although it went that way this time, there could be another 10x where it goes south, and I don't feel that I have that kind of cash to burn, in fact I know I don't have that kind of cash to burn.

So, it seems your main portfolio you are fairly aggressive at 90% equities? Do you mind me asking your age? I'm 53, so I think some would say my 80/20 may be a bit too risky, but again I feel I need to try to make up for lost time. I'd like to work another 9 years and be out. We really don't make enough to max out our contributions. The wife does better than I do (self employed, so not so much now with COVID), but we aren't in FBG's league with income. But we also live in a smaller area and cost of living isn't crazy, our house will be paid off (God willing) in 2026. I also will look into moving to 1 of the more tax friendly states. We both like the TN area and it's close enough to family for the wife to be onboard.

The plus side is that I will have a couple smaller pensions with the first 1 kicking in in 2 years, so I plan to dump that all into the pot. 

I'm leaning to the rather have maybe less return instead of getting an Exxon type scenario. I started looking at the QQQ, VUG, MGK type funds and was impressed by their performance and fairly low ER, but then you go on Bogleheads and people are saying why on Earth would you want those types of things and just because they have out performed the market the last 10 years doesn't mean it will continue. Even though they range from 100-300 or so holdings they feel it is not diversified enough.

I can already tell you from last-week the DCA thing infuriated me when I bought high 1 day lol. I still feel though it is better that way than if I had put the whole thing in that way. I was actually wishing instead of the 3 buy ins I had made it 6...It's kind of like a draft where you get the player you really want but find out you didn't have to spend that much on him...

I haven't heard of Paul Merriman but will search him and see what he's about.

Thanks for your insight and response
I had a longer post written, but it got lost when I switched pages (mobile app). So I'll just get to the highlights.

- I'm 43, but have a military pension covering or basic needs which serves as the bond portfolio or safety net. That's a reason I feel comfortable taking more risk. If the market tanked again, it still doesn't affect our lives until ~2037. 

- worth checking out, don't take it as the definitive answer but I find his stuff mostly informative. https://paulmerriman.com/the-ultimate-buy-and-hold-strategy-2020/

-300 companies might be diversified if they're in different, unrelated sectors. But probably not. The link above will give more info than I can. 

- I definitely get where you're coming from, feeling like you need to make up time while not wanting to lose anything. It's probably worth talking to a financial advisor who can get in depth looking forward, run some Monte Carlo Sims and see where you really are. @gruecd is in a better position than I am on that front. Make sure the FA is a fiduciary. 

 
steelerfan1 said:
So been lurking here and the stock thread lately. Big thanks to everyone who contributes on here regularly. I wish I would have paid attention to this years ago, but trying to move forward and correct what I can correct.

TLDR, but starting investing for retirement way too late in life (44). We ended up going with someone a friend uses as a planner who works with Ameriprise. Now that I know we've been getting abused for the last 7 or so years we are in the process of moving all of our accounts to another brokerage. We've got all of our accounts over to the new brokerage except for 1 IRA, which was a variable annuity, so we had to absorb the surrender penalty and will be getting a check deposited into the new brokerage account hopefully in the next 2 weeks.

I've discovered the Bogleheads forum and am trying to learn as much as I can and it seems some folks here practice that principle. The people on the forum really seem to be all in on it though to the point that there's not even another option.

Currently what we've done is gone to an 80/20 allocation.

I've sold off a TGMNX Bond fund that the planner had placed in our taxable account and have bought VTSAX (Total Stock Market) in its place. I deposited in 3 lumps but have a little remaining to put in.

We were fortunate to get a few good stock picks by our planner which consist of AAPL(20% of portfolio), (MSFT 4% portfolio) and JNJ (5% portfolio).

I saw something in the stock thread where @Todemsaid that when a stock doubles up it's a good idea to split it and move into another. Well AAPL has more than tripled and JNJ has doubled. We just got in on MSFT at about $140 this year, so that's just starting.

I guess one of my questions would be do I go all in on the Bogleheads philosophy and sell off these things for VTSAX and the like? I still feel there's growth for AAPL & MSFT, while I'm on the fence about JNJ.

Also, this will get into the whole timing the market is a fools game thing, but assuming we get our check from the annuity in a couple weeks, would you stay cash with it right now and see how much the VTSAX falls and maybe do a DCA type thing breaking the some up over 6 contributions? This check will represent  about 35% of our total. Plan to do a 70/30 with this with all 70% being VTSAX & the other 30% to the Bond index.

Would love to hear opinions from the gurus in here like Todem, @-OZ-, @siffoin, etc.

Thanks for listening...
I have always had that discipline that once I own the stock for free (for the rest of my life) sell half and buy another position and that is exactly how I built my wealth over the last 30 years. And Apple has since quadrupled, Amazon tripled etc etc etc.

But I took my original risk off the table and built my portfolio out....on pure profits. It takes discipline and time (and of course I was adding new money as I earned a living and saved) but in the end you are risk mitigating and again “parlaying” your winnings. 

You can get wealthy being concentrated.....but more often than not you will not stay wealthy being concentrated. 

 
steelerfan1 said:
So been lurking here and the stock thread lately. Big thanks to everyone who contributes on here regularly. I wish I would have paid attention to this years ago, but trying to move forward and correct what I can correct.

TLDR, but starting investing for retirement way too late in life (44). We ended up going with someone a friend uses as a planner who works with Ameriprise. Now that I know we've been getting abused for the last 7 or so years we are in the process of moving all of our accounts to another brokerage. We've got all of our accounts over to the new brokerage except for 1 IRA, which was a variable annuity, so we had to absorb the surrender penalty and will be getting a check deposited into the new brokerage account hopefully in the next 2 weeks.

I've discovered the Bogleheads forum and am trying to learn as much as I can and it seems some folks here practice that principle. The people on the forum really seem to be all in on it though to the point that there's not even another option.

Currently what we've done is gone to an 80/20 allocation.

I've sold off a TGMNX Bond fund that the planner had placed in our taxable account and have bought VTSAX (Total Stock Market) in its place. I deposited in 3 lumps but have a little remaining to put in.

We were fortunate to get a few good stock picks by our planner which consist of AAPL(20% of portfolio), (MSFT 4% portfolio) and JNJ (5% portfolio).

I saw something in the stock thread where @Todemsaid that when a stock doubles up it's a good idea to split it and move into another. Well AAPL has more than tripled and JNJ has doubled. We just got in on MSFT at about $140 this year, so that's just starting.

I guess one of my questions would be do I go all in on the Bogleheads philosophy and sell off these things for VTSAX and the like? I still feel there's growth for AAPL & MSFT, while I'm on the fence about JNJ.

Also, this will get into the whole timing the market is a fools game thing, but assuming we get our check from the annuity in a couple weeks, would you stay cash with it right now and see how much the VTSAX falls and maybe do a DCA type thing breaking the some up over 6 contributions? This check will represent  about 35% of our total. Plan to do a 70/30 with this with all 70% being VTSAX & the other 30% to the Bond index.

Would love to hear opinions from the gurus in here like Todem, @-OZ-, @siffoin, etc.

Thanks for listening...
Oz really hit a lot of points that are spot on and I can't add much to that.

WHAT IS YOUR GOAL.  You really have to have that figured out and then build a plan around that.  

You are holding WAY to much $AAPL.  In a small portfolio that type of % is acceptable...but even with a great stock like $AAPL it brings in a level of risk that is much too high.

Bogleheads portfolio might do well over the next 6-24 months.  I think it under-performs the $SP500 over any period longer than that.

 
.

Bogleheads portfolio might do well over the next 6-24 months.  I think it under-performs the $SP500 over any period longer than that.
This is probably true.  

I'm having a bit of a mental debate with my college accounts. I'm probably going 60/40 with my high schoolers, 75/25 with the younger ones. But that's money we want to use in the next 2-12 years.  Retirement accounts are different, usually you spend a lot more time in retirement than in college. Hopefully.

 
I can't find the "Whats your age and 401k Balance?" thread.

401k got hammered by Covid along with everyone else.  Is the run up over the last month or so a second chance to move some 401k to cash?  Just feels like we are a long way from passed this thing.

Thanks.

 
I can't find the "Whats your age and 401k Balance?" thread.

401k got hammered by Covid along with everyone else.  Is the run up over the last month or so a second chance to move some 401k to cash?  Just feels like we are a long way from passed this thing.

Thanks.
People will claim to have an answer to this question but I prefer to view it as unknowable and I'll stick to my long-term plan.

 
I can't find the "Whats your age and 401k Balance?" thread.

401k got hammered by Covid along with everyone else.  Is the run up over the last month or so a second chance to move some 401k to cash?  Just feels like we are a long way from passed this thing.

Thanks.


People will claim to have an answer to this question but I prefer to view it as unknowable and I'll stick to my long-term plan.
:yes:

If someone decided to get a little more conservative right now - say you're usually 80/20 but decide to go 60/40 and stick with it, it would be hard to say for certain that you're making the wrong choice. 

If you sell off completely you're gambling. 

 
I had a longer post written, but it got lost when I switched pages (mobile app). So I'll just get to the highlights.

- I'm 43, but have a military pension covering or basic needs which serves as the bond portfolio or safety net. That's a reason I feel comfortable taking more risk. If the market tanked again, it still doesn't affect our lives until ~2037. 

- worth checking out, don't take it as the definitive answer but I find his stuff mostly informative. https://paulmerriman.com/the-ultimate-buy-and-hold-strategy-2020/

-300 companies might be diversified if they're in different, unrelated sectors. But probably not. The link above will give more info than I can. 

- I definitely get where you're coming from, feeling like you need to make up time while not wanting to lose anything. It's probably worth talking to a financial advisor who can get in depth looking forward, run some Monte Carlo Sims and see where you really are. @gruecd is in a better position than I am on that front. Make sure the FA is a fiduciary. 
Just wanted to say thanks again for your time. I'm hoping to go over that link this weekend as well as educate myself on that Monte Carlo Sims thing.

We used to meet every year with our planner and there was this fancy chart that we would go over but I never quite believed it or that we were actually getting where we needed to be, but sadly never really started questioning until recently.

 
I have always had that discipline that once I own the stock for free (for the rest of my life) sell half and buy another position and that is exactly how I built my wealth over the last 30 years. And Apple has since quadrupled, Amazon tripled etc etc etc.

But I took my original risk off the table and built my portfolio out....on pure profits. It takes discipline and time (and of course I was adding new money as I earned a living and saved) but in the end you are risk mitigating and again “parlaying” your winnings. 

You can get wealthy being concentrated.....but more often than not you will not stay wealthy being concentrated. 
Thank you Todem,

Last sentence makes a lot of sense.

 
Oz really hit a lot of points that are spot on and I can't add much to that.

WHAT IS YOUR GOAL.  You really have to have that figured out and then build a plan around that.  

You are holding WAY to much $AAPL.  In a small portfolio that type of % is acceptable...but even with a great stock like $AAPL it brings in a level of risk that is much too high.

Bogleheads portfolio might do well over the next 6-24 months.  I think it under-performs the $SP500 over any period longer than that.
Thank you siffoin,

Will be looking to cut the stocks in half aka what Todem had mentioned. It does make me a bit nervous having all the eggs in 1 basket feeling.

I'm assuming the Bogleheads under performs because of allocations of bonds and the international, which really hasn't done great. I don't hold any of the international, other than a small amount in my works 401k.

Do you see a huge difference in the Total Market vs SP500? Do you still prefer the SP500 over the total I guess is what I'm asking?

 
What are you planning to do now? I’d think I’d wait but set some predetermined dates to dollar cost average back in if we don’t see a substantial dip.  
Agreed again. 

The "easiest" way to screw up your retirement plans are to change course multiple times for no objective reason. Right now if Buck dove back into the market, and the market dropped next week (which it could, or might not) the gut reaction might be to go back out. The buying and selling at the wrong time can set your course back years, or longer. 

Know yourself. Set a course. Whether that's automatically putting 10% back in every week for the next month (or whatever) or putting a set % in today, another X% in a week, double that if the market drops 5%... Whatever, just make the road map and follow it. 

Emotions are the enemy of finance, whether that's fear or greed.

 
Does anyone have any suggestions for a tool that is similar to Personal Capital where I can aggregate all of my accounts for a nice birds-eye view, but not where the company has my data to try to sell me financial services?  I don't mind paying to keep my info private.

 
Does anyone have any suggestions for a tool that is similar to Personal Capital where I can aggregate all of my accounts for a nice birds-eye view, but not where the company has my data to try to sell me financial services?  I don't mind paying to keep my info private.
I have a google doc sheet that I update about quarterly. Takes me about 15 mins a quarter, hr per year. Maybe a little longer if I need to rebalance. 

 
I have a google doc sheet that I update about quarterly. Takes me about 15 mins a quarter, hr per year. Maybe a little longer if I need to rebalance. 
Tried this but too complicated with multiple 401ks.  But also liked how Personal Capital would show % of individual stocks as part of the overall portfolio between myself and my wife's investments.

Plus i really like the Personal Capital dashboards.  The problem is that since the service is free it means that my data is their form of payment.  While I'm a nobody in terms of net worth I still don't like taht if this company goes under my data gets sold and all my investments are available for anyone with the $$$ to buy the data.

 
Agreed again. 

The "easiest" way to screw up your retirement plans are to change course multiple times for no objective reason. Right now if Buck dove back into the market, and the market dropped next week (which it could, or might not) the gut reaction might be to go back out. The buying and selling at the wrong time can set your course back years, or longer. 

Know yourself. Set a course. Whether that's automatically putting 10% back in every week for the next month (or whatever) or putting a set % in today, another X% in a week, double that if the market drops 5%... Whatever, just make the road map and follow it. 

Emotions are the enemy of finance, whether that's fear or greed.
great post

 
I have a google doc sheet that I update about quarterly. Takes me about 15 mins a quarter, hr per year. Maybe a little longer if I need to rebalance. 
Same, but in Excel. 

I've developed multiple tabs over time. (Just 

1. Core budget - tracks essential spending, choice spending, income, and progress towards "FI". Monthly

2. Investment deposits made. Monthly

3. Total assets (amounts, not the allocation). Quarterly.

4. Total portfolio allocation, adjust quarterly.

5. Assets planned for the next 20 years. Adjust annually.

6. Lifetime earnings (goal is for NW to equal earnings, right now we're at around 66%). Annual

7. Mortgage payoff plan.  Annual

Tried this but too complicated with multiple 401ks.  But also liked how Personal Capital would show % of individual stocks as part of the overall portfolio between myself and my wife's investments.

Plus i really like the Personal Capital dashboards.  The problem is that since the service is free it means that my data is their form of payment.  While I'm a nobody in terms of net worth I still don't like taht if this company goes under my data gets sold and all my investments are available for anyone with the $$$ to buy the data.
I figure my information is pretty much out there if someone really wants it. Get identity protection, but I'm not worried otherwise.

 
Tried this but too complicated with multiple 401ks.  But also liked how Personal Capital would show % of individual stocks as part of the overall portfolio between myself and my wife's investments.

Plus i really like the Personal Capital dashboards.  The problem is that since the service is free it means that my data is their form of payment.  While I'm a nobody in terms of net worth I still don't like taht if this company goes under my data gets sold and all my investments are available for anyone with the $$$ to buy the data.
Don't know of a free aggregator like that that links to accounts. But Morningstar's portfolio trackers are great if you don't mind entering things in once and then keeping track of it once in awhile. They have an XRay tool that shows your percentage of each stock and how much is growth versus value and things like that. 

 
I guess the other question is - what do you do with the info from whatever tool you use?

i use mine to summarize total assets, organize my accounts, and identify when I need to rebalance. It serves that purpose well 

 
Exactly. Also allows for more targeted investing. For example, Morningstar's XRay shows that for my taxable accounts, I'm quite a bit higher in Real Estate and Utilities than the S&P 500. I know that and am OK with it. I like those industries. But it also shows that I'm pretty underweight in Customer Discretionary and Customer Defensive. I'm OK being under in Discretionary, but I feel like I should have more Defensive (although healthy Utilities and Healthcare exposure helps). So I'm looking for some good stocks in that sector to add to my watch list.  

 
wilked said:
I guess the other question is - what do you do with the info from whatever tool you use?

i use mine to summarize total assets, organize my accounts, and identify when I need to rebalance. It serves that purpose well 
This. And it just shows where we're at relative to our goals. 

Just added May, unless there's a huge drop today (certainly possible) our accounts are down less than 8% from the end of January. Which does include contributions, but that's better than I thought it would be.

 
Exactly. Also allows for more targeted investing. For example, Morningstar's XRay shows that for my taxable accounts, I'm quite a bit higher in Real Estate and Utilities than the S&P 500. I know that and am OK with it. I like those industries. But it also shows that I'm pretty underweight in Customer Discretionary and Customer Defensive. I'm OK being under in Discretionary, but I feel like I should have more Defensive (although healthy Utilities and Healthcare exposure helps). So I'm looking for some good stocks in that sector to add to my watch list.  
FWIW to anyone, zeroing in on STZ for the Customer Defensive exposure. 

 
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Figured I'd post here.

Is anyone else using worthy bonds? 

Fairly risk averse way to hold money and get more than the banks give now. I wouldn't make it a huge part of your assets, but it's a good way to hold money you want to use next year or so and don't want to risk losing it.

Get $10 free (as will I) https://worthybonds.com/?r=CneEc

 
-OZ- said:
Figured I'd post here.

Is anyone else using worthy bonds? 

Fairly risk averse way to hold money and get more than the banks give now. I wouldn't make it a huge part of your assets, but it's a good way to hold money you want to use next year or so and don't want to risk losing it.

Get $10 free (as will I) https://worthybonds.com/?r=CneEc
Not even junk bonds...unrated bonds

wouldnt go anywhere near this 

 

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