For vanguard and their etfs I think all have a 3k minimum. You could invest in their mutual funds without 3k.
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Retirement-Era |OT| How to Invest For Retirement
- Thread starter TheTrinity
- Start date
- OT
Note that you can buy ETFs from any broker, as they're publicly traded securities.
The major benefit of using Vanguard to buy Vanguard ETFs or Schwab to buy Schwab ones etc. is that they typically lack commissions for in-house products, which can translate to a major reduction in opportunity cost if you're trading frequently or in small amounts.
The major benefit of using Vanguard to buy Vanguard ETFs or Schwab to buy Schwab ones etc. is that they typically lack commissions for in-house products, which can translate to a major reduction in opportunity cost if you're trading frequently or in small amounts.
If you're looking at Vanguard funds, most mutual funds require a $3,000 minimum aside from the target date retirement funds which I believe are $1,000. However you could buy ETFs until you have enough minimum to meet the mutual fund's minimum.
OP
OP
Yeah, Americans are very fortunate to have access to those Vanguard mutual funds. I would jump on those so fast if they were available here, but I'm stuck with ETF investing.
So I have Admiral Shares of Vanguard's Mutual Fund, and it's been a great investment with consistent growth.
But my concern is the downturn.I know, I know, don't try to time the market, but it seems like so much of the market is hyped up b/c of potential tax cuts. Is there anything I can do to keep my money with Vanguard but liquidate my MF so I can buy them later on and not pay taxes or trade them for another fund I consider less volatile?
But my concern is the downturn.I know, I know, don't try to time the market, but it seems like so much of the market is hyped up b/c of potential tax cuts. Is there anything I can do to keep my money with Vanguard but liquidate my MF so I can buy them later on and not pay taxes or trade them for another fund I consider less volatile?
I think this depends on the broker, no? I know with Schwab some minimum fees are waived as long as you do X per month in auto transactions.
Let's compare.
ETF:
VTI: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundIntExt=INT&FundId=0970 (.04% exp) Min investment: $0
VTSMX: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0085&FundIntExt=INT (.15% exp) Min investment: $3k (turns into VTSAX when your cost exceeds 10k)
VTSAX: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0585&FundIntExt=INT (.04 exp) Min investment: $10k
If you're investing for the long term, there isn't much of a difference. .04 to .15 is not going to be huge. Distributions are 2x on the ETF but it's twice as expensive to buy 1 share.
OP
OP
The reason to go for VTSAX instead of VTI is not about the expenses (since it wouldn't make much sense for them to be different). The benefit of mutual funds is that there are no transaction commissions (although some brokers do no-commission ETF purchases) and that you can buy partial shares. I would probably use VTSAX if it were possible.
The downside is that mutual fund orders only get executed once a day, after the market close.
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I'd be happy with having access to target date funds, in ETF form is fine.
I like to use the ETFs because there's no minimum investment and you can buy or sell whenever you want. The flexibility is very nice.
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Thanks Wormdundee for picking up my slack and starting this thread again. It took me a bit to join up since I never was much into discord where people were apparently getting invites, but happy to be here now!
The reason why I hold mutual funds over ETFs is that you buy mutual funds in whole dollars. To purchase an ETF, you have to buy shares.
What that means is that you will always have some amount of money 'left over' that you can't invest if you go with ETFs instead of mutual funds (at least the last time I used them).
Now, that might not be that big of a deal in the long-run, but it sure bugged the crap out of me seeing like $15.68 sitting in my IRAs money market account and not being able to really do much with it.
The reason why I hold mutual funds over ETFs is that you buy mutual funds in whole dollars. To purchase an ETF, you have to buy shares.
What that means is that you will always have some amount of money 'left over' that you can't invest if you go with ETFs instead of mutual funds (at least the last time I used them).
Now, that might not be that big of a deal in the long-run, but it sure bugged the crap out of me seeing like $15.68 sitting in my IRAs money market account and not being able to really do much with it.
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Hi guys. My current employer matches my 401k .50 on the dollar up to 6% with a 3% safe harbor. So if I invest 6%, I will get 6% matched as long as I stay there for five years. 2 years, 25% vested, 3 years 50% vested, 4 years 75% vested, and 5 years 100% vested. Anything I put in I can take. How does that compare? I know there are worse and I know there are better. Thanks.
50% match of your first 6% contributions is fairly standard so if you are getting 100% match on your first 6% that is pretty nice. That vesting tho....that isn't. That is more like something I used to see about 20 years ago, back when you might have had a pension too.
OP
OP
Yeah, I've honestly never seen someone mention a 401k match with a vesting period before in this thread. How many people actually stay somewhere for 5 years these days? The longest I've stayed in a job is 3 years.
I work in IT. So the likely hood of me staying the full 5 years is unlikely. IT is a profession you really want to leave after a few years for not only better money, but better experience. I am giving them max 3 years. If I don't get promoted to Jr. Admin by then, I am out. Possibly sooner if my CCNA attracts anyone when I throw my resume around. Only way I stay 5 years is if I get promoted to Jr. Admin, but I don't see that happening because the IT department is small and the Jr. Admins ahead of me are fairly new and seem to be happy. So yeah, I will probably not see most of that matching money then.
Yessss love this thread. Glad to see it!
Anyway, if anyone wants my quick and dirty budget sheet to help you keep track of how much you aim to be saving and spending, here it be!Click on the image or the link for the excel file.
Feel free to change and add as needed!
Just change the formulas a bit in the ANNUAL column if your bill cycles change. For example, *52 is weekly, *26 is bi-weekly, *12 is monthly, *6 is bi-monthly.
solarcat.strawberryink.ca/images/BUDGET-SHEET_SIMPLE.xls
Anyway, if anyone wants my quick and dirty budget sheet to help you keep track of how much you aim to be saving and spending, here it be!Click on the image or the link for the excel file.
Feel free to change and add as needed!
Just change the formulas a bit in the ANNUAL column if your bill cycles change. For example, *52 is weekly, *26 is bi-weekly, *12 is monthly, *6 is bi-monthly.
solarcat.strawberryink.ca/images/BUDGET-SHEET_SIMPLE.xls
Hey everyone. I had barely begun to post and scratch the surface of the previous thread, so I hope to be more involved now that I've wrapped my head around some of the concepts. Thanks again to whoever suggested YNAB - it has been working flawlessly for my fiance and I. We both thought we were great with money, but we've already noticed a difference after the first month. We had a meeting with our CFP and have upped our Roth contributions to the max. The next step is to split some of that off into 403bs once we get married, and hopefully pump as much money into those as we can.
On the side, I'd like to have my own account (thinking Fidelity? Or is Vanguard truly the way to go to avoid extra fees. I'm not really pleased with their online/app infrastructure, but I'll bite the bullet is there is real savings to be had over using Fidelity) to purchase index funds when I have some monies left over after my monthly needs have been covered in YNAB.
On the side, I'd like to have my own account (thinking Fidelity? Or is Vanguard truly the way to go to avoid extra fees. I'm not really pleased with their online/app infrastructure, but I'll bite the bullet is there is real savings to be had over using Fidelity) to purchase index funds when I have some monies left over after my monthly needs have been covered in YNAB.
If all you will be doing is purchasing index funds and you're comfortable with Fidelity's offerings - which are broadly comparable to Vanguard's and other competitors - then Fidelity is a fine choice. The fees at Fidelity are actually a smidge less than Vanguard at the moment, but the difference is negligible and could change over the course of several decades.
As always, it's prudent to research any company, fund, or investment you plan to throw gobs of money at. Also keep in mind that for mutual funds Fidelity has a similar tier system to Vanguard, where more money invested leads to access to lower-fee funds.
Doesnt Schwab have a no limit index fund? I'd go with that until the 10k for Admiral.
Hi all, it's amazing how much investments can grow. I was going through some old statements and here is one example . One of my wife's IRA accounts with Vanguard was worth around $8K in early 2000s. Today, it's just over $30K.
The bulk of her retirement savings are with Janus. I noticed that those funds have not grown as much as the funds with Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab. So I started the process of moving the funds from Janus to Vanguard. It's a bit of a pain because it requires her to fill out three transfer applications and a "two names are the same" form and go to a local bank to get a medallion stamp. I also had to liquidate the funds into a money market so they can transfer over. One of the accounts is taxable so I'll have to pay gains on it. It was a pain because Bank of America does not do medallion guarantee. Fortunately the local credit union offers the service.
The other retirement vehicle I've been using is my HSA which I can use for tax free payments of medical expenses or treat it like an IRA once you reach 65. The other cool thing is that I can save medical expenses that I pay out of pocket now and take them at a later point to withdraw tax free. This allows my HSA to grow more.
The bulk of her retirement savings are with Janus. I noticed that those funds have not grown as much as the funds with Vanguard, Fidelity, and Schwab. So I started the process of moving the funds from Janus to Vanguard. It's a bit of a pain because it requires her to fill out three transfer applications and a "two names are the same" form and go to a local bank to get a medallion stamp. I also had to liquidate the funds into a money market so they can transfer over. One of the accounts is taxable so I'll have to pay gains on it. It was a pain because Bank of America does not do medallion guarantee. Fortunately the local credit union offers the service.
The other retirement vehicle I've been using is my HSA which I can use for tax free payments of medical expenses or treat it like an IRA once you reach 65. The other cool thing is that I can save medical expenses that I pay out of pocket now and take them at a later point to withdraw tax free. This allows my HSA to grow more.
They have SWTSX which doesn't have a minimum and charges just .03%. That one is their total US stock market index fund.
edit: And it looks like they have SWISX for international developed which charges .06%.
Yup, Charles Schwab is a pretty good alternative. My boss has the S&P 500 one, SWPPX, and the fees are just .03% with no minimum.
My wife's employer offers a VERY generous 401k match (it's actually more like a match + additional 7% that employer contributes if you meet the minimum match of 5%, for total of 17% contribution per paycheck), however it is vested progressively over 4 years.
She definitely plans on staying at least that long so it's a pretty good deal, at least for now. I'm really worried about congress fucking us in the ass with this new tax package... it seems like it's designed specifically to hurt middle income earners in progressive states with high property taxes, which describes the Seattle area perfectly unfortunately.
I'm so wary about this shit, man...
She definitely plans on staying at least that long so it's a pretty good deal, at least for now. I'm really worried about congress fucking us in the ass with this new tax package... it seems like it's designed specifically to hurt middle income earners in progressive states with high property taxes, which describes the Seattle area perfectly unfortunately.
I'm so wary about this shit, man...
My company has a similar policy with 5 years to be fully vested. Luckily my time in Europe at the company counts so I will hit that 5 year mark in February 2018 :)
OP
OP
I almost forgot about this due to the upheaval in shifting between forums. I got laid off about a month ago when I was actually already looking for new employment due to it looking like the company was going down the drain. I can happily say that I'm going to be starting at Electronic Arts tomorrow, with a 23% pay increase from the previous job.
Proving once again, that in tech related jobs, the fastest way to grow income is to switch jobs.
Standing ready to accept blame for loot boxes.
Proving once again, that in tech related jobs, the fastest way to grow income is to switch jobs.
Standing ready to accept blame for loot boxes.
Congrats on the new gig Worm!
Browsed this thread casually back at the old place, but I've since started my first job out of college and started my 401k. Currently putting in 12% including my (somewhat "meh") company match, and decided to opt for the Roth. I currently have 60% allocated to the Fidelity 500, and then 10% each in mid cap/small cap/international indexes + the last 10% in bonds. I got to all of this after chatting with the "401k" guy in the office and felt pretty good about it, just wanted to see if there was anything else I should be keeping in mind.
Browsed this thread casually back at the old place, but I've since started my first job out of college and started my 401k. Currently putting in 12% including my (somewhat "meh") company match, and decided to opt for the Roth. I currently have 60% allocated to the Fidelity 500, and then 10% each in mid cap/small cap/international indexes + the last 10% in bonds. I got to all of this after chatting with the "401k" guy in the office and felt pretty good about it, just wanted to see if there was anything else I should be keeping in mind.
OP
OP
What purpose are those bonds serving?
Are they there to cushion your psychological blow if the market tanks and the money you have in the market dips by a 1/3rd? Or are they there for another purpose?
Understanding why you are or are not investing in bonds is an incredibly important question that if you fail to address has the chance to really screw you over if things in the market go south.
Page 2 and I am the first to mention Dave Ramsey? His whole thing is getting out of debt, so you can get to the retirement stage. Chris Hogan is a good resource in the Dave Ramsey tree.
OP
OP
He was definitely mentioned in the old thread a couple of times. We generally find that his advice is sort of for 'beginners', which is fine. He also has made some very questionable statements about expecting 12% annual return and then using that number to state that you can remove 8% of your nest egg every year in retirement. That sounds potentially catastrophic to me. I probably wouldn't recommend anyone to follow his advice, unless they can't psychologically handle a debt recovery method besides the debt snowball.
Glad to see you, Piecake. Huge grin when I saw that avatar.
Our company stock took off this week, so I sold another chunk to pay down the house. Slowly both unwinding the mortgage and company stock, which had accumulated; been dropping shares steadily for the past few years. Still tracking to pay off the mortgage next year (we're literally counting down payments now) and getting kinda excited about it.
Among the things I'm consdering doing when that happens is investing more into our HSA. I only recently learned about the advantages of treating an HSA like a 401K. I had no idea. We're almost maxed out on 401k contributions as it is, so that might be another outlet, though we currently have a pretty low annual contribution limit. Gonna investigate investment options.
Welp, the have Vanguard index funds in there, including the total market index.
Our company stock took off this week, so I sold another chunk to pay down the house. Slowly both unwinding the mortgage and company stock, which had accumulated; been dropping shares steadily for the past few years. Still tracking to pay off the mortgage next year (we're literally counting down payments now) and getting kinda excited about it.
Among the things I'm consdering doing when that happens is investing more into our HSA. I only recently learned about the advantages of treating an HSA like a 401K. I had no idea. We're almost maxed out on 401k contributions as it is, so that might be another outlet, though we currently have a pretty low annual contribution limit. Gonna investigate investment options.
Welp, the have Vanguard index funds in there, including the total market index.
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Also worth noting that some of his advice as it relates to investment choices runs directly counter to much of the foundational advice in this thread. This video is a good example of how he turns a question about index funds into a rambling non-answer about how fees don't actually matter very much, how index funds are a liberal conspiracy (?), and that "growth" funds are inherently superior to the point that a 401(k) plan with index offerings is straight-up bad.
Somewhat unrelated, but my wife and I are moving into a home soon and are dedicating some money each month towards home maintenance and repair costs. I was thinking of putting anything unused (as some months may have little to no expenses incurred while others the furnace breaks or something) into bonds so that it grows and can be safely drawn from when needed. We can probably fit it in a TFSA. If we're lucky and it starts growing beyond what we might need, we could switch excess over to our regular retirement savings.
Any suggestions for what bond fund to put it into? We are Canadian.
Any suggestions for what bond fund to put it into? We are Canadian.
Personally, I use ZAG for my bonds. It seemed to be the best choice. Congrats on the house!
Great to see you too!
Hopefully the rest of the regulars show up soon as well.
I just got an HSA as well with my new employer as well. I don't know much about HSA accounts, but as I am relatively young and have no sick little kids, I am also going to likely turn it into another 401k.
I think I might do a bit more research to get comfortable with what an HSA actually is and the differences between a 401k or an IRA, but I imagine that I am going to eventually invest in the US Stock Index Fund that my HSA offers.
Thanks! It's been a crazy week getting through the purchase and sale of our current place. :)
Good info. Thanks! I will admit I am a beginner at investing. Gotta start somewhere though.
Is there a Fidelity equivalent to the Vanguard funds used in the OP? This is what I have available.
So instead of putting that 10% into bonds I bought VGPMX (precious metals and mining) thinking that if the stock market has a downturn that will shoot up. How screwed am I?
Is there a Fidelity equivalent to the Vanguard funds used in the OP? This is what I have available.
You have some awesome options
I would recommend doing either doing one of the following. Option 1 is to invest in the following funds:
NT S&P 500 Index
Vang Ext MKT IDX INS
VANG TOT INTL STK IS
If you want to invest in bonds, go with BTC US DEBT IDX NL M
Option 2:
Invest in the Target Date fund that matches the year you plan on retiring.
You are only screwed if you sell during that market downturn.
I don't invest in bonds either. My thinking is that why do I care if the market crashes in 10 years? I am investing for a 30 year period and the market will recover and start making gains again soon.
I only plan on investing in bonds about 10 years before I retire. It is around that time that TIME stops being such an awesome hedge. Bonds are necessary during retirement because you will want to sell those instead of your stock during a market crash.
OP
OP
Hmm, what's the reasoning behind mining etc. being inversely correlated to the general market? I've never read much into precious metals and stuff.
I have some money with Wealthfront, one of the robo funds, which super diversifies your investments.
I just started so it hasn't moved much but you typically hear things like "80/20 stocks/bonds" and to only invest in the index funds. Though all of these except the Natural Resources are just Vanguard index funds. Is there any advantage in using one of these sites instead of just getting an account with Vanguard and buying them yourself? And does this super diversification end up being safer and/or more profitable in the long run?
I just started so it hasn't moved much but you typically hear things like "80/20 stocks/bonds" and to only invest in the index funds. Though all of these except the Natural Resources are just Vanguard index funds. Is there any advantage in using one of these sites instead of just getting an account with Vanguard and buying them yourself? And does this super diversification end up being safer and/or more profitable in the long run?
Fidelity has so many funds and I don't know which one works for me. https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/fidelity-funds/overview
I just want to put my money in a retirement account and forget about it for 40 years @_@.
Right now I have a bit of stocks here and there, mostly tech companies, and the rest in Fidelity bundles. I have FEQTX and it's doing okay, but I'm not sure if at the age of 30 I should keep going for the "income oriented" ones. Can I still be risky? I'm thinking Large Growth for now but I'm not really sure what the sub accounts really mean.
I just want to put my money in a retirement account and forget about it for 40 years @_@.
Right now I have a bit of stocks here and there, mostly tech companies, and the rest in Fidelity bundles. I have FEQTX and it's doing okay, but I'm not sure if at the age of 30 I should keep going for the "income oriented" ones. Can I still be risky? I'm thinking Large Growth for now but I'm not really sure what the sub accounts really mean.
If you really don't want to mess with the allocations yourself, just get a target date index fund. Pick when you are going to retire, and get the fund that comes closes to that date. The asset mix will slowly become more conservative as you get older so you won't have to touch it yourself.
I use that in my Vanguard Roth IRA - I only see actively managed ones on that Fidelity site which have a high expense ratio - not sure if they have target date index funds for non-institutional clients.
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