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...but the funds are 1) too many, 2) too loaded with costs, 3) seem designed to go through his brokerage preffered relationships.

Yes, yes, and yes. Your instincts are right. You can do much better than this.

This does not have to be all or nothing. There is nothing magic about having half your bonds in TIPS. There's really no "should" about TIPS either. If you want TIPS, just keep the amount that is easy to have.

Welcome to the forum! Some people don't like any type of debt and would pay off the mortgage. I probably would keep that mortgage since it is low interest to begin with and even lower when you consider the tax-deduction you get from the interest. There's a 3rd option - put that $350 into the bank so...

Here is some information for how to get your money into the market.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=86433&newpost=1239761

Nevertheless the fees are $15K when the owners withdraw only $60K. That's like a 20% tax on benefits of this portfolio. Ouch! It also brings the withdrawal rate up to just under 4%. If they are paying taxes on top of the $60k they need, that puts them OVER 4% - something that would need to be looke...

If these are funds with a load, this type of "churning" would make the "advisor" more money. But that's not really all you need to consider. You have not indicated that your parents want your help. They may not. The issue about there possibly being several heirs has been raised -...

I have stopped contributing to IRA as we don't qualify for Roth and money that was going towards traditional was allocated towards house down payment. I can pick that up again if we run out of tax deferred space, but so far that doesn't seem to be an issue. I'm new here, but I don't follow. I'm gen...

I just ran a comparison and I think it can matter. If stocks drop 50% in the early years and you have an aggressive allocation, that can be enough to drop the total balance below your contribution total. Thus, in either scenario, you can empty the Roth IRA in an extended emergency (right?) but if i...

It seems fine. At this point, with your portfolio being small, it does not matter a lot what you are invested in because your contributions grow the portfolio more than the return from your investments. Use this time to get accustomed to portfolio management and the ups and downs that occur regularl...

I agree....there is no point in continuing what you are doing. And you KNOW it is affecting your health. It is probably also affecting your family life.

Real answer: what does your spouse suggest?

All of the T Rowe Price Target Dates within my 401k have an ER of .78 which is why I didn't list them before, I didn't really view them as something I would invest in. In that case, I would not use this choice either. You're right part of the reason I was spooked was that it was too aggressive an a...

If you would show us your whole portfolio, it would be easy to show you how to rearrange it all into a 3 fund portfolio. To make things simple, we only need to know the percentage that each account represents - you can leave off all the funds. We do need to know the custodian for each account. You w...

-Based on the advice I received last time, I now have 20% international exposure for stocks between my 401k and the Wellington. Is that guideline only for stocks or should it be 20% of an overall portfolio? Generally, we talk about 20% of stocks (or 30% of stocks) as a percentage of the stock perce...

What you have is not really your best approach because it uses too many funds that have high expense ratios. It also does not achieve your desired asset allocation of 80% stock and 20% bonds. With a portfolio of $22k, consider this (noting that the numbers below are percentage of $22k): 401k 45.5% (...

Thanks, retiredjg--this is really helpful! If I'm planning on buying-and-holding (I'm in my 20s now, so this could be for many years), does it make sense to pay the most attention to the "10 Year" or "Since Inception" differences in before taxes/after taxes returns? I look at al...

Welcome to the forum! I feel like this negates the purpose as I will be spending $240 a year in fees alone! This is correct. There are certain fees that can be avoided and a transaction fee is one of them. Avoid transaction fees at (almost) all costs. In general, transaction fees are unnecessary and...

You are going to have to figure this out for yourself. It is not your AGI, but your modified AGI that counts. There are several modified AGIs - you need the one for Roth IRA eligibility. The IRS has a worksheet for that which is found here in Publication 590: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p590/ch0...

Divorce is a state issue - governed by state law. If she wants answers to her questions, she needs to contact an attorney (or interview several) who is licensed to practice in her state.

If I am looking at investing $110,000 in the taxable account, how would you divide that up? I already have $60,000 in the High Yield Tax Exempt Bond Fund. How much would you do into the Total Stock Market Index and how much into the International Stock Market Index? Would you use the mutual funds o...

dcw213 wrote:...but decided in late 2008 that I would not put a dollar in the stock market that I knew I would need in the next 5-10 years.

I think this was a good decision.

I apologize for the newbie question, but how do you calculate this (and where do you get the numbers from) It's a good question. For Vanguard funds, go to the fund, click on the price/performance tab, scroll down to "After-Tax Returns" After-tax returns—updated quarterly as of 03/31/2013 ...

Kitkat76 wrote:And do people have a general cut off for tax cost ratio whereby a fund is considered tax inefficient?

The cut off might vary for the type of fund (asset class) you are looking at. For me, I like to see things in the .2% to .3% range, but would use something up to about .6% if I needed to.

Which brings up the $17,500 that is going into Her Roth 401k. In the 28% tax bracket, it is likely that the better choice would be to use traditional 401k instead of Roth 401k. Why pay 28% on that money now when it is likely that she could pay less than 28% later? I double-checked. We're in the 25%...

I would appreciate any perspectives on the pros and cons of taking SOcial Security at 62 vs. 66 vs. 70 for a single person. I am 59 and trying to plan all matters associated with retirement. I read conflicting things RE: the financial benefits of taking SS early vs. later. When I ran Firecalc, ther...

In theory, you are right. But in reality, these two funds would not actually be apples to apples comparisons, although you might think you are comparing apples to apples. Two actively managed funds might seem similar but not be similar if their returns are that different. In that case, there is no a...

If you're asking about the yearly monies... for now, it's all employer profit sharing contributions. I'm not contributing anything to that account. Oh. I guess if you read what you wrote upthread very carefully, that is what you actually said. I had assumed the $22k included elective deferrals from...

I haven't been bright enough to understand why the 4% withdrawal rate runs out of money.... I'll take a stab at this in a simple sort of way. If I understand correctly, 4% withdrawal rates didn't deplete the portfolios looked at in the study if the portfolios had an adequate amount of stocks. But m...

Desired Asset Allocation : 60/40 Desired International: 50/50 Without changing His 401k or Her 401k (since I don't know what is available), here is an approximation of your desired AA. His Roth IRA 26% 1% Vanguard Total Stock (VTI) 5% Vanguard Total International 5% Vanguard REIT (VNQ) 15% Vanguard...

Seems like it would work. What do you plan to hold the money in for the year before you buy the Vanguard ETFs?

Where are your IRAs located?

Interest YTD on the Guaranteed Interest Account is 0.5%. <--too low for me; I'd go with the inflation bond Any opinions on the Acorn Fund (LACAX) at 1.11%? <--I probably wouldn't use it because there would be no purpose in using a higher cost mid-cap growth fund when a lower cost large cap blend fun...

Interesting. You seem to have things well in hand. A few comments. Her student loan, small- only $8k @ 5.85% balance. I'd knock this off right away. That is pretty high interest. Desired Asset Allocation : 60/40, although I feel like I may be too conservative for my age This is conservative for your...

I would use it up to the max if your other choice is taxable. Guaranteed Interest Account - 0.75 <--find out what this is paying; (NYL Guaranteed Interest Account) Inflation Protected Bond Fund (DIPAX) - 0.94 <--ugly, but usable (Delaware Inflation Protected Bond Fund (Class A)) MFS Mass Investors T...

Well... Here is how it stands. I'm a teacher. I have two 403b plans that are active. One is at Vanguard and one is at I**. I've not been able to contribute from my payroll since 2009. (I think.) You can't contribute at all or you can't contribute to the Vanguard account? I can't help with your othe...

I think clobbered is much too strong a word. Yes, your bonds will lose some value. Short term bonds will lose a little, intermediate term bonds will lose more, and long term bonds will lose the most. But then the fund turns around and starts paying you higher interest because interest rates have gon...

I've been sort of scratching my head on this. I'm not entirely sure my idea is much better than yours. Somehow, the bonds got left off your list of funds available in the 457. However, it is likely the Vanguard Total Bond is the best choice anyway, so I'll use that one. See if you like this idea: Ta...

Well, my first attempt got lost when the internet went out, so let me try this again. :annoyed I think about 35% stocks and 65% bonds is a reasonable number. That should be enough stocks to keep up with inflation. During market crashes, your portfolio should drop maybe 15% - 18%. Your husband's port...

This is a case of wanting too many things that all need to go into your Roth space. Something has to give. You either pay more to put the TIPS in your 401k or you dump something. Extra REIT is not necessary, just nice to have if you have room. International REIT is certainly not necessary, just nice...

You can take your contributions (not the earnings) out of your Roth IRA. It would be better to do that than to accrue loans if the loan interest is high like 6% or more. Ordinarily, it's not a great idea to raid your retirement accounts, but education is an exception in my mind if it prevents or red...

Assuming this is a lot of money it is an absolute no-brainer. Why? Well for the reasons you set forth in your (and others) more complete answer it seems to me. If this is a large amount of money then the risk of keeping it is too great relative to the tax pain whether it is 0%, 15%, or 20%. :oops: ...

Wiki administrator Barry Barnitz kindly sent me this Wiki article, part of which seems to apply to your question. Wiki article link: Fiduciary Transfers (be sure to read the footnotes and references) I gather there are 2 ways this type of exchange might occur - it does not have to be another provide...

matjen wrote:Assuming this is a lot of money it is an absolute no-brainer.

Why?

And your spouse's too?

Have you already made your Roth IRA contributions for 2013?

I think we need more information. 70% of a $10k portfolio is no big deal since that will change quickly as you make contributions. 70% of $100k is another thing entirely. And 70% of a million is just plain dangerous. Your tax bracket is also important. If you are in the 15% bracket, you could dump s...

I wonder if your payroll department even needs to be involved. Seems to me like it is between the two providers. This is purely speculation on my part and based on common sense, not fact.

I've hi-lighted the key words below in red. That's why you get to do this, I think. Hi retiredjg. I'm 46. I have two 403b plans. One with *** and another with Vanguard. My 403b account at Vanguard is active but not receiving new contributions. This is what Vanguard says on their exchange kit: Use th...

It is my understanding that you cannot take your elective deferral money out of a 403b account while still working there unless you are at least 59.5. So, it appears that you are over 59.5 years old and your 403b plan allows you to move the money out after reaching 59.5. Is that correct? If not, thi...

Welcome to the forum! You've got a lot of money saved up, no debt, and health and long term care insurance. It seems you should be very comfortable and have no financial worries. I am still working part time and plan to continue working indefinitely. Are you working because you want to? It appears y...

I also contacted Vanguard and learned that I can liquidate my investments and send it all to Vanguard in a "contract exchange". Apparently, there is no limit to these exchanges. I don't think I've ever heard of such a thing. I'm thinking there must be more to this or everyone would be doi...