Search found 17 matches

by surlygent
Mon Mar 18, 2013 3:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: SEP to i401k transfer?
Replies: 9
Views: 1128

Re: SEP to i401k transfer?

Spoke to TD Ameritrade and as stated above, they do no tax reporting. Does not sound like a very good option.

So I am left either opening the solo 401k with Vanguard paying the (relatively significant) difference in cost for Investor vs. Admiral shares with no rollover option.

Or opening at Fidelity and using Fidelity Funds with comparable costs to Vanguards Admiral shares.

Seeing how I can rollover my existing SEP to Fidelity and still buy the ETF class of any Vanguard funds (for $8/per) that seems the option I will go for.
by surlygent
Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: SEP to i401k transfer?
Replies: 9
Views: 1128

Re: SEP to i401k transfer?

Thanks for the good advice. My situation is that I recently created an S-Corp for myself, and would like to take advantage of the employee/employer contributions and their potential tax advantages over my SEP. I will make enough yearly to max out either SEP or i401k, so that is not really the consideration, its just how the contributions are made. I had thought of opening the i401k with Fidelity as one does have access to their Spartan low-cost funds, but I currently am investing all of my small-value allocation in my SEP and there is not a good low-cost option available at Fidelity, so I would need to start investing in my taxable to cover that allocation (doing some research, that might not be all that bad as it seems to be relatively tax...
by surlygent
Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: SEP to i401k transfer?
Replies: 9
Views: 1128

SEP to i401k transfer?

I currently have a SEP with Vanguard with all Admiral share mutual funds (total stock, small value, total bond). Unfortunately, Vanguard does not allow Admiral shares in their individual 401k plan and they also do not allow transfers/rollovers into their i401k. So, in the effort to consolidate and keep everything neat and tidy (meaning I don't want to keep both a sep AND a new i401k) I was thinking of the following options: 1) Sell everything in the SEP and then put that straight into my new i401k with Vanguard (I assume I can do this without any tax considerations as long as its done within 30 days?) This will allow me to keep everything as mutual funds (auto investing is nice) and with Vanguard (so I can keep my 'status' with them), plus ...
by surlygent
Wed Feb 13, 2013 2:43 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Getting off the sidelines
Replies: 13
Views: 2383

Re: Getting off the sidelines

I had about the same amount of cash sitting sideline as well.

Decided to jump in with half last week and the other half over the rest of the year.

Simple three fund portfolio, with an added small cap tilt was the AA I decided on.
by surlygent
Wed Feb 06, 2013 11:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Looking for slice an' dice portfolio feedback
Replies: 19
Views: 2388

Re: Looking for slice an' dice portfolio feedback

I have been somewhat in a similar situation, read lots about slice-n-dice and the three fund portfolio and was going back and forth. I ended up here for simplicity: 20% VTI 20% VBR 20% VXUS 20% VSS 20% BND Decided against VWO as both VXUS and VSS have ~20% emerging markets. Decided against adding US mid-cap just for simplicity sake, less to rebalance. Decided against REITs as they seem a bit expensive at the moment, and I am not convinced that adding them would really make much difference in the long run, so again, for simplicity sake, left them out. Was a hard decision to go from a very slice-diced approach to this pretty simple, straightforward 'tilted' approach. But I am happy with it as the more I read about the simple 3-fund portfolio ...
by surlygent
Tue Jan 29, 2013 5:23 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: FINALLY decided on a portfolio.
Replies: 5
Views: 1083

Re: FINALLY decided on a portfolio.

No problem, If you don't need the money before retirement, I don't think it matters where you place your equities. My only point was that you might want to be more consistent between taxable and retirement with your equities in case you need the money before retirement. It would probably be easiest to just split Total Stock, Total International and Total Small Cap half and half between taxable and SEP IRA, if you have the flexibility to do that. Then put all your bonds in SEP IRA. I think in a perfect world it would look like this: Taxable: Total Stock: 12.5% Small Cap: 12.5% Total International: 25% Total Bond: 0% SEP IRA: Total Stock: 7.5% Small Cap: 7.5% Total International: 15% Total Bond: 20% This way you have the same equity mix in t...
by surlygent
Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:19 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: FINALLY decided on a portfolio.
Replies: 5
Views: 1083

Re: FINALLY decided on a portfolio.

Looks good to me as long as two things are true: 1) You're young and 2) You don't plan on needing any of the money in taxable in the next 15 years. You are 50/50 US/international, which I think is okay although most would recommend 20-40% of equities in International. Also, I would recommend switching up what you hold in taxable. Right now, it looks like 80% of your taxable portfolio will be in Total International. Maybe split Total International between taxable and IRA so that your US/international mix of stocks is more consistent across taxable and retirement, in case you need to touch taxable prior to retirement. Obviously leave total bond in your IRA. Thanks for the good advice - I will start to split up my Total Int. btwn taxable/SEP ...
by surlygent
Tue Jan 29, 2013 4:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: FINALLY decided on a portfolio.
Replies: 5
Views: 1083

FINALLY decided on a portfolio.

Thanks to everyone on this site for all the amazing advice and help. After lots of back and forth, and assessing my actual risk desire and overall long term management of a portfolio I have settled on the following: 20% - VTSAX - Vanguard Total Stock Admiral (split btwn taxable and SEP IRA) 20% - VSIAX - Vanguard Small-Cap Value Admiral (in SEP IRA) 40% - VTIAX - Vanguard Total International Admiral (in taxable) 20% - VBTLX - Vanguard Total Bond Admiral (in SEP IRA) I am going with all mfunds so I can put future monthly contributions on autopilot and not have to look that often - can always switch to EFTs in the future if so desired. After a lot of reading, I decided I wanted a bit of small-cap tilt but keep the portfolio as simple as possi...
by surlygent
Sun Jan 27, 2013 6:56 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: International Allocation
Replies: 13
Views: 2639

Re: International Allocation

Thanks all for the advice. Hearing everyones thoughts and looking more into the specifics of each holding, #2 seems to be the winner. I originally missed the fact that VSS also holds ~26% EM, so along with the ~24% in VXUS, I think I should be set with EM. And I do like the slight additional ease of 2 vs 3 funds. Your reasoning seems off. VXUS is all inclusive by ALL CAP Market Weight. VSS is Mid-Small Cap by Market weight. IF you choose to hold VXUS, you should add VSS only to the extent that you want an overweight Mid-Small. Unless you want to overweight Emerging Mkts (large caps, by the way) as in option #1, EM plays no other role in any of this with regards to Market Weights. Thanks for the help clarifying, it is my goal to tilt/overwe...
by surlygent
Sun Jan 27, 2013 2:31 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: International Allocation
Replies: 13
Views: 2639

Re: International Allocation

Thanks all for the advice. Hearing everyones thoughts and looking more into the specifics of each holding, #2 seems to be the winner. I originally missed the fact that VSS also holds ~26% EM, so along with the ~24% in VXUS, I think I should be set with EM. And I do like the slight additional ease of 2 vs 3 funds.
by surlygent
Sun Jan 27, 2013 12:10 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Lump Sum
Replies: 6
Views: 1074

Re: Lump Sum

I am kind of in the same situation, and am just lump summing half of it and then the rest monthly over 6 months.

The market IS pretty hot right now, but I am not about to guess what its going to do, so figure now is as good a time as any to jump in.
by surlygent
Sat Jan 26, 2013 8:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: International Allocation
Replies: 13
Views: 2639

Re: International Allocation

True VXUS does have ~25% em already. But looking long term, there is still a certain appeal in the potential with em... but not sure if its enough to add as its own allocation.

The other thing though is that option 2 has more than double exposure to US stocks (according to Morningstar x-ray, although still only 12% vs 5%), so if I am going for more of a 'true' ex-US, option 1 seems the way to go...
by surlygent
Sat Jan 26, 2013 3:49 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: International Allocation
Replies: 13
Views: 2639

International Allocation

I know this has been discussed in other threads (but they were older and VXUS has more history now), but...

Assuming:
- Intl. allocation held 100% in taxable account (38% tax bracket)
- Intl. accounting for 45% of total AA
- A desire to tilt small
- Long-term buy/accumulate/hold (15+yrs)
- All held at Vanguard so no purchase fees

Which would you rather own and the reasoning for why:

1)
33.3% VEA (Vanguard MSCI EAFE ETF - .12)
33.3% VSS (FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF - .28)
33.3% VWO (Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF - .20)

2)
50% VXUS (Vanguard Total International ETF - .21)
50% VSS (FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF - .28)
by surlygent
Fri Jan 25, 2013 8:49 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: First Timer - Portfolio Plan Help
Replies: 5
Views: 837

Re: First Timer - Portfolio Plan Help

After talking to Sharebuilder more it seems they place your automatic ETF order as a market order mid-day on the day you have set-up for your auto investment.

While I would set-up my purchases as a limit order and watch them the day I plan to purchase, I doubt in the long run that an automatic mid-day market order will matter too much?...

The other option of VBS/TD Ameritrade/etc. and having to purchase these funds actively every month is a bit turn off to me (call me lazy if you want!)...

Other option is to forget the VEA/VWO/VSS split and just go for VTIAX (VXUS mfund admiral equiv) with Vanguard.
by surlygent
Fri Jan 25, 2013 1:13 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Who here uses an online savings account?
Replies: 19
Views: 3479

Re: Who here uses an online savings account?

I have been using ING Direct (now Capital One 360) for years. Have both and online checking and online savings account. Not as great an APY as it used to be currently at .75% but they have a very user friendly website and easy to set up transfers/trades/etc.

Being self-employeed I sometimes end up with lots of cash reserved for taxes sitting in the bank, so might as well earn a (very) little bit off it.

I have been looking into Ally Bank (think their APY is .95%) as well and might switch to them at some point depending on what Capital One does to ING over the next .5 year.
by surlygent
Thu Jan 24, 2013 7:45 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: First Timer - Portfolio Plan Help
Replies: 5
Views: 837

Re: First Timer - Portfolio Plan Help

FinancialDave wrote:I actually like your asset allocation and choice of funds, though I am a little concerned with the transaction costs in the sharebuilder account. Even $4 per investment adds up.

I am a fan of zero transaction costs.

fd
It would be $12 total/month for the Sharebuilder account. Guess it comes down to if the $144/year is worth the convenience of those investments being on autopilot - for myself I would say yes.

No issues you would be concerned about as far as how those automatic ETF purchases are actually executed with Sharebuilder?
by surlygent
Thu Jan 24, 2013 3:43 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: First Timer - Portfolio Plan Help
Replies: 5
Views: 837

First Timer - Portfolio Plan Help

Hello Bogleheads, Finally think I am ready to invest a sizable chunk of money (to me at least) that has been sitting in a online savings for a few year while I was off being irresponsible with my savings/retirement plans. Its time to get serious and jump in and this site has been invaluable with information. I think I have my plan as below, but have a few basic questions and general request for advice. Emergency funds: 8 months Debt: None Tax Filing Status: Single Tax Rate: 2012 35% Federal, 9.3% State / 2013 probably 33% Federal. State of Residence: CA Age: 34 Desired Asset allocation: 85% stocks / 15% bonds Desired International allocation: 45% of stocks Low-six figure portfolio total. PLANNED retirement assets: Taxable (Sharebuilder) 20%...