finally all at vanguard questions

[Rosco]

Friends, you input was so appreciated when I struggled through a first post, etc and I thank you in advance if you give consideration to my Q. I'm finally all over to Vanguard and this is what I did. If you think part needs cleaned up... here goes. I'm 41, wife 38, 3 kids. Debt on a car at 0%. Assets all now at Vanguard are: emergency fund 9K in money market.
My salary 42,500 - wife stays at home
30K in taxable in tax managed balanced 50/50 stocks to bonds (.12) This is for anything like downpayment, emergency, etc. Not an account I'd like to lose a lot from or take too much risk with.
Traditional IRA 27K in ETF's (first thing I did so may be the ugliest): Reit, $1900; small cap,$400; sc value 450; Total Bond, 5300; TISM, 6700; TSM, 12.3K... the small cap stuff was just for the heck of it, the rest of it was to be 80/20 4 fund lazy portfolio.
My Roth 61K in Target Retirement 2030 80/20
Wife Roth 11K Target Retirement 2030 80/20
401k 9K (10% Wells Fargo Small Co Growth) 1.02; 10% Vanguard extended market inst .12; 20% VG inst. index fund .04; 20 %VG Int. stock index inst. .13; 40% VG total bond index inst .07)
My employer also has a home equity fund in my name with around 9K at 80/20 stocks to bonds.

The kids have 3 small utma accounts in life strategy 80/20 funds.
I will have a pension through my work along with social security (for what it's worth). Apart from the utma's, I have about 36K in bonds in those accounts. Should I be scrapping the etf account and going with a more 60/40 allocation with that account to get heavier on bonds? Or am I ok to relax after the chore of moving away from the former managed portfolio? Thanks for your time. SS

[NYBoglehead]

Rosco,

I'd get out of the Wells Fargo Small Cap Growth fund in the 401k. 1.02% ER is very high and you could do better elsewhere.

I'm not a big fan of ETFs, I don't see what having them in them as opposed to Admiral Shares offer for the Boglehead investor.

As far as your AA, it all depends on your risk tolerance and how much you expect to need from the portfolio. You said you have a pension plan at work. You need to look at your expected benefit and SS benefit and determine the size you need your nest egg to grow to.

[chaz]

Lower ERs help big over your next 30 years.

[Rosco]

ok so if i get rid of wells fargo... and wanted this 401k to tilt would you just put 20% in the VG extended market? There weren't a lot of low er options... etf's - just didn't have the $ to get admiral shares and a 4 fund portfolio... now i'm not at all sure i need the reit. Only about 1800/yr will go into the 401k accounts, but about $10K will go into the target retirement accounts for me and wife... that's why i wonder if i should hold the etf's for a year and then sell and get some bonds in the traditional ira??? SS

[BL]

I would also suggest getting rid of expensive Wells Fargo fund in 401k.

Use just Vanguard funds in 401k. Get rid of REIT and small caps in taxable which are too risky for possible short-term needs and are not the best in taxable anyway. ( With your income and deductions, it probably doesn't matter yet that you have bonds in Taxable.)

Edt: Sorry, I had taxable on my mind. Simplifying IRA also makes sense but not for reasons I gave.

[Rosco]

With my taxable I now have only VG Tax Managed Balanced, no reit or small

[BL]

With my taxable I now have only VG Tax Managed Balanced, no reit or small

Sounds good to me!

[retiredjg]

Rosco, I looked back at your previous threads and see that you've made several attempts to get help and recommendations for a portfolio. However, none of your posts has actually contained all the information needed and it appears that nobody has shown you how to present your information in a way that makes it easy to assist you. You're headed in the right direction with your portfolio, but just not really there yet.

I really think you would benefit from presenting all the information in a form that makes it easier to help you. The link below (called Asking Portfolio Questions) will show you how to do that. You can start a new thread or you can use the edit button on your original post (in this thread) to add the needed information.

If you have questions for how to do this, just ask.

[soaring]

Rosco, I looked back at your previous threads and see that you've made several attempts to get help and recommendations for a portfolio. However, none of your posts has actually contained all the information needed and it appears that nobody has shown you how to present your information in a way that makes it easy to assist you. You're headed in the right direction with your portfolio, but just not really there yet.

I really think you would benefit from presenting all the information in a form that makes it easier to help you. The link below (called Asking Portfolio Questions) will show you how to do that. You can start a new thread or you can use the edit button on your original post (in this thread) to add the needed information.

If you have questions for how to do this, just ask.

Once in a while I have to say.........This is such a great forum!!

[chaz]

Rosco, I looked back at your previous threads and see that you've made several attempts to get help and recommendations for a portfolio. However, none of your posts has actually contained all the information needed and it appears that nobody has shown you how to present your information in a way that makes it easy to assist you. You're headed in the right direction with your portfolio, but just not really there yet.

I really think you would benefit from presenting all the information in a form that makes it easier to help you. The link below (called Asking Portfolio Questions) will show you how to do that. You can start a new thread or you can use the edit button on your original post (in this thread) to add the needed information.

If you have questions for how to do this, just ask.

Once in a while I have to say.........This is such a great forum!!

It is.

[Rosco]

Thank you all. I'll try to follow the link and get a more useful question... I'm deeply appreciative of any time you're willing to spend, so please forgive my less helpful efforts to express!

[retiredjg]

Roscoe, there's really nothing wrong with your efforts. You just have not known exactly what we need.

Sometimes we don't ask for all this information. Sometimes it is not all needed for a general type question. However, it would be helpful now because your questions are more specific than when you started out.