Redid my portfolio, please comment!

[WHL]

Hey all,

Thanks to advice I received here and other places, I've recently changed my portfolio. I still have questions but mainly wanted everyone to take a look at my current direction and let me know what y'all think.

Old thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=106769

Emergency funds: more than enough, see below
Debt: none
Tax Filing Status: single, one
Tax Rate: Federal: 25% / State: none
State of Residence: Texas
Age: 31
Desired Asset allocation: Currently 75/25
Desired International allocation: Currently 25% of equities
Income: $77,000 base + $9000 car allowance + $13,000 bonus potential
Other: Single, renter, no dependents, good medical health

Current contributions:

$192.30 / week Series-I savings bonds (will hit cap)
$336.54 / week 401k (23%; will hit cap)

Cash savings:

Total Assets: $18102.94
Chase: $2957.28
ING: $15145.66

Investments:

Physical silver: 158oz, $5248.76

Vanguard:
Total Assets = $154,383.29

Traditional IRA total = $96,509.99

VTSAX US Total Market - $67,757.85 (57% of equities, 44% of portfolio)
VTIAX International Total Market - $28,748.14 (25% of equities, 19% of portfolio)

Roth IRA Total = $37,877.30

VBTLX Total Bond Market - $37,877.30 (100% of bonds, 25% of portfolio)

Individual Total = $20,000.00

VTSAX US Total Market - $10,000.00 (9% of equities, 6% of portfolio)
VTIAX International Total Market - $10,000.00 (9% of equities, 6% of portfolio)

Treasury Direct:

Series-I savings bonds = $492.xx (not included in calculations above)

Hopefully this is all easy enough to read. A few notes:

I have included the full 2013 Roth IRA contribution in the above numbers as it will be contributed 100% into VBTLX on January 1st.
I did not include my current I-bond holdings into the figures.

A few questions:

1. My 401k plan allows in-service rollovers, but does not allow post-tax contributions after hitting the yearly maximum. Can anyone suggest reasons why I shouldn't roll my balance into my tIRA yearly to take advantage of better AA and ER's?

2. Is it worth intentionally over-paying taxes towards the end of the year in order to purchase more I-bonds with my tax refund? As I claim single & 1, I typically get a refund of around $800.

3. I currently spend 50% of my time traveling for work, and 50% working from home. My company provided the IT items I use daily. Is it worth my time trying to determine expenses and use them on my tax return? (apt. rent, electricity)

4. Below are my options for the company-sponsored 401k plan. Should I contribute to the Explorer AND 500 Index funds? I do not feel the need to add bonds in my 401k because as I make my weekly purchase of I-bonds, I will slowly become bond-heavy against my desired AA.

GSXAX (1.65%) Aberdeen Small Cap Fund (A)
BEQAX (0.95%) American Century Equity Growth Fund (A)
RAFCX (1.05%) American Funds AMCAP Fund (R3)
RERCX (1.13%) American Funds EuroPacific Growth Fund (R3)
GSMSX (1.26%) Goldman Sachs Mid Cap Value Fund (Svc)
ACSRX (1.09%) Invesco Van Kampen Cornstock Fund (R)
OIEIX (1.22%) JPMorgan Equity Income Fund (A)
MCVRX (1.51%) MFS Mid Cap Value Fund (R2)
TRSAX (0.93%) T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund (Adv)
TEMFX (1.19%) Templeton Foreign Fund (A)
FOGRX (1.31%) Tributary Growth Opportunities Fund (I)
VFINX (0.17%) Vanguard 500 Index Fund (Inv)
VEXPX (0.49%) Vanguard Explorer Fund (Inv)
WEHIX (1.28%) Weitz Hickory Fund
AIAVX (0.73%) Am. Century Inflation-Adj. Bond Fund (A)
GSCSX (0.97%) Goldman Sachs Core Fixed Income Fund (Svc)
PTTAX (0.85%) PIMCO Total Return Fund (A)
VBMFX (0.19%) Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (Inv)
no ticker (0.50%) ABN AMRO Income Plus Fund (A)

Again, thanks for the help, everyone. I've definitely learned a lot in my short time here, and hope to continue the education.

[BolderBoy]

Hey all,

1. My 401k plan allows in-service rollovers, but does not allow post-tax contributions after hitting the yearly maximum. Can anyone suggest reasons why I shouldn't roll my balance into my tIRA yearly to take advantage of better AA and ER's?

3. I currently spend 50% of my time traveling for work, and 50% working from home. My company provided the IT items I use daily. Is it worth my time trying to determine expenses and use them on my tax return? (apt. rent, electricity)

4. Below are my options for the company-sponsored 401k plan. Should I contribute to the Explorer AND 500 Index funds? I do not feel the need to add bonds in my 401k because as I make my weekly purchase of I-bonds, I will slowly become bond-heavy against my desired AA.

VFINX (0.17%) Vanguard 500 Index Fund (Inv)
VEXPX (0.49%) Vanguard Explorer Fund (Inv)
VBMFX (0.19%) Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (Inv)

Again, thanks for the help, everyone. I've definitely learned a lot in my short time here, and hope to continue the education.

I'm a noob, but would like to congratulate you on what looks like a well done financial plan.

1. It sorta looks like you are going with a core 3-Fund portfolio, yes? If so Total Stk Market Indx will get you a bit better diversification than 500 Index + Explorer, so if the in-service rollovers are easy to do, why not...

3. Are you an employee or self-employed? If an employee, what will tracking those expenses get you?

4. You certainly have adequate Vanguard choices in the employer's plan, if you must.

Congratulations!

[WHL]

Hey all,

1. My 401k plan allows in-service rollovers, but does not allow post-tax contributions after hitting the yearly maximum. Can anyone suggest reasons why I shouldn't roll my balance into my tIRA yearly to take advantage of better AA and ER's?

3. I currently spend 50% of my time traveling for work, and 50% working from home. My company provided the IT items I use daily. Is it worth my time trying to determine expenses and use them on my tax return? (apt. rent, electricity)

4. Below are my options for the company-sponsored 401k plan. Should I contribute to the Explorer AND 500 Index funds? I do not feel the need to add bonds in my 401k because as I make my weekly purchase of I-bonds, I will slowly become bond-heavy against my desired AA.

VFINX (0.17%) Vanguard 500 Index Fund (Inv)
VEXPX (0.49%) Vanguard Explorer Fund (Inv)
VBMFX (0.19%) Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (Inv)

Again, thanks for the help, everyone. I've definitely learned a lot in my short time here, and hope to continue the education.

I'm a noob, but would like to congratulate you on what looks like a well done financial plan.

1. It sorta looks like you are going with a core 3-Fund portfolio, yes? If so Total Stk Market Indx will get you a bit better diversification than 500 Index + Explorer, so if the in-service rollovers are easy to do, why not...

3. Are you an employee or self-employed? If an employee, what will tracking those expenses get you?

4. You certainly have adequate Vanguard choices in the employer's plan, if you must.

Congratulations!

1. Definitely 3 fund plus I-bonds. If its a good idea I will definitely rollover yearly (maybe more?) to get the funds into my tIRA, but need suggestions for current 401k funds.

3. Employee. Not sure I understand your question? EDIT: okay, I get what you were asking. The expenses should be able to be used as a tax write off, though I'm not sure to what extent. That's what I need help with.

4. Yeah, better than a lot I've seen, but I'm still going to email the plan administrator and see if we can get some changes.

[sometimesinvestor]

Since your 401k plan is decent a case for NOT rolling over into an IRA is that at some point in the future you may be so sucessful that you will be earning too much money for a Roth IRA. In that case it would make perfect sense to do a backdoor Roth (see many threads on this) but that will not be a good option if you have lots of money in a traditional IRA.

[ram]

Since your 401k plan is decent a case for NOT rolling over into an IRA is that at some point in the future you may be so sucessful that you will be earning too much money for a Roth IRA. In that case it would make perfect sense to do a backdoor Roth (see many threads on this) but that will not be a good option if you have lots of money in a traditional IRA.

Agree.

Your plan looks fine to me.
Having the Vanguard stok and bond index in the 401 k choices helps considerably

[Default User BR]

1. My 401k plan allows in-service rollovers, but does not allow post-tax contributions after hitting the yearly maximum. Can anyone suggest reasons why I shouldn't roll my balance into my tIRA yearly to take advantage of better AA and ER's?

At your age, it is against the law to take in-service rollovers of employee elective deferrals or designated Roth contributions. It is possible that the plan could allow employer contributions to be rolled out. Did you read this in the plan documents? If so, could you quote exactly what it says? If not, request a copy.


Brian