Search found 70 matches

by Rad-1
Sat May 27, 2023 3:16 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard "Customized View" changed somehow
Replies: 7
Views: 1817

Re: Vanguard "Customized View" changed somehow

Yep I am using Firefox. I have also tried chrome and edge and same thing happens.
by Rad-1
Sat May 27, 2023 3:03 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard "Customized View" changed somehow
Replies: 7
Views: 1817

Re: Vanguard "Customized View" changed somehow

My family has several accounts at Vanguard that I have access to. I use the Vanguard "Customized View" to display only the assets that I want to see when I'm on the web site viewing things. This same customized view controls which assets are included when I download current holdings from the Vanguard site. Within the past 10 days or so my customized view was changed causing several assets to no longer appear when I view or download current assets. I'm the only person with the access to do this from my family - and I didn't do it. This was easy to fix, but I found it quite disturbing. Vanguard claims that they find no record of it being edited in their logs, but they are still looking into it. My question to the group: Has anyone ...
by Rad-1
Sun May 14, 2023 8:32 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Vanguard "Customized View" changed somehow
Replies: 7
Views: 1817

Re: Vanguard "Customized View" changed somehow

I am having the same issues. Won’t save my custom settings. Gives me an error to try again later. Been this way for months now. Super annoying Vanguard. Please fix!
by Rad-1
Wed Feb 16, 2022 10:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

This plan does. It allows you to allocate the contributions separately to each type.
by Rad-1
Wed Feb 16, 2022 9:33 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

Ok I am trying to setup my contribution settings in my employer 401k. Can anyone here make a recommendation as to how I can setup my 401k contributions so that my bonds go to the pre tax side? I am contributing 6% to the Roth side of my plan. My company matches 10% (6% enhanced, 4% match) to pre tax. If I wanted to set my allocations 70/30 stocks/bonds to this account how would I do this with the following funds for the contributions when part is going to Roth and the other to pre tax? This is the first time I have had to do this with this allocation: 56 - Russell 3000 index 14 - Intl Equity index 30 - SSGA US Bond Fund index fund I know I need to set the Roth contribution to Russell 3000 at 100%. But how about the others? Trying to make se...
by Rad-1
Tue Feb 15, 2022 9:14 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

Fidelity is the plan manager and I can either go with Vanguard Target Date Trust Fund 2035 in this plan with a 0.045% ER or select my own allocation using cheap Blackrock and State Street index funds they offer in the plan. . . . . . For my boglehead three fund portfolio 70/30 strategy was thinking about allocating; 56% - Blackrock Russell 3000 Index fund 14% - Blackrock Intl Equity Index fund 30% - State Street US Bond Index Anybody see any issues or have any concerns with the funds listed or this approach? What is your opinion on this three fund portfolio strategy vs Target Date fund? Those are excellent index fund choices, very diversified with extremely low expense ratios. BlackRock and State Street are both excellent fund companies, B...
by Rad-1
Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:23 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Provider Recommendation
Replies: 32
Views: 2695

Re: HSA Provider Recommendation

Can you rollover an existing HSA and open a new HSA account with Fidelity even if you aren’t currently in an employer HsA plan? I have benefit wallet now and they charge $2.90 a month for the HSA account. If Fidelity HSA is free I would love to move my hsa money over to them.
I am trying to let this account grow long term.
by Rad-1
Mon Feb 14, 2022 10:02 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

Hi Tom, I wanted to respond as I’m 99% sure we both work for the same employer :happy. I use a mix of both the target retirement and index funds you’ve listed. The Target Date funds have 40% of their equity in international stock (like all Vanguard ones), so you’ll probably want to stick to the index funds to meet your desired asset allocation. One thing to note is that the Target Date funds just switched to a lower expense class in January, so the fund histories on the Fidelity site could be a bit wonky… The employer match will count as pretax contributions, so it’s a good idea to place your bond holdings there. Note that the employer match will show up as two Sources on the Fidelity website — Company Match and Enhanced Contribution. You’...
by Rad-1
Mon Feb 14, 2022 9:18 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

I should also mention I opened two vanguard 529 accounts for my grand daughters but I am not currently funding them. Opened each with $3k so they could start enjoying compound interest now. This was something I felt strongly about doing.
by Rad-1
Mon Feb 14, 2022 9:03 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

For tax efficiency, I keep 100% of my US stock funds in my Roth, brokerage account, and HSA. Almost all of my fixed income allocation and international allocation are in my 401k pretax and my traditional IRA. I consider my overall portfolio as 60/40. And before a sharp minded fellow BH points out the obvious, this does mean that my 60/40 us allocation is effectively weighted more aggressively, since taxes will be due on all my pre-tax accounts, and not the Roth, HSA, or (due to tax gain harvesting) the taxable brokerage accounts. This is obviously less simple to manage, but worth considering depending on the relative size of your Roth and HSA accounts compared to your pretax. Btw JediMisty. Appreciate you shedding light on this tax issue f...
by Rad-1
Sun Feb 13, 2022 6:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

For tax efficiency, I keep 100% of my US stock funds in my Roth, brokerage account, and HSA. Almost all of my fixed income allocation and international allocation are in my 401k pretax and my traditional IRA. I consider my overall portfolio as 60/40. And before a sharp minded fellow BH points out the obvious, this does mean that my 60/40 us allocation is effectively weighted more aggressively, since taxes will be due on all my pre-tax accounts, and not the Roth, HSA, or (due to tax gain harvesting) the taxable brokerage accounts. This is obviously less simple to manage, but worth considering depending on the relative size of your Roth and HSA accounts compared to your pretax. Btw JediMisty. Appreciate you shedding light on this tax issue f...
by Rad-1
Sun Feb 13, 2022 6:35 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

One last question for you all. Is it critical for me to put my Total Intl allocation in the Pre Tax side to help optimize tax efficiently? Based on the blog reference doesn’t look like tax advantaged pre tax matters very much. Wouldn’t the intl stocks be considered high growth so wouldn’t I want these in my Roth accounts? I understand all of my Total Bond fund allocations moving over to the pretax side. But how much does Intl matter? Thanks again for everyone’s help here. Really appreciate it. :happy FYI - I just found a cool app on the Iphone App Store to help with rebalancing for passive investors called “SixetyForty”. One time $3 purchase to help support the developer. Might be beneficial for some of you rather than trying to maintain a...
by Rad-1
Sun Feb 13, 2022 3:00 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

One last question for you all. Is it critical for me to put my Total Intl allocation in the Pre Tax side to help optimize tax efficiently? Based on the blog reference doesn’t look like tax advantaged pre tax matters very much. Wouldn’t the intl stocks be considered high growth so wouldn’t I want these in my Roth accounts? I understand all of my Total Bond fund allocations moving over to the pretax side. But how much does Intl matter? Thanks again for everyone’s help here. Really appreciate it. :happy FYI - I just found a cool app on the Iphone App Store to help with rebalancing for passive investors called “SixetyForty”. One time $3 purchase to help support the developer. Might be beneficial for some of you rather than trying to maintain a ...
by Rad-1
Sun Feb 13, 2022 1:25 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

You will be fine either way because the new 401(k) there’s no tax implication for changing your mind. Since you’re already using the three fund portfolio, I would go with that. Yeah unless someone else here gives me a compelling reason sounds like I should just stick with this strategy. It’s just hard for me to trust a fund that doesn’t have a ticker symbol I can track. That’s my only reservation really. The fund with no ticker symbol is a collective investment trust. They're actually cheaper to run since they're only available through 401k-type plans. There's a lot less paperwork they have to file since there are no retail investors. There are no issues investing with these vs the equivalent mutual fund. Ok great! That’s good to know.
by Rad-1
Sun Feb 13, 2022 1:34 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

For tax efficiency, I keep 100% of my US stock funds in my Roth, brokerage account, and HSA. Almost all of my fixed income allocation and international allocation are in my 401k pretax and my traditional IRA. I consider my overall portfolio as 60/40. And before a sharp minded fellow BH points out the obvious, this does mean that my 60/40 us allocation is effectively weighted more aggressively, since taxes will be due on all my pre-tax accounts, and not the Roth, HSA, or (due to tax gain harvesting) the taxable brokerage accounts. This is obviously less simple to manage, but worth considering depending on the relative size of your Roth and HSA accounts compared to your pretax. Btw JediMisty. Appreciate you shedding light on this tax issue f...
by Rad-1
Sun Feb 13, 2022 1:12 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: HSA Provider Recommendation
Replies: 32
Views: 2695

Re: HSA Provider Recommendation

Benefit Wallet offers a good passive lineup as well. Vanguard Total Stock, Total International Stock, and Total Bond index funds all offered in this plan.
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 10:47 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

Ok got it! That’s great advise. Thanks allot!
:sharebeer
Cheers,
-Tom
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 10:34 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

The only major challenge I see with this strategy is most of the growth will occur on the Roth side if all of my stocks are held here. Which means my AA would frequently become out of whack on my pre tax bond side. I would have to Roth convert and pay taxes on large sums of money to keep this in check every year when I rebalance right? Well no, you probably don't want to Roth convert while working unless you are in a low tax bracket. It's a strategy not a hard and fast rule. Meaning, target stocks to your Roth accounts but you probably will still have stocks in tax deferred accounts. Especially if maxing out a 401K. However, more than likely by doing this you will have more tax free Roth money than by holding the same AA in all accounts wh...
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:51 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

The only major challenge I see with this strategy is most of the growth will occur on the Roth side if all of my stocks are held here. Which means my AA would frequently become out of whack on my pre tax bond side. I would have to Roth convert and pay taxes on large sums of money to keep this in check every year when I rebalance right?
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:46 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

For tax efficiency, I keep 100% of my US stock funds in my Roth, brokerage account, and HSA. Almost all of my fixed income allocation and international allocation are in my 401k pretax and my traditional IRA. I consider my overall portfolio as 60/40. And before a sharp minded fellow BH points out the obvious, this does mean that my 60/40 us allocation is effectively weighted more aggressively, since taxes will be due on all my pre-tax accounts, and not the Roth, HSA, or (due to tax gain harvesting) the taxable brokerage accounts. This is obviously less simple to manage, but worth considering depending on the relative size of your Roth and HSA accounts compared to your pretax. Ok hadn’t thought about the tax implications. That’s a good poin...
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:38 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

Wiggums wrote: Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:19 pm You will be fine either way because the new 401(k) there’s no tax implication for changing your mind. Since you’re already using the three fund portfolio, I would go with that.
Yeah unless someone else here gives me a compelling reason sounds like I should just stick with this strategy. It’s just hard for me to trust a fund that doesn’t have a ticker symbol I can track. That’s my only reservation really.
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:36 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

For tax efficiency, I keep 100% of my US stock funds in my Roth, brokerage account, and HSA. Almost all of my fixed income allocation and international allocation are in my 401k pretax and my traditional IRA. I consider my overall portfolio as 60/40. And before a sharp minded fellow BH points out the obvious, this does mean that my 60/40 us allocation is effectively weighted more aggressively, since taxes will be due on all my pre-tax accounts, and not the Roth, HSA, or (due to tax gain harvesting) the taxable brokerage accounts. This is obviously less simple to manage, but worth considering depending on the relative size of your Roth and HSA accounts compared to your pretax. Ok hadn’t thought about the tax implications. That’s a good poin...
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:19 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

Jack Bogle mentioned he liked State Street didn’t he? Seems like somewhere I either read one of his books or watched a video of him positively mentioning state street indexed funds
.
I am probably over thinking this but I want to make sure I am doing the right thing as I plan to stay at this employer until I retire if at all possible. I plan to stick with this decision.

They are offering a +10% company match after a three year vesting period as long as I contribute the +6% minimum. Can’t pass that up!
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 9:07 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

Re: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

Do you have other accounts outside this 401K? Are you using target date funds there? If so and you plan to continue then I’d go with the target date. If not then I’d use your proposed funds. Your target fund is very inexpensive but I don’t like them for the same reasons you mentioned. I also don’t like that issuers tend to tinker with them over time. Really can’t go wrong either way. Thanks! I value everyone’s opinion here. Seems everyone is split here like I am. Lol! See what I mean. :confused I have other investment accounts outside of this new employer 401k. 100% Vanguard. Have both an IRA and a Roth IRA with vs guard already. All setup with the three fund portfolio (total stock, total international stock, and total bond market). Even m...
by Rad-1
Sat Feb 12, 2022 6:16 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund
Replies: 37
Views: 2939

New Employer 401k Help Three Fund Portfolio or Target date fund

Hello All, Just started with a new large employer in my area and wanted to get everyone’s opinion on establishing my new 401k allocations. Fidelity is the plan manager and I can either go with Vanguard Target Date Trust Fund 2035 in this plan with a 0.045% ER or select my own allocation using cheap Blackrock and State Street index funds they offer in the plan. I am starting from scratch in this new plan. Not rolling over any money to it. I am 48 and already have pretax and Roth money at vanguard using the bogleheads three fund portfolio strategy. The indexed funds they offer appear to be Trust funds and don’t have a ticker symbol which kind of makes me a little nervous, but after reading some of the posts on this forum sounds like Blackrock...
by Rad-1
Thu Sep 09, 2021 9:52 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: International Bond Fund - yes or no?
Replies: 73
Views: 13153

Re: International Bond Fund - yes or no?

Hey guys, I know this topic has been beat too death but I wanted to add since I didn’t see this mentioned about Intl bonds. Look under the hood and see who you are lending your money too in this fund by owning this bond fund. Not that this is a bad fund by any means. But you will notice Italy and France are some of the big ones as is Greece I believe. I don’t have anything against these countries but what do you think the chances would be for them defaulting and not paying back the debt? Fragile economies, credit problems, etc. I would say pretty high in my honest opinion. US Treasury bonds at least are backed by the full faith of the US government. And investment grade Corp bonds are A+ rated. Who would you rather lend money too long term?...
by Rad-1
Thu Mar 25, 2021 5:43 pm
Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
Topic: Thoughts on Fidelity's new Zero funds
Replies: 50
Views: 10036

Re: Thoughts on Fidelity's new Zero funds

Take a close look under he hood of those funds. Fidelity’s zero fee funds don’t track the same index. It’s a proprietary index created by Fidelity. I am betting not exactly the same as the Willshire 5000 or S&P 500.
by Rad-1
Wed Sep 02, 2020 12:07 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 529 and Roth Allocation help
Replies: 7
Views: 448

Re: 529 and Roth Allocation help

Ok I will take a look at those.
Thanks again. Really appreciate it.
:sharebeer
-Tom
by Rad-1
Tue Sep 01, 2020 6:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 529 and Roth Allocation help
Replies: 7
Views: 448

Re: 529 and Roth Allocation help

I forgot to ask you is 5 years out from the anticipated need date good for reducing these allocation ratios down to 60/40 moderate allocation? Or do you recommend earlier than 5 years? Is this a reasonable time frame?

Thanks again,
-Tom
by Rad-1
Tue Sep 01, 2020 5:40 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 529 and Roth Allocation help
Replies: 7
Views: 448

Re: 529 and Roth Allocation help

Thanks for the reply. Appreciate everyone’s input here and different strategies. Yeah I like the one fund idea and no rebalancing idea allot. Def simple Although the three fund approach isn’t very difficult to rebalance once a year. My only reservation is all of these funds have too much allocated to International in my opinion. I know all the arguments for and against. I don’t want to drift to far from Jack’s principles and go more than 20% Intl allocation. But that’s just my gut thoughts on it. Why doesn’t Vanguard offer the Bogleheads three fund portfolio based on the three fund portfolio in one fund? Or was that the intention of the Lifestyle funds prior to Vanguard changing things? Anyway doesn’t sound like I am too far off coarse with...
by Rad-1
Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:29 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 529 and Roth Allocation help
Replies: 7
Views: 448

Re: 529 and Roth Allocation help

My thinking on his is for her to use this money starting her junior year of college so it doesn’t screw her up qualifying for student aid or grants. She will have to claim it as income apparently if she uses it upfront since I am her grand parent. Tapping the money her junior year gets around this is my understanding. But you are right. It’s possible she may need it sooner.

Ideally it would be nice if she has enough here to not have to deal with financial aid at all and just cash roll the entire thing which would be my first choice. But guess it depends on what college she lands on. (Public$ or Private)l$$$)
by Rad-1
Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:05 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: 529 and Roth Allocation help
Replies: 7
Views: 448

529 and Roth Allocation help

Hello fellow Bogleheads, Hope everyone is doing well and staying safe during these troubled times. Question for you: I recently opened a Vanguard 529 account for my 2yo grand daughter with $3500. I set things up with the three fund portfolio with an 80/20 (64/16/20) allocation as I don’t anticipate her needing it for 20-25 years. I thought a little bit in bonds might help smooth out the ride and offer some income over time since there won’t likely be allot more contributions. In your opinion is this adequate and the best allocation for her do you think? I know it’s not allot of money but at least it’s something for her to get started and growing. Part of me wants to go 100% Total Stock Market and let it roll but not sure I have the stomach ...
by Rad-1
Sun Jan 27, 2019 4:21 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Approximating the Vanguard Total Stock Market Fund in employee 401k
Replies: 5
Views: 549

Re: Approximating the Vanguard Total Stock Market Fund in employee 401k

Ah! That totally makes sense as to why the math didn’t add up for me. Ok I am going with 48/12 for my equity side. My 40% bond side is already in the Vanguard Total Bond Indexed Fund offered by my employer. A simple domestic only allocation to hold long term is good enough for me. I really appreciate your help guys. :beer
by Rad-1
Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:57 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Approximating the Vanguard Total Stock Market Fund in employee 401k
Replies: 5
Views: 549

Approximating the Vanguard Total Stock Market Fund in employee 401k

Hi Bogleheads, I am trying to approximate the Vanguard Total Stock Market Fund in my employers 401k plan hosted by Vanguard. My goal is to try and capture the return of the entire U.S. Stock Market as closely as possible. I don’t have the Total Stock Market Fund available to me in my employer plan but I do have VIIIX (S&P500 Index) and VEMPX (Extended Small/Midcap Index) available. I have already viewed the wiki page on this site about it and it looks like 82% S&P500 Index and 18% Extended Market is the closest approximation according to the wiki for these two funds. So for my 60/40 allocation it would be: 49/11/40 My question for you is I noticed the Vanguard Total Stock Market Indexed Fund is currently: 73% Large Cap, 19% Mid Cap,...
by Rad-1
Mon Apr 30, 2018 4:49 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

:happy ok thanks again guys
Sounds good. He is going to run with this allocation and hold until retirement.
Really Appreciate everyone’s help and input here
:sharebeer
by Rad-1
Mon Apr 30, 2018 4:27 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

:happy ok thank you
I will reccomend he come down to 60/40
I think you guys are right on and it would be more appropriate for him.

I am reading the “Bogleheads guide to investing” book now and it does recommend 10% in Intl using a 60/40 stock bond allocation for a moderate middle aged investor.

Following the TSM model his allocations will be:
41 - S&P500
9 - Small Cap Index
10 - American Funds International Fund
20 - JP Morgan Gov Bond Fund
20- Stable Value Fund
by Rad-1
Mon Apr 30, 2018 12:04 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

Thanks Rural Avalon appreciate the allocation advice
The expense for the Americans funds RERHX is 0.15 in addition to the 0.62
by Rad-1
Sun Apr 29, 2018 6:15 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

Ok so I talked things over with my friend and he decided on the following allocation to simplify a little and reduce cost: 45 - S&P500 Index 10 - Small Cap Index 10 - American Funds International Fund 20 - JP Morgan Gov Bond Fund 15 - Stable Value Fund Our reasoning here is: 1) Core in low cost indexed funds 2) diversification 3) Bond Funds used for safety while still ahead of inflation 4) Keep the risk on the equity side Do you think this would be acceptable for him to hold until retirement? The stable value includes 20% already in corporate bonds. Will increase bonds to 40% or 50% closer to retirement at age 65 I am still a little on the fence about adding the International Fund. I know it’s not much allocation but not sure the extra ...
by Rad-1
Sun Apr 29, 2018 12:01 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

Retiredjg I think the stable value was a good idea. Thinking of rolling 15% into the Stable Value Fund and allocate 20% to the bond funds split 50/50. This does reduce the bond fund fee sting. This seems like a logical strategy considering the circumstances
by Rad-1
Sat Apr 28, 2018 10:19 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

In your opinion how much should be allocated to the stable value? 20%?
by Rad-1
Sat Apr 28, 2018 4:38 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

Ok thanks for the info guys that sounds like a plan. Yeah I agree the bond funds offered aren’t great. The second an indexed bond becomes available will switch. He does have a Stable value fund available as a bond option. Just checked on the website. It’s offered by Prudential Insurance. I guess I was thinking insurance products were bad since they can’t be tracked so never really thought of it as a viable option.

Here is the link to all of the funds he has available:
http://www3.prudential.com/email/retire ... .html#home
by Rad-1
Sat Apr 28, 2018 3:01 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

Age 55
Company match is 6% with $0.50 on the $
He is contributing 21% currently
He will likely be making less money when he retires at age 55, as he plans to leave his current job at age 62
by Rad-1
Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:21 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

This goes without saying but I should also mention the second he is able to retire he will roll everything over to Vanguard for the Traditional side. Also, if the employer plan ever decides to add a bond and international indexed fund option will move everything over too it to get away from the fees.
by Rad-1
Sat Apr 28, 2018 12:13 am
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

That’s a good question
He has a pension plus he will qualify for social security
by Rad-1
Fri Apr 27, 2018 11:09 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

Thanks for the replies Mr. Lemongrab and Ruralavalon really appreciate it. Really good information this helps allot. The $181k is currently 100% in his Traditional 401k employer account which he is still contributing. He started with this years ago before he knew anything about a Roth fund and kept contributing over the years with the company. He literally just opened up the Roth account with Vanguard and currently has roughly $3800 allocated to VSMGX - Vanguard Life strategy Moderate Growth Fund 60/40. He just beginning to contribute $300 month to the Vanguard Roth and has been contributing approx. $600 month (21% of gross pay) to the traditional 401k via his employer pre-tax. Its late in the game but isn't it better for him to keep feedin...
by Rad-1
Fri Apr 27, 2018 2:11 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Re: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

He has a Vanguard Roth account which I talked him into opening but doesn’t have much capital accrued yet. He is contributing 21% to the Traditional 401k Side thru his employer. Roth is just getting started though with $300 monthly contribution. I failed to mention that he also expects to receive a private pension separate from these accounts. He does have mortgage debt but no other debt.

I know he should probably own more bonds because of his age, however trying to make up for some lost time by being a little more bullish and trying to keep his costs down as low as possible by allocating as much as possible to indexed funds. 65/35 appropriate or should we decrease equity exposure and move to 60/40?
by Rad-1
Fri Apr 27, 2018 12:13 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan
Replies: 24
Views: 2197

Help with Bond Selection and Asset Allocation 401k Employer plan

Hi Bogleheads, I am helping a close friend of mine with allocating his Traditional 401k thru his employer and hoping you can help answer a few questions for us. He is mid 50’s and 10 years from retirement and has $181k saved so far. Thankfully they offer some Vanguard equity indexed funds. However, the Bond funds are much to be desired as they are managed funds and expensive. The only options available are (MFBJX - Massachusetts Financial Intermediate Corporate Bond Fund at Gross 0.81 plus 0.25 servicing fees) and (HLGAX - JP Morgan Gov Bond Fund at 0.68 plus 0.30 servicing fees). Currently I have him allocated 65/35 with: 53% Vanguard S&P500 Institutional Index (VINIX) and 12% Vanguard Small Cap Index (VSCIX), Bond portion 35% MFBJX. M...
by Rad-1
Mon Jun 26, 2017 11:22 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Vanguard Balanced Fund vs. Wellington
Replies: 18
Views: 10145

Re: Vanguard Balanced Fund vs. Wellington

Wellington doesn't capture the entire domestic market like the VBINX fund does. Vanguard Balanced index appears to capture every sector of the U.S Stock Market and contains a diversified high quality Intermediate bond. Yes Wellington has done well but fund managers come and go, and some of these under performing sectors could do really well in the future. Wellington also doesn't appear to contain any Real Estate. Next year or the year after could be allot better for REITs. Best to own them all according to Mr. Bogle and several other wise people on this forum. There have been several years where VBINX outperformed Wellington which strengthens my argument. Unpredictable what the next hot Sector will be. If you own them all no need to worry. ...
by Rad-1
Sun Jun 25, 2017 4:53 pm
Forum: Personal Investments
Topic: Investing Help. New Roth account
Replies: 5
Views: 933

Re: Investing Help. New Roth account

Thanks for the replies guys. I really appreciate the advice and not to pull out of the TSP. I am leaning towards a 75/25 stock/bond allocation. I will likely reduce my equity exposure to 65/35 in 5 years or so. I am going to just stay in the TSP L2040 on my Traditional side as this seems to be the best option for me as it adjusts automatically.

As far as the Roth side I was thinking of just going with the Vanguard L2030 fund or maybe just a three or four fund portfolio which seems to be a simple popular option by Bogleheads. Total Stock, Total Intl Stock, Total Bond, extra 5% REIT possibly? Opinions on this?

Thanks,
-Tom