Bogleheads.org

EFA is ex-US Developed Markets (except for Canada). EEM is ex-US Emerging Markets VTIAX is both. Also neither EFA nor EEM is designed for retail investors. IDEV and IEMG are the droids you’re looking for. Why aren’t efa and eem for retail? Much higher expenses. They are ideal for short-term trading...

Thanks everyone for all of your advice. Leaning towards staying the course as everyone mentioned. It's good to know the 3 funds have good broad exposure to all the sectors. Thanks!

As a general warning, following the financial news and becoming more active in investing can — in contrast with many other activities — actually be rather harmful to your results! That said, it is reasonable — independent of recent news — to consider what the allocation to emerging markets and smal...

ruralavalon wrote: ↑Fri Nov 20, 2020 12:30 pmFor bonds we use Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond Index Fund (VBILX), the ETF share class is Vanguard Intermediate-Term Bond ETF (BIV).

Thanks for input. Do you replace your total bond completely with VBILX or just a portion. Thanks

Hi everyone, I have been trying to become more active investor lately and researching and following financial news. Late 40's, retirement more or less on track and currently invested in 70% Total US Market Index ETF, 20% Total Bond ETF and 10% International Total Market Index ETF. I see value stocks...

My wife's 401K is with Transamerica and I was reviewing the statements. It has a Required Revenue fee of 0.78%. This is on top of expense ratios of the funds in her account. Is this normal or high amount. Her choices are not great. I have her in BlackRock LifePath® Index 2045 K currently. The fees a...

Sorry, I looked at my gross income, not taxable income. I am indeed in 22% tax bracket and qualify for ROTH. Thanks for clarification.

smitcat wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 1:24 pm I agree with Klang.
Are you sure you are in the 24% bracket and you can still fund the Roths ?

Thanks for comment. Yes, still eligible. I am in lower range of 24% income and I see ROTH is MAGI 203,000 filing jointly. Thanks!

The downside to ROTH is that if I need money in 6 years for college, I will be 53, so while I can take money out, the amount will be taxed. Again, even if I wait to pay off large chunk of college in the 4th year, I will be 57 and the money will still be taxed since I read the cutoff to take ROTH ta...

Hi everyone, a little late to the game for college savings but I think I finally have some of my savings in order so we can start moving some of our extra money to college savings. I have twins age 12 who are 6 years from attending college. I expect both of them to go to University and I am okay wit...

[/quote] The fees in her 401k plan are high in my opinion. The fees are not high enough to skip using her plan. Is there an employer match in her 401k plan? Yes, small 1.5% Do you have IRAs? Yes, we both have IRA with Vanguard, combined in mid six figure range Do you also have a work-based plan like...

Thanks everyone so far for input. There is very small match of 1.5%. All her funds seem to have 0.6-0.84% plan service fees. The funds with lower service fees have higher expense ratios so this all balances out. The only other one I would consider is Blackrock S&P 500 which is 0.04% but still ha...

Reviewing my wife's Transamerica 401k plan and I noticed what seems to be a significant amount of fees. I looked into literature and of course it is tough to dissect. The annual disclosure states compensation to Plan's financial advisor at 0.5% of all assets paid quarterly. In addition, plan service...

Wow! Is all I can say ruralavalon! You really went out of your way to explain things with great reference. Your post makes a lot of sense and has some great advice for me to research and follow. I am really at a loss of words of how great everyone on this forum is with taking their time to explain a...

Wow, that excel spreadsheet that k3vb0t provided is very insightful and much appreciated. I think I agree that our main priority is decreasing debt and saving. The asset allocation is less priority. The mortgage for 23 more years concerns me and I prefer to hold off new car and kitchen as long as po...

Thanks everyone so far for all the great advice. My plan is to reduce the amount of different accounts to make it easier to navigate moving forward. I appreciate the advice on increasing life insurance and plan to contribute to 529 to maximize tax credit. Would anyone recommend putting money in ROTH...

Hi everyone, long time reader of the boards, finally decided to put together concise detail of our portfolio for review. I am glad I did this as it really gives me overview of larger picture. I have added a lot of information and quite a few questions. As I was compiling data, I realized how many de...