Bogleheads.org

I have had auto, home, and umbrella through SAFECO for some years.

I had some auto body damage when a deer walked into the road in front of my car early one morning, and I was happy with how SAFECO handled my repair (still driving the same car).

I wouldn't hesitate to have all my investments at Vanguard except

Vanguard doesn't have Health Savings Accounts
Vanguard doesn't have a Cash Management Account
I use the 2% cash back credit card from Fidelity (Vanguard doesn't have something comparable).

But Vanguard does have superior tax exempt bond funds to anyone else (IMHO). I do most of my investing at Vanguard and am very happy with them.

26 years

This is my "first house", and I'm now over 60.

I had an architect draw the plans and I bid it out to a few builders for a custom build.

It's nothing fancy, but I wanted to spend my money on things that mattered to "me" and not on things that might be important to a generic new home buyer.

My exterior walls are framed with 2x6's for an extra 2" of insulation (2x4" exterior framing is the norm here).

I'm also just on my third car.

I think you need a trust.

I have a spreadsheet in LibreOffice (on Linux mint). I update my net worth once per year, as of the last day of the year. I add a new tab to the document at the end of each year.

Intermediate during the year, I update values in Vanguard's 'Outside investments you update yourself' to include values from my employer's 401(K) employee retirement savings plan (100% of which is invested in index-tracking Collective Investment Trusts that don't have ticker symbols).

I like Vanguard's tools for this and am okay with having approximate net worth values on a day-to-day basis. Most of my investments are at Vanguard.

I've been impressed by what probably amounts to millions of dollars of economic value created by thoughtful advice offered here on the boglehead forums (e.g., advice concerning a thoughtful Social Security claiming decision and similar).

For some of the readers, it has probably made a difference between a dignified and comfortable retirement and a marginal one.

I would. Realize it won't be FDIC insured, but it still should be quite safe.

You could buy 3 month T-bills if you want, too.

Employer plans have stronger protection from legal judgements than IRA's in some states. I moved a contributory traditional IRA I'd had for many years, and also a Rollover IRA, into my employer's plan in part for that reason.

You will want to evaluate the investment options available in your employer's plan, also. If they have a set of good index fund choices (like an S&P 500 index fund).

I would also evaluate contributing to a Health Savings Account if she participates in a High Deductible Health Insurance Plan (HDHP). You can invest the unspent balance in a Health Savings Account.

https://www.fidelity.com/learning-cente ... ion-limits

I think you would find it easier with a smaller number of accounts. Pehaps consolidate most of it into Schwab? Many brokerages have their own web apps for showing your account performance, asset allocation, etc. I would expect Schwab has something pretty good.

Does your 401(K) plan at Fidelity allow for transfers into the employer plan? That's what I did. I've transferred all my Rollover IRA's and a contributory tIRA into my current employer's plan at Fidelity.

If not, you could leave your current 401(K) account at Fidelity in place and transfer everything else into a Rollover IRA at Fidelity. YMMV, but I prefer to try to minimize the number of different investment account custodians I have to work with.

I have never been charged for tIRA -> Roth IRA conversions at Vanguard, and I doubt any of the low cost brokerages usually mentioned in the forums (Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, e*Trade), would either.

toddthebod wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 12:58 pm

backpacker61 wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 12:12 pm Depends on the asset class.

I own a few shares with a 4.5% expense ratio.

Please tell me you mean .45%.

that wouldn't be truthful

Depends on the asset class.

I own a few shares with a 4.5% expense ratio.

I'm so sorry about your loss.

FromAto401k wrote: ↑Tue Feb 14, 2023 6:43 pm Should I consolidate at one institution?

This is a good idea. My mother passed away a few years ago, and I consolidated her investment accounts into Vanguard brokerage before splitting it among the heirs.

FromAto401k wrote: ↑Tue Feb 14, 2023 6:43 pm Is there any value in having an advisor for 1% AUM?

I would not.
Give yourself time to process your grief. You don't have to rush into anything (except taking the RMD at some point).

Read the wiki page on windfalls; it was helpful to me after the last of my parents passed away.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Managing_a_windfall

mochi2 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 13, 2023 8:05 pm 2) What investments would you recommend in the TIRA given she is at retirement age? I'm most comfortable investing in T-BILLs for her - but is this not advantageous in a tax deferred account?

You could consider something like the Vanguard Target Retirement Income Fund

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... P=PE#tab=0

or the Vanguard Lifestrategy Income Fund

https://investor.vanguard.com/investmen ... file/vasix

At my first "real" job, employees weren't eligible to participate in the 401(K) until they had completed a year of service.

I just contributed to a Traditional IRA that year. Much later, I transferred the tIRA balance into my current employer's 401(K).

An investment into a Total Stock Market or S&P 500-tracking ETF in a taxable account would also be a great option.

You're more ambitious with this than I am. I did consolidate accounts a lot by transferring rollover and traditional (contributory) IRA's into my current employer retirement savings plan, as much to enable back-door Roth contributions as anything. I only update my net worth calculation once per year. But a few metrics I track are o percentage of my financial assets in index-tracking securities (58%) o percentage of my index-tracking securities in international equities (39%) / domestic equities (61%) o weighted average expense ratio across all financial assets (0.31%) I also don't track the value of my vehicles or residence. I also import one year of bank and credit card transactions into a spreadsheet to get a handle on my expenses for the...

If I were semi-retired and wanted to bring in a bit of extra income from time to time, to contribute to an IRA or otherwise, I would look for seasonal work at Christmas/Thanksgiving. Amazon hires a lot of seasonal help, many other retailers do also.

Work November and December to bring in a little income, then take off the rest of the year.

Or possibly work at a ski area during ski season?

Also, the IRS hires seasonal employees at tax season, if there is an IRS office in your area. Perhaps it would enable you to get an account with the TSP?

https://www.jobs.irs.gov/resources/job- ... ortunities

She also has some really interesting products that provide principal protection while still offering good indexed market returns. Yep, sure; indexed annuities :oops: In addition, I have zero confidence in my ability to avert financial disaster– or at least ineptitude– investing on my own, and it's very comforting to think that someone else has an eye on this for me, in a holistic way. She also advises me on insurance, estate affairs, real estate financing, taxes, etc. to the extent that she can, and has been giving me good advice on lowering my tax liability, etc. in ways that I would not think of. So, having a full-service investment advisor is very appealing to me. You sound like a good candidate for Vanguard PAS to me. 0.3% of AUM. Or y...

It's complicated, because very late in life (late 80's and 90's), you often can have huge deductible medical expenses to offset against the RMD's.

I think you will do fine with your proposed portfolio, despite it not adhering to a strict Boglehead approach. My parents retired with a sizable allocation to relatively expensive actively managed equity mutual funds (portfolios typical of people that had their working years from the 1950's through the 1980's, when "no load mutual funds" were considered the thing to own). But they managed to avoid annual AUM fees, which was a huge tailwind. Later in retirement, they did add allocations to VTSAX and VTIAX using funds from IRA RMD's not needed for servicing current expenses. Your allocation to equities and careful management of your "monthly nut" will have the largest affect on long term investment success. I would be caut...

One reason to minimize number of accounts; read up on 'escheatment'.

viewtopic.php?t=301995

Almost happened to my mother (who was in her 90's) on a mutual fund account my father had established ~25 years ago.

Can you close your Bank of America checking account and do your banking with a Cash Management Account (CMA) at Fidelity?

If your HSA isn't at Fidelity, can you move yours there?

The main problem I had with the Vanguard web site was when I was running an old version of Safari. After I updated to a newer version of Safari (and MacOS update), their web site worked fine.

It's also possible you may need to clear out your web browser's cache.

I am also considering switching from Vanguard to either Fidelity or Schwab due to my frustrations with Vanguard’s customer service. From what others on the forum have said, either may be a more user friendly interface and most certainly would have better customer service which should help me and my children. FWIW, my parents' brokerage account was at Vanguard. I was the successor trustee for their trust, and I worked with Vanguard's trust department following my mother's death, and was very satisfied with their service. I consolidated my parents' scattered holdings into the trust brokerage accounts before having Vanguard split the account among the heirs (each of the heirs also had accounts at Vanguard). My only regret is that I should hav...

If it were me, I would find a firm where RMD distributions can be automated for free. From selling mutual funds to pay for the distribution.

It may not be important now, but when you enter your late 80's and (particularly) 90's, having things automated and with direct deposit to your cash management account can be very helpful.

Thank you. I don’t know anything about Muni’s or doing anything with my retirement accounts?. However I appreciate your feedback thank you very much In the 12% Fed/4% state tax brackets, you are almost certainly better off investing in taxable bonds (as you are) instead of tax exempt bonds. So that's golden. As others mentioned, you could consider investing your Roth in Vanguard total stock index admiral CL; to obtain the highest prospective investment growth in the tax free account. If you want to. Diverting dividends and capital gains distributions from your taxable account to the settlement account for servicing your living expenses is exactly what you should do. That's what they're for. :) At present, I have no employment income to spe...

Having worked with my parents as they aged, then having my father, and later, my mother, pass away, what I would suggest is o consolidate, consolidate, consolidate. My parents had numerous mutual fund accounts, individual equity shares held with transfer agents, and a brokerage account. Some accounts they had established internet logins and passwords for their sites; others had always been via the mail with paper statements, paper dividend and capital gain distribution checks, etc. Collecting all this paperwork for taxes was chaotic and confusing. Also, many phone numbers to keep track of. o After my dad passed, my mother pretty much left things alone, and lived from an SSDI benefit, a small pension, and dividends and capital gains income f...

If it were me, I would just accomplish it all at Vanguard, rather than complicate it by combining an account transfer and conversion.

Thanks for the response and information. I haven't seen the 2022 consolidated 1099 for the prior mutual fund account. I figured that may be the issue since I saw no dividends for quarters 1 and 2 on the brokerage account consolidated form. I'll have to contact Vanguard again. Yes, that's an annoying attribute of switching from the mutual fund platform to the brokerage account. I received two 1099's that year, and had to add them together to get the totals for Schedule B. It is only for one year, though, and smooth sailing after that. Thanks for relaying your experience. I can't figure out why Vanguard hasn't sent the other mutual fund 1099 consolidated. Maybe they do those last. I still don't have my 1099 yet (from my Vanguard brokerage ac...

johnz1001 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 5:39 am Thanks for the response and information. I haven't seen the 2022 consolidated 1099 for the prior mutual fund account. I figured that may be the issue since I saw no dividends for quarters 1 and 2 on the brokerage account consolidated form. I'll have to contact Vanguard again.

Yes, that's an annoying attribute of switching from the mutual fund platform to the brokerage account. I received two 1099's that year, and had to add them together to get the totals for Schedule B.

It is only for one year, though, and smooth sailing after that.

Northern Flicker wrote: ↑Fri Feb 03, 2023 8:25 pm Schwab also made everyone else change for the better. I'm not sure how successful ETFs would have been with commissions at $100/trade.

I paid about a $50 commission on trades at Olde Discount. This was in about 1985.

Doing everything in "round lots" (multiples of 100 shares) was a PiTA back then, too.

Illinoiscoco wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:54 am Employer plans have slightly better asset protection than IRA's.

Do you mean they have lower ERs?

No, I meant they have better asset protection in bankruptcy proceedings or from legal judgements. You can read the details at the link to the Boglehead wiki.

The schedule of how you withdraw is up to you. You are both old enough that there will be no penalties; only income taxes to be paid. I would withdraw from your most over-weighted asset class according to your desired asset allocation, to tip the balance of your portfolio back to the target asset allocation you've set for yourselves. Or you could see what automated methods Fidelity or Principal have for putting withdrawals on autopilot. Also, instead of socking away some $ from each withdrawal to "rebuild savings", I would just avoid drawing out that $ amount in the first place (pull out exactly what you expect to need and not any more than that). When you run in to RMD's, you will be forced to draw a certain amount from your tax...

I've gone on many, many car camping trips that cost in total perhaps $200-$300 (mostly gas; and a few meals on the road).
I find areas where 'Dispersed Camping' is allowed.
https://www.tripsavvy.com/dispersed-cam ... sts-503960

After you retire, you could use a portion of the $35K for some quality car camping gear (tent, ice chest, sleeping bags, gas stove, day packs, rain gear, footwear). This is the type of traveling I enjoy doing now (in addition to backpacking trips on foot), and I have hopes of doing a lot of car camping on road trips after I retire.

In the mean time, I would bank most of it into Roth IRA's as others have suggested, so that any growth it experiences will be tax free.

1. I’d like to roll over my Fidelity and Principal 401Ks into a Fidelity IRA. These are the index funds I’m considering: Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX) (30%) Fidelity U.S. Sustainability Index Fund (FITLX) (25%) (testing the ESG waters) Fidelity® International Index Fund (FSPSX) (5%) Fidelity® US Bond Index Fund (FXNAX) (40%) Is there any reason not to roll over to an IRA? Do the stock choices seem reasonable? Employer plans have slightly better asset protection than IRA's. If you do roll over, be certain they are titled as 'Rollover' IRA's. 401(K) https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Asset_protection#Investing_in_a_401K IRA https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Asset_protection#Investing_in_an_IRA Your stock choices seem reasonable. I...

If my Rollover IRA is at brokerage X, could I transfer it (in kind) to brokerage Y, and still keep the right to roll it back into a 401k? I'm not sure if there are any rules / things to consider around transferring the money between brokerages, if in the longer term, I intend to roll it back into a 401k. Most likely, the 401(K) plan will transfer the assets in as cash, so you would have to liquidate the holdings before the employer plan would pull them in. I did these "reverse rollovers" both with an individual tIRA and a rollover IRA, and both went to cash before transferring them into the employer 401(K) plan. I would just transfer it from brokerage X directly into the employer plan (presumably at brokerage Y), without the inte...

Question about 2 Tax Strategies are new to me, other than general put money in 401k and Roth I really haven’t given much thought to tax advantaged/taxable until very recently. I wish I would have paid more attention decades ago. As I’ve mentioned I will be leaving Edward Jones that has 2 Roth accounts and 3 taxable accounts. When I get to my next Brokerage I will have 2 Roth and 1 Taxable account. I should put Bonds/fixed in the 2 Roth accounts and stocks in the 1 taxable account? It was suggested up-thread, but bears repeating. Spend a little time reading the wiki about 'Tax-efficient fund placement'. https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Tax-efficient_fund_placement Interest on taxable bonds are taxed at your marginal rate, so it's advantageou...

I think you are doing very well, congratulations! I'm not familiar with your rewards credit card. I used to have a bank account at Bank of America, but closed it about a decade ago. You could look into Fidelity's 'Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card' and consolidate your two brokerage accounts there. It's simple and pays 2% cash back on everything. https://www.fidelity.com/cash-management/visa-signature-card I have a cash management account with Fidelity and have been happy with it. My employer 401(K) is there, and I have a 'Health Savings Account' at Fidelity, also. You could also evaluate if you might be better off contributing on a pre-tax basis to your employer's 401(K), and allocate the savings in taxes resulting from that to b...

The problem is 5% doesn’t do much for overall returns. Say i get super lucky and it goes up 60%, well that’s 3% of total portfolio. You’d have to find the next Tesla for it to matter, and that’s Vegas odds. I think the point is that this is "play money" more so than investing. I would just set a monthly budget for it (assuming one wants to go that way), and when it's gone, it's gone; even if it goes to zero. I wouldn't categorize it with any part of my long term savings (nor allocate 5% of my existing savings). Many people budget for entertainment, and I think speculative investing is no better nor worse than other pursuits people fund for entertainment, so long as it doesn't become addictive (which is also a hazard with cigars, ...

Edit: HSAs are desirable because they allow use of money tax free and roll-over year after year, right? So if we had the ability to max this out, we are betting on the fact that our medical expenses, while minor now, will likely only increase as we age and eventually be utilized? Are there means to pull funds out of HSAs with a penalty if one ever felt they were over funded? Yes, HSA funds roll over year to year (unlike 'Flexible Spending Accounts'). It's important to know that you have to be participating in a High Deductible Health Insurance Plan (HDHP) to be eligible to contribute to an HSA. If your wife is enrolled in a HDHP, they almost certainly have an option to contribute to an HSA through payroll deduction. Once you turn 65, you c...

I am still working, but when I retire, I expect to visit state parks during the week when they aren't crowded indulge in my amateur radio hobby (contacted someone in Greenland a few weeks ago) do some bird watching, both around my neighborhood and at parks and sites known to be birding hotspots go on car camping and hiking trips in National Forests, National Parks, State Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, etc. spend time browsing at my local library and get some use from my long-neglected library card try some recipes that require a bit more effort than I have had the energy for while I am working full time take up my long-neglected nylon-string guitar again read in my Bible more learn a new language or two travel internationally a bit (alth...

Your wife's Empower employer-sponsored plan has some excellent choices. Which specific ones do you prize? I was thinking of simply switching from 2045 to 2050 Vanguard Target Fund to boost the equity percentage a tad. Any other changes we should consider? Your thinking is fine; the Vanguard Target Funds are excellent. These are also very good: Vanguard FTSE All-Wld ex-US Inx Admiral, ER .11 (for international stock) Vanguard 500 Index Admiral, ER .04 (for US stock) Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Admiral, ER .05 (for fixed income) Also, you asked about transferring your wife's HSA to Vanguard. Unfortunately, Vanguard doesn't have HSA's. Fidelity's HSA is probably one of the best around. You could also do your taxable account investing inv...

Quick question: Is it generally advised to max traditional 401(k) contributions and standard backdoor roth before considering mega backdoor roth maneuvers (assuming employer allows after-tax contributions and in-service withdraws)? Or, is it preferred to utilize full company match and then use extra cash straight to mega backdoor roth (assuming we have maxed backdoor roth at $6500 per spouse)? This assumes that we do not have enough cash flow to max out 401k and throw money into mega backdoor roth. For protection from legal judgements, funds in employer sponsored plans have a slight advantage over funds in IRA's, which would give a small advantage to funding the mega-backdoor Roth. This depends on the state you live in. 401(K) https://www....

"Totally passive" or "no investigation required" takes the "play" out "play money" to me.

I went through a "phase" of doing a little of that sort of thing in the late 1990's, and still own a couple individual stocks I bought back then, which have done well. I'm earmarking them to initiate a donor advised fund account at some point.

My mega backdoor roth contributions to my employer-sponsored plan keep me in the poorhouse now, and I just don't have the cash flow to fund speculative investments. All the MBR money goes into index-tracking Blackrock CIT's (boring).

Something that you can stick with psychologically is very important.

I would call it well good enough. You're already light years beyond the people with accounts at Edward Jones and Ameriprise.

I used to love cross-country skiing; perhaps they have an area with Nordic trails there.

If she doesn't want to downhill ski, she might enjoy Nordic skiing.

It won't be everyone's choice obviously, but I reduce the number of bills I get by only having one credit card and using it for as much as possible.

My electric company (a cooperative) drafts from my bank automatically (they don't take charge cards). I get periodic propane deliveries, and I use my bank's online bill payment feature to service that. I prepaid for my cell service once a year, so no regular bill.

Yes, browser support will eventually be a problem. I had 19.3 running on an old machine that ran Windows XP and I thought was a 32-bit processor but turns out its a 64-bit processor so now its running running 20.1 There is just something refreshing about being able to run old hardware with modern day operating systems. XP is running in a Virtual Machine on that same hardware. Best of luck. I have a similar issue with an old iMac (8th generation; roughly 2008). The newer MacOS versions aren't being released for it. I replaced it's hard disk with a solid state drive and added another memory card, and got it running the newest MacOS version that is supported for that hardware (El Capitan, I think). But there won't be any more updates. I don't...

I like the idea of Vanguard training wheels but if I go the three fund round it may not be necessary. I think with continued effort on my part I should be able to tackle the learning curve fairly quickly. But it does make the transition fairly easy. I am debating on moving funds to Vanguard versus Fidelity. The reason being that my wife's previous employers 401(k) with Fidelity so it may make sense to move things there, consolidate where possible, and keep everything in one place. I did talk to some Fidelity folks yesterday and they mentioned their Robo service for 0.35% AUM or utilizing an actual advisor from a brick-and-mortar branch. But I understand these advisors are commission based so I don't care for that option. There are tips on ...

I had a large loss last year, too; investing in low cost index funds does not mean that you won't experience losses when the overall market goes down.

Also, you can (and should) look up each of the ticker symbols and fill out the actual name of the securities you own. You should understand what you own. Boglehead don't go around with most ticker symbols memorized.

Any search engine can accomplish this for you; for example:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=NPSRX&t=ffab&ia=web

Consider doing that and filling in the security name for each of the holdings in your accounts.