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STVCT

Hey All, My 401k offers an S&P 500 fund with an excellent expense ratio (0.02), at 34 years old my 401K is almost entirely in this fund - with a small amount in a stable value fund. I was thinking of adding some ongoing contributions to VEXRX, which invests mainly in small and mid growth compani...

STVCT

Just one clarifying question.... When people on this thread are saying they’re still using Total Bond Market or whatnot during these low-yielding times, are they/you meaning you’re sticking with what you already own (thus simply not selling), or that you’re actually putting more money into TBM? Tha...

STVCT

34 years old.

62% Domestic Index
19% International Index
14% Reit Index
5% Fixed Income (Stable Value Fund)

I would love a good roasting on this

STVCT

I'm not an expert at this. Bonds are mysterious. I hold them mostly to mitigate volatility and not to generate yield. This^. Even after a fair amount of reading and learning, bonds are mysterious. Simplification is not always simple. Stable value for now. Buy into intermediate or longer dated bonds...

STVCT

Hi All, I posed this question in a post earlier today as part of a broader series of questions, I'm not trying to duplicate posts. That led to a great strategic discussion, and I want to solicit some focused input on a specific point that didn't get addressed - selecting the right fixed income asset...

STVCT

Fixed income can be a useful resource if your personal situation changes and you need to withdraw. You make two points about your employment that might (I say might) not be true. Successful company stays the same over twenty plus years. The fact that a total company might do well does not mean that...

STVCT

It is also reasonable to expect that if one is going to add fixed income but stay high in stocks then adding long bonds is better than adding short bonds. If the objective is simply highest expected return, you probably want to stay at 100%. This is helpful, thank you. I'm looking forward to other ...

STVCT

I'm 34, so even an 'early' retirement at 55+ gives me a 20+ year investing horizon. STVCT, 1) What is the size of your emergency fund? About 6 months. 2) How do you know that you would be fully-employed continuously over the next 20+ years? Nobody can know that but I have very good job security at ...

STVCT

It is also reasonable to expect that if one is going to add fixed income but stay high in stocks then adding long bonds is better than adding short bonds. If the objective is simply highest expected return, you probably want to stay at 100%. This is helpful, thank you. I'm looking forward to other ...

STVCT

Hey Everyone, I'm continuing to get smarter as I learn from the community, hopefully I'm starting to ask smarter questions. Current AA - 100/0 in tax advantaged accounts, with the option for mega roth. I don't see a taxable account in my near future. 65% Domestic 20% International 15% Reits I'm 34, ...

STVCT

Alex, a few questions for you. As a exercise, think about what happens to your portfolio if interest rates are stable, if they increase, or if the yield curve steepening (long tenor bonds yields increase more than short tenor bonds). Then ask those those changes would effect, and are effected by, th...

STVCT

Hey Everyone, Thanks for all of the responses and good dialogue here. What I'm gathering is that it may be a good proxy for me that's somewhere between fixed income and cash. It seems to satisfy concerns I would have about each. A stable value fund is similar to a savings account, money market accou...

STVCT

Hey All, Thanks for your patience with me, I'm relatively new to taking my investing more seriously. I'm reading a ton of books, and have learned a lot from this forum. As I continue to learn more, some of my posts have involved throwing crazy ideas at the wall to see what sticks - I promise this on...

STVCT

Employer is not going to reimburse you expenses without first submitting a receipt for the expenses. I have never heard of this, they want to first make sure you actually used the money for tuition and the only way to do this is to show payment. You can fund the HSA, then pay for the course, then s...

STVCT

I have poorly explained step 4. I end up being reimbursed more than I owe and find myself up 15% of the cost for each course. I expect your employer would consider this as rather improper. Generally, employers do not appreciate submitting expenses for more than you actually paid. That's a maybe, an...

STVCT

I have poorly explained step 4. I get a full invoice from the school and get reimbursed for it, but since I'm a returning student the school gives a 15% discount - applied as credits to my account. I end up being reimbursed more than I owe and find myself up 15% of the cost for each course. Hopefull...

STVCT

All, My kids are 3 & 6, I'm not ready to prioritize funding college plans for them. I'm wrapping up a doctorate, and I'd paused a masters to enter the program. I plan to finish the masters degree afterward. I'm thinking of starting a 529 for myself with the following plan. 1) Submit invoice to e...

STVCT

Hey All, 2021 will by my first year to max out both our roth IRA accounts and my 401k tax deferred space. I seem to have the ability to do a mega roth conversion through my 401k plan - I haven't tested this yet but I can make after-tax contributions and am able to roll it out to my Roth IRA. Using t...

STVCT

Hey Panda, Welcome. You're off to a good start. A few thoughts: 1) Asset Allocation - If you don't know what to do about asset allocation, just use the target date index fund. You can revisit this when you've got 200-300K, but for now a low fee target date fund is fine for you. At 29, your savings r...

STVCT

I'm in a similar life/age/situation as you, and I'm doing Roth IRAs while we still can . Backdoors are not an option for us, so you have added flexibility there. You're already pretty heavily weighted in traditional (same here), and even if you go all Roth with your extra budget, your 401k tradition...

STVCT

Hey Everyone, I have 3 accounts - my current employer's 401k (T Rowe Price), and traditional & Roth IRA with Vanguard. I make monthly contributions to max the ROTH accounts, and then make contributions + employer match to my 401k. I do not contribute to the rollover IRA. My desired allocation is...

STVCT

How did you decide what your asset allocation should be? Hoping to hear some advice on mine. I’m mid 30s with small family, stable employment, and a 25% pretax savings rate. Retirement 25+ years away. Have a mortgage at good rate. I’m currently 70% stocks, 5% bonds, and 25% cash (in online savings ...

STVCT

A Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. It's a book written for his own daughter who knows investing is important but doesn't want to be bothered. A great blueprint to keep things simple. The Boglehead books are for people that want an advanced understanding of a simple process, depending on her leve...

STVCT

Hi STVCT, Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I have always been quite serious about saving a certain fraction of my salary but never got around to investing until recently (admittedly due to lack of intent and knowledge). I feel fortunate to have found this forum. Regarding your comment on the Ro...

STVCT

Hey HasHas, You're not late - my age and status mirror yours almost exactly, I also started getting serious this year, and my portfolio is half the size of yours. Still, I'm pretty confident I can still retire between 50 & 55. Some thoughts: 1) Make sure you do a ROTH IRA for each of you. That m...

STVCT

I was just having a similar conversation this weekend w/ my family. They're interested in getting started investing, but are not interested in investing in a lot of companies/industries for the reasons you describe. Additionally, they don't want to invest in companies that made large donations to th...

STVCT

Hey BH Community, I'm early in my career and investing strategy (34), my plan does not yet include any fixed income for another 2-3 years. I'm looking for some insight on additional assets that can help me decrease correlation in my portfolio. Volatility is OK, I just don't want everything to move t...

STVCT

I'm not asking what makes more sense mathematically, I've done the math. I'm MFJ in the 22% tax bracket, plus another 5.5% for the state income tax. At 27.5%, the math would say that a traditional contribution is better. Are you planning to move to a no-income-tax state in retirement? If not, the i...

STVCT

Another consideration: what are the options in your 401(k)? If you want to hold something which is not offered in the 401(k), or does not have a good option (for example, the only international stock funds are expensive), then you need an IRA to hold that asset class. For example, the US Government...

STVCT

Hey All, I'm not asking what makes more sense mathematically, I've done the math. I'm MFJ in the 22% tax bracket, plus another 5.5% for the state income tax. At 27.5%, the math would say that a traditional contribution is better. Help me weigh the non-math emotional factors, as I still like the idea...

STVCT

At your portfolio level, I'd say to keep them separate. For me, with over three-quarter million in the portfolio, my emergency plan involves withdrawing from the portfolio, so it is part of it. I have several years' expenses in bonds in taxable (including, but not limited, to Series I savings bonds...

STVCT

Neat, I’m more conservative than I’d realized. Cool!

STVCT

From a risk perspective, what are your thoughts on counting the emergency fund. I feel like this is in the spirit of thinking of everything as one portfolio.

If I have 90k invested and 10k in an emergency fund, should I be thinking That 10% of my portfolio is in cash?

STVCT

Hey Everyone, I'm really new, I didn't get my financial life in order until 2020 (age 34). While I'm clearly still in wealth accumulation mode, I'm also in knowledge accumulation mode. I'm looking to highlight, learn more about and share good (preferably free) resources that we can all access. Here'...

STVCT

Hey, I'm new to the forum, but I suspect I can give you a headstart on the community's ideas. 1) Stocks are good. Don't try to pick them though, look for a broad total market index fund. 2) Bitcoin is gambling, not investing - I like your metaphor about digging in the trash here. Dont do that. Bette...

STVCT

RuralAvalon, Thank you - I LOVE that the community here is engaging my basic questions. Most of my 401K options are not very low-cost, so I'd opted to put it all into an S&P500 index there. Nothing but that fund has a ratio that starts with 0.0 I have a few realizations from this conversation: 1...

STVCT

Secondly, a question for you. Why not sell some domestic stock to buy REIT and international stock to achieve your desired allocation immediately, rather than trying to achieve it with new contributions? I could immediately rebalance the international, but I want all of my REITs in the ROTH side fo...

STVCT

So, should I target the allocation directly with each investment, or buy whatever is best for keeping the average price per share as low as possible, and look at the target allocation over a longer time period? First, how much do you contribute annually to each account? When young and just starting...

STVCT

Hey All, I'm early in my investing career, with a good amount of time to retirement. I have a current target allocation of roughly 80% US Total Market Index, 10% International Index 10% REIT index. Right now, I'm sitting pretty close to 95% VTSAX and/or the available comparable in my 401k (S&P50...

STVCT

How should I think about variable compensation when planning? I have a 19% bonus, based on company performance. I've been at the company 5 years, and I've seen it do everything it can. One year full payout, next year no payout, next year somewhere in the middle. When I think about my % of salary inv...

STVCT

Live in CT w/ 6% tax, 22% federal income tax that will cross to 24% if my annual bonus pays out. If you get into the 24% federal tax bracket then you will be in a combined 30% tax bracket with your state taxes. It would be very very difficult to justify contributing to a Roth before you have maxed ...

STVCT

Hey Everyone, This is my first post, I will try to adhere to the guidelines, go easy on me :D Current State: 34 year old male, two young kids, wife, single income household, filing jointly. We are good about a budget and save about 20% of my income, but we're not super frugal either. I'm living belo...

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