[Help for my parents' taxable account]

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Topic Author
Careful Daughter
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:53 am

[Help for my parents' taxable account]

Post by Careful Daughter »

[Moved into a new thread from: Allocation and bonds --admin LadyGeek]

hi, i'm new to this website- i would love some advice - i'm taking care of my parents retirement money. their RMD's & social security are enough to live on comfortably. my question - they have about $600k in a taxable account. in the past year i have used that money to buy:
25k amazon,
25k apple
25k PRF
25k FNDX
50k VNQ
250k BND.

i know it's just dumb luck, but this account is mostly up (not BND).
i realized late in the game that i should have thought more about muni bond funds. so i'm considering NYF and VNYTX.
any thoughts?
(i used the Ray DAlio all weather approach for their IRA's but since everything is so high right now (well, not commodities), i'm hesitant to do the same with this account.).
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Eagle33
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Joined: Wed Aug 30, 2017 3:20 pm

Re: [Help for my parents' taxable account]

Post by Eagle33 »

You may get more responses if you edit your post to style to match the format described in Asking portfolio questions
dbr
Posts: 46181
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2007 8:50 am

Re: [Help for my parents' taxable account]

Post by dbr »

You want to think of all their assets as a single allocation. For example, there might not need to be bonds in the taxable account if you can accommodate them in the IRA/401k etc. (location)

The process is objectives -- > allocation --> location --> investment selection.

Also worth attention is the three fund portfolio concept, not because it is superior but because it is good enough and you are challenged to justify why you should do something different.

Here are the two stickies and the Wiki articles that might apply as mentioned above as well:

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6211
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6212
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio
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retired@50
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Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2019 2:36 pm
Location: Living in the U.S.A.

Re: [Help for my parents' taxable account]

Post by retired@50 »

If I were you, I'd avoid things like commodities, gold, or any other somewhat exotic Ray Dalio strategy. I would also avoid buying stock in individual companies as you take on unnecessary "firm-specific" risk. Especially when managing the money of retirees. Stick to the prudent investor rule and be able to justify your decisions should you ever need to. Generally, use low cost stock and bond index funds, and pay attention to tax consequences in the taxable accounts.

Regards,
If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -George Orwell
Topic Author
Careful Daughter
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:53 am

Re: [Help for my parents' taxable account]

Post by Careful Daughter »

thank you everyone, i' m new to this, as if you couldn't tell already, didn't know about format rules, i will revise & repost, although the advice i see here has already been very helpful, xo, daughter. trying to be careful.
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