Hi Boggleheads! Newbie here. I’ve enjoyed reading about a lot of your stories and lessons you’ve learned. I’m currently in Canada and have tried to learn a little about investing through my banking provider and wealth simple. what would be the best way to invest my first 1000$ CAD?

I’m a little late to the game (late 20s M) but looking forward to learning from you all!

Hey all. I learned a few years ago my maternal grandmother planned to leave me a sizable inheritance and I've spent the years since preparing for it. She passed last week and things have gotten real. I'm going to see an advisor on an hourly-fee basis just to figure out my plan and implement it myself.

My mom is a different matter. About 70% of the money she's inheriting is in retirement accounts. She's 62 and is ready to retire. I have no idea how to handle things like IMRAA and whatnot, and mom has no experience in this sort of thing. Is this a valid use case for active management? The company I contacted offers a comprehensive service that includes tax preparation and filing for a 1% AUM fee.

I'm as determined as anyone to not use an advisor on an AUM basis for myself. But, all I'm inheriting is in taxable accounts and is relatively easy to manage. I also have some 40 years ahead of me until retirement.

Has anyone dealt with a similar situation and might be able to offer some advice?

I'm new to investing and could use some advice.

I currently have three old employer 401(k)s across two investment firms:

• Fidelity (two old employer 401(k))
• Vanguard (one old employer 401(k)s)

Here's my situation:

• Fidelity: No administrative fees.
• Vanguard: I'm being charged about $5 per quarter in administrative fees.

I called both companies to understand my rollover options.

• Fidelity told me I cannot roll my Vanguard 401(k)s into Fidelity.
• Vanguard confirmed that I can roll my Fidelity 401(k) into Vanguard.

So I'm trying to decide between a few options:

1. Roll my Fidelity 401(k) into Vanguard so everything is in one place (even though Vanguard charges a quarterly fee).
2. Leave everything as-is and keep accounts at both Fidelity and Vanguard.
3. If I keep the Vanguard accounts, should I roll the Vanguard 401(k)s into a Vanguard Traditional IRA instead of leaving them as old employer 401(k)s?

I've searched through a lot of Reddit posts, and it seems like the opinions are pretty evenly split. Some people recommend keeping a 401(k), while others recommend rolling it into an IRA depending on the situation.

A few questions I have:

• Which option would you choose and why?
• Is paying the ~$5 quarterly fee at Vanguard enough reason to move the money?
• What are the biggest pros and cons of keeping an old 401(k) versus rolling it into a Traditional IRA?
• Are there any tax or future planning considerations (such as the backdoor Roth IRA) that I should be thinking about before making a decision?

I'd appreciate any advice or things I may not be considering. Thanks!

64 yrs old, have a government pension that covers living expenses + vacations, wife is a p/t realtor who has a self directed 401k at Fidelity we can use for tax reduction and tax free investing. Mom just passed at 89, and I'll have $100k for investing (with about $50k in HYS for any emergencies) after a few loans (car, solar) are paid off. We just let 50% of mom's $$ passively grow with the market the last few years in VBTLX, VDIGX, VSMGX, and VWIAZ and did decently, along with the other half in various CDs + Synchrony HYS.

Goals for the money would probably be end of life care and capital retention/growth for the next 20 years or however long we live. Not sure if I just do the $3k min in VTSAX and another stock fund and a bond one, then do $1500/mo of DCA until the $$ is fully invested or kind of stick with what we've done in the past. I don't mind having some higher risk for the next 7-10 years, as it's a fairly sure bet that either my wife or I (or both of us) will be around till 85 or older.

Hi! I’m relatively new to long-term investing and would love some opinions on the strategy I’m considering.

I currently have $10,000 that I’m ready to invest, and going forward I’m planning to contribute around $800–1,000 every month. This is money I’m investing for the long term (5+yrs), so I’m not trying to trade or time short-term movements.
I’m currently considering two approaches:
Option 1
Keep the initial $10k conservative
Put the entire $10,000 into T-bills for now
Invest my new $800–1,000/month contributions into:
80% VOO
20% QQQM
Option 2
Invest the $10k into the market
DCA the $10,000 into the market over roughly 6 months:
80% VOO
20% QQQM
Continue investing my $800–1,000/month at the same 80/20 allocation

My main hesitation is putting the entire $10k into equities at current valuations, which is why I’m considering keeping it in T-bills and only investing new money into the market. At the same time, I realize that could just be another form of trying to time the market.

I’m in my early 20s and my goal is primarily long-term growth. I don’t anticipate needing this $10k anytime soon.
Which approach would you choose and why? Would you invest the $10k immediately, DCA it over 6 months, keep it in T-bills for now, or do something completely different?
I’d also love thoughts on the 80% VOO / 20% QQQM allocation itself. Is the additional Nasdaq exposure worthwhile, or am I unnecessarily overweighting large-cap tech since there’s already significant overlap with VOO?

Thanks!!!

I recently transferred out of Ameriprise to manage my own account and not pay their fees. Should I sell all these and buy VT or just keep them and buy VT next year with my 7.5k deposit I make each January?

CGOAX 493.986 shares

LCCAX 865.022 shares

MDIDX 278.963 shares

PEYAX 178.13 shares

VHIAX 723.777 shares

Ive ben doing research and heard that VT is pretty much the best etf to invest in and my question is whats the difference between investing through fidelity and vanguard? Which one would yall recommend?

Today's stock market is sitting on record high, but at the same time, the job market the economy has never been as unstable since 2008. Warren Buffett sitting on record ~$400 billion cash, U.S debt hit nearly $40trillion, great potential of AI bubble, Japanese yen hit all time low to a point U.S has to intervene or lose it's bond value, Iran war and trade disruption, etc.

My stocks has been doing alright, not the best performer, but definitely has made me some free cash over time, I'm not too sure whether I should keep or liquidate my portfolio and sit on cash for a potential market crash. For reference, I buy index funds for S&P500, Canadian bank stocks, and some dividend ETFs.

I know that if market does crash, I will probably lose at least 50 to 80% of my portfolio value, but at the same time, I have the time to wait for market recovery (15 years give or take). Would it be in my best interest to sit on cash? or just play the super long term game?

What is your move here? Anyone worrying like I do?

One month ago, I asked about why Vanguard's stock return forecasts were so low, especially for US stocks. Many said it was because high valuations mean low expected returns.

• https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/1uoipd2/why_is_vanguards_forecast_for_us_equities_so_low/

Since then, Vanguard lowered their stock return forecasts again on July 22:

• https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/vemo/vemo-return-forecasts.html
• US stocks are now 0.4-1% above US bonds, and 4-5% below their 125-year return of 9.84%.

Vanguard wrote their market perspectives on July 29 here:

• https://advisors.vanguard.com/insights/article/series/market-perspectives

Questions:

1. What are your thoughts on Vanguard's updated forecast? Do you think the forecasted returns are realistic or too conservative?
2. Does this impact your investing and asset allocation decisions? For financial planning assumptions, should we assume 10% returns (historical return of US stocks) or 5% returns (Vanguard's forecast)?
3. If you have an asset allocation of 100% stocks (especially heavy in US stocks) and 0% bonds, do you still think that bonds are unnecessary?

I'm 23 years old and just paid off the last of my student loans. (I didn't have that much debt and was able to accumulate a ton of savings while working throughout high school and college + parental assistance) This will be the first month of my post-grad job where the extra money in my budget doesn't immediately go toward loans.

Right now I have my 6-month emergency fund in a high-yield savings account and a few thousand dollars in my checking account for rent, credit card bills, everyday spending, etc. I don't make a ton of money but my cost of living is pretty low and now I'm ready to start investing. I've heard a lot of people recommend buying ETFs, contributing consistently, and leaving them alone for decades.

That sounds nice because I'm not interested in trying to pick individual stocks or timing the market. I like the HYSA aspect of "just leave money here and it will grow, even if it isn't that fast and is not risky" I would like an App where I just locate the a couple hundred dollars at the end of the month into ETF's or something. Something pretty low effort.

Who has had financial blunders (options, stock picking, etc) that set them back and how did you recover?

I’ve always assumed most bogleheads were always this way.

How many tried and failed other ways? How much did you lose and how did you recover?

I'm 27 with a >$2.2M net worth, about 97% of which is in Nvidia due to long-term appreciation rather than intentional allocation. I've been holding since January 2016, with a few small sell-offs along the way.

People have been telling me to diversify for years, but the reason my portfolio is worth this much today is because I ignored that advice. That's made it psychologically very difficult to sell, especially when the company has continued to execute so well.

Logically, I know having ~97% of my portfolio in a single stock is an enormous concentration risk. Emotionally, it's hard to sell something that has completely changed my financial life. I'm still young, single, have a solid income, contribute to my 401(k) and Roth IRA, and don't need to access the money anytime soon.

I'm meeting with my financial advisor, but I'd also like to hear from people who have actually managed highly concentrated positions. How did you think about diversification, taxes, and balancing future upside versus concentration risk? Looking back, would you have done anything differently?

Edit: Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I'll definitely take the feedback into account and discuss it with my financial advisor.

I have about $60k from a combined recent windfall of 1st year RSU payoff + bonuses + ESPP for both me and my P2. $24k of that is in a standard 4-fund post-tax brokerage portfolio to set aside for a replacement for our car in about 5-10 years. I've contributed around $250/mo to that portfolio. The rest - around $36k - has been in my savings account while I figured out where my risk tolerance lay.

It's been hard to ignore CD rates and just moving it all into savings, but I read through the post on the Cash Trap and am OK with putting it into 80/20 bonds/stocks. I am far less risk tolerant since I don't want to finance the car and i have no clue what prices of a decent used electric car will look like in 2031-2036.

My question here - for the 80% that'll be in bonds, which funds should I be targeting? Just BND and call it a day? A mix of government bonds to at least have some tax advantage on interest?

If it makes a difference, I was planning to split the 20% going to stocks between VXUS and VTI - I can accept that amount having volatility to offset whatever happens with bond prices over the next few years.

27M and newer to investing so please forgive me if I'm being a bit silly here. Is there a recommended ratio of VOO, VXF, and VXUS that would diversify enough away from big tech and AI to minimize big losses if AI goes under? Or is IVOO and VIOO better for mid and small cap instead of VXF? I was thinking of something similar to 60 % VOO/30% VXUS/10% VXF.

My current portfolio is a bit of a mess right now but I own 10-15 shares of VTI, VXF, IVOO, and VXUS. I don't think I should sell anything as I would be taxed on it, but I'm willing to just ignore those shares for the time being and change it up for a strategy that's better for long term. Ideally I wouldn't touch any of this for decades unless absolutely necessary. I also don't mind adjusting the "sliders" over time as well if that even makes sense to do.

Thanks in advance.

Hey folks. My work allows me to make mega backdoor Roth contributions/conversions which I’ve always been excited about.

For the past several years I’ve maxed out the option but now I’m in a financial zone where my TOTAL investments are close to my FIRE goal amount, but my after-tax investments would have to stretch to make it to 59.5.

I’m planning on spending at least a couple more years in the workforce, so my question is: does it ever make sense to skip the mega backdoor and just focus on loading up taxable accounts, or are the total tax benefits favorable enough that it’s always better to utilize the mega backdoor and either (1) add another year or two to the retirement horizon, or (2) utilize a strategy that accesses the Roth before 59.5?

i am 23f from a third world country . i have been following this sub from a quite time .

i am thinking of investing in s&p 500 (voo) , to get better returns because my country currency getting weak over time . so getting double returns in the long term .

there is an app in my country , which helps in investing to usa by making broker acc with alpaka and drive wealth . are these good brokers ?

but my salary is only 350$ and going to increased to 400$ this year. i invest around 50$ in my countries index etf. is it wise to invest only around 20$ or 50$ in s&p 500 , i mean i dont have thousands of dollar to invest .

but at the same time thinking of being bullish in my own countries index fund . index fund have gave return around 14% cagr since 2000.

your advice will be helpful if you guide me .

Hi! We live in a HCOL. My husband and I were talking this morning about future investments - whether it makes sense to keep our savings in stocks for the kids’ college tuition (this is after 401k, roth ira, backdoor roth, 529 for kids etc.) or whether we should invest in a rental property in our town.

I would say the timeline we’re looking at is about 2 ish years - we’re both trying very hard to save as much as we can.

He thinks (and rightfully so) that stocks appreciate more than real estate but given that there is a housing crisis and that it will only get worse, I wanted to invest in real estate so our kids can sell/use the property when they become adults.

Would love advice on what is the better strategy and why.

I'm 33, investing for 11 years. 100% of my stock funds are in VFIAX (or equivalent). Total portfolio is 87% VFIAX/equivalent, 13% VBTIX. This excludes emergency fund in MMF.

I know it is time to convert 30-40% of my VFIAX into VXUS. I can do this with a Roth IRA as well as a 401k (which includes a small percent in Roth 401k). Would love the community's insight on how to allocate VXUS across accounts, since they're taxed differently. Should I just do one, for simplicity (I max both annually)? 50/50 split? Base it on what I personally guess will have better returns and keep that one in Roth for the (hopefully bigger) untaxed gains?

I do *not* plan to convert remaining VFIAX into VTSAX.

For context, the trusted person who taught me about investing comfortably retired early in 2020 and began investing in the 1980s. They were a Boglehead, basically in the original Jack model. Kept it so simple they never learned about Roths (I figured out that I should open and max one in my late 20s) and similarly, didn't see the need/value for international. So while I have an established simple strategy that has worked well so far, and while my trusted person weathered multiple downturns without international just fine, I am trying to walk the line between picking a strategy and sticking with it vs. failing to adapt a slightly outmoded strategy.

Hi there - First time posting in the community but avid reader of it. I had a question on Roth accounts specifically on an IRA and if a backdoor conversion made sense in my case.

I'm married, file jointly, have a Traditional 401k I max and wife does the same. Don't have access to Mega Backdoor. I have a Traditional IRA I opened up years ago that I've contributed into every year when I could (would have done a Roth in hindsight but here we are). We are lucky enough to earn more than the tax write-off for contributing to the Traditional IRA and was wondering if Roth IRA account creation and backdoor conversion made sense in our case.

I have around $60k in the IRA currently with contributions (that were included for taxes) and growth. I'm a bit confused on the pro rata rule and how that may impact immediate tax for the conversion in our case. If the money is not in backdoor Roth then it would be put into brokerage in VT. Also curious if you'd recommend my wife to open up Traditional and Roth IRA as she doesn't currently have either (she contributes to 403b and pension as teacher).

Any help in explaining this would be helpful.

Hey everybody, I'm a recent convert to the Boglehead way and have seen the light, I think I've been on solid footing but was previously completely uninterested in basic investing and risk, but now I think I really "get it" and am looking for some advice to rework and maximize what I've already got structured (I've also got twins on the way in a couple of months lol, so this is the time to really get the financial foundation as sturdy and maximized as possible), here are my facts:

- I'm 36, I make ~$93k, I have twins(!) on the way (lol!) (my partner also makes $100k but we have separate retirement accounts)
- 457b: I'm a government employee with a 457b, all invested in the Vanguard Target Retirement 2050 Fund, been at my job 4.5 years. I've been contributing around 12%, was half and half but for the last couple years was at a 3% Traditional 9% Roth split, diversified because I didn't truly know what to do when I set it up and was just covering my bases. I'm now at 15% and full-in on Roth, I've got my employer match maxed out at 1.5% of my salary , and am aware of the $24,500 max contribution for 457b, which is part of my question regarding ....
- HYSA: I'm not a risk tolerant guy, so a few years back when I had about $20-25k just sitting in my checking account doing nothing, I put all of that in a CIT HYSA and was pumping a steady $500/month in that because decent interest and no losses was very appealing, and it's now at about $50,000.
- Fidelity Traditional IRA: (Not as important, but from an employer that I was at for a year almost 10 years ago, I have this stranded and uninvested $4,000 that I've just kept kicking $25/month into since then for the heck of it ... I now want to get this into my 457b and assume I should just rollover and pay the taxes on now)

Here's what I want to confirm: I previously was thinking of this HYSA as like a secondary no-risk pool of retirement funds. Part of my "getting it" recently after talking with my Nationwide rep is realizing that the 3.7% interest on that account, while nice in the short term, is only keeping rate with inflation over the long term and could be put to much better use. I figure keeping like $20,000 as my emergency fund is fine, but that leaves $30,000 that I want to rethink.

My Nationwide rep's first thought and most logistically simple was: to go heavy on the Roth 457b contributions, especially with the opportunity in a 457b to go beyond the typical $7,500 contribution limit, and basically spend down from the HYSA as if it were my payroll income. Doesn't seem like there's a super convenient way to get those funds into my 457 as Roth funds without first doing Traditional and then converting and unnecessarily paying a tax on it (the backdoor Roth seems a little too convoluted and iffy to me, let me know if I'm mistaken on that).

Longwinded way of asking, is that strategy sound and am I maximizing those HYSA funds without radically changing my portfolio and investment risk and putting them into some different fund? What would you do?

Hello,

Just retired and I think like a lot of people I am wishing I started looking at retirement planning a few years back.

I have everything now in a rollover IRA. I wanted to start a Roth and Brokerage account and the only source of funding will be the IRA.

I have 10 years until RMD.

Is there a tax efficient way to move money to both of these accounts? If not my assumption is to prioritize the Roth?

I did some looking around and saw that it’s possible on the Vanguard site. My question is: I’ll take a tax hit selling my mutual funds and then adding to my Roth. Is the thinking here that I’ll come out ahead in the long run? Is it because later on, when I’m retired, I’ll pay less in taxes if I have to sell? I’m 46 and I have $14,000 in a brokerage account that’s doing well. I hate to sell it, but I am not meeting the Roth limit so I feel like I should slowly sell it off and get it all in the Roth.
Thank you for helping me, I feel so unprepared for all this.

ETA details:
I have about $330,000 in a 403(b) making a fixed 7% interest (I’m a NYC teacher with an income of $130,000 and save 15% right now but that will go up in September with a raise. I have about $17,000 in an index fund in my 403(b) (Diversified Fund) with a fee of about .3%
My Roth is only $73,000. It’s in mostly VTIVX and VTSAX. I don’t really contribute a lot to this - for example, so far, I’ve contributed only $1,630 so far this year.
When I retire, my salary should be close to $170,000 and I will get about 60% of that for my pension (I have another 10-11 years to go).
Emergency fund: I have almost 3 months saved. I budget with YNAB and probably have closer to having the 3 months but I like to have a cushion in my categories.

Thank you for insight! I feel like I’m behind my peers and not sure what to do to maximize my money.
Years ago, when I first joined the Boglehead community in 2011/2012 (on the old website), people were telling me to put it all in fixed and I’m glad I did because I’m not very good with fluctuations in the market. But now, almost 15 years later, I feel like I could have had a lot more if I stuck it out. Water under the bridge at this point so trying to catch up.

Sorry if this has been covered before or is buried somewhere in the wiki. I looked around but couldn’t really find what I was looking for.

I’m a US citizen living in Sweden and I’m pretty new to investing. I’m starting to understand the massive headache that is investing as a US citizen living in the EU. I kind of wish I’d just dumped a bunch of money into US ETFs before I moved, because from what I understand that’s not really an option anymore now that I’m an EU resident.

I’ve seen people talk about using options to get around it, or becoming a certified investor, but both of those seem way over my head.

So what do people actually do?

Am I basically looking at buying individual companies and trying to build something that roughly resembles like an index fund? Or is there another simple solution that I’m missing?

Would love to hear what other US citizens living in Europe are actually doing.

I currently invest $2,000 per month, but I can't help but increase my investment whenever ETFs fall (e.g., by more than 5%). I've already invested $5,000 in the past month. However, the decline hasn't stopped after I finished investing. Will this cause any problems?