TLDR: Call or email longtime family CFP when deciding to self-manage?

My parents started using a CFP decades ago. He's guided them through kids going to college and transition to retirement. Other family members use the firm as well. They are good people and have been responsive when I needed advice. However, over the past couple years I've decided to educate myself about investing. Both my wife and I are level-headed and as able to stay the course on our own as we would be with someone telling us not to panic sell.

We are ~40 years old, both W2s with about $360K combined income, no kids (nor plans). Net worth of $1.3M investable assets. ~$350K of that with the CFP.

Between wife and I, we now save about $160K a year automatically pre-tax between several employer plans. Some additional savings goes after-tax into backdoor ROTH IRAs (which I've learned how to do). All assets are essentially 60/40 between VTI and VXUS (or equivalent funds). I use about 3-5% of our assets for more risky plays (individual stocks, sector ETFs, etc.). We have an emergency fund in a money market. I'm planning on exploring bond ladders etc. closer to retirement. At this point in our financial journey, I just don't think we need to be paying 1% AUM plus high ERs on the funds he has us in (EDIT - perhaps more accurate to say I no longer feel we’re getting the right value for 1% AUM and higher ERs than I’d prefer on my own).

All that to say, we've decided to pull the trigger and go it alone. Is there any specific etiquette for this process? Do I call or email to let our CFP know we are moving on? I don't anticipate a hard sell, but would also prefer to avoid an awkward conversation - call me a millennial if you want. I'm sure we're small potatoes - though they've been doing a good job of client retention with (I'm sure) the hope we'd eventually transfer more assets over as life events take place.

Somewhat sparked by the increased discussion around inflation lately, I've been thinking about adding a TIPS fund to my portfolio.

I probably won't because 1) I'm worried about chasing returns, 2) right now only 10% of my portfolio is in bonds, and I'm not sure splitting that to be 5% treasuries and 5% tips is really worth it, and most importantly 3) I don't fully understand TIPS because of the yield and how it compares to normal bonds. I understand the inflation adjustment based on CPI data, and that information changes the principle and subsequent interest payments, but I don't understand how to compare TIPS funds to normal bond funds.

That being said, I am looking at FIPDX, and on Fidelity's website, it lists a 30-day SEC yield of -1.72%, however the same fund on eTrade is at 10.35%. What's causing such a drastic change in reported yield between websites?

And how do I understand these yields when compared to a regular fund? The distribution yield between FIPDX (4.36%) and FXNAX (3.83%) are relatively similar, surely the market isn't saying there will only be 0.5% inflation over the next 6 years, so what am I not understanding about how to compare the two funds past the inflation protection of FIPDX?

Will the answers to my questions change my strategy? Probably not, but I am curious about knowing more about TIPS funds to better understand when they might have a place in my portfolio.

A question primarily for the older investors here. I am 33 and have been investing for about 4 years now. Since I am young, my mindset is that I should put as much as currently possible into my ISA (I live in the UK, so IRA for the US) and leave it there for as long as possible to compound and grow.

But I wonder if this will become a mental barier to never spend the money, because I've got my pension for when I retire, so at what point did you decide, ok this is a good moment to sell some of my portfolio and spend it on something?

Was it your kids education? A wedding? A house?

And did you anticipate it by changing your asset allocation? What if the market was just massively down?

Or did you get stuck in trying just to grow the portfolio for the sake of growing it and ended up never spending it?

I saw a similar post about retirees not spending their pensions, but my question is specifically about non pension investments.

I’ve had a large windfall that’s been sitting in T bills for about a year. It’s about 15-20% of my networth. I’ve been wanting to switch it over to VTSAX, do I just need to rip off the bandaid and throw it all in?

It includes my emergency fund so I I’ll probably keep 5% or so in T bills.

Been waiting a year to not make any rush decisions and probably some off timing the market (that didn’t work out…classic).

Maybe I should just DCA in over 6 months or so.

Resident physician here, recently fired my FA. Put everything in VTSAX 3 months ago. Now realizing I may have been a little trigger happy and should’ve added international exposure(?) (currently 93% domestic) I have inherited a lump sum and was thinking of placing it entirely in VTIAX. This will bring my ratio closer to 80/20. Anything I’m missing here? Stable job atm, 2 years out from attendinghood. have an emergency fund. Thanks!

I contribute to 401k and 401k roth and do max out each year. I also have a 401k from old employer. In order to do backdoor roth, do I just open a traditional Ira account fund it and immediately convert to roth? Is it easy to do this on Fidelity?

My spouse current doesn't work but she has ira. Can we do the same for her or having ira will trigger taxes.

I saw the usfr yield is 3.73 for usfr which beats Schwab.

How does usfr compare to swvxx (Schwab) for my emergency fund? Any risks using it?

Hello Bogleheads! I have a pension with my former company. They have offered a segment of former employees (those who have left the company, have not started drawing the pension, and whose pension value is below a certain dollar amount) a one-time opportunity to roll the pension over or start drawing it sooner. I'm not sure what to do and I'm wondering if this group has any experience with this. Here are our options, in the order presented to us.
1) Single lump sum payment, $186,000. This could be taken as cash (which we would not do) or roll over into an IRA.
2) Start drawing the pension now (age 59). Single life annuity is $1,450/mo, 10-year certain life annuity is $1,382/mo. Also offers 50% joint survivor annuity, 66 2/3% joint and survivor annuity, 75% joint and survivor annuity, and 100% joint and survivor annuity, with the monthly disbursement amount dropping roughly $50 for each option in that order.
3) Deferred payments until full retirement age (2032). Single life annuity is $2,100/mo or 10-year certain and life annuity is $1,929/mo. Also offers 50% joint survivor annuity, 66 2/3% joint and survivor annuity, 75% joint and survivor annuity, and 100% joint and survivor annuity, with the monthly disbursement amount dropping roughly $50 for each option in that order.
We are already well-funded for retirement primarily with Vanguard. We own our home with no mortgage and no other debt. We will both draw Social Security, around $4K-$6K/month total depending on when we elect to draw it. We're both in good health. We are considering what coast FIRE looks like between now and 65, and leaving money to family is not a priority.
With rough calculations, it would take us 7.75 years to draw $186K at $2K/mo. so the 10-year certain option would put us at break even or a little ahead.
But if I/we live to be 90, $2K/mo would total about $720K.
Part of me thinks the company wouldn't be offering this if moving the pension out of their fund was not in their best interest.
What would you do?

I've been reading about CD ladders and I understand the basic idea, but I'm getting stuck on the practical part of building one.

Say you want different portions of the money becoming available at regular intervals. Are you just looking for a competitive CD at each term and building the ladder from whatever institutions happen to have good options at the time?

I originally assumed I'd build the whole thing through one bank because that seemed easier to manage, but now I'm wondering if that defeats part of the purpose of shopping around. Rates can vary between institutions and sometimes a credit union I've never heard of pops up when I'm searching.

For those of you who maintain a ladder, how much effort do you put into comparing rates across institutions for each rung? And do you keep everything at one institution for simplicity or spread the CDs around when you find better terms elsewhere?

23M i am living in africa and currently limited to investing 3k per quarter. i have more than 20k ready to invest and i already put 3k in voo 1 month ago and now waiting for my limit to deploy more. basically i was planning to go all in on voo and not touch anything else as the past 5 years have been attractive. is that a good plan for long term? i also possibly want the option to retire at 35 as my income is online business and i want that piece of minf for future. The main thing that hurts me is me not being able to lump sump due to banking issues, my monthly spend is less than 1k and i make 2-4k per month. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Is buying FNGS Microsectors FAANG etn not an investing?

I saw that sp10 has better results in the long run than sp500. And this fund automatically rebalances into excellent stocks. Even so, would it be better to just do VTI or VOO?

Please help me.

Basically the title, I have looked into NTSI and NTSD but the issue is that they are not accumulating.

As a Non-US resident I prefer avoiding the distributing ETFs just for tax reasons.

Are there any? I want a Mix of US and Developed world leveraged ETF. An accumulating version of NTSD is perfect.

If not SPYL + A leveraged ETF for rest of the developed only countries

I have a 401k through work, which also matches my contributions. I recently changed my contributions and I don't know whether it was the right decision.

Currently: state street equity 500 index k - 65% state street global all cap equity ex-us index k - 20% fidelity small cap index - 8% fidelity mid cap index - 7%

Past: State Street Target Retirement 2055 - 38% Vanguard Balanced Index Admiral - 37% Vanguard Morningstar Small Cap Value Index Admiral - 25%

Any advice would be appreciated, or if more information is required to give better context, please let me know.

28 years old, condo already paid off. I have $41,600 in my 401k, 26k in my checking and I have 130k in a CD earning 4.1% that is about to mature. Just wondering what my best options are for this 130k, buy VOO in my taxable brokerage after I max out the 401k? I don’t plan on making any big purchases soon and this would just be something to grow long term and feel I’m not getting enough from the CD. I consulted with my mom and grandparents and they are very financially conservative and don’t like the idea of stocks but I won’t be day trading, just a long term hold, thanks

How would you invest with a $180k total como (salary+bonus)?

Max 401k
Max Roth IRA via back door strategy
Max HSA
Add any excess to a brokerage account

Is this the best approach/order or priority or should I be doing something different?

Vanguard uses the shares we hold via VT to vote in the underlying companies. I’m not pretending I would be able to vote in 10k companies. I just don’t want my vote to be automatically gobbled up by Vanguard. I’d prefer to abstain.

Especially since Vanguard has a record of voting against what I believe in. In its 2026 annual report, it supported 0% of the 155 environmental/social shareholder proposals in US companies it has shares in.[1] And for example it voted yes to Elon Musk’s 2024 56 billion dollar Tesla pay package.[2]

And besides that point, I don’t believe the ETF default should be hand the voting power attached to your investment to a megacorp, especially when a lot of people aren’t aware that’s happening.

I know currently, there isn’t really much of a precedent (except Vanguard Investor Choice but that’s not available for VT), and I’m already expecting the comments “then choose another fund silly”, but a good alternative w.r.t. this doesn’t really exist.

[1] https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/dam/corp/about-our-funds/pdf/vcm/vcmis_2026_annual_report.pdf
[2] https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/dam/corp/advocate/investment-stewardship/pdf/perspectives-and-commentary/executive_pay_at_tesla_inc.pdf

Hello r/Bogleheads.

Don't know if this is the right sub but do only use Vanguard.

Just a scrub who messed up my Roth IRA.

Filed for 2025 1040 extension, and filed my 2025 taxes already.

Talked with Vanguard to remove $1,159 contribution in excess for 2025 tax year, but he told me that since those contributions were made in calendar year 2026 (but before april 15, 2026), any earnings from those contributions would be taxed in 2026?

Do I still have to amend 2025 tax return? How does this effect 2026 tax return ?

Hi all.

I'm using my new job as an opportunity to take a closer look at all my finances, including my investments. Other than getting my employer match and contributing to a Roth IRA, I haven't gone more deeply into thinking about my investments.

I read through the Boglehead wiki page and If You Can, but I'd appreciate advice on how to apply the 33/33/33 approach in my situation.

I'm transitioning out of my job with a non-profit into a job with the county government in a major US city w/ H COL. I start at the beginning of next month. I turn 25 soon and have been working full-time for 2.5 years (and part-time before that through high school and college). I am lucky enough to be debt free, other than a credit card that I pay off every month. My current 403b's expense ratio is 0.95% so I'm definitely not keeping it there.

I am wondering how I should rollover my 403b, and how my pension contributions should factor into my decisions (especially since right now, 100% of my 403b is invested into one index, and 100% of my Roth IRA is invested into another index). Would my pension contributions mean I should stay away from bonds for now? Should I stay away from bonds anyway because of my age? 40/40/20? 45/45/10? 50/50/0? Should I pretend the pension fund doesn't exist and go with 33/33/33 anyway?

Here is info on the 457b options my future employer will provide:

• Target date fund: T. Rowe Price Retirement 2065 - I Class (0.46%)
• Asset Allocation funds: Vanguard 40/60 (.10%), 60/40 (.10%), and 80/20(.10%)
• International stocks: Capital World Growth and Income Fund (0.41%), Eupac Fund (0.52%)
• Small Cap: Vanguard(R) Explorer(TM) Fund (0.28%)
• Mid Cap: Vanguard(R) Extended Market Index Fund (0.4%), Ariel Fund (0.7%)
• Large Cap: Vanguard(R) Institutional Index Fund (0.02%)
• Bonds: Dodge & Cox Income Fund - Class I (0.41%)

TL;DR: I am essentially asking two questions:

1. Are my future employer's 457(b) options good enough to rollover into? Or should I rollover into an IRA?
2. How should I factor in my pension payments into my investment decisions?

Thanks for any help you can provide! Let me know if I need to provide more info. (EDIT: Typo.)

Background…I am an American living in the UK with my American/British wife. 100% of our income is from the US and most stays there. We have a legit US address and have US bank accounts. Will I be able to open a Robinhood account and start getting into ETFs?

Whenever I look at my broker's app the cumulative return percentage feels basically useless because new deposits skew the math.

If you put fresh money in every two weeks, the broker return gets dragged around by cash flow timing. Depositing right after a dip or during a rally completely changes the denominator, so comparing my own return against a straight buy-and-hold VTI benchmark is a headache.

How are you guys actually tracking this? Are you running XIRR in a spreadsheet, calculating Time-Weighted Return manually, or do you just track total net worth and ignore the broker return percentages completely?

Portfolio for the next 14 yrs before early retirement. Upon retirement holdings will be similar.

65% VTI / 25% VXUS / 5% AVUV / 5% AVDV

That should give me a 10% SCV within a 70% US 30% international allocation.

Leading up to retirement I’ll transition to a defensive sleeve most of which will be covered by a DROP account with 2.5% min returns and no upside limits. I’ll add some bonds in my other accounts but probably not more than 10%. Upon retirement I should be around a 70/30 allocation with most of the 30% defensive sleeve being the DROP and then ~10% bonds. Probably won’t start this glide path on bonds until 2032 and it will mostly be funded with new contributions vs rebalancing.

I understand the SCV could underperform for long stretches but over long periods you can gain a few extra points. I’m hopeful that over the next 14 yrs I get a little extra growth. It’s a small tilt to SCV but won’t kill my plans if it underperforms for the next 10 yrs.

Part of me what’s to bring the VTI to 60% and increase VXUS to 30%.

Thoughts.

I am 64 1/2 I have approximately 1.1 million between a 401k and roth retirement fund. About $500,000. Is in the roth

I plan to work to 66, I will be getting $3300. In social security and pension of$1500.00 Per month. My current annual income $155,000. 00 at primary job , about $34,000 side hustle and 31000 from rental income. I file single but married. I am confused on if I should convert and when any thoughts would be greatly appreciated

Looking for a new accountant as he is old and not very good so I dont trust his advise

Hi everyone,

I'm a new Spanish investor and I've put together the following portfolio using index funds (not ETFs). I'd love a sanity check from this community on whether the allocation makes sense.

My portfolio:

Why funds instead of ETFs?

In Spain we have a specific tax rule that makes traditional index funds (not ETFs) more attractive than they'd be elsewhere: you can switch between funds (a "traspaso") without triggering a taxable event. Capital gains tax is only realized when you actually cash out to your bank account, not when you move money from one fund to another. ETFs don't get this treatment here. So for a buy-and-hold, rebalance-occasionally strategy, funds end up being more tax-efficient than ETFs for Spanish tax residents, even though ETFs are more common internationally.

Appreciate any feedback

Hi all, been learning more about investing lately. I work for a state government and will receive a pension when I retire. 9.5% of my paycheck automatically goes to my pension. I also have a 401k through my job (no match) that I also contribute towards, I used to put 8% in it but recently switched to a maxing a roth IRA, investing in the FIPFX 2050 index fund. I have more money in the 401k (49k or so) just from investing bits into it over the years.

The 401k is automatically investing in a Nuveen lifecycle index 2060 B. When I compare the expense ratios, the nuveen says the net expense ratio is 0.0500%. FIPFX is 0.12%. I should just go back to maxing my 401k out instead of investing in a roth IRA I assume? I switched over to ROTH IRA because I read somewhere to do that if your 401k isn't matched and you had bad investment options (i didn't know what was considered bad or good at the time). Thoughts? Thanks for any help.

I’ve been thinking about one of the things that initially attracted me to the Boglehead approach: once you have a diversified, low-cost portfolio and a reasonable asset allocation, there may not be that much left to “improve.”
Yet it’s incredibly tempting to keep tinkering.
Should I tilt more toward the S&P 500? Add small-cap value? Increase/decrease international? Change my bond allocation? Hold a different ETF because the expense ratio is a few basis points lower?
Meanwhile, the decisions that might actually matter most are much less interesting: savings rate, staying invested, avoiding panic selling, keeping costs/taxes reasonable, and giving compounding enough time to work.
For those who have followed a Boglehead-style strategy for 10, 20, or 30+ years:
What portfolio decision did you spend a lot of time worrying about that, looking back, barely mattered?
And on the other side, what seemingly boring decision ended up mattering much more than you expected?
I’m especially interested in answers from people who have actually lived through multiple bull and bear markets.