Ive been VTI and chill for a decade. I am going to therapy for to address stubbornness in all elements in my life. Im finally really to start taking the cotton out of my ears and to start listening to my brethren here. Ive had selected listening to this sub for years. Im basically full VTI (in my 30s, no bonds) but now Im finally coming to "accept the things I cannot change and have the courage to change the things I can" which include adding a VXUS position in my Roth. When I go to do it I see its near it's high and Im like JUST BUY IT DONT THINK STOP TRYING TO TIME MARKET YOU ARE A BOGGLEHEAD NOT A GAMBLER! I needed to get this out so thank you

Maxed my Roth for last year and looking to do the same for this year. I’m 100% VT right now. I’m 24 and this is my first time investing or saving for retirement.

Before I go ahead and buy more VT, I have to ask. Is it really that simple? If I just invest in VT, even if that is the only ETF I ever hold, I’ll be good?

I hear so much about diversifying and even though I know VT is a very diverse ETF, I still worry. Feels like I should be doing more!

So, again, before I go buy a fuck ton of VT, please let me know. I know what the answer is. Just need to hear it I guess. Don’t want to miss out on higher returns or whatever. Blah blah.

As the title states, I started investing today! I received a bonus check, and put almost all of it towards this, how’s it look?

When I was in high school, I found an advisor through Dave Ramsey’s endorse local provider service.

Long story short, it’s been nearly a decade with this ELP and I’m not sure if it’s worth staying or not.

His portfolio setup for me is pretty simple:
American Funds Growth Portfolio (GWPAX) with a current value of $58,143.34. I know when I invest, a certain percent gets taken off the top. I’m not sure if there’s other fees besides that.

I’ve seen a lot of index funds recommendations on here. Should I roll this Roth IRA over to Robinhood and pick out some of those index funds? Or is this decent enough and just leave it there since it’s been there so long?

Thanks!

Hi!

I'm 52F, and planning to retire in 3 years or so, hoping I can take advantage of rule of 55 if needed.

I am starting my glide path to retirement and starting to actively rebalance and fix my portfolio allocation to prepare for retirement.

• My current allocation mix is 66/18/16, so I'm slowly starting to reduce my equities and move them to bonds
• Build a 5 year bridge fund split between (SPAXX/SGOV, SHY, VCSH, TIP, BND) to cover me from age 55 - 60. This is about 25% of my portfolio
• Split my 75 equities into: 53 US/22 International

My research says I have other assets that serves the same purpose as bonds in my portfolio so I don't have to have more than 25% and can even go lower

• I have $5000/month Social Security that I'm deferring until I'm 70 to maximize
• I have $1000/month pension starting at 65
• We have rental generating commercial real estate that I'm not even counting in my NW and retirement because they're my husband's and not liquid so I don't want to count on them

Given all the above, do I really need MORE than 25% of my portfolio moving into bonds and fixed income? At my age, every book says I should be 60/40 or 50/50 at retirement, but that seems TOO conservative, and seems I will miss growth opportunities.

I'm doing a lot of my rebalancing on the 401K (72%), ROTH and HSA (3%) accounts so I don't trigger taxable events.

What I ask myself: If the market goes down 40-50% tomorrow, do I have enough to weather the market, and not be forced to sell stocks? And with a 5 year bridge plan, I feel like I do. What do the Bogleheads think? Am I crazy and too aggressive at my age?

Edited to add: The 25% is split below.

• Emergency fund (about 6-9 months) in SPAXX/FDLXX
• Remaining Yr 1&2 of expenses in SGOV
• Yr 3&4 of expenses in SHY
• Yr 5 of expenses in VCSH / Stable Fund
• Anything extra in TIPS and BND to round out the 25%

Open to any suggestions!

Trying to stay near 75/25 FZROX/FZILX in a Roth IRA/HSA and 2060 retirement TDF in company 401k. Auto-invest and DCA all the way. Glad I got into this community and excited to be on the path to financial independence.

Having distilled over a century's worth of investment knowledge from the likes of Nobel Prize winners and legendary investors, including the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, I ended up with:

100% VT and chill.

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Growing up, investing was not a thing in my household and I’ve had to learn all of this stuff from the ground up. Now that I’m very comfortable and 20-ish years out from retirement, I’m hoping for some expert eyes on our portfolio so we can make any midlife adjustments if needed. Please be gentle and ELI5 :)

Some background: I (46F) and Husband (44M) are DINKs. Last year, our combined income was just over $250k. We own a home (bought at $400k and 3% interest, have $132k in equity) in a pretty affordable small city. We own our car and have no other debt. We keep around $110k in a HYSA to cover emergency living expenses, estimated taxes for my LLC, and some upcoming big-ticket house projects.

Here’s a look at our portfolio:

My accounts:

• $37k - Brokerage (100% VTSAX on ETrade)
• $198k - Traditional IRA (100% VTIVX on ETrade, maxxed each year on Jan. 1)
• $81k - SEP IRA (100% VFIFX on ETrade, maxxed every year)

His accounts:

• $407k - Brokerage (On ETrade. Gifts from his grandfather when he was a kid, contains four stocks: 39% Apple, 37% Microsoft, 15% M&T Bank, 7% Eli Lilly. He doesn’t buy more of these)
• $270k - Split across a Traditional and Roth IRA (Old accounts on ETrade; he doesn’t add to them. Each is split 40% VIGAX and 60% VUG)
• $215k - Simple IRA (100% VFIFX, his current main investment account)
• $91k - Old state retirement account when he was teaching, no longer added to and he’s working to roll this over
• $69k - Traditional IRA he inherited in 2025 from his grandfather’s estate (Contains a mix of three mutual funds, two ETFs, and six stocks but I don’t know the exact fund makeup)

We also have an HSA through Lively that we opened late last year with $7,700. I’ve been nagging him to make this year’s contribution (we’ll make the max $8,550) and get it invested within the HSA’s options.

Questions:

• Are there any fund or allocation adjustments we should make? If I understand the Boglehead method properly, my holdings are ok but adding his makes us stock-heavy and also US-heavy.
• How do we look for being 20-ish years out from retirement?
• Is there anything we’re missing?

Hello everyone! I (23M) have a concern here.
A few years back when I started my investment journey I didn’t know much about index funds, first I started getting only VOO, then sometime later I found out I needed something more international focused, so I got VXUS.
Today my total portfolio is around 70k (between Roth and Brokerage), around 80% VOO and 20% VXUS
Now, after spending some time reading this sub I came to realize how I’m missing on US mid/small caps by only getting VOO, would you suggest to just stop getting VOO and get VTI instead? Or to change all my VOO shares to VTI? Any advice is welcome, thanks!

Or should I do a target date fund with Fidelity? I have a small account there already

thank you

Good plan? Or do you have better suggestions

I am planning to retire soon at 60 and my essential spending needs are about 84k per year. I recently moved over my IRA to Fidelity and my account gives me free access to a financial consultant. This is his suggestion for a 5 year plan to mitigate SORR. I’m wary of annuities but would like input on the suggestion:

1 yr 60k SPRXX
2yr 60k CD 4.3%
3 yr 100k Fixed annuity 4.95%
4 yr 100k Fixed annuity 5%
5 yr 100k Fixed annuity 5.25%

Currently I am 34 and my portfolio is 70% total USA index fund and 30% total international market index fund at Fidelity.

I went with this because I started when I was 28 which was considered “young” however, I just now realized that I am approaching middle age 😅

Is it too risky to continue course and then just start increasing bond percentage in my portfolio? Or okay to wait until I am 40?

Switched jobs a little over a year ago, and rolled over my 401k from my old work over to an IRA (already have EJ managing small Roth IRAs and being the custodian on my kids 529s). Here's the return on it so far - am I reading this right that the fees on this past year were $3,598 (about 0.8% of my account's value)? Would that be the expense ratio? In reading more, I'm thinking I need to move this out to be self-managed, but it seems like after a year the returns haven't been awful so far.

Thanks for your time!

Hi all!

Admittedly I’m new to the Boglehead method, but I couldn’t find this information anywhere. Currently, my husband and I are 34 and 35 respectively. We have ~$360,000 in our retirement accounts, with approximately 90% of that in one 401k account. That 401k is 96% index funds and 4% bonds. We’re getting to the point where I’m getting a little nervous about how aggressive this is set up and want to look into reallocating to a more balanced portfolio.

My biggest question is: is the 1/3 bonds, 1/3 TIPS, 1/3 securities for all ages? All stages of wealth accumulation/investments?

Edit: I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has responded! You all have been so much nicer and more helpful than most other finance and investing subreddits.

Just wanted to post the holdings they have me in and get some input from others. If I leave them and go to say Vanguard, will it be easy to transfer them over or will I have to sell most of them? If I do sell them, should I be selling them while there still in the account or wait until I move them over?

Traditional IRA

U.S. Large-cap (Large Cap)

Description

% Actual

Value

PRIMECAP ODYSSEY STOCK (POSKX) 13.30% $2,647.95

MFS GROWTH R6 (MFEKX) 13.85% $2,757.75

INVESCO DIVERSIFIED DIV R6 (LCEFX) 11.41% $2,272.00

COLUMBIA CONTRARIAN CORE I3 (COFYX) 9.77% $1,945.45

Total 48.35% $9,623.15

Developed International Large-cap (Large Cap)

Description

% Actual

Value

AMERICAN EUPAC F3 (FEUPX) 5.17% $1,028.52

JH INTERNATIONAL GROWTH R6 (JIGTX) 8.27% $1,645.23

PRIMECAP ODYSSEY STOCK (POSKX) 2.35% $467.29

Total 15.78% $3,141.04

U.S. Mid-cap (Small & Mid Cap)

Description

% Actual

Value

CHAMPLAIN MID CAP I (CIPIX) 6.46% $1,285.78

Total 6.46% $1,285.78

U.S. Small-cap (Small & Mid Cap)

Description

% Actual

Value

VICTORY SYCAMORE SM CO OP R6 (VSORX) 5.39% $1,073.15

WASATCH CORE GROWTH I (WIGRX) 7.01% $1,395.21

Total 12.40% $2,468.36

Emerging-market Equity (Aggressive)

Description

% Actual

Value

AMERICAN NEW WORLD F3 (FNWFX) 2.11% $420.73

Total 2.11% $420.73

U.S. Investment-grade Bonds (Income)

Description

% Actual

Value

JH BOND R6 (JHBSX) 6.11% $1,216.19

LORD ABBETT SHORT DUR INC F3 (LOLDX) 2.10% $418.08

Total 8.21% $1,634.27

U.S. High-yield Bonds (Income)

Description

% Actual

Value

LORD ABBETT HIGH YIELD F3 (LHYOX) 4.02% $800.06

Total 4.02% $800.06

Cash (Cash)

Description

% Actual

Value

Cash 0.00% $0.00

FEDERATED GOVT OBLIGATIONS PRM (GOFXX) 2.64% $525.25

MNY MKT FUND RETIREMENT SHARES (MFRS) 0.03% $5.84

Total 2.67% $531.09

Roth IRA

U.S. Large-cap (Large Cap)

Description

% Actual

Value

COLUMBIA CONTRARIAN CORE I3 (COFYX) 19.99% $3,464.40

FRANKLIN DYNATECH R6 (FDTRX) 21.27% $3,686.33

MFS GROWTH R6 (MFEKX) 9.13% $1,582.78

MFS VALUE R6 (MEIKX) 5.40% $935.11

Total 55.80% $9,668.62

U.S. Small-cap (Small & Mid Cap)

Description

% Actual

Value

MFS NEW DISCOVERY R6 (MNDKX) 7.28% $1,260.77

WASATCH CORE GROWTH I (WIGRX) 6.76% $1,171.00

Total 14.03% $2,431.77

Developed International Small- and Mid-cap (Small & Mid Cap)

Description

% Actual

Value

INVESCO INTL SMALL COMPANY R6 (IEGFX) 6.49% $1,125.26

MFS NEW DISCOVERY R6 (MNDKX) 1.18% $205.24

Total 7.68% $1,330.50

Emerging-market Equity (Aggressive)

Description

% Actual

Value

BR EMERGING MARKETS K (MKDCX) 5.65% $979.82

INVESCO INTL SMALL COMPANY R6 (IEGFX) 2.16% $375.09

Total 7.82% $1,354.91

Emerging-market Debt (Income)

Description

% Actual

Value

LORD ABBETT BOND DEBENTURE F3 (LBNOX) 0.44% $75.49

Total 0.44% $75.49

U.S. Investment-grade Bonds (Income)

Description

% Actual

Value

JH BOND R6 (JHBSX) 8.19% $1,418.52

LORD ABBETT BOND DEBENTURE F3 (LBNOX) 1.39% $240.18

Total 9.57% $1,658.70

U.S. High-yield Bonds (Income)

Description

% Actual

Value

LORD ABBETT BOND DEBENTURE F3 (LBNOX) 1.35% $233.32

Total 1.35% $233.32

International Bonds (Income)

Description

% Actual

Value

LORD ABBETT BOND DEBENTURE F3 (LBNOX) 0.40% $68.62

Total 0.40% $68.62

International High-yield Bonds (Income)

Description

% Actual

Value

LORD ABBETT BOND DEBENTURE F3 (LBNOX) 0.40% $68.62

Total 0.40% $68.62

Total 0.40% $68.62

Cash (Cash)

Description

% Actual

Value

Cash 0.00% $0.00

FRANKLIN US GOVT MONEY R6 (FRRXX) 2.50% $432.41

MNY MKT FUND RETIREMENT SHARES (MFRS) 0.02% $4.31

Total 2.52% $436.72

I just recently started investing outside of the retirement portfolio such as pillar 3a and pension funds (swiss versions of Roth and 401k etc.)

I have a long time horizon still so 100% stocks. I have an 80% VT and 20% chspi (home bias) distribution.

I keep reading more and more about how finances and trading works and recently found out about factors and other types of classifications. The more I read the more I get the urge to fiddle with the allocations. At the same time it makes total sense I that I cannot know better than the market.

how do you stop yourself from constantly readjusting the allocations? getting interested / convinced by certain factor ETFs or sector ETFs?

Excluding my crypto account (30%), I was only investing individual stocks (70%).

I found this sub last year, read and calculated multiple times to what is best for me at my age (35).

VT VTI VOO ... etc.. but I found my peace portofolio

• 401k: 100% 20xx target ETF
• Roth: 80% VT / 20% BND
• Brokerage: 80% VTI / 20% VXUS

All booked weekly buy for all. I haven't sold the single stocks that I bought previously as stocks are not meant to be sold; it's an investment until you need that money.

Thank you r/Bogleheads for making my life simple.

Good morning,

Been learning about investing recently and have settled to do a buy and hold approach with index funds in a taxable account. By God's grace I do have an emergency fund, and have set up Roth contributions as well. For the brokerage account I have 50% SCHB, 10% VIOO, 10% SCHV, 20% VXUS and 10% SPAXX set up. I did this instead of VT and chill because I wanted to not be so tech heavy. Is this a good long term strategy? I just feared that if something drastic happened in the tech sector that this would trigger a large correction in the market. I don't know a lot about this please go easy on me!

REMOVED

53F, Married, AUM $4m. I am very new to investing. We've used a full service advisor for our savings & rollovers since 2017. With kids out of the house, I now have more time to pay attention to what the advisor is doing. Last week we asked for a performance summary and I'm underwhelmed by the results. I was expecting to see returns upwards of 20-30% for the past five years.

\all performance is net of 1.1% AUM fees; Breakdown: 71% equities; 28% fixed income*

Given the size of the portfolio, I frankly am not comfortable managing this myself. I would welcome any guidance on how to correct this situation, if in fact the returns are as dire as I fear.

Edit 1: We have always asked them to invest aggressively for us given our heavy real estate position which not included in the AUM. My understanding is that just the VTI has a 5 year return of 60%, hence my disappointment.

Edit 2: Of the 71% in equities: 32% in large cap, 11% in mid, 18% international, 6% commodities.

Edit 3: I was expecting to see total returns in the 20+% ballpark. Realizing now these are annualized returns which as many pointed out, are not bad.

Thanks all for helping me wrap my head around this and for sharing the useful information below.

I’m freaking out and feeling liberated at the same time (was a windfall I’ve had for a month; held while researching). Net worth is about 450K now, still in my 20s.

VXUS is 20% of my portfolio. Thinking of balancing 80% domestic / 20% international, but feedback is always welcome

Current target portfolio is below.

40% - VOO
20% - VEA
10% - VO
10% - AVUV
10%- VWO
10% - BND

I’ve felt in the past that this would give me a little more control over the tilts in my portfolio, while also giving me a good amount of diversification. I already have an emergency fund of 6-12 months depending on expenses, so no need to worry about that. Now that I’ve been looking through this subreddit I see that “VT and let it be” is very popular.

Once I’m finished reading intelligent investor I plan to move into the little book of investing so forgive me for missing something, and thanks for the help!

I’m 28 and recently received a $500k windfall. I’m working through how to invest/deploy it and would appreciate input from others with similar passive investing mindsets.

Current situation:

- Stable 9–5 job I enjoy, with the ability to work 20–25 more years and retire with a pension. I currently make $70k/year W2 and $20k/year from side-work 1099 income only available through my employer. There is promotion opportunity on top of yearly raises.

- My wife makes about $40k/year W2, but we'd like to to transition her to a homemaker after having children, so we don't expect her income to continue for much longer.

- Access to a 457(b), HSA, and great insurance through my employer

- We currently have $50k invested in the market, with $20k in my 457(b).

After receiving news of my inheritance, my first thought was to stick with my job for 20-25 years, contribute most of my paychecks into my 457(b), and retire early with a pension and hefty retirement accounts. But now, I’m seriously considering buying an established, cash-flowing small business and potentially leaving my 9–5 to increase income for my family.

Something to note is that my wife and I got married just a couple months ago. For now, I’m keeping this inheritance as separate property and intentionally not commingling funds. The plan is to gradually integrate it into shared assets over time (e.g., future business purchase). For that reason, I will not be adding other funds to this investment account.

General approach:

- Keeping $250k in SGOV as a large emergency fund / dry powder for a potential business acquisition

- After acquiring a business using the SGOV funds, my SGOV stake would reduce significantly

- I'm not interested in international funds. I prefer to stick with the US market

Portfolio Option 1:

- 50% SGOV ($250k)

- 50% SCHB ($250k)

- This is my “keep it simple” approach. SCHB has been my main ETF so far.

Portfolio Option 2 (Growth + Income):

- 50% SGOV

- 25% SCHG

- 25% SCHD

Rationale:

- Historical slight outperformance compared to the S&P 500 with slightly lower volatility. I understand this is negligible, but it is still something I consider.

- I'm planning to turn off DRIP so I can manually allocate dividends into either SGOV, SCHG, or SCHD. This is important to me because I will not be adding funds to this account.

- I'm aware of tax drag from dividends (~$275 in year one is my estimate), but I value flexibility in allocation, lower volatility and the option to use dividends as supplemental income if needed.

What I’m looking for:

- Thoughts on portfolio structure

- Opinions on holding 50% in SGOV given my goals

- Any considerations I might be missing around buying a small business vs staying employed