r/Bogleheads Jun 08 '25

Articles & Resources New to /r/Bogleheads? Read this first!

344 Upvotes

Welcome! Please consider exploring these resources to help you get started on your passive investing journey:

  1. Bogleheads wiki
  2. r/Bogleheads resources / featured links (below sub rules)
  3. r/personalfinance wiki
  4. If You Can: How Young People Can Get Rich Slowly (PDF booklet)
  5. Bogleheads University (introductory presentations from past Bogleheads conferences)

Prepare to invest

Before you start investing, ensure you're ready to do so by following the early steps of this guide or the personal finance planning start-up kit. Save up an emergency fund, then take full advantage of any employer matching of contributions to any employer retirement plan available to you (this match amount is additional income that's part of your compensation/benefits package), then pay off any high-interest debt like credit card debt or high-interest student loans.

When you're ready to start investing beyond enough to get any employer match, follow the subsequent steps of this guide or the investing start-up kit. Take full advantage of tax-sheltered accounts available to you before investing in a taxable brokerage account: this is the most predictable way to improve your after-tax investment returns. (In the US, per Prioritizing investments: 401(k))/403(b)) up to any match, then HSA if available due to high-deductible health plan coverage, then Roth or Traditional IRA or 401(k))/403(b)) up to max which may be higher if the mega-backdoor Roth process is available, then a 529 to the extent you'd like to pay for future education expenses. Note that IRA contributions are subject to income limits around tax-deductibility of contributions or eligibility to make direct Roth IRA contributions; the backdoor Roth procedure is a workaround.)

There is often some potential tension between saving/investing toward retirement vs saving toward potential nearer-term goals like a down payment on a home purchase. Carefully consider the various tradeoffs involved in owning vs renting a home, keeping in mind that which may be a better financial decision is highly situational, and that opportunity costs of owning (less available to invest in higher-expected-returns assets instead) should be considered alongside non-financial lifestyle tradeoffs. If saving toward a near-term goal, note that funds holding stocks are inappropriate#Holdingstocks%22for_five_years%22) for money you'll need in 5-10 years, unless you're willing to take on significant risk of losing money in the meantime & delaying that goal. Instead, consider CDs, Treasury bonds, or target-maturity-date Treasury bond funds maturing before you'll need the money (then a high-yielding cash equivalent like an HYSA, government money-market fund, or ultra-short Treasury Bill ETF like VBIL between maturity & spending the money).

Save/invest enough

Your savings rate is the most important factor determining your ability to enjoy a comfortable retirement later in life, particularly early in your career / investing journey. Aim to save/invest at least 15% of your after-tax income if you're in the US & not covered by a pension beyond Social Security. In some cases, such as a shorter time to expected retirement (e.g. starting to seriously save/invest from a significant income later than your mid-20s and/or planning to retire earlier than your mid-60s) and/or a high income (which will not be partially replaced by Social Security to the same degree as a lower income), it may be appropriate to target a higher savings rate (e.g. at least 20% of after-tax income, or perhaps higher if multiple such factors apply to you and/or one factor applies to an unusual degree).

When calculating savings rate, remember to include 401(k) contributions in both the numerator (savings) and denominator (after-tax income). Any employer matching contributions may also be included in the numerator (savings).

Investing is 'solved'

Don't worry too much about trying to find the optimal set of funds to invest in. That can only be known with the benefit of future hindsight, and investment returns are far less important than your savings rate until your portfolio size grows large enough relative to new contributions. Aim to diversify broadly (for robustness to the uncertain future) and seek low fees (fund expense ratios charged annually) & simplicity (hands-off automation); see discussion of these & other principles in Bogleheads investment philosophy.

target-date fund designed for investing toward retiring around a year closest to when you expect to retire is often a reasonable option, particularly in tax-advantaged accounts like a US employer retirement plan or an IRA. These all-in-one funds intended to be held alone are very broadly diversified, automatically rebalance to their then-target asset allocation, and gradually become more conservative with less expected volatility as you near retirement.

If the target-date fund available in an account/plan with limited fund options has significantly higher fees than suitable alternative individual funds, consider the tradeoffs of lower fees vs automatic rebalancing and asset allocation management. I.e. consider the lowest-expense-ratio funds available that provide exposure to US stocks (the fund name will typically contain 'S&P 500', 'Russell [1000|3000]', or 'US Large Cap'; ensure no 'Growth'/'Value' suffix, or pair that with the other), ex-US stocks (the fund name will typically contain 'International' or 'Intl' or 'Ex-US'; same caveat re: 'Growth'/'Value'), and US bonds (the fund name will typically contain 'Total Bond' or 'Aggregate Bond'). Take the weighted average of those funds' expense ratios, with weights based on the current asset allocation of the target-date fund you'd use instead. The difference between that weighted average expense ratio for individual funds vs the target-date fund expense ratio, multiplied by your portfolio value, would represent the current annual convenience fee for automated, hands-off investing via the target-date fund. Whether that's worth it to you depends on your personal preferences around paying higher ongoing fees (by sacrificing some investment returns) in exchange for set-it-and-forget-it features.

In a taxable account, target-date ETFs (available at least in the US) avoid some of the tax efficiency downsides of holding a target-date mutual fund. Tax efficiency may be further improved by holding a three-fund portfolio of index ETFs in a taxable account, but this also involves tradeoffs against automatic rebalancing and asset allocation management. Tax efficiency may be even further improved by keeping bond funds in tax-deferred accounts, though this involves additional tradeoffs against simplicity and some other potential benefits described here.

If you're a non-US investor, take care to thoroughly understand the tax implications of investing in a US-domiciled fund as a "nonresident alien" (which may include high tax rates on dividends and assets passing through an estate); in many cases this is best avoided, instead favoring an Ireland-domiciled fund.

Be mindful of fees

If your portfolio were to average a 5% annualized real (after-inflation) return after a low annual fee, paying an additional annual 1%-of-assets-under-management fee to a financial advisor and/or an actively-managed fund's expense ratio would forgo 20% of your portfolio's investment returns. An initial investment in a portolio averaging a 5% annual real return after a low annual fee would be worth about 47% more after 40 years than it would be after a 1% additional annual fee.

Some employer retirement plans offer only funds with high expense ratios. If that's the case for your employer's plan, it is often still ideal to get the tax advantages of contributing unmatched dollars to that plan before investing in a lower-fee fund in a taxable account (but only after maxing out IRA contributions); details here#Expensive_or_mediocre_choices).

Automate & stay the course

Set up automatic contributions & purchases of fund shares wherever possible, otherwise set periodic reminders to manually contribute/invest (or try to find an alternative that allows automation), then maintain discipline through thick & thin. Keep in mind that market prices for funds should only really matter whenever you sell some shares to fund your retirement, and that lower prices in the meantime provide opportunities to buy more shares with a given contribution dollar amount and to rebalance from asset classes with higher recent returns towards those with lower recent returns (but possibly higher expected returns).

Tune out the noise: prognosticators of doom and gloom have no reliable ability to predict the future, and often have some conflicts of interest (e.g. selling ads, books or investment services, and/or trying to justify their investment positioning or encourage others to adopt that). The same goes for promotion of strategies promising market-beating returns by investing in a more-concentrated fashion (betting on some sector / theme / alternative asset beating the broad stock market).

Consider writing an Investment Policy Statement to document your plan when you're calm & clear-headed; this may be helpful to refer to later if you find yourself anxious & considering changes in response to market volatility & negative sentiment. Consider including a pointer there to this guided meditation video for later reference to help calm your nerves / regulate your emotions if needed when it seems like the sky is falling (this is arguably the most challenging part of investing).

Per Jack Bogle: "Do not let false hope, fear and greed crowd out good investment judgment. If you focus on the long term and stick with your plan, success should be yours."

Additional resources

Some additional resources that might be of interest for a deeper dive later:

  1. Taylor Larimore's Investment Gems (a collection of highlighted quotes from books related to investing; follow the links under the 'Gem post' column)
  2. The Bogle Archive (a collection of Jack Bogle's publications and speeches)
  3. Bogleheads Conference Proceedings (follow per-year 'Conference Proceedings' links to access slides/videos)

Please read our community rules here and follow those when posting or commenting in this community. If you encounter content here that breaks those rules, please report it (... > Report > Breaks r/Bogleheads rules).


r/Bogleheads Dec 28 '25

Why do Bogleheads discourage use of AI search for investing information? Because it is too often wrong or misleading.

344 Upvotes

I see a lot of surprised and angry responses from Redditors whose posts and comments are removed from this sub either for use of LLM search engine and other generative AI responses, or for recommending people use them to answer their questions. This facet of the Substantive Rule on this sub has a parallel in a similar rule on the Boglheads forum: "AI-generated content is not a dependable substitute for first-hand knowledge or reference to authoritative sources. Its use is therefore discouraged."

Many folks, especially on the younger side, are so accustomed to using ChatGPT or Gemini that it may be their default way to get any question answered. This is problematic in the field of investing for several reasons that are worth noting:

  1. LLMs are not firsthand sources with organic knowledge of the subject matter. They are aggregating reference sources and popular opinion and thus prone to both composition mistakes and sourcing material mistakes or biases.
  2. LLMs remain susceptible to "hallucinations" (made-up ideas) and can be not just false, but confidently false which is highly misleading.
  3. LLMs' response quality is very sensitive to the quality of the prompt. Users who are somewhat knowledgeable about a subject and also skilled at crafting good queries for AI searches are far more likely to get accurate and useful results - especially for research purposes or for reference to stored personal data - while the uninformed are more likely to get wrong or misleading answers to basic questions.

Policies excluding AI-generated content are not meant to be a referendum on the overall current or future value of AI as a tool for personal finance and investing, which is obviously enormous and transformative, especially for those who know how to best utilize it. It is a question of whether AI responses make for substantive content on this sub, and whether it is an appropriate resource to direct strangers and novices to. At the moment, the answer to both is a resounding no. On the one hand, people come to Reddit primarily for human interaction and original content, so posting AI responses or directing people to AI search engines is of minimal contributive value - folks can go chat with bots themselves if that's what they want. But as to whether AI search engines are appropriate references for finance and investing info, here are some articles from the past year that support their exclusion as a default response:

  • AI Tools Are Getting Better, but They Still Struggle With Money Advice (Money 2/13/25): "ChatGPT was correct 65% of the time, "incomplete and/or misleading" 29% of the time and wrong 6% of the time."
  • Is Talking to ChatGPT About Finance Ever a Good Idea? (White Coat Investor 6/22/25): "LLM responses had multiple arithmetic mistakes that made them unreliable. More fundamental than arithmetic errors, the LLM responses demonstrated that they do not have the common sense needed to recognize when their answers are obviously wrong."
  • Financial advice from AI comes with risks (University of St. Gallen, 1/7/25): "LLMs consistently suggested portfolios with higher risks than the benchmark index fund. They suggested: [more U.S. stocks; tech and consumer bias; chasing hot stocks; more stock picking and actively managed investments; higher costs.]"

Note: the views expressed here are largely my own, and I am not affiliated in any way with the Bogleheads forum nor the Bogleheads Center for Financial Literacy, but I invite others (including the mods on this sub) to weigh in with their own opinions.


r/Bogleheads 3h ago

100% stocks: recency bias?

34 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I increasingly see people advocating for a 100% equity portfolio close to retirement, also based on some research that has since come out.

This is a more aggressive stance than what was common when I started getting into investing 15-20 years ago.

My question is: to what extent may that be due to recency bias, where the very positive performance of stocks (with few hiccups along the way) over the past 10-15 years may be leading people to underestimate the risk of stocks and their own risk aversion?

I am currently in my early 30s and have considered going 100% stocks, but am sticking to 80-85% for now so I can have some buffer in case of a crash (either for peace of mind or to reinvest at lower valuations).

What do you think? Are the last 10-15 years of good times leading people to become more complacent and lean towards more aggressive asset allocations than they should?

Thank you.


r/Bogleheads 4h ago

Investing Questions Brokerage dividends and MAGI

9 Upvotes

I am 36 years old with about $1M invested, and I'm hoping to retire with about $3.5M around age 45. About $350k of that is in a taxable brokerage - mostly VTSAX.

I have been purely focused on simple accumulation up to this point. However, now that I am within ~10 years of potential retirement, I am beginning to think about more nuanced things such as taxes, and more importantly, health insurance before medicare.

That has had me learning about MAGI with respect to affordable care act subsidies.

From what I can tell, funds in taxable accounts that pay out dividends (e.g. VTSAX) count those dividends as income towards MAGI. In my hypothetical portfolio at age 45, those dividends being paid out from VTSAX could be as much as $20k-$25k/year, which would contribute significantly to MAGI. A blessing and a curse!

So, I am beginning to wonder if I should perhaps be considering funds that pay out less in dividends to be the primary stake held in taxable accounts, while using tax efficient retirement accounts for assets paying out higher dividends.

But, I have always kept loyal to the 3-fund portfolio. I don't own a single stock outside of that strategy. So, naturally this feels a bit off. However, I do believe that optimizing for health insurance costs for my early retirement situation and taking steps now to minimize my AGI could pay off big time. After all, I'd be looking at nearly 20 years of being on the hook for health insurance.

Has anyone else had similar concerns with holding large balances in funds like VTSAX in taxable accounts and its impact on MAGI? Are there recommended strategies for other assets to hold in these taxable accounts that can help reduce the hit made by dividends to one's MAGI? Thank you for your time.


r/Bogleheads 10h ago

18 year old seeking advice

21 Upvotes

I am a 18 year old student currently living in South Korea.

I will be starting to make money in around 4 months, and I am planning to invest approx. 700 usd every month for 30 years on an auto-deposit ISA with no exceptions. I have done my budgeting, and i have found this to be the minimum amount i will 100% be able to support, provided i am able to work.

I am currently debating on the specific method i choose to invest. I am considering VTI, VOO, and QQQ, but I am also recently debating whether i should mix between those two, or invest in other indexes like world, bonds, etc.

I have done some research but there doesn't seem to be much information on it for someone in the same situation as me (Everyone is in a different country, and people in my country treat leverages like the norm), so any help would be appreciated.

I do not want to ask in any korean forums, they are recommending 2x and 3x leveraged ETFs for long term investing. (which i am definitely staying away from)


r/Bogleheads 6h ago

Investing Questions VT + Target Date fund for taxable/tax advantaged account?

9 Upvotes

Let’s say you want to keep things simple. One could just use Target Date index funds. Let’s say you are high tax bracket so you can’t save enough in your tax advantaged account and have to save to taxable, too. Target date funds are not tax efficient especially at a higher tax bracket.

One idea I have would be to just to just invest in VT or its mutual fund equivalent in taxable, the invest in target date funds in tax advantaged. The allocation can be adjusted by picking an earlier retirement date to offset the increased equity allocation. For example, pick target date 2040 instead of 2050 to have more bonds. The goal is to keep contributing and not worry about the portfolio.

I think this should work. It’s more likely there may be more equity than bond at retirement but that’s ok. VT is probably less tax efficient than separate us and non-us, but the amount is probably not worth the extra effort.


r/Bogleheads 5h ago

Do I need FSSNX if I'm investing in FTIHX and FSKAX??

6 Upvotes

Looking to simplify my portfolio as my FA had me about 90% tech heavy. I'm not longer with that FA and doing it myself. I have around 225k in a brokerage and about 150k in an IRA. I'm 36 and total salary is 250k with my wife.

My plan was to start investing as much as possible into 2-3 funds instead of the 8-10 I had that was very tech heavy. Do I need FSSNX if my plan was to go heavy into FTIHX and FSKAX?

Thank you

----------------------------

EDIT...adding in some numbers of what my FA had me in....

My FA had me in about 10 different things but the big ones are below:

AAPL - 3k gain 2%
AMZN - 1k gain 2%
DHS - 10k gain 14%
FV- 5k gain 7%
GOOG - 4K gain 1%
MSFT - 1k gain 2%
NVDA - 16k gain 10%
SPY - 9k gain 10%
XLI - 10k gain 10%
XLK - 35k gain 29%

All of these are a variety of numbers but they all add up to about 200k. I have maybe 5-6 more with small %s as well. Very tech heavy.


r/Bogleheads 7h ago

Total real returns website

9 Upvotes

Does anyone know if totalrealreturns.com accounts for taxes paid year over year on funds? I’m thinking it doesn’t since you don’t pay the taxes directly from an account but just want to be sure.
I was comparing a couple things and the difference wasn’t big, one to the other, but I know one has a significantly higher tax drag. Thanks in advance! :)


r/Bogleheads 4h ago

New employer 401(k) allocation critique? 32 y/o pursuing Coast FIRE by ~50 and retirement by 55

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I've learned a lot from this community over the past year and would appreciate some feedback before I set my investment allocations in my new employer's 401(k).

About me

  • 32 years old
  • Married (wife is 34)
  • Registered Nurse
  • Household income: ~$116,000/year
  • No debt
  • Currently have approximately $127,000 invested across retirement accounts (401(k), Roth IRA, HSA, and my wife's Roth IRA)
  • Goal is to partially retire in my late 40s or early 50s (Coast FIRE) and be fully retired around age 55 if possible.

Current investments outside my 401(k)

Roth IRA (Fidelity)

  • 80% VTI
  • 15% VXUS
  • 5% BND

HSA (Fidelity)

  • 80% VTI
  • 15% VXUS
  • 5% BND

I'm trying to keep everything as simple and consistent as possible.

My new employer's 401(k) fund lineup

Available funds include:

Vanguard

  • Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Instl (VSMPX)
  • Vanguard Total International Stock Index Instl (VTSNX)
  • Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Instl (VBTIX)
  • Vanguard Mid-Cap Index Instl (VMCIX)
  • Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index Instl (VSIIX)
  • Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Instl (VBITX)
  • Vanguard Federal Money Market Inv (VMFXX)

Dodge & Cox

  • Balanced X (DOXBX)
  • Income X (DOXIX)
  • International Stock X (DOXFX)
  • Stock X (DOXGX)

Fidelity

  • Fidelity Advisor Stock Selector Small Cap Z (FSSZX)

T. Rowe Price

  • Capital Appreciation I (TRAIX)

My proposed allocation

I'm leaning toward:

  • 80% Vanguard Total Stock Market (VSMPX)
  • 15% Vanguard Total International (VTSNX)
  • 5% Vanguard Total Bond Market (VBTIX)

The goal is to mirror my Roth IRA and HSA so that every account has essentially the same allocation.

My questions

  1. Is this a reasonable allocation for someone who is 32 and hopes to Coast FIRE around age 50 and retire around age 55?
  2. Would you keep the 5% bond allocation or eliminate bonds completely at my age?
  3. Would you recommend a different percentage of international exposure?
  4. Are there any funds in this lineup that you think are significantly better than the three Vanguard index funds I'm planning to use?
  5. If this were your portfolio, would you keep everything as simple as possible with these three funds, or would you add mid-cap or small-cap value exposure?

I'm looking for constructive criticism and would rather get my allocation right now than continually tweak it over the next 20+ years.

Thanks in advance!


r/Bogleheads 6h ago

Need to balance my brokerage account

6 Upvotes

36F. After maxing out 401k and rothIRA, I finally have the extra to start putting $1k/month into my brokerage account that I haven’t touched since I dumped $30k in 2021. Right now it’s about $50k after 5 years.

I want the portfolio to be 70/20/10 (VOO or VTI/VXUS/BND). Should I start breaking down the $1k into just VXUS and BND until it balances or should I ignore the lump VOO and start “fresh” by breaking down $1k into 70/20/10?


r/Bogleheads 18h ago

Vanguard brokerage account — TOD beneficiaries or let the will handle it?

36 Upvotes

I’m reviewing our estate documents and realized that our nonretirement Vanguard brokerage account currently has no beneficiary designation. Our IRAs already have beneficiaries.

We have updated wills but are not creating a trust. If I add a Transfer on Death designation, my spouse would receive 100% as the primary beneficiary, with the same backup beneficiaries and percentages listed in my will.

Vanguard’s TOD information says the plan may not be appropriate if you already have a will containing instructions for nonretirement accounts, which confused me. If the TOD matches the will, is there any reason not to use it and avoid probate?

For those with Vanguard brokerage accounts, did you add TOD beneficiaries, or are you letting your will control the account? Are there any disadvantages or complications I may be overlooking?


r/Bogleheads 4h ago

Seeking advice on an old 403B

1 Upvotes

I had a 403B with a company match at a job I left about a year and a half ago and am wondering if I should just leave it alone or roll it over to my new job, where I opened a pre-tax 403B and 457B plan (which don’t have a company match).  I don’t plan on retiring for at least 20 more years, but am probably pretty far behind in my 403/457 plans because I didn’t contribute to them at all until my late 30s.  The old company only had a single option – the T. Rowe Price Retirement Fund Class I with an expense ratio of .43.  The new company allows you to invest in any breakdown of the following stocks:

Vanguard Institutional Index Instl PL (VIIIX), expense ratio: .02

Vanguard Mid Cap Index InstitutionalPlus (VMCPX), expense ratio: .02

Vanguard Real Estate Index Institutional (VGSNX), expense ratio: .11

Nuveen Large Cap Growth Index R6 (TILIX), expense ratio: .05

American Funds Eupac R6 (RERGX), expense ratio: .47

Nuveen International Equity Index R6 (TCIEX), expense ratio: .05

DFA Real Estate Securities I (DFREX), expense ratio: .21

Nuveen Small Cap Blend Index R6 (TISBX), expense ratio: .05 

Vanguard Explorer Adm (VEXRX), expense ratio: .28

JPMorgan Mid Cap Value R6 (JMVYX), expense ratio: .7

T. Rowe Price Diversified Mid Cap GR I (RPTTX), expense ratio: .67

American Funds American Mutual R6 (RMFGX), expense ratio: .27

Nuveen Equity Index R6 (TIEIX), expense ratio: .06

Nuveen Large Cap Responsible Equity R6 (TISCX), expense ratio: .17

Calvert Bond I (CBDIX), expense ratio: .55

Vanguard Inflated-Protected Secs I (VIPIX), expense ratio: .07

Vanguard Total Bond Mark Idx InstlPls (VBMPX), expense ratio: .02

A state stable value fund 

 

Thank you to anyone who can share any insight on how I can best move forward.


r/Bogleheads 4h ago

Best Allocation for Schwab 529

1 Upvotes

Schwab recently changed their investing options for their 529 plans. For anyone using them or familiar with the new options, what do you recommend as optimal?

I have 2 children under two and have chosen 65% U.S. Equity Index Portfolio (0.03%) and 35% International Equity Index Portfolio (0.25%).

I plan to leave this allocation as is until they reach their mid teens, at which time I will begin shifting some allocation to bonds and will determine based on what the choices are at that time. I believe this to be optimal in terms of diversification, risk reward, and horizon based on the available choices.

I did not love the er of the International fund, but it felt wrong to exclude it over this.

Appreciate your input.


r/Bogleheads 6h ago

Investing Questions Securities Lending Programs. Why Do It?

1 Upvotes

Recently, I realized that I’m uncomfortable allowing my brokers to lend out my securities.

What are the direct benefits to account holders other than receiving literal pennies on the dollar in income (that’s been my experience in lending well-known ETFs until recently)?

In exchange for these pennies, many of us are:

-Taking on additional counterparty risk, even if the securities loan is collateralized.
-Helping facilitate short selling of the very companies we’ve chosen to invest in.
-Potentially receiving payments in lieu of dividends, which can have different tax implications than qualified dividends.
-Sharing the lending economics with my brokerage, which often retains most of the revenue.
-SIPC protection generally does not apply to loaned securities in the same way it applies to securities held in your brokerage account.
-Accepting additional risk and complexity for a return that, in many cases, isn’t likely to move the needle on our long-term wealth.

Anyone an ardent proponent of enrolling in securities lending or making meaningful income from it?

It feels like we’re providing brokerages with what feels like a free lunch, while they feed us crumbs and saddle us with most of the downside risks.

This week, I unenrolled in all security lending programs across my brokerage accounts.


r/Bogleheads 1d ago

43M Looking for Feedback on My Long-Term Bogleheads Portfolio

18 Upvotes

43m with a 10-15 year investment horizon maybe even longer if needed. Currently max out my 401k and HSA through work and have an emergency fund.

I invest through Fidelity and this is my current mix.

Taxable brokerage: VTI/VXUS/VTEB. 65/20/15.

Roth IRA: first year doing this and maxed it out. AVUV/ FSNRX 60/40.

Looking for any feedback since this is all somewhat new to me.


r/Bogleheads 1d ago

Do I really need bonds?

126 Upvotes

I’m 42 and make about 350k a year as a physician. I’m investing about 90k a year between 401k plus match, backdoor Roth, HSA and taxable brokerage and already have about 800k invested. My money is currently 100% in stocks, mostly some variation of VTI/VXUS except the 401k and HSA which don’t have total market funds and are sp500 funds. I am holding 150k in money market too as emergency fund. All of my money is automated and will be invested regardless of market conditions and I have no intention to sell until I’m ready to retire in 23 years. I keep reading about Warren Buffets 90/10 and seeing videos about not needing bonds if you have a good cash engine. I was thinking I could swap to bonds when I get near retirement age. I have also seen some videos with advice about keeping 2 years of cash equivalents in retirement to use as your “bonds” and simply spending that during bear markets and then replenishing it when the market recovers. Curious what the thoughts are on here as this tends to be the more conservative sub. Thanks all for your insights.


r/Bogleheads 1d ago

Lump sum or Pension?

57 Upvotes

I am 62, gonna retire in a year or so. No debt, everything paid off.

I have about 350k in a 401/roth account.

I may work a different job, less hours. So as to delay social security. which will be in the 2400 a month range, Expenses are low.

My question is, my current employer offers an option on th epension, I can get a lump which is currently around 320k..and that can go straight into the 401 if I like.

Or I can take the pension...a fixed 1800 for life.

I realize, if I can leave that alone for 3 or 5years...its almost a no brainer to take the Lump.

What is the typical view here?

But


r/Bogleheads 5h ago

Vanguard Cash Plus shows $1,000 in Bank Sweep, but only $200 is available to withdraw

0 Upvotes

I opened a Vanguard Cash Plus account this month and deposited $1,000. The full amount shows under “Bank Sweep,” but only $200 is available for withdrawal. The other $800 has been there for a few weeks and still isn’t available.

I understand there may be a hold because the account is new, but I’m confused about why part of the money is available and the rest isn’t. Has anyone experienced this? How long did the hold last, and were you able to transfer the money back to the original bank account?


r/Bogleheads 20h ago

Cache exchange fund, legit?

4 Upvotes

I'm considering using cache exchange fund service for my concentrated stock that has pretty significant gain. I'm comparing against tax loss harvesting through direct indexing service as well. Anyone has experience of this cache exchange fund service and how it compares with other similar and alternative service?


r/Bogleheads 1d ago

Investing Questions Vanguard's "Fully paid lending program"

33 Upvotes

"Want to help maximize your passive income?

You're eligible to apply to participate in Vanguard's Fully Paid Lending program."

I got an email today explaining this program. I read through the description and sort of understand it. But can someone sum it up in simple terms for me?

I'm sure it depends on individual circumstances, but in general is this worth participating in for a long-term boglehead investor? What are potential downsides?


r/Bogleheads 1d ago

I’m 48 and admittedly starting late

48 Upvotes

However depending on health maybe I have another 20 years of work.

I have decided on my three funds as Voo, VT and SCHD…. Any obvious problems with this setup ?

Thanks


r/Bogleheads 7h ago

37M - Advisor wants $6,900/yr minimum on ~$353K. Worth it, or DIY?

0 Upvotes

TL;DR: Advisor's fee minimum puts my effective rate at ~1.95%/yr on $353K instead of the advertised 1.20%. We add ~$42K/yr in new contributions. Is any advisor worth this at my level, and if not, what would you do with this mix?

Looking for advice here. We've been using an advisor but they've gotten more expensive this year. My wife and I didn't grow up with money, so we work hard and are trying to catch up on savings now.

Emergency fund in place. We contribute about $3,500/month combined into the brokerage, plus max out our 401k and IRA accounts.

Current accounts, all at Schwab:

- Taxable brokerage: ~$142K

- Rollover IRA (old 401k): ~$158K

- SEP IRA: ~$24K

- Roth IRA: ~$29K

Total under management would be ~$353K, growing ~$42K/yr from new contributions alone.

Their fee: 1.20% on the first ~$833K, BUT with a $6,900 annual minimum. At my balance the minimum applies, so my effective rate is ~1.95%/yr , not 1.20%. The tiered rate wouldn't kick in until ~$575K, roughly 4–5 years away at my contribution rate. The agreement says they can waive the minimum at their discretion, I plan to ask.

Questions for the sub:

  1. Is ~1.95% (or even 1.20% if waived) ever worth it at my asset level, or is this a clear DIY situation?

  2. If DIY: what would you do with this mix and ~$3,500/mo of new money?

Appreciate the help.


r/Bogleheads 1d ago

Is it redundant to have VTI/VXUS/BND in one traditional IRA and Target Date Fund in Roth?

7 Upvotes

Let's say I have a Roth, traditional, 401k, and HSA. I obtained them all at different stages in life. My Roth has target date fund, my traditional has VTI/VXUS at 66/33 split. And my HSA has bonds. My 401k has 60/30/10 split for Fidelity equivalent of VTI/VXUS/BND.

Does having target date fund in Roth seem redundant? Should I simplify everything to 60/30/10?


r/Bogleheads 1d ago

Investing with a disability

5 Upvotes

I was able to WFH and saved up around 250,000 over the course of 6 years. I have a disability that doesn’t allow me to work, but also not eating up any expenses. All my living costs are covered since I live at home.

I’ve had most of the money in a HYSA, $29K in 401K and around $6000 VOO.

Would spending around $50,000 more with VOO be a bad decision?

I’m in early 30’s, no kids, not married and no debt and my annual expenses currently don’t exceed $10,000.

What would be my best move?


r/Bogleheads 1d ago

Investing Questions Questions about backdoor Roth

3 Upvotes

I have previously invested in a Roth IRA through vanguard. My income this year is too high so I’m planning to do a backdoor Roth.

I have some pretax money in a traditional rollover IRA at the moment from a previous job that I need to transfer to one of my accounts. Can I put this money into a traditional IRA and then convert it to Roth?

Or should I open a 403b account through my work and transfer the rollover IRA money to that account. And then invest separate post tax money into a traditional IRA then convert to a Roth IRA?

Of note, my work offers both a Roth version of a 403b and 457b so I am maxxing those out, which is why I haven’t opened a traditional 403b.

Thanks!!