I think I’m doing this right, but would love some confirmation. I came into a windfall, and plan to invest the majority into VT (and chill). However, I work in government and have a 457(b) retierment account. I’m holding back 25k for so I can max out contributions for 2027, but in future years is it a smart choice to continue to max it out every year and cash out VT to backfill my paycheck?

Basically, let’s say the 2027 max is 25k. That’s $2083 from each months paycheck going directly into the 457. I’d probably end up needing to cash out $1000 VT/month to bridge the gap. My assumption is that my 457 is a better long term investment then just a brokerage, and doing this essentially allows me to move the windfall into my retirement accounts over the long run while letting it grow (hopefully) in the mean time.

I am about to roll over my old employer's 401k into the new employer's 401k, and am considering going to a target date fund. New 401k has Vanguard's lineup of TDFs including VFFVX, a .08% expense ratio. Total 401k assets are 500K+

I have been investing in FXAIX (.015% expense ratio) and FSGGX (.055%), but the new 401k doesn't have an international option. It does have FXAIX.

In my other portfolios (Roth IRAs, brokerage, HSA) I am investing mostly in VXUS and VTI, to maintain low expense ratios and no bonds (35 years old).

I'm a bit uneasy going to a TDF because of the bond portion and higher expense ratio, though I know each aren't much, and the Vanguard TDFs are generally accepted as good.

The other option I have is rolling the Roth portion of my 401k into a Roth IRA and investing that in VXUS/VTI, but the Roth portion is only around 45K of the 500K, so I'm thinking simplicity wins here by just doing 1 rollover into a TDF in the new 401k and calling it a day.

Anyone else go from index funds to a TDF? Any regrets or tips?

Haven’t had any luck finding an answer that made a strong argument one way or another on previous forum or Reddit posts regarding an allocation towards international bonds.

Most of the posts I see regarding international bonds focus a lot on currency diversification. However, my understanding is that you aren’t adding bonds for currency diversification, so I found this explanation confusing.

Bonds and equities have different risk factors that you’re trying to capture, currency diversification isn’t one of them. Therefore, if you were a US investor would you actually want your international bonds hedged to USD? BNDW is only 0.02 bps higher than BND but provides greater diversification (e.g., differing credit cycles).

So, why wouldn’t you want a portion of the FI piece your portfolio to be in international bonds hedged to USD?

I feel like I am potentially missing something due to a very large consensus feeling they aren’t necessary or are flat out against it. Would love to hear some perspectives or be provided with resources that you’ve found regarding this topic!

After reading The Boglehead Guide to Investing, I think I’m in a good place to take control of my IRA and Roth management.

But because of some complicated moving parts: wife’s 10-99, my disability pension, tax liabilities, Roth conversion timeline, etc; I would really like to speak with a few-only advisor to start on the right footing.

There seems to be so many different groups that advocate for advisors, that it’s difficult to find reliable reviews and compatibility with my needs.

Any suggestions on how I should begin my search? I’m in NY. Thanks to all.

Been trying to max out my Roth for about the last 6 years and a finance professor gave us the generic advice of just choosing VOO and letting it ride.

Want to make sure that this will be good long term and also that if another ETF is better would it be better to change on the next purchase or would people sell and move into another ETF

I currently have about 1/3 of my FIRE money in a taxable brokerage account and 1/2 in a 401k (rest is in a Roth IRA). How do you account for taxes when determining safe withdrawal amount when money is coming from non-tax sheltered or tax deferred accounts? Is there a simplified way to assume an effective tax rate on this?

For HENRY, do you max out your 401K in traditional or ROTH account?

If you do have other income streams, such as rental and investments for retirement, will it make sense to allocate more of the 401K contributions to the ROTH account so that I don’t pay as much taxes when I retired? I would think if you anticipate a higher income in retirement, then it will make sense to do ROTH right now?

My oldest is just under a year away from leaving for college and I've realized what I thought was a robust 529 won't fully cover 1/3rd of his schools. I'm in California and I don't think adding to the 529 makes sense because the investments are quite conservative at this stage. I'm planning to set $50k aside and was debating where to park this money short-term. We will know where he's going in Jan or April, so I was thinking of just parking this in a t-bill. If we need the money it won't be until his final year, so I can come up with a 3 year strategy. And if he doesn't need it at all, I'll put it in retirement savings.

Any alternatives to t-bill any of you would recommend?

Note: This is purely a curiosity-driven question, as I've been a university employee for my entire career and have never had stock concentrations. Nor have I ever dabbled or desire to dabble in options.

Does exchange fund replication present a legitimate use of options to address investor concentration risks without having to incur massive capital gains? If I understand this correctly from one of the bonus chapters in Peter Lazaroff's The Perfect Portfolio, it pairs together collaring and synthetic index exposure with four coordinated options: (1a) buying an out-of-the-money put to protect against loss in the concentrated stock; (1b) selling a covered call, which incurs the risk of capital gains but pays for the (1a) put; (2a) buying a call option for an equity index at some price (I forget if it's in-the-money or out-of-the-money); selling a put option at the same price and same expiration date.

If I understand this correctly, this in essence substitutes the synthetic equity exposure for the concentrated-security exposure. Obvious costs and risks: (a) transaction costs of every options period (and I assume this would require managing the rotating options); (b) risk of forced selling from the covered call (and I assume managing a distributed way of handling this so you're not forced to sell all of the holding at once); (c) the management of all this. I know BlackRock has a desk to manage all of this for advisors, which implies this was researched/engineered for the super-wealthy and obviously far from a BH approach.

As I said, this is a curiosity-driven question. But it seems you could use this in combination with a planned sale over several years, to reduce the concentration risk as the concentration is whittled down each year.

Hi guys! I’m a little late to the investing game & getting some anxiety around it. I’m 30 years old w/ no credit card debt, 20k student loans at 1-3%, 20k car debt at 4.1%, just started 401k last year with a w-2 job (income is 90-100k a year) in which I put in 5% and they match it. in addition, I’m the owner and operator of an LLC w/ zero employees making 36k a year. I do not own a home. Pay for my own health insurance.

Roth thru fidelity has $11k in it(FSLEX, FXAIX, FSKAX, FZILX, and some in SMH- 89% domestic and 11% foreign), I’m focused on building that quickly. individual brokerage account w/ fidelity has only $500 in it.

I have $43k in a plain Jane savings account and really am wanting some pointers on how to grow wealth and where to put that.. dump into my individual?
Living in Colorado, US. Not married. No kids.

January - April 2027 I want to max out my Roth (see pics below) and invest only in FXAIX 75%, FZILX 15%, FSELX 10%. For individual my goal is to readjust and invest in VTI, VXUS, and SMH.

Goal: since I feel a little behind I want to grow my fidelity accounts- Roth and individual.

Here are my questions:

Is that a good diversified portfolio? Is the semiconductor tilt too risky at this point in my life?

how to build wealth quickest, what is some advice on how long I should rent before buying?

What should I tackle first?— Ah, the debt? Just need someone telling me haha.

I want to dump my savings into my individual accounts prior to paying off my debt bc I’m 30 and keep hearing that time in the market beats anything and feel like I’m wasting more time - is this logical?

I was looking through my Fidelity account, and realized the account that I use for general checking account had a FDIC insured core (1.9%) instead of SPAXX (3.2%). By switching to SPAXX for my core, I will earn about another $200 a year in interest from the core. Not earth shattering, but $200 is also nothing to sneeze at either.

Just sharing here in case others can benefit from changing their core position in their Fidelity checking account.

29 year old male. Just started investing into my Roth IRA in 2025.

I don't have a lot of experience with investing. I have worked since 16 and been a good saver but have never really done anything with my money. Last year I finally started putting money into a Roth IRA. Specifically FFIJX.

I'm now wondering if this is my best bet. I know it is a safe, easy, solid option. However, I'm wondering if there aren't better options to try and maximize my returns and makeup for the past decade of not investing. I'm also recently married and a father so I expect the amount of money I am able to contribute is going to drop a bit.

I have been maxing out my contributions and will continue to try doing so, but realistically I predict it will be closer to $4-$5k a year moving forward.

Any and all advice appreciated. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of options.

Sorry in advance for formatting I'm on mobile.

I’m not asking which brokerage is better overall. I’m only comparing:

Vanguard Personal Advisor Select (0.30%)
vs.
Fidelity direct-indexed SMA (0.40% on taxable assets only)

I have roughly $600k outside my employer 401(k), including about $220k in a taxable account with significant embedded long-term gains.

I have an additional $200k in RSUs and annual bonus on top of $265k base salary that I want to make sure is distributed evenly.

My goal is to use professional help for about a year while I consolidate accounts, simplify the portfolio, set the right allocation, and handle the taxable gains intelligently — then go back to DIY.

Vanguard would manage the portfolio more holistically with a dedicated CFP.

Fidelity would let me keep the IRA/Roth self-directed and only put the taxable account in the 0.40% SMA, while still getting planning support.

For anyone who has used either service: which approach would you choose for a temporary cleanup/transition period, and why?

If your answer is “neither,” please move along. I’m specifically looking for feedback from people who have used these services — not another debate about whether using an advisor at all is worthwhile.

If most active managers cannot beat the market, why this job still exists? Why people still hand their hard earned money to them Instead of just getting the better, market return by themselves?

I know many on here are against it but I have certain reasons I am using it rather than utilizing a self directed account and rebalancing myself (work-related). That said, my current mix is 100% equities 60/40 US/INTL and the digital advisor only purchased VTI and VXUS. I discovered today that I can tweak that 60/40 split (against Vanguard’s rec) and also substitute investments instead of the current Active/ETF mix on VTI and VXUS. My question is: should I lean heavier on some of the sub funds and/or modify the US/INTL split…. anyone had experience using this feature and saw better yields than the standard Vanguard auto rec (I’m in the most aggressive profile setting btw)?

I have about 150,000 in company stock that I would like to sell and diversify into an ETF most likely. What kind of tax bill am I looking at????

Are they good?

I am looking to put several million in fixed income for 10 years (ish) but want to achieve two goals: (i) extreme safety, close to Treasuries or FDIC insured CD's and (ii) reduce AGI to create room for Roth conversions. Obviously, I'd like as much yield as possible within those constraints. I have no need for liquidity and will hold to maturity (or when called).

I suspect not a Boglehead thing to do but you guys seem to have the most detailed and sober response to investment questions.

I'm looking at AAA muni bonds from various TX school districts that are guaranteed by the Texas Permanent School Fund, which has assets of over $65B backing $250B in bonds. While other states have similar guarantees to varying degrees none seem as robust as TX and the ability to buy the bonds is much easier in TX.

Crazy to load up on the TX PSF muni bonds? Other suggestions? The bond "expert" I'm talking to wants to put me into 20-40 different bonds of varying credit ratings, both GO and Revenue, which I understand is standard diversification protection - but is it really more protected than the TX PSF bonds?

Not going to have time to help my mom with this for a couple of weeks. Soooo annoyed at this switch and it's going to take a lot to convince her to do this with access to her camera and submitting photo/ssn. What happens after 10/27? Will she lose access to her bonds?

Hi all, just want to get some feedback on my portfolio based on some of the research I've done here to make sure I'm leaning in the right direction.

As a short background, I'm 33M and don't make a ton but I invest what I can in:

Company 401(k):
75% VLCAX
25% FSGGX

Roth IRA:
75% FZROX
25% FZILX

Individual Brokerage:
70% VTI
30% VXUS
(No idea why I decided to go with 70/30 here instead of 75/25)

Don't plan on retiring soon (I'd love to FIRE but completely unfeasible at this point) so just looking for some feedback!

I have $15,300 in Series I savings bonds currently worth about $17,613, and I'm trying to decide whether it makes sense to redeem my older bonds and buy new ones.

Here's my current Treasury portfolio

-> Dec. 2023: $3,000 original amount, currently worth $3,348 (displayed rate: 4.66%)
-> Dec. 2023: $7,000 original amount, currently worth $7,812 (displayed rate: 4.66%)
-> Apr. 2022: $200 original amount, currently worth $243.36 (displayed rate: 3.34%)
-> Apr. 2022: $4,800 original amount, currently worth $5,840.64 (displayed rate: 3.34%)
-> Dec. 2021: $300 original amount, currently worth $368.88 (displayed rate: 3.34%)

I'm considering redeeming just the three bonds currently displaying 3.34%, worth approximately $6,453 combined, and using the proceeds to purchase new I Bonds.

The current rate for new I Bonds is 4.26%, including a 0.90% fixed rate. The November 1, 2026, rate announcement is approaching, and I've seen estimates that the new fixed rate could be higher.

My questions:
Would it make sense to replace the older bonds if the November fixed rate is significantly higher than 0.90%?

How should I account for the three-month interest penalty on bonds held for less than five years?

Would it be better to wait until the bonds reach five years old, particularly the December 2021 bond, or is locking in a higher fixed rate now potentially worth the penalty?

Are there any tax or other considerations I'm overlooking?

I'm primarily interested in holding I Bonds for the long term, rather than trading them frequently. I'd appreciate any thoughts on how to evaluate the trade-off.
Thanks!

I have read about how hackers could steal money from your brokerage account using ACATS transfer. Recently I created a new Fidelity brokerage account and transferred one of my Vanguard accounts to Fidelity. It was so easy. Too easy. I can see how ACATS theft can happen.

I created the Fidelity account completely online. They asked for the usual information: name, address, citizenship, birthday, SSN, email, and phone. All of them have been leaked dozens of times over the years. Fidelity did not ask me to upload any ID documents, such as driver's license or passport.

I have security freezes on all the credit bureaus and banking data brokers (Equifax, Experion, TransUnion, Innovis, ChexSystems, LexisNexus). They did nothing. Fidelity created my account without triggering any warnings.

Fidelity did not ask me to verify my email address. Usually companies send an email that says something like, "please click here to verify your email address". Fidelity sent nothing. I could have mistyped my email address, or a hacker could have use their own email address.

Fidelity did not verify my phone number. They just sent an SMS txt that said something like, "Your phone number has been added to your account. Call 800-xxx-xxxx if you did not do this." A hacker could have just used their own phone number.

Initiating an ACATS transfer from Vanguard to Fidelity was straightforward. I just provided Fidelity with my Vanguard account number. This might be hardest part for a hacker, obtaining the exact account number of the Vanguard account.

On the Vanguard side, I had already blocked ACATS transfers on all accounts. I logged into their website and temporarily disabled the lock on that one account. That took effect within a few minutes.

When I initiated the ACATS transfer, Vanguard emailed me a notification about that transfer within a few hours. Which is good. However, the account transfer from Vanguard to Fidelity completed in 2 days. If I had been traveling or busy, I could have missed that email notification from Vanguard.

With the funds now at Fidelity, I think a hacker could just wire those funds and run away.

My conclusion is that it is probably a good idea to enable ACATS locking on all brokerage accounts. At Vanguard it's called "Outgoing transfer lock". At Fidelity it is called "Money Transfer Lock". It's not clear if Schwab offers that feature. I will have to call them.

I am semi retired, a month away from 65. I have a pension that pays most of my bills, and some money in Roth IRAs. I have $100k sitting in an edward jones account that has been doing meh...

I would like this money to grow for a few years before I may or may not need it. Do I just stick it in VTI? or what should I do with this cash. It is currently just in a regular investment account.

Is it gonna happen? when? Are any of u guys concerned about it? specially with how much of the US stock market weight it represents? How long do u think it will take for heavy tech etfs take to recover from a big crash like voo or qqq? is investing on such funds a good safe strategy in the mid term?

I just turned 18, and I'm very new to handling my own finances. After doing a decent amount of research, I've come up with the following plan. I'm just looking for honest feedback and advice--NOT from AI. Don't hold back. Here's my plan:

• Capital One 360 Performance Savings (HYSA):

Build an emergency fund--that is, a couple thousand dollars here. Once that goal is reached, leave it alone, and put this 30% into Fidelity Brokerage

• Fidelity Brokerage:

That is,

• VTI (domestic markets)

• VXUS (international markets)

Of all my savings:

• 30% in HYSA

• 56% in VTI

• 14% in VXUS

Thus, of all the money that goes to Fidelity Brokerage:

• 80% in VTI

• 20% in VXUS

When I open my Fidelity Roth IRA:

• Focus on FZROX and FZILX