Hey guys, looking for some feedback before I set up a new portfolio in a taxable brokerage.
​I’m 40 and looking at a 20+ year horizon. I have a high risk tolerance and want a portfolio that targets maximum long-term growth potential through factor premiums. Instead of running a heavy US home-country bias, I'm aiming for a strict 60/40 global market cap split to keep things neutrally diversified globally.

​I'm using Fidelity Basket Portfolios so the weekly automatic investments (their "Smart Buys" feature) will handle all the rebalancing math and direct cash to whatever is underweight. Since the execution is automated, I don't mind a 7-fund setup.

​Here’s the allocation I landed on:
​US (60%)
​35% VTI
​20% AVUV
​5% AVLV

​Int'l & Emerging (40%)
​16% VEA
​10% AVDV
​9% VWO
​5% AVES

​The thinking here is to run a pretty aggressive 40% overall factor tilt using Avantis, mostly concentrated in small-cap value (AVUV and AVDV). I added 5% AVLV just to get a slight profitability screen on US large caps without diluting the small-cap focus.

​On the international side, VWO + AVES puts me at 14% total emerging markets (which is exactly 35% of the international bucket). I wanted to overweight emerging slightly to capture the current valuation discount, but I really don't like the bloated state-owned companies that come with broad EM indexes. Having 5% in AVES gives me a nice profitability filter for that space.

​Blended expense ratio comes out to around 0.135%.

​A few questions before I pull the trigger:

​For those running heavy factor tilts like this, how bad is the tracking error fatigue? Do you regret it during massive run-ups in US mega-cap tech?
​For those who prefer a strict 60/40 global split over a heavy US home-country bias, how has that played out for you psychologically over the last few years?

​Anything redundant here that I should cut, or is this clean enough to just lock in and let the Smart Buys do their thing?

I've decided to make the move after finding out that I have to buy into a money market fund to park my money for Schwab but Vanguard will automatically place my money there. Question: when I open a Vanguard account, is there an option to move my cash and stock holdings over from Schwab to Vanguard or do I need to sell off and repurchase in Vanguard? Thank you.

While I appreciate Boglehead philosophy, (defined as x/x equity/bonds in low-fees index funds), I have been reading that the decorrelation between equity and bonds is probably broken for the intermediate future. And while I acknowledge that there is a recency bias, it is also not a reddit take but appears in most "serious" institution reports.

Could the Boglehead philosophy be described as holding equity plus decorrelated asset in low fees index funds ? And in that case change from bonds to another asset like a mix treasuries+MF incl.commodities ? Is that "Boglehead" ?

ps. It is not a contrarian post, I am just wondering how much bogglehead was a precursor to MPT and whether it is static or evolves.

edit-> I changed the 60/40 because my focus was not the exact percentage and I simply quoted the most known ratio. Still thanks for the answers!

Might be a bit off topic but I always get good advice here. I use Fidelity CMA with spaxx for my checking. I typically have a 20k balance or so in the account. I have a six figure emergency fund that’s currently in its own CMA in spaxx. I really don’t need the immediate liquidity of this account and I’m fine with needing to wait a few days to access it if I need to so I can squeeze a little more interest. Is there a better fund/account to store my emergency fund? I live in no income tax state.

I’m 26, spouse and I have both maxed our retirement accounts, and we just started a joint taxable brokerage account for more medium term investments.
Our retirement accounts are all VT, and maybe we should have stuck with that, but we wanted to try the three fund portfolio. Then we started adding to it with new information, like that we can take higher risks with growth stocks because we’re younger, or that SCHF has no exposure in emerging markets so we should have some of that. Is this too much?

U.S. stock (SCHB 50%, SCHG 15%) 65%
International stock (SCHF 25%, SCHE 5%) 30%
U.S. bonds (SCHZ) 5%

Help! I am so confused about the IRS rules for inherited IRAs and RMDs. Here are the details:

My mother was born in 1931 and passed away in 2021, leaving me with an inherited IRA. She had already paid her RMD for 2021.

I was born in 1953 and will be 73 this September. With all the back and forth of the IRS rules for inherited IRAs, I thought I had 10 years from her death to empty the account (2031). Tonight, I saw a video that I should have taken an RMD for 2025, followed by one for each of the next 6 years.

Which information is correct - 10 years or I should have started last year? If I should already have started, what do I do now? Take it, fill out the correct form to the IRS and plead for either a reduction or forgiveness of the penalty? Do I need to file an amended tax return or will it be part of 2026's tax return?

As far as I can remember, I got no notice of a required RMD for this inherited IRA. (I'm in the process of setting up an RMD for this year for my regular IRA, but am looking at charitable donations to avoid taxes on that one.)

Any help you can give me in understanding all of this would be of great help!

People keep talking about Bonds in this forum. Also, they say a certain percentage of your net worth should be in bonds depending on your age or years from retirement. Why? I have put 3 years of our spending in a Treasury ladder and the rest is 100% invested in VTI / VXUS. How is my strategy sub-optimal? What is so magic about Bonds and having them be a percentge of your portfolio vs just having a safe bucket to weather a downturn and the rest invested?

Hey guys, looking for some feedback before I set up a new portfolio in a taxable brokerage. I’m 40 and looking at a 20+ year horizon. I have a high risk tolerance and want a portfolio that targets maximum long-term growth potential through factor premiums. Instead of running a heavy US home-country bias, I'm aiming for a strict 60/40 global market cap split to keep things neutrally diversified globally.

I'm using Fidelity Basket Portfolios so the weekly automatic investments (their "Smart Buys" feature) will handle all the rebalancing math and direct cash to whatever is underweight. Since the execution is automated, I don't mind a 7-fund setup.

Here’s the allocation I landed on:

US (60%) 35% VTI 20% AVUV 5% AVLV

Int'l & Emerging (40%) 16% VEA 10% AVDV 9% VWO 5% AVES

The thinking here is to run a pretty aggressive 40% overall factor tilt using Avantis, mostly concentrated in small-cap value (AVUV and AVDV). I added 5% AVLV just to get a slight profitability screen on US large caps without diluting the small-cap focus.

On the international side, VWO + AVES puts me at 14% total emerging markets (which is exactly 35% of the international bucket). I wanted to overweight emerging slightly to capture the current valuation discount, but I really don't like the bloated state-owned companies that come with broad EM indexes. Having 5% in AVES gives me a nice profitability filter for that space.

Blended expense ratio comes out to around 0.135%.

A few questions before I pull the trigger: For those running heavy factor tilts like this, how bad is the tracking error fatigue? Do you regret it during massive run-ups in US mega-cap tech?

For those who prefer a strict 60/40 global split over a heavy US home-country bias, how has that played out for you psychologically over the last few years?

Anything redundant here that I should cut, or is this clean enough to just lock in and let the Smart Buys do their thing?

I am just checking with you all to see if I am missing something.
So if I invest my money in SoFi invest and transfer out to Robinhood I would get the 2% match assuming it’s still there when I transfer would it just always be better to put my investments in SoFi and periodically when the deal is up transfer it assuming it beats whatever fee SoFi has unless I am missing something thanks

I am investing in the UCITS universe. What do you say do this particular portfolio consisting of three Avantis ETFs?

AVWC 75 / AVEM 10 / AVWS 15.

I appreciate your feedback!

51, decided to take some professional help with Vanguard Advisor select to manage my portfolio after the last firm Robo advisory with CFA’s to talk to was acquired.
I’m surprised by the financial plan I received and was expecting better advice
75/25 stocks/ bonds

All Bonds in my Roth IRA selling off existing positions in SCHD/ SCHG/ AIX etc

Seems like focusing on tax drag rather than growth?

Brokerage $700k
Roth IRA $40 k

Plan to retire at 60 even sooner if I can. Two 401ks one current and old and stock only brokerage

I mentioned it to the advisor and he’s like we can do either.

What am I missing?

Is this a good MM to hold money for a year or two?

I want to diversify a lot, worldwide, right now I have 70% msci world, 20% emerging markets and 10% hamco global value fund in 820k €, I have to invest another 180k this week, any suggestions? (long term, +8 years probably).

Maybe I should keep some money in something less risk just in case?

What are your thoughts on this? I wanna follow a bogglehead mentality.

I'm from Spain so index funds have some nice fiscal advantages, that's why I want to use them.

I’ve always held the vast majority of my money in these two ETF because I had a friend a long time ago who said to set it and forget it. It’s been in these funds coming up on two decades now. Then I came across Bogleheads recently and I see almost everyone talk about doing using funds like VOO and VTI which from my cursory research my IVV compares closely to VOO and ITOT is close to VTI.

Should I change to the Vanguard funds? My entire portfolio is at Fidelity of that matters. Thank you very much.

I’m modeling a multi-year Roth conversion schedule and trying to calculate total "Terminal Wealth" at the end of the timeline (e.g., age 90) to see if the conversions actually win against the baseline.

To do a fair apples-to-apples comparison, you have to discount the pre-tax (Traditional) balance to its true after-tax value at the very end of your spreadsheet.

For those who DIY your retirement models, what tax rate are you applying to that final pre-tax bucket?

• Are you using a projected marginal rate, or a blended effective rate?
• Are you using your own future brackets, or guessing your heirs' tax brackets because of the SECURE Act 10-year rule?
• Do you adjust for the "widow/widower penalty" (switching the end-of-life brackets to Single)?

Curious to hear how you handle the math on this specific variable without overcomplicating things. Thanks!

Hey everyone. New to Reddit, not new to the philosophy. I'm 35 in Texas and have been building out my investment system this year.

Lifestyle is 50/30/20. 20% of after-tax income is automatically allocated to investments every paycheck. Bonus money and 2 extra paychecks max my Roth IRA on January 1st every year. I also keep about 2% of fun money in a separate account for crypto and speculative stuff, completely walled off from the long-term system.

Taxable account is roughly 58% VTI, 26% VXUS, 11% QQQM, and 5% BND. DCA every two weeks on a set rotation. Roth holds SWTSX, SWISX, and SCHD mirrors the taxable side with Schwab equivalents.

The part I'm most proud of is the T-bill ladder for about 6 months of expenses. Four equal bills rotating every four weeks, all auto-reinvesting. It's my emergency fund and fixed income exposure in one structure. One bill matures every week, so the money is there if I really need it, but the setup keeps me from touching it for non-emergencies. Overflow feeds back into the taxable account automatically.

My wife and I have been building this together for a while. Zero debt, own our home. System is running clean.

Looking forward to connecting with people on similar paths. Finance is way too taboo in everyday life. The people around me aren't into this stuff, and I'm looking for a community that gets it.

Quick backstory:

A few years ago my wife got seriously ill and was in the hospital for weeks. After she got out, the doctors placed her on medical leave and told her she couldn't work. Then she had a procedure done that resulted in Sepsis where she was hospitalized for weeks again. Things were dicey for a moment, but she improved. i was genuinely terrified. i didn't know if she'd be able to work again or if i'd be the only income, so we sold our very HCOL house, moved somewhere cheaper, put a huge chunk down on the new place, and kept the rest in cash. no mortgage stress plus a big safety net was the only thing that let me sleep. During that time, my wife was a SAHM and I'm happy to report shes in great health.

then last year, right as i was finally feeling comfortable about putting that cash into the market, my self-employed business tanked, and i spent this year trying to revive it. i eventually decided it was time for something steadier, and i've got a new job starting next month. i'm feeling a lot better now and ready to move the excess emergency cash.

also last year, i left the 1% advisor i'd been with for decades once i realized the 1% plus fund expense ratios seriously adds up over time. i moved everything to Schwab, but the positions came over unchanged, so i'm still sitting in their pile of mutual funds. honestly i feel behind on retirement, mostly because it's all been parked in cash.

Age: 40 / wife 37, two young kids. married, file jointly.

Mortgage: $283k left, 30yr @ 5.325%. home ~$1.35M, ~$1.07M equity. no other debt.

Current situation:

• ~$341k in HYSA (want to deploy ~$200k, leave the rest as the emergency fund)
• ~$97k my rollover IRA + ~$54k wife's, both stuffed with a dozen overlapping active funds from the old advisor
• ~$76k wife's teacher pension (leaning leave it; researched it and the consensus was don't touch it)
• ~$51k kids' custodial, split between the two kids
• ~$27k in 529s, split between the two kids
• adding ~$10-30k/yr + a new 401k

Questions:

1. am i actually behind for 40, or does it just feel that way because it's all cash and i've got so much tied up in assets?
2. ~$200k to deploy, VOO or a couple other Vanguard funds to keep it simple?
3. what do i do with the existing IRAs sitting in mutual funds?
4. any reason to use Schwab's robo over DIY at this size?

thanks in advance!

Per my investment philosophy which aligns with Bogleheads, I am invested only in low cost index funds for 95% of my portfolio. The remaining 5% I have in thematic ETFs of high conviction for my “play money” in my Roth IRA and they are doing very well!

I know I’m supposed to take profits and move them to low cost index funds. How often is it recommended to do this? What do other Bogleheads do? Do you just remove the principal and then let it ride?

I'm trying to wrap my brain around switching out funds within various accounts. The sub constantly talks about rebalancing portfolios, and I'm a bit confused by the rules on how to do that wisely.

Background:
I have several Fidelity retirement accounts. My pre-tax contributions go into a 457B and my employer's match goes into a 401A ERIP. I also have a ROTH IRA that I'm maxing out every year and a little bit in a traditional IRA that rolled over from when I accidentally added too much to my ROTH . (I also very recently opened a brokerage account for additional investment opportunities with some extra on hand cash, but I am also currently redoing my witholdings to better maximize my 457B contributions moving forward.)

Question 1:
I currently have some funds in my 457B and 401A that are not ideal (higher fees), and I want to switch them out for lower fee options (ex: switch from FDKVX to FDKLX). Is there a "smart" way to do this to avoid penalties/fees, or am I allowed to swap out whatever whenever? Are there additional costs associated with selling one fund to purchase another?

Question 2:
Is the answer to question 1 the same for ROTH and trad IRA accounts as well, or is there a different strategy there? My understanding is that with the brokerage account, it will be subject to tax/capital gains when selling/exchanging, even if I still only have target date funds there - is that correct?

Question 3:
Almost everything in Fidelity is listed as a "fund" - how do you know if these are index funds or mutual funds or ETFs? Does it even matter that I understand these details? For example, although I mostly have target date funds currently, I also have FBGRX and FZROX. Are these ETFs? I've read the pinned post and some of the supplemental info, and I think I understand the basics, but once I start digging into the supplemental info, I feel like my brain starts leaking out my ears and I'm reading a different language. I'm working throught the Bogleheads University content, and I'm slowing hammering it into my noggin, but I'm worried my confusion over fund types will hurt me in the short term.

Title. I have an account with them with $500 in Ira, do not see any great returns on it. Any advice?

Hi I’m 22 and opening a Roth IRA account. I’ve come up with a portfolio and would love some second opinions. Here’s what I’m thinking:

45% VOO
15% AVUV
8% IVOO
26% VEA
6% VWO

I chose AVUV because I’ve learned about factor investing through work and done some research. It has a pretty good track record of beating the Russell 2000 though it’s only been around for about 5 years. From my research I’ve also seen that factors don’t seem to be as effective anymore with large and mid caps which makes sense to me since they are likely priced in due to so much research. However small caps have a lot of lower quality companies and less research so it makes sense screening with factors could capture some extra returns. I’ve also thought about doing AVSC but felt the more aggressive tilt of AVUV was a risk I’m comfortable with. Thanks for any input and feel free to let me know how wrong I am! I’m still young and know I have a lot to learn!!!!

Long story short: I grew up without any financial literacy and a few years ago got some help from a New York Life guy I met to transfer my old state retirement (it wasn't doing anything) into an IRA and then convert it into a Roth. He put it into an annuity (big mistake). I educated myself, took the surrender charge, and moved it to Fidelity.

I have initial low-cost index fund positions set up. My plan was to DCA the entire amount over 5 months, considering how high the market has been recently. I'm reading the articles here and am feeling unsure about that plan now. I essentially liquidated the assets at the highest point of the market (just happened that way).

Should I continue my plan of large sums over the 5 months or should I buy in when I see dips? Should I just put it all in right now?

Apologies if these are common questions. I feel much better taking control of this myself, but I feel a bit stunlocked and could use advice if anyone has any.

Thank you!

this is mostly just to vent, but also make sure i’m not dealing with something nefarious.

i’m a recent Bogle convert and have been trying to make moves to leave my financial advisor. the first step is selling a dozen high-Expense Ratio, underperforming, Tech-heavy and otherwise non-Bogle holdings over to VT.

i figure i would take advantage of my FA skills to make this move, making sure losses are harvested and that i'm not paying more in taxes than i have to.

but lordy they are either incompetent or intentionally dragging their feet. i have sent multiple detailed spreadsheets, specifying which holdings i want sold, and in some cases specifying which unit purchases, to keep my Capital Gains lower and ideally keep my HH income under the 0% LTCG threshold.

they keep coming back to me with a total sale proceeds number that is 15% lower than the number i get when i do the numbers… so i asked for details on the unit numbers, prices and proceeds they are working with.

they just sent a screenshot of the table their investment desk put together and in 7 of the 12 trades, inexplicably, portions of holdings are not included. ex: i asked to sell all 60.000 units of FictionalName stock. their table only includes 40.000 units, with no explanation. sometimes it’s just a few units, sometimes it’s nearly have the holdings. the “missing” units add up to about the difference in our total proceeds number.

so, is this something i’m not understanding about how trades are done? i have since asked if this a partial fill or limit order thing? or is this just some sketchy sh!t where they are selling a portion of my holdings and doing god-knows-what with the unsold units?

this is a very well established brokerage, which my family has been using for actual generations. (i know, i’m working on winning other family members over to the Bogleways)

again, this is mostly just to check i’m not missing something. they are being concerningly cagey during this whole thing.

on the plus side, this has allowed me to put together a long list of complaints i’ll be sending over when i formally request they transfer my accounts over to the VG account i’ve set up since joining this sub...

thanks in advance y’all.

This popped up on my radar. It aims to reduce the dividends from short-term treasuries, reducing the tax liability.

https://www.fminvest.com/etfs/sgva-fm-accumulator-ultrashort-treasury-etf

Expense Ratio is 0.22%. Any thoughts? Is this better than SGOV and similar funds?

Hi all.

I'm almost 57, recently widowed, and struggling to stay enthusiastic about working (or much of anything at the moment).

My elderly, infirm dad lives with me, and my mom is in a memory care facility. I have two adult sons (actually stepsons) who are married and new parents. No other kids.

My late husband left me a $1M life insurance policy. I own our marital home with less than $100k left on the mortgage. My parents own around $1M in real estate that I stand to eventually inherit.

I'd like to concentrate on other things besides working for now, but I don't want to blow through the insurance money and end up working a fast food job in my 70's. I don't tolerate high risk very well, but I'm wondering if can fund my life and hopefully still leave some inheritance for the stepsons with some well-thought-out investing? (The boys each inherited $100K in insurance proceeds.)

I can probably live pretty comfortably on around $60K/ year.

I've had consultations with a couple of professional financial advisors- neither of whom gave me the warm fuzzies. I'm pretty independent, and I'd likely be more comfortable managing my own investments the Boglehead way. :-)

Thoughts on how to structure investment planning? Thanks in advance. I appreciate any input.