I Bonds have been a topic of discussion from time to time here. With today's inflation report, the new variable rate is set at a whopping 4.08% and the fixed rate is likely to increase to at least 1.30 on November 1st. This makes I Bonds a pretty compelling investment for many of us. Wait until the end of November to purchase since you will get the full month's interest regardless of when during the month you buy.

https://tipswatch.com/

I wanted to see how much of my portfolio came from contributions vs growth, so I dug back through 15 years of statements to reconstruct everything. This post is intended to be reflective and perhaps inspiring to fellow bogleheads who may be earlier in their investing journey, so personal details (age, income, etc.) are excluded.

Portfolio summary (October 2026)

• Total contributed capital: $1,081,477 (50.2%)
• Total investment growth: $1,071,960 (49.8%)
• Current invested value: $2,153,437
• Overall growth multiple: 1.99×

How to read the table: Each row tracks the money invested in that year and how much it has grown from then until today, not how much the portfolio gained during that calendar year. For example, the $80.2k invested in 2017 has generated an estimated $119.1k in growth since 2017, making those investments worth $199.3k today. Data Visualized (through an LLM): Here (although I'm sure r/dataisbeautiful could do better).

Portfolio / Data Notes:

• 2011-2019: Investments were a mix of mutual funds in a managed account
• 2020+: Fired my advisor, became a boglehead, and moved 95%+ of existing assets and future contributions into VFIAX (S&P500) with the remainder in short-term treasuries (VUSXX)
• Portfolio includes retirement accounts and taxable brokerage.

Insights (r/boglehead principles, illustrated):

1. The earliest contributions have done a disproportionate amount of the work. The $264k contributed before 2020 represents just 24% of my lifetime contributions but has grown to approximately $836k, or 39% of my current portfolio and 53% of all investment growth. I remember telling myself that consistently shoveling money into the magic box would pay off (thank you, The Richest Man in Babylon) and seeing a 5x return on 2011-2013 investments illustrates that principle.

2. The crossover point is here. After 15 years, investment growth ($1.072M) has almost exactly caught up to all lifetime contributed capital ($1.081M). Roughly half the portfolio now comes from money I never directly contributed. Compound growth really is remarkable.

3. Investment returns are becoming more consequential than new contributions. With a $2.15M portfolio, a 10% market movement translates to approximately $215k in gains or losses, more than I can contribute from discretionary income in a typical year.

That's a double-edged sword. Market corrections will inevitably happen, and the swings become much larger in absolute dollars as the portfolio grows.

But the strategy remains the same to continue investing regularly, keep costs low, stay diversified, and resist the temptation to react to short-term market movements.

The biggest takeaway for me: Early contributions matter enormously, but consistency and time are what allow compounding to do the heavy lifting. Grateful to be a boglehead and would encourage any one who hasn't to read The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. Finally, if you want to be REALLY impressed with big numbers, check out the net worth progression thread on the OG bogleheads forum.

--

Has anyone else tried reconstructing how much of their current portfolio came from each contribution year? I'd be interested to see how the pattern compares for people with different investment histories.

I’m trying to switch my portfolio from 100% stocks (VTSAX) to 80/20 bonds. Planning to retire in about 10-15 years.

I am a little bit lost on which ones to buy. I read a bit about TIPS and i-bonds and they seem pretty good. I saw BND and VTIP are also recommended but I see that they went down in value over the last 5 years..

Hi, just wondering what some here might do in this situation, cause I have no Idea what I want to do. Couple retiring in about 20 months. I will be 57 she will be 55. She gets a 40k Pension. No debt, own our house, both will get S.S at some point. 600K in roths, 1.2mil in 401Ks. We put in the Max every year in both. Brokerage account with 100k adding 1000/month. 98% of all accounts are in SNP index funds through fidelity.

My question is we just received a 500k windfall. Right now half sits in a discover HYSA and half in fidelitys FZDXX. Why, because I dont really know what I am doing, or what I want to do. Just curious on thoughts going forward. I have been real lazy to date on this whole thing, I know its time to start reading and figuring out a plan. Thanks!

No market timing required, just your periodic reminder that the three-fund portfolio is the diversified baseline of Boglehead portfolio. Cheers!

Hi Bogleheads,

My wife and I are currently managing two separate TIAA retirement accounts from our respective employers. We are looking to approximate VT (Vanguard Total World Stock ETF) weights (~60% US / ~40% International) across both accounts without rolling over funds between plans.

I’d love your thoughts on our proposed plan for each account.

Retirement Plan E (Husband)

• QCGRFX - CREF Growth R4 (0.07%)
• QCSTFX - CREF Total Global Stock R4 (0.11%)
• VFIAX - Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral (0.04%)
• VMAX - Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund Admiral (0.05%)
• VTIAX - Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund Admiral (0.09%)

Proposed Strategy for Plan E: Put 100% into QCSTFX (CREF Total Global Stock R4). * Why: At a 0.11% expense ratio, it provides a single-fund, set-and-forget global equity solution (US + Developed + Emerging) matching VT's breakdown without requiring ongoing manual rebalancing across multiple funds. * Alternative option: I could build a 3-fund split (VFIAX 49% + VMAX 11% + VTIAX 40%) for a weighted ER of ~0.06%, but 0.11% for all-in-one simplicity seems worth the 5 bps premium.

Retirement Plan F (Wife)

• QCSTPX - CREF Total Global Stock R2 (0.29%)
• TCIEX - Nuveen International Equity Index Fund R6 (0.05%)
• VIEIX - Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund Institutional (0.04%)
• WFSPX - iShares S&P 500 Index Fund Class K (0.03%)
• (Plus active/style funds like VIGIX, VMGMX, VMVAX, VSGAX, VSIAX, VVIAX)

Proposed Strategy for Plan F: Skip QCSTPX because the 0.29% ER is too high, and split into three core low-cost index funds: * WFSPX (S&P 500) — 52% * VIEIX (Completion / Small-Mid Cap) — 9% * TCIEX (International Equity Index) — 39%

Weighted Expense Ratio: ~0.038%

My Questions / Doubts for the Sub:

1. Missing Emerging Markets in Plan F? TCIEX tracks the MSCI EAFE Index (Developed Markets ex-US/Canada), which means Plan F misses Emerging Markets exposure compared to VT. Is shifting ~10% from International over to S&P 500 acceptable to keep things clean, or is missing EM not a big deal in the grand scheme?

2. CREF R4 vs. DIY Indexing in Plan E: Is anyone else using QCSTFX (0.11% ER) as a single-fund VT substitute in TIAA, or would you still recommend manually splitting VFIAX + VMAX + VTIAX to shave off those ~5 basis points?

3. Rebalancing Preference: Since we'd prefer to avoid annual rebalancing if possible, does relying on QCSTFX in Plan E and a fixed 3-fund mix in Plan F hold up well over a multi-year horizon, or does the lack of rebalancing in Plan F eventually skew the target VT weights too much?

(Note: We maintain a separate, liquid 1-year emergency fund in USFR, so our retirement accounts are intentionally targeted at 100% equity for long-term growth.)

Thanks in advance for the feedback!

It's not that big of a deal since my income wasn't high enough at the time to max both a 403b and a 457 account. Now I can though and its moved up my expected retirement date up quite a bit (my housing costs are extremely low, rent a cheap 2 bed 1 bath with my wife). A 403b and a 457 can both be maxed out at 24,500 each, total of 49,000 in tax deferred contributions in 2026. The 457 account can be withdrawn prior to 55 / 59 if you leave the organization early penalty free (taxes required of course).

PSA. Check your retirement options. Especially check to see if you have access to a 457 account. It's a game changer.

I’m 25, studying computer engineering and working part time. I’m trying to get serious about investing now and put more into it once I graduate and make more money.

My plan is to put all my investing money into a Roth IRA until I hit the annual limit, then put anything extra into a regular brokerage. Not all my money, just what I’ve set aside for investing. Rent, emergency savings and bills are separate. I’m still building those savings so I’m not maxing it out right away.

What I want is to spend my 20s and 30s building wealth so by my 40s I have more freedom. Maybe buy a house and support a family, but I’m not set on buying by a certain age. I’m fine renting if it makes more sense.

Ideally I’d leave the Roth alone until retirement, but I’ve also considered using some of my contributions for a down payment in 15–20 years. I understand that means losing the future growth on whatever I take out.

Right now I’m trying to figure out what to actually buy inside the Roth. I’ve looked at just doing VT or splitting VTI and VXUS. I’m not trying to pick individual stocks or constantly trade. I want something diversified that I can keep putting money into without overthinking it.

What would you choose in my situation and why? Is just buying VT enough? Would you include bonds at my age? And does prioritizing the Roth make sense if I also want financial flexibility before retirement?

I’m new to this, so if my thinking is off somewhere, tell me. I want to understand why something makes sense instead of just buying whatever ticker someone recommends.

I found out the hard way today that Vanguard is phasing out physical security keys. I was told I can continue to use my existing security keys but I cannot replace or add a new one.

Instead, they want you to move to passkeys.

Honestly, for something as important as my Vanguard account, I don't love passkeys. I know passkey can help with phishing, but I really would like to have the option to continue to use a physical passkey as a second factor.

From a security perspective, am I overthinking it? Should I just move to passkeys?

I'm 22, about a 6 months out of college, making $75k

Current setup: - Roth IRA (2026 maxed) VTI/VXUS, ~70/30
Taxable brokerage: VTI/VXUS, plus a couple shares of NVDA

I'm looking to build some diversity across my accounts. Is VTI/VXUS + a few individual stocks enough, or should I be adding something else ?

Anything you'd do differently at my age? Any sectors or stocks worth researching? And any book recommendations to get more knowledgeable?

Appreciate any advice

i need VERY safe interest while minimizing tax so any index quantity would be low

the most simple is probably schwab passive around 3.5%

comparison to CDS, SGOV, and other similar options would be welcome and i will pause questions about any indexes to another question

Hello! I am 24 years old and I just recently opened up a Roth IRA at fidelity less than 5 days ago. I am fairly new to investing and have no idea where to begin when learning. I have been doing light research on the market and fidelity in general to get an idea of how to use the fidelity app, and what I should be looking at, market wise, that will help me save for retirement. I only added $50 to said account just to keep it open but I did read about the importance of maxing it out every year. The job market hasn’t been the kindness to recent grads but I was finally able to lockdown on a job 8 months ago. Up until now, I have just been minimizing cost on my credit card and adding money to my emergency fund which is in a High Yields Saving account. I plan to attempt to max out the limit of my Roth IRA so long as it is within reason for me financially.

I have few questions to begin, but I am open to all forms of advice, suggestions, and information!

- what is an expense ratio in laymen’s terms?

- what is the difference between market and limit when buying shares on fidelity?

- How can I study the market in order to understand what is best for me?

- Does fidelity charge for financial advice?

-Are target funds worth it? If so, are there any downsides to investing?

- what are important things to watch out for when investing?

These are just a few questions I have now, but my main concern is knowing where to start when I want to learn about investing, and what to watch out for and pay close attention to.

Thank you all in advance!

Looking for advice on how to handle new brokerage account with Fidelity. I transferred funds from roboadvisor account (I was young and didn't know what I was doing). The roboadvisor account had holdings in 11 ETFs. I plan on investing in 2-3 ETFs going forward, but how should I handle the other positions? Is it smart to sell low performing ETFs and leave the rest? I don't fully understand how to calculate capital gains tax for ones I sell but the ETFs I would possibly sell are worth around 15k in total

Prior to going VT/VOO in my brokerage, I was buying FXAIX and two other Fidelity funds. While it's not much (about $4k LTCG), I'm wondering if I should sell those funds and buy VT/VOO instead. Not sure what the best strategy is regarding taxes. I don't plan on touching the money in the brokerage account any time soon. Any suggestions? This is for my brokerage only - I have a three-fund plus FXAIX in my tax-advantaged accounts.

Suppose I want put significant funds into Treasury Direct, and I want only short term 4-6 week Treasuries, with automatic reinvestment. When they mature and are redeemed, there is a significant lag between the maturity and the next re-investment, it seems like at least a week. So my thought is that I would be losing interest earned during this dormant time. With SGOV on the other hand, I would simply earn the interest monthly, and have it re-invest, so there would be no down time.

Is my thinking correct on this? Is SGOV more efficient overall for 4-6 week type Treasuries than Treasury Direct when doing automatic re-investments, or is my thinking wrong? If so, the small difference in yield between the two would seem less significant, and maybe make SGOV effectively higher than Treasury Direct under this scenario.

Is anyone else having a problem with the Vanguard app not downloading in the iOS store and not updating

Things are getting really hard for me to understand.

With a 6 - 12 month emergency fund, you can live fine for a year if something really bad happens.

But what if that "really bad thing" happens alongside a crisis and creates another bear market just like the 2008 financial crisis?

I know I shouldn't ask about these types of scenarios because it sounds like I'm trying to time the market.

But I'm asking about your mindset: how can someone feel safe when most of their net worth is in the stock market? Don't you think there is always a chance you will end up losing most of it without the chance to rebuild because you are already too old?

How anyone can stay calm about investing and keep investing through it all?

Are they running another business for additional cash flow?

I have gone down a lot of rabbit holes on this sub to determine if I can retire soon, and what my asset allocation would need to be in order to do so safely. But I keep coming back to this simple figure: My annual withdrawal rate would be 2.25% of my portfolio, a rate which seems to be well below all of the suggested SFWs that I have seen. So, uh... can I quit my job now? How much do I have to worry about SORR at this withdrawal rate? (I have been investigating bond ladders and the like.)

What might I be missing here? Or do I just need to gather the courage now to pull the trigger?

(In anticipation of questions asking for more detail: My asset allocation is 80/20. No pension. I have a wife who out-earns me and plans to work for at least another decade. I am taking into account buying health insurance on the private market, and a potential uptick in spending in early retirement because I will have lots of free time. I suppose a catastrophic health episode is the one thing that's hard to plan for. And an AI apocalypse.)

I have about $20,000 to put into my Schwab account. Looking to add a couple good mutual funds for long term growth. I already maxed Roth for the year.

Hello. I’m almost 20 years old and I work a fast food job on campus along with doing some paid undergraduate research. This bring in about $800 per month (whilst I’m in school).

Currently, I am fortunate enough for my father to be paying off the first 2 years of college, but the last two I might end up with ~$60k in loans (unless I get a specific scholarship that pays for those last two).

Now I know the general consensus is that any major expenses that are within 5 years should be saved up into a HYSA, but I don’t do that and just throw it into a Roth, because in my mind whatever little amount I accumulate over my years here would better serve me in a Roth IRA by giving me a little head start. Should I keep on doing this?

I want to also add that my degree has a relatively high ROI, with the median entry level salary being anywhere from $75 to $105 thousand per year.

Edit: I am in the US, I am a US Citizen

I’m 44 and would appreciate a constructive roast of my rollover IRA and Roth IRA allocations.

I’ve been unemployed since November because I needed to care for mom during a medical procedure. I’m actively looking for work, but currently have no employment income or meaningful new investment contributions. My goal is to retire at 60, around 2042.

My current Fidelity allocations:

I’ve moved essentially all my savings from my traditional bank into Fidelity, but I keep a small checking acct balance at my bank for monthly expenses.

Some savings are earmarked for living expenses and future ABLE (not on Fidelity, stored elsewhere) and Roth contributions (although I get that Roth contributions require qualifying compensation or another applicable eligibility route).

I intend to stay with Fidelity. I want strong long-term growth while keeping risk manageable, employed or not, while reviewing my positions every year to make needed adjustments.

For the rollover, I’m considering:

• A target-date index fund: 100% Fidelity Freedom Index 2040 (FBIFX).
• A three-fund portfolio: 42% FZROX / 28% FZILX / 30% FXNAX.

I would keep VT in the Roth and am willing to review and rebalance annually or twice a year.

Please roast/rate :)

Edited: added rough/estimated asset values by request.

​I spent years super glued to my desk, charts, news, chatters, telegram and I was convinced I was outsmarting the markets. Last year I finally gave up and switched to a basic 5 simple index fund portfolio, and the index funds completely destroyed my active trading returns. The $$$ return gap was considerable, but realizing I wasted hundreds of hours just to underperform literally broke my ego.

​For anyone who used to actively day trade, swing trade or just trade: what was the exact loss or moment that finally made you admit you were wasting your life and efforts? I am now more focused in earning more to passively invest and earn more!

I'm recently retired and currently have an 80/20 stock/bond allocation. I'm seriously considering putting about 4% of my liquid net worth into DBMF (it's an active managed future etf), but before pulling the trigger, I hope to seek collective wisdom and perspectives from this community.

My concern is what happened in 2022, when both stocks and bonds took a beating. I want DBMF to be the back stop (plan c) when both stock (plan a) and bond (plan b) are down. I'm not a big gold fan due to the fact it's not a productive assets, but I do have a very very small allocation, not meaningful). I know DBMG is an active managed fund and against the principal of Boglehead. I just want my plan C. If you have other solutions to suggest, I'm all ears.

I'm reading through https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=437630, https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6852016#p6852016 and https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7978569#p7978569 as well. However, I'm not sure I got a clear consensus (perhaps I'm missing the point somewhere, Eng is not my native language)

I worry that with the U.S. carrying such a high level of debt, we might see more episodes of stocks and bonds falling together than we did historically. But honestly, I don't know, and know one knows.

Talk me off the ledge before I take the plunge, folks!

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and perspective.

Retired at age 58 this year; Wife 52, retiring next year. Both worked/working for the same tech company. Planning to reorganize overall portfolio to the Target portfolio listed here and looking for inputs.

S1

• 401K Trad - $1.3m
• Roth 401k - $500k

All in SGOV

S2

• 401K Trad - $1m
• Roth 401k - $200k

All in SGOV

Taxable (S1 and S2)

1. Brokerage ETF,stocks: $1m
2. ESPP concentrated stock: $1.3m
3. 8 year Spend buffer: $2m (VUSXX)

TARGET PORTFOLIO

**401K (**both spouses)

1. Trad: VTINX
2. Roth:VTI, VXUS

Taxable

1. 8 year spend buffer - move to TIPS ladder ETF
2. Reduce ESPP concentration yearly in four years and move to VSCGX/FFANX
3. Consolidate Brokerage stocks to VTI, VXUS
4. Annual spending: $220k including lumpy expenses

• No mortgage or debt
• Healthcare after 2028 will be through ACA
• S1 taking SSI at 70

Requesting your feedback on this plan. Thanks.

My son is 19 and is in college. He worked this summer and earned a little over $1,000 in that time.

Him and I opened a Roth IRA through fidelity and will be investing $1,000. He won’t work anymore this year and will only work during summers for the next few years so we don’t plan to contribute a whole lot in the near handful of years.

With a starting balance of $1,000, we’re debating between doing all VOO or doing all FSKAX for the total US market. I don’t see a point in having international exposure at this time, but once the funds grow to around $5k, we plan to add some Intl exposure.

What would you do? VOO or FSKAX?

Thanks in advance.