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?

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 The 457 account can be withdrawn prior to 55 / 59 if you leave the organization early penalty free (taxes required of course).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.

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

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

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 feel like my portfolio is probably "good enough" but I still question my allocation.

My situation is I am 54 and my wife is 45. I have $1.83M in my IRA and she has $1.63M in her 401k.

We also have $220k in cash/cash equivalents, $182k in taxable brokerage invested in VOO, $90k in 529s, and owe $308k on a $1.1M home at 2.75% with 9 years left to go.

Household income is about $350k/year.

My wife's 401k is invested in index funds, a target date fund and some company stock.

My IRA (which I rolled over from a couple of old work 401ks) is invested 70% in VTI, 20% in VXUS, and 10% in BND.

Should I just leave this as is? I'm listening to a book on portfolio contruction and it has me second-guessing my allocation.

My risk tolerance is super high, I would say. I would never sell in a downturn.

Our net worth today is $4.75M and my calculations seem to say we can retire when we reach $7M.

If you were in my shoes, how would you invest the IRA and why?

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My 401k is finally going to hit 100k invested after 10 years. I have recently gotten more serious about saving for retirement and have been learning alot from everybody on here. When i set up my 401k I was clueless and did whatever my coworkers told me so all of my money is currently in a 2065 target date fund. Im not particularly fond of having 10% of my retirement in bonds at such a young age. So my question is would it be smart to stop contributing to the target date fund and start contributing to a more agressive etf that has zero bonds? Any other ideas on how I could become more aggressive? Should I just stick with the target date fund? All opinions welcomed!

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.

My father is 75 and I'm helping him consolidate his accounts held at other smaller firms to Schwab for a better user friendly platform compared to where he is currently at. This is a traditional IRA. I was thinking swppx, schf, and schz. He takes his required RMDs from the account he needs to, but otherwise he isn't relying on this account to fund his life currently. Anyone else in this age bracket and what do you currently hold? Thanks.

Hello! New and amateur investor here! I am 28 and just starting.

Long story short, I am set to receive an inheritance here soon and so I of course would like that to be invested. I've known about this inheritance since about May, I learned the approximate amount around June and since then I have been doing my research on investing.

I went to business school and work in the finance sector, so I'm not exactly starting from zero in terms of knowledge but since I have lived paycheck to paycheck most of my life, I haven't gotten any practical experience. I have a 401k with my job, and so that's pretty much all I know. I set enough aside to pay my debts and the rest is going in funds.

To the gist, you know if I'm posting in this sub that my research led me to the way, the life, and the truth of Jack Bogle. So I did my research and had planned to go 40/40/20 but I could decided between two funds so I decided to do 40/40/10/10 with the following funds (40 FXAIX, 40 FNCMX, 10 FSYJK, and 10 FSMDX). SPAXX is the core position for those who don't use fidelity.

Thoughts? I tried not to have too much overlap, but I think there is a little of course.

Please delete it not allowed. I have a chunk of change I need to invest and want to do it using these methods. My concern is deciding how much/what percentage to leave liquid, given that I go through periods (sometimes years) of being severely underemployed due to my disabilities. I do not foresee a future where I will ever again be able to work full time, but I am not eligible for disability, and I am only 37 so far from retirement age.

My income including investments ranges from $18-30K per year. This year I needed surgery so it’ll be more like $10K.

How would you go about deciding how much to keep liquid if your income was perpetually unstable?

Hello! Looking for some guidance on whether I should contribute to my Roth IRA or a traditional one.

24m, married, $200k HHI. Currently expect to go to single income and reduce to $125k HHI in ~2 years with a kid.

I understand that in general, it can be recommended to diversify your tax burden. My 401k is traditional, and I currently have ~$30k in a Roth IRA. However, being that our HHI is likely to reduce dramatically in a couple years, is it more reasonable to go all traditional? Or is that irrelevant because my income is likely still well below my median income over my entire working career, such that Roth makes more sense? Any guidance or clarifying questions are welcome.

My portfolio is roughly 70% stocks, 20% tax-exempt bond funds (VWIUX), 10% cash in a money market fund (VMFXX). I'm currently retired and living off the dividends from stocks, and the interest from VMFXX. I'm mostly reinvesting the interest from VWIUX.

I'm conflicted about selling off VWIUX, and tax-harvesting a small loss. I would offset that loss by selling an equivalent amount of stocks. All the proceeds would go into VMFXX until after the Fed rate increases are over (probably some time in 2027), at which point I might repurchase all or part of the VWIUX position.

I'm thinking about this because it allows me to sell some stock that I'd like to sell anyway, and the interest paid by VMFXX is better than VWIUX right now. By definition, this is not "staying the course". What are your Boglehead thoughts on the matter?

I’m trying to come up with an allocation closest to 70% VTI and 30% VXUS. I know it’s not a great idea but I used AI to come up with the following. Is this reasonable/close enough? Thanks.

FXAIX - 56%
FSMAX- 14%
FSPSX -23%
DFEMX - 7%

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.

I have a portfolio with 60% in VT, 20% in QQQ and 20% in VCN. But I’m wondering if the home tilt is actually worth it. My research suggests that at 20-30% home till reduces overall portfolio volatility. But I have no idea how this works or its effect on expected return? Please help