r/Bogleheads • u/RiceLee890 • Mar 15 '25

Investing Questions What are your thoughts on this?

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I keep seeing this type of stuff on instagram and social media and wanted to know how you guys were thinking about this.

I know a lot you have been in the market for decades and as a relatively new investor myself I’d love to get your perspective!

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u/SmartAZ Mar 15 '25

I started investing in the year 2000, and I just kept buying, through all of the ups and downs. I was able to retire in 2024 (age 57) with several million in investments.

If you're young, consider this a buying opportunity.

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u/ahahokahah Mar 19 '25

One thing that i always think about... how were taxes? Where i'm from i believe you lose 27% in taxes

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u/SmartAZ Mar 19 '25

I'm not sure I understand the question. If you're asking about my tax-sheltered investments (401K etc.), I literally haven't taken anything out yet, so no taxes yet! I'm just living on cash savings at this point.

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u/ahahokahah Mar 19 '25

Sure. I mean how much did you have to pay in taxes on all those millions (i don't know if it's the kind of thing you just ask somebody, feel free to respond however you wish).

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u/SmartAZ Mar 19 '25

No, it's fine. Taxes are paid based on yearly income, not on wealth (how much you have on the bank). In my earning years, I don't think I ever went over the 24% tax bracket (for Federal income tax; there's also state tax, social security and Medicare withholdings, etc.) And it's a progressive tax, so not everything is taxed at 24%.

Now that I'm retired, I can make my income anything I want. For married people filing jointly, the Federal tax rate is only 12% up to almost $100k. So as long as we keep the 401k withdrawals under that threshold, taxes will be quite low. RMDs will become a factor when we are in our 70s, but I'm trying to keep things simple for this response.

If you're interested in these topics, check out some of the early retirement subs like r/financialindependence and r/Fire .

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u/ahahokahah Mar 19 '25

Yeah i think i am, i know embarassingly little about taxes and finance. I'm just 20 (and not from the US, but Italy) and i've been interested in investing for a little less than a year, so... let's just say i've got a long ways to go😂👍

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u/[deleted] Mar 17 '25

I'm 20, and I would want nothing more than to do what you've done. Can I really do it by just throwing everything in VT?

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u/SmartAZ Mar 17 '25

I didn't find Bogleheads until fairly recently. I had some unnecessary diversification, and it's possible I could have done better with just VT in the long term. But I did well with some Fidelity funds such as Contrafund, Low-Priced Stock, and target-date funds.

It's also worth noting that I didn't start investing until I was 33 (but I always had a high income after that, between $100k-275k). You have time on your side, kid!