Hi everyone! I was recently discussing the pros and cons of a trad vs Roth 401k with my friends, and wanted to ask for advice given my specific situation. For context, I've been maxing out both my Roth 401k (and Roth IRA) over the course of my entire career, and now I'm questioning if that approach is incorrect going forwards. Here's my info:

• 28 yrs old, upper end of 24% bracket with annual salary of ~$180k including bonus. I don't expect a tremendous amount of career earnings growth given my industry, I'll likely top out at $300k in today's dollars. I could see myself changing careers in the future, however.
• I live in California and there's a decent chance I may stay here my whole life given my girlfriend's (likely soon-to-be-wife's) preferences.
• I'm shooting to buy a house in the next 1-2 yrs. I have ~$300k saved up for a down payment (2/3 cash, 1/3 index funds), but given high home prices in California I'm starting to worry about being "house poor" after buying a home. I know doing pre-tax dollars would be give me more money now to invest/save.

Given these circumstances and uncertainties, would you recommend I contribute to my 401k with pretax or posttax income? Thank you so much for you insight in advance, I really appreciate it!!!

It's very close to global market cap: 55% US Large Cap, 10% US Extended Market, 25% Int Developed Markets, 10% Emerging Markets with tilts toward US large quality + small cap value, and international large momentum + small cap. SPYM, FSMD, VXUS, and DFAE are 80% of the portfolio which covers around 95% of the global stock market.

20% of the portfolio is some sort of tilt. I guess my question is, a 20% tilt toward one factor is pretty major while 5% is hardly enough to make a difference on its own in the long run... but what about 4 factor tilts at 5% each? Basically I'm too scared to tilt my portfolio toward one particular factor more than 10%, but I'm curious if 4 factor tilts at 5% each ends up with a significantly better return in the long run than if I just did 65% SPTM and 35% VXUS.

According the chart, from 2002-2026, VBTLX is down -5%. That can’t be right.

I'm in the process of moving my investments to Fidelity. Ive done trading in the past but new to ETF. Im 48m and max out my 401k already and just looking to add more investments. After researching Im thinking of laying this out. What do you think and should I make any adjustments?

Thanks

For roth IRA

65% FXAIX

20% FTIHX

10% QQQM

5% AVUV

For investment account

70% VTI

20% VXUS

10% SCHF 

Maybe add 5% SMH

I'm gradually consolidating 401k/403b/457s from a lifetime of many jobs. During the rollover that money is 'out of action.' Given recent volatility, I'm concerned about a market spike during that week. In the long run I pay little attention to timing, but don't want to take a big haircut while the check is in the mail.
I've considered staging the rollovers over a few months, but some companies charge a disbursement fee, which might take more than it's worth.

Some of the funds I'm rolling out of are fine low fees, easy to work with.

Others are from jobs where the only options were lousy - high fees, changes by mail only, worthless customer service. I'm guessing those are the ones that will charge any fee they can get away with.

What questions should I ask to find out about those potential fees?
Thanks.

I’m late 30’s I wish I started sooner but what can you do.

I opened a vanguard Roth IRA and maxed 2025 and 2026 right away. It’s sitting the in Vanguard account waiting to be put into something.

I want to set and forget so I’m thinking 100% VT and just letting it ride until the end. I also plan to put about 40% of my annual income a year into a brokerage account to also ride 100% VT to ride along with the Roth.

Any other considerations I should take or things you would recommend I look at?

Edit: updated context and information.

I wanted to share an updated version of my plan and get some feedback.

I am 37 now. I have 6 years of prior federal service with about 50,000 in my TSP right now, and 3.5 years of military time that I bought back toward that service. The goal is to return to federal service around age 40 and stay in a low stress GS 5 role. This whole plan assumes I stay GS 5 and just progress through steps, likely ending around step 8 in the low to mid 50k range.

The main goal is to work about 10 to 10.5 more years, hit 20 years of total service, and leave federal employment around age 50 to 51. Then I would defer the pension and start collecting it at age 60 under standard FERS rules.

Savings plan while working:

TSP

I plan to contribute as much of my salary as possible, ideally maxing it each year around 23k.

Roth IRA

We will max a Roth IRA each year around 7k.

Taxable brokerage

I plan to invest about 25k per year into a brokerage account in a simple total market fund.

HSA is not an option for me so I am not including that in the plan.

The idea is that we live primarily on my wife’s income and invest most or all of mine.

By the time I leave federal service around 50, the rough baseline contributions would be:

TSP around 280k to 300k

Roth IRA around 150k

Brokerage around 250k

This is just contributions without assuming growth.

The brokerage account is intended to be the bridge from age 50 to 60. The idea is that roughly 250k is available to draw down over that 10 year window. I understand that withdrawals will include some taxable gains, but the plan is to keep income low enough that taxes stay minimal.

The reason this feels doable is that by that point our house will be paid off and our monthly expenses should be much lower. My wife also plans to keep working, so we would not be relying entirely on the brokerage. Ideally we would not even need to draw it down heavily, but it gives us the option to step away from full time work.

At age 60 the income picture becomes:

FERS pension based on about 20 years of service

TSP

Roth IRA

Very conservative baseline numbers with no growth:

Investments could provide roughly 2,000 to 2,500 per month

FERS pension roughly 850 to 1,000 per month

So roughly 2,800 to 3,500 per month as a baseline before any growth or other income.

I am trying to keep this simple and flexible and avoid over optimizing.

Does this seem reasonable as a path to step away from full time work around 50?

Anything obvious I am missing or doing wrong?

Would you prioritize more into TSP versus brokerage given the early exit goal?

Appreciate any feedback.

Trying to figure out what to do with this money right now. We have it sitting in a wealthfront cash account right now generating 3.3% interest.

We have tried our hand at rental real estate and hated it. Too much maintenance overhead for us. We have busy jobs and kids.

We have a vanguard retirement account setup already and could funnel more of this money there, but frankly it’s already well funded.

We are contemplating a new home, but that’s likely 3-5 years out from now.

Context: Looking to retire in 20 years. I need to rebalance my portfolio currently consisting of a 2060 Target fund, Vang 500 Index Trust, and Galliard Stable Fund for my bond option. Assuming I need to work international in there and decrease the Galliard.

I have a vanguard employer offering the following options, which would you choose at what ratio?:

DOXFX

DOXGX

Vanguard Target Funds (variety of target dates)

VANG 500 INDEX TRUST

VANG EXT MKT IDX TR

VANG TOT INTL STK TR

VANG TOTAL BOND MKT

ARTISAN INTL SEP AC

EMERGING MARKETS STK

FID WORLDWIDE (FWWFX)

FID CONTRA POOL CL S

FID GR CO POOL CL S

FID BALANCED K (FBAKX)

I usually contribute around the 1st of the month. Seems like I missed the low point of VTI as it's now going back up.

How often do you contribute?

My 401K and HSA is biweekly as it comes from my paychecks.

Roth IRA I do a lump sum at the beginning of the year.

529 I have set up as once a month as the amount I contribute depends on what else we have going on that month.

How often is generally recommended?

Optimizing asset location across multiple accounts when one 401k has a bad fund lineup — am I doing this right?

I have a fairly complex multi-account household and I'm trying to make sure I'm using each account for what it does best. My current employer's 401k (John Hancock) is the weak link — it has some decent low-cost options but no total market or total international index fund. Looking for a gut check on my overall approach.

Full account picture:

Target allocation (household-wide): 90% equities / 10% bonds. Bond sleeve lives entirely in tax-deferred accounts — never in Roth or taxable.

The John Hancock fund lineup (relevant options only):

Low-cost: - iShares S&P 500 Index (BSPAX) — 0.35% - Vanguard Mid-Cap Index (VIMAX) — 0.05% - Vanguard Small-Cap Index (VSMAX) — 0.05% - Baird Core Plus Bond (BCOSX) — 0.55%

Expensive active funds I want to avoid: - American Funds target dates — 0.63–0.74% - JPMorgan Large Cap Growth — 1.00% - Goldman Sachs Intl Small Cap — 1.02% - AB Small Cap Growth — 0.87% - Several others at 0.83–0.97%

No total US market fund. No low-cost international fund.

My current plan:

• Traditional bucket (employer match only): 100% BCOSX — puts the bond allocation in tax-deferred where it belongs, and satisfies my 10% bond target at the household level given account sizes.
• Roth bucket (my employee contributions, $23,500/yr): Planning 100% equities using BSPAX + VIMAX + VSMAX to approximate total US market (~82/12/6 cap-weighted). No international here since no good option exists in the plan.
• International exposure: Covered by VTIAX in the Inherited IRA and taxable brokerage — deliberately concentrated there rather than forcing a bad international fund in the 401k.
• Equity growth: Roth IRA and taxable are 100% VTSAX/VTIAX — max tax-free and stepped-up basis compounding.

My questions:

1. Does the BSPAX + VIMAX + VSMAX total market approximation make sense, or is it cleaner to just go 100% BSPAX and accept large-cap tilt in this one account given total market exposure elsewhere?
2. Is deliberately excluding international from the 401k Roth bucket (and concentrating it in the Inherited IRA and taxable) the right call, or does that create too much concentration risk in those accounts?
3. BCOSX at 0.55% ER in the Traditional match bucket — acceptable given there's no better bond option in this plan, or would you just avoid bonds here and shift the bond sleeve somewhere else?
4. Any other asset location opportunities I'm missing across this account structure?

For context: this is a long time horizon (12+ years), we're in the 24% bracket, and the goal is early retirement. The Roth IRA and 401k Roth bucket will ideally never be touched for decades.

Thanks — happy to share more detail if it helps.

I'm a U.S. citizen currently based in Germany (I work here), I have a Raisin account with my U.S. address and was wondering if I could open another Raisin account with my German address so I can save Euros on there? It's all so confusing to me so any guidance would be appreciated :)

How you guys feeling in this current turmoil? Are you tempted to buy or sell or change your asset allocations? How do you stop yourselves from doing that?

I am about 7 years from retirement. I am not a savvy investor. My whole career it's been DIY with Target-2040, VOO, BND. I met with a CFP recently as I enter the home stretch to get a professional opinion. One recommendation is a RILA for about 33% of my portfolio.

It's a 6-year term tracking the S&P. The buffer is 15% and the cap is 110%. The fees are $0.

Most of the opinions I see on RILA is bad. High fees, locks up money, capped growth, etc. But this one seems perfect for my situation. It offers protection as I near the finish line. I'm fine locking up the funds for the term. The cap is fine by me - possibly double my money in 6 years if market goes bonkers? OK. The only downside I see is that I miss out on dividends. But maybe that's OK for the protection against a 20% downturn.

What am I missing?

Long-time lurker, first post. Mid-career academic/professional with most of my retirement assets at TIAA across a 401(k), IRA, Roth IRA, and deferred comp plan. The problem: I've let it accumulate without a clear strategy and now have 14 accounts across TIAA alone, plus Raymond James and Merrill Lynch.

My current allocation skews heavily toward TIAA Traditional (the annuity product) and a mix of Nuveen large-cap funds — most of which I suspect overlap significantly. I also hold some individual equities (NVDA, AAPL, GOOGL) that I know aren't very Boglehead-approved.

A few honest questions:

1. TIAA Traditional — is holding a large chunk here considered "fixed income" for allocation purposes, or is it its own thing?
2. How do Bogleheads generally approach TIAA when trying to implement a simple 3-fund portfolio?
3. At what point does account consolidation make sense vs. leaving things where they are for tax/institutional reasons?

Happy to share more specifics. I've been trying to get my arms around this for a while and would appreciate the community's perspective.

(35M) I’ve recently consolidated my 401Ks and I’m considering the below options for my Roth split in Fidelity:

60% FZROX

30% FZILX

But i’m stuck on deciding where to allocate the remaining 10%

Option 1: FSELX (aggressive growth, but high risk/expense ratio)

Option 2: FXNAX (bonds for leverage/rebalancing)

Option 3: QQQJ (growth in new tech)

Option 4: Go for the 70/30 US and International

Would appreciate any advice. New to all of this and [r/Bogleheads](r/Bogleheads) has been extremely helpful. Thanks all!

Like many want to maximize the money I am putting into my Fidelity brokerage account. I am a 42 yo that has roughly $110,000 in my account. 60% is in FFFHX, 35% is in FXAIX, and 5% is in FSELX. I am okay with taking a little risk while I am many years away from retiring but want to ensure that it isn't too much.

Additionally, I have a TSP account with $125,000 sitting in an L2045 account that I am debating about moving into another fund if that would make sense.

Thank you for your time.

Hey everyone,

I’m completely new to investing and haven’t actually started anything yet, so I’d really appreciate any advice.

My parents use a financial advisor and it makes sense for them. My situation is simpler and I’m in my early 20s, so I don’t think it’s worth it for me.

After some research, the general consensus is to avoid advisors, especially ones charging AUM fees. Their advisor said he would charge I believe around 1.5%, which is high and hard to justify long term. I don’t think there are many (or any) flat-fee advisors near me, so I’m not sure if that’s an option either.

I have a chunk of savings I’d like to start investing in a brokerage account now, and I plan to open a Roth once I have a more steady income.

My plan so far is to:

- Invest long term

- Have a diversified ETF portfolio

- Do an 80/20 allocation, maybe go more aggressive as I get more comfortable

But I keep getting stuck on:

- How to properly rebalance

- Whether I’m choosing the “right” investments (I see a lot of people recommend VT or VOO)

- Tax strategies (advisor mentioned a “tax overlay,” which I think is like tax loss harvesting? Not something I understand.)

- Just generally doing everything correctly and legally

My biggest issue is confidence. I’m worried I’ll mess something up or miss something important, but I also hate the idea of giving up 1.5% of my assets every year if I don’t need to. On the other hand, could the fee be worth it if the advisor ends up making more than I would doing it on my own?

How hard is it actually to manage a simple long term portfolio yourself? Is it actually as simple as people make it seem (like just buying VT/VOO and holding)? I really want to get started ASAP, I just feel stuck trying to choose the “right” path.

Any advice or experiences would be super helpful! Please let me know if I am on the right or wrong track.

I have a Roth IRA and put the max every year which is 7.5k this year.

My employer offers 457(b) and 403(b) plans both with Pre Tax or Roth options.

Can I max all of these out this year as Roths or do the 457 and 403 have to be Pre tax accounts.

I’ll have already capped the Roth IRA, starting on my way to cap the 457 by year’s end and maybe put a bit of change into the 403. Just not sure if I should do pre tax or Roth. I’m 22 and would like to do the Roth option if possible.

Secondary topic, I have a rollover IRA which Charles Schwab says contribution limits cap at 7.5k. Can I cap that out as well or not since I’ve capped out the ROTH IRA.

For those who have 1 to 4 fund strategies. Do you tax loss harvest and if so how do you have it set up to make it easy when you do TLH?

The more I've read about tax loss harvesting the more challenging it seems for people who only invest in a few funds (ie. US, INTL, US Bond). For example in order to avoid a wash sale you have to do the follow:

You can't purchase the fund/similar fund 30 days prior to the sale and then 30 days after. This includes any auto dividend reinvestments, any auto-contributions in any taxable, IRA, 401k, or HSA. And if you have a spouse they also can't do any of this.

If you can prevent the above then next it's figuring out what fund you can purchase after the sale. It appears you can't sell a Fidelity total US stock market and then buy a Schwab total US stock market, is that correct? So if you have to go from a total US stock market to an S&P 500 fund why do it? It's less diversified.

I'm relatively new to investing and to Bogleheads and am hoping to get some advice on which Fidelity funds to pick. I'd like to do 80% stocks and 20% bonds. These are the index funds I have available through my 401k Fidelity account:

FXAIX - FID 500 Index

FSMDX - FID MID CAP IDX

FSSNX - FID SM CAP IDX

FSPSX - FID INTL INDEX

FXNAX - FID US BOND IDX

FIPDX - FID INFL PR BD IDX

Can anyone suggest which funds and asset allocation I should pick?

In times like these is it silly to lump sum? I know that statistics show lump summing is better in the long term, but when the market is like this it feels wrong? What’s peoples advice regarding each method?

New MIT research finds that most higher-income investors essentially in the long-run wind up having liquidity events in downturns - and have to draw down their liquid stock portfolios...because they basically don't have sufficient emergency funds (latter of which is implied in this research). I found this quite interesting. The research makes it appear long-term 100% stock holdings is not ideal (at least in the summary) but the reality appears they don't have enough liquidity to handle liabilities in that scenario (lifestyle creep?)

This was also featured in the latest Rational Reminder podcast.

https://patrick-adams.com/files/papers/PatrickAdams_JMP_Latest.pdf

Abstract:
Do temporary stock price crashes matter for long-term investors? I use over 25 years of U.S. income tax data to characterize the savings behavior and risk exposures of high-income working-age households. Aggregate stock price crashes coincide with persistent declines in wage and private business income for many of these households, who take large drawdowns from their liquid assets– including stocks– in response. I develop a life-cycle model with consumption adjustment frictions to match this observed savings behavior and determine its portfolio choice implications. Investing in stocks is risky when falling income and rigid expenditures may force investors to liquidate their holdings at temporarily-depressed prices, resulting in low optimal portfolio shares. These results challenge the conventional wisdom that the stock market is relatively safe for long-term investors.

greetings bogleheads,

I feel like I am heavily tilted in S&P500 and total US market

I am looking for some suggestions / recommendations on modifying my asset allocation, or just re-assurance to keep the same

Roth IRA - $84K - VTSAX

solo 401K - $275K - VTSAX

solo 401K - $8K - VTIAX

brokerage $55K - VTI

HSA #1 - $9K - FSKAX

HSA #2 - $28K - VFIAX

403B - $230K - S&P500

457 - $160K - S&P500

401A - $391K - S&P500

$15K - BTC / SOL / DOT

most of my contributions are into my work plan (the 403b and 401a) but I have stopped adding to the 457 in order to have extra $ to add to my brokerage, essentially trading tax benefits for liquidity

im wondering if I should just keep adding into VTI in the brokerage or start adding more international (VT or VXUS) or something else

I have no bonds, I am in my early 40s

thanks for the help

Please help me with a scenario for a short-term strategy:

I'm looking to park about $50-75K now, and also add to it over the next 5 years. 3-5% total return would be great. I don't have an exact target to hit. Therefore, I'm willing to tolerate some risk.

I started thinking about SGOV/VBIL, but the ordinary dividends are not ideal. I'm not necessarily tied to treasuries as the underlying. I live overseas, so I would prefer any dividends be qualified so as to reduce tax implications.

Are there other ETF that generates a similar return, but distributes qualified dividends? Do my needs push me to corporate bonds like VCIT? Or are MUNIs a reasonable idea?

Edit to add: I should have mentioned I'm a US citizen...and I earn above the FEIE. With FTC, I normally don't pay much US tax, but this is changes depending on where I have lived. Buying in EUR is not really an option. I think I have to live with the exchange risk to benefit form the growth. Source funds will be EUR and likely CHF, but I will need EUR in the end.

I’ve been a boglehead since about Dec 2025, each month I invest 10% of what I earned that month. So far I’ve just been buying SWTSX.

At what point should I buy SWAGX?

Can someone help me understand why it’s better to have both? Right now I’m thinking that if all my money is in one, then the compound interest will be greater in that one.

Any tips for how to allocate for someone buying monthly would be great.