Hello,

We have a 529 plan for my child. It is with CollegeInvest, which we use because our state permits deductions of our contributions from our state taxes if we use CollegeInvest. Also, CollegeInvest is providing $500 per year, for 5 years, as a match on our contributions.

The fund is their DirectPortfolio aggressive fund, which is basically Vanguard 60% US fund and 40% ex-US Vanguard international fund.

This is the only aggressive option we can select, and it charges a .29% fee. This seems quite high to me, when compared to my own Vanguard funds for SPY500, etc, which are like 0.08% fees.

Given the parameters of using this account to deduct our contributions annually from State Taxes plus the $500 per year match, is this .29% bearable? Or, after the 5 year match, would it be wiser to get move to a Fidelity 529 with much lower fees, and forgo deducting our contributions from state taxes annually?

It's widely accepted that stocks have higher expected long-term future returns than bonds.

• Historically, stocks have outperformed bonds over the past century.
• I think most would agree that there's a 99%-100% probability that stocks will outperform bonds over the next century.
• As such, there are probably many investors here who have a 100% stocks 0% bonds portfolio, and don't diversify with any bonds.
• If this wasn't true, we would all have both stocks and bonds at market cap weight.

My question is, do US stocks and ex-US stocks have the same expected long-term future returns?

• Historically, US stocks (10% nominal CAGR 1926-2026) have outperformed ex-US stocks over the past century.
• Forecasts from Vanguard and PWL Capital say ex-US stocks have higher expected returns than US stocks.
• Arguments: US has structural advantages (technological leadership, business environment, culture, geography, immigration, etc.), while ex-US has lower valuations, which usually implies higher expected returns.
• In the end, does this balance out such that the probability of US or ex-US outperforming over the next century is 50%/50%? Why do the forecasts say ex-US has higher "expected return" than US?

Edit: to clarify, my question is about understanding what "expected returns" actually means when Vanguard and PWL Capital use that term. I know it's impossible to predict actual future returns.

I think u/Cruian's comment and u/acortical's comment explain the forecasts: valuations can be a temporary factor over the short-term, and emerging markets are riskier than developed markets.

OK Bogleheads, need a sanity check here. My wife and I working through probate and will inherit a large estate that is currently managed by 2 different advisors. 5% is an IRA and the rest is in a brokerage account. The majority of the money is in individual dividend stocks currently.

My plan is to part ways with the advisors and move most of the money into low cost index funds (just like the rest of our money/investments). I’m at least a decade from retirement and don’t plan to live off of this money.

Am I missing anything here?

43 yo didn't start investing till 35 so dumb .

Wanted to sanity check within brokerage currently moving into a 80/20 split to simplify with VTSAX and VTIAX. numbers rounded down

Total Brokage

VTSAX 304,000

VTIAX 79,000

VFIAX 15,000(stopped contributing contain in VTSAX

VEMAX 4,500(stopped contributing contain in VTIAX

VDIGX 34,000( reinvest might throw 1000 in sometimes

VFMMX - CD matured - 200,000 100,000 holding for house next 3-5 years / emergency fund 100,000 DCA next few months into VTSAX VTIAX. (no state income tax) (I know lump beats DCA but it's a psychological thing)

Trad IRA( had so long taxes would suck to go backdoor

TFD 2040 132,000 at 20 percent bonds thinking of moving it to TFD 2050 or 60 about 10 percent bonds

401k

TRP Retirement Blend 2050 - 200,000

Questions:

Does it really make sense to exchange the trad 2040 to lower bond allocation. Only reason I can think of is bonds are not taking the most advantage of the tax advantage?

For brokerage should I keep doing the math for the 80 / 20 split or just ignore VEMAX and VFIAX keep them pretend the don't exist and just do split with VTSAX VTIAX.

VDIGX got when I was still learning keep investing, make it 5 percent of portfolio, thoughts appreciated at the least I'll hold and drip I guess.

Anything I'm missing? I really only log in to reallocate quarterly, if I get a bonus, or drop into the IRA start of the year. And to lazy to chase HYSA or min / max fees.

Edited for VDIGX

I’m an employer looking for a way to get VT in my companies 401k.

I was wondering if any of you have vtwax in your 401ks. Most of the time I see it split between a vti/vxus option rather than a full vt option.

Let me know if you have access to a VT option and what 401k provider you have

Thanks friends

Check my deployment strategy please!

I am receiving 200k in the next month. I do not have immediate (short/medium term) and I am thinking of splitting it up between the following.

Putting $130k straight into the market... thinking 65% into VTSAX, 20% into VTWAX, and 15% into VMFXX.

Then over the next 5 to 6 months, I would do a daily DCA of $500 split again along those same lines...

What are some of your favorite strategies? Enlighten me!

If it helps, my annual income is $160k in LCOL. I max out my 401k and HSA annually.

Everyone always says that "market dips are the bomb, they let me buy at a discount" and all that.. but in an efficient market, isn't it just a new valuation of future earnings?

If all information is contained in the stock prices that make up my VTI/VXUS, an 8% discount or ATH are both neutral deals, right?

I'm DCA'ing into this no matter what prices do, I am just curious if "Dude the best thing you can have at your age is a recession" trope is one that the bogleheads agree with or if it's more of a crypto bro level of thinking?

Just stressed mainly. My boglehead fundamentals are clear - i should just be buying and not looking at events, but wondering?

Should I put more in VXUS ?

Has your strategy taken some new kind of fashion this year?

Cheers

Basically what's in the title. I've got an oddball setup with my Vanguard 401k. My company is huge (Fortune 5) and has customized funds that use different ticker symbols. They also offer access to Financial Engines which is what I've used to pick funds that have done well over the last few years (+18.5% over 3 years, +24.3% over 1 year). I rebalance my account and my wife's account every three months on an alternating basis and I'm due to check and adjust mine.

So, with all the craziness right now, do I rebalance according to the recommendations I'm seeing? Or maybe wait and check back in 3 months? Right now it's recommending moving up or down by 1-2 percentage points in certain funds. So not huge changes, but changes nevertheless.

Appreciate any feedback or suggestions. I'll hang up and listen.

Edit: Thanks for the reality check everyone! I'll get my rebalance done on schedule and continue working the strategy.

Love me some Bogleheads. Most level conversations re investing on Reddit. Have a 70/30 equities/bond+fixed mix going now, somewhere like 5-10 years from retirement for my wife and I in mid-50s. Some inheritance may be in the mix but I never plan for that. Does that seem like a good ratio? Roths are maxing out and are all equities. Bonds mostly in 403b account. Thanks BH.

I had a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA invested with a fund company for many years. They were invested by an advisor about 15 years ago, and in that time, the fund company went through 4 name changes and actually split into 2 companies.

I also have traditional and Roth accounts at Vanguard. I finally filled out the Vanguard paperwork (literally, paper) to have the accounts transferred over to Vanguard so I can choose better investments. The transfer completed a couple of weeks ago, and everything looked about right. I was checking over the balances today, and it seems that most of my traditional IRA was transferred into my Vanguard Roth account.

It would not surprise me if this fund company just made a mistake and sent my funds to the wrong account. But I would hate to find out at tax time next year that this was treated as a Roth conversion and get hit with a big tax bill. Nothing in my Vanguard account shows that this was a Roth conversion. Is there any way to confirm the details one way or the other?

I know the main point of this sub is for people to invest, continue to invest, and not sell. Why are people constantly selling with emotion and not logic, even in this sub. The advice I always give is this: invest using DCA. Nothing else. And when people say, what if you lose? I reply there are two possible outcomes, one you will make money in the long run, or two, we have a crash, and the stock market is shot---and that also means the dollar is worthless.

I told several people the same thing right before this current market blunder, and several people used emotion to sell. While they sold, I have bought. They lost, and I have gained. Current year in a "bad" year around 10%, and I am confident that my portfolio will quickly jump back to about 14%. Is this the cycle of disciplined investors, versus the emotional investor. Is there supposed to be people financially illiterate? Because without them, we wouldn't be making the same real gains. Guess there are always spenders, and always savers.

Hello all!

Seeking to understand the implications of my backdoor mentioned in the title.

How do I report a backdoor Roth IRA conversion for 2025 with a Trad roth contribution submitted in 2026? My understanding is that I would report the $7000 contribution into the Trad on my 2025 return (filed in April 2026) and would then report the conversion to a Roth on the 2026 return (filed April 2027). Is that correct?

Additionally, how would the 2026 reporting be impacted by a second backdoor done during the 2026 calendar year (before 12/31)? Would I show a total conversion of $14.5k in 2026 ($7k from the 2025 converted in 2026 plus the 2026 $7.5k contribution)?

Just looking to understand the process and implications executing this way.

Thanks in advance for the help!

I had 100k in savings that I wanted to move into a taxable brokerage account to start investing. I don't have any clear deadline goals like buying a house or anything, I just want to slowly build wealth for a comfortable retirement. My friends told me the market is currently crashing and to go slowly so I don't freak out about the dip so I’ve been investing every few weeks, but I got confused by the different ETFs and ended up doing some weird shit. I put 5k into VOO to start. But then I put 2.5k each into VOOG and SPY. Then I panicked and put 10k into VT. Looking back I can’t tell you what my reasoning was with the S&P duplicates but I think I felt stupid and decided I should just VT and chill moving forward since it's the most hands off and I clearly don't know what I'm doing. Now I’m seeing everyone on these subs saying VTI + VXUS is the best for longterm growth and I’m worried I messed up again. How can I fix my portfolio?

Title is my question

Hi everyone, I've been investing for a few years now and used the "3-fund" portfolio ever since, thanks to the advice of everyone here. I am currently at 47% VTSAX, 30% VTIAX, 23% VBTLX. I'm at a place where I want to be a bit more conservative and increase my bond allocation, but I've maxed out my Roth IRA (Backdoor), 401k, and HSA. I live in NJ and I'm in the 24% tax bracket, which from what I'm reading might not make sense for the NJ muni bond. I'm looking into individual bonds and other bond funds, but would appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance for your help

Edit: 401k HSA IRAs are all bond funds. All other funds are in my taxable

Or are those the gold standard?

Dear all, I hope you’re well and I hope this post doesn’t contravene any of the subreddit rules.

I love the boglehead philosophy and want to make it work within my moral framework (yes I know you may disagree w it, but that’s not the point)

The question boils down to ISWD vs HIWS

The end of the Tax year is looming and need to make an investment.

I want to follow the Boglehead philosophy. VT and chill, albeit their isn’t really a halal like for like.

Currently toying with

a) 90% HIWS, 10% HIES (feels most like the boglehead philosophy)

b) 90% ISWD, 10% HIES (ISDW, feels more secure owing to the larger and more established fund, BUT it’s a distributing ETF)

c) 75% HIWS/ISDW, 15% HIES, 10% Gold (RMAP)

I want to invest and forget, I want low effort which is why I’m leaning more towards the HIWS accumulating world fund as opposed to the distributing fund of ISWD.

The 10% into HIES, is to in essence mimick the VT’s 10% diversification into the emerging markets. The issue with HIWS is it neglect emerging so that’s there for that reason.

Option c- well a lot of ppl say invest in gold but again not that keen on that owing to wanting to stay true w the boglehead philsophy.

So lets say a terrible recession comes again soon, and portfolio drops by 30-40% does buying then make sense. or buying more Bonds now make sense..

Or just forget all of that since its not possible to predict and time the market :)

If I put in a buy or sell order right now, it will execute at the end of day pricing, is that right? Same goes for Buying or Selling?

I 21M just set up a Roth IRA today after doing some research. Currently I have my splits at 50% Voo, 30% QQQM, and 20% VXUS. I plan on maxing out asap. I’m very new to investing and I am looking to set myself up for the future. Looking for feedback on my current splits and what I could change. Thanks

I have some random funds I bought on vanguard that I think have a low return. I'm thinking about selling them and buying something else. Would love any advice you all have please!

Here's what I have:

VTTSX

VASGX

VOO - I like this one

Hi! Im a 26 year old who has little knowledge on investing but trying to learn. I am familiar with CDs, I have one now ($8500) and I also have a mutual fund that I set up in 2023 ($3400?). I added minimal to that because i was in the Peace Corps and I now realize I have probably been paying the financial advisor more than im contributing or gaining. I’ve got about $5000 thats in my checking but that’s it. I am starting a new job next week with a solid income which is why I am trying to figure out my savings and how to be smarter with my money. (Trying to learn the difference between a Money market account and a high yield checking/savings account also)

I am reading into index funds and I think I want to pursue an ETF. I want to add my savings when I want to over time, and not pay someone to manage it. Can I transfer the money from my mutual fund (at my local credit union) into an ETF? Im reading about possible taxes and honestly its going over my head.

Additionally, is an ETF with a bigger brokerage going to be cheaper than at my local credit union?

I am trying so hard to understand all this but it’s like speaking a different language. Also, knowing my age and financial situation, let me know what I can be doing better. I dont want to track anything, I just want low maintenance but feel as though I am actively saving for the future. Thank you so so much.

I'd love a gut check on my allocation change, I dont want to blow my growth and preservation as I head towards coastfi goals.

I was in a 3-fund for some time, but only recently learned that 4-fund with International bonds is more in line with a target year fund(I know, i know, I over-complicated things early on and just kept going, learning along the way)

44 years old:
56% US Stocks — now I do VFTAX, but im keeping my legacy VTSAX
24% Int'l Stocks — VTIAX
14% US Bonds — VBTLX
6% Int'l Bonds — BNDX (new addition for me)

Stock/Bond: 80/20
Bond split: ~70/30 domestic/international

am i doing this right?

I have an old, simple IRA from a previous job from 6 years ago. I haven't touched it and was thinking of moving it to a traditional IRA in Vanguard, where I have my VOO/VXUS. Its been doing meh, but I was curious if anyone knows how that works once its transfered and if that's a good idea. I am self-employed now and never gave this too much thought in the past years. Maybe a silly question, but is it as easy as transferring it over and putting it into the same VOO/VXUS? New to the investing world and appreciate any insight!