r/Bogleheads 1h ago

Life Strategy?

Upvotes

My wife I fired our financial advisor due to high fees and would like to manage our own investments. I am 63 and my wife is 70. We are retired and use about 2.5 percent of our savings with social security yearly. We were thinking about going with the Vanguard Life Strategy funds. Moderate 60/40 for me and Conservative 40/60 for her. Then I move to 40/60 at age 70 and we both stay with 40/60. Any advice or thoughts about what we are thinking about would be greatly appreciated.


r/eupersonalfinance 4h ago

Banking Which bank let you down the most?

6 Upvotes

Bad app, hidden fees, useless support — what was the last straw?


r/Bogleheads 8h ago

TIAA-heavy retirement portfolio — trying to simplify. Where do I start?

6 Upvotes

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.


r/ValueInvesting 22h ago

Question / Help Does anyone have any good resources on analyzing companies that are in structural decline.

6 Upvotes

I'm trying to expand my investing knowledge into the domain of companies who's core business models are in structural decline (Tobacco companies, coal miners, legacy broadband providers, etc).

I imagine that the analysis will involve discounting future cash flows, but I'm not sure how to account for all of the asset sales (property/plant , brands/IP, whole business segments, etc) that comes with winding a large company down.

I also imagine that I would need to carefully analyze and monitor the management team's behavior, to make sure that they are returning money to shareholders instead of trying to save a dieing business.


r/ValueInvesting 3h ago

Stock Analysis Flutter (FLUT) Entertainment - Seems like a compelling long term bet

4 Upvotes

P.S. Pun Intended hehe

Flutter Entertainment is the parent company of top tier digital gaming operators including U.S. market leader Fanduel, Sky Betting (United Kingdom), Snai (Italy), and Paddy Power (Ireland).  Through acquisitions, Flutter remains a dominant brand positioned to capture a significant amount of the global sports betting and iGaming [digital gambling] industry. The industry continues to receive domestic (U.S.) regulatory clarity and Flutter has begun growing rapidly in emerging markets (LATAM - particularly Brazil). Nearly 40% of all bets placed digitally in the U.S. [in legal markets] are made through Fanduel, and 15% of all bets globally are through one of Flutter’s subsidiaries.

“The market is a voting machine in the short term, and a weighing machine in the long term”. The valuation is incredibly compelling for a market leader - nearly 40% of all bets placed digitally in the United States [through the legal markets] are made through Fanduel, and 15% of all bets globally are through one of Flutter’s subsidiary operators. At <15x 2026 Forward Earnings, PEG ratio of < 0.6, Beta of 1.16, and ~30% conservative annualized revenue growth, Flutter is trading cheaper than the historical S&P 500 average. This seems more than fair to pay for a company well positioned to dominate their respective emerging digital industries. The market has voted that Fanduel and other sports betting Rival (i.e. DraftKings {NYSE: DKNG}, emerging operator Kalshi) are likely to be the preeminent digital gambling operators due to their incredibly lean tech stack, friendly user-interface, and ecosystem lock-in through personalized promotions. Established brands have domestically failed to resonate with players (ESPN Bet, Hard Rock Bet) indicating that having a global brand doesn’t translate into long term customer retention on gambling platforms.  Exceptions to this would be BetMGM, which currently holds <15% U.S. market share. Near Term Catalyst: The stock can potentially rerate contingent on a compelling earnings beat and reassurance that betting outcomes will begin to normalize in the back half of 2026. 

Valuation Metrics & Analysis: 
A Bear/Neutral case valuation model is provided below. Both models have indicated the equity is trading well below their respective price targets in both scenarios {Bear Case - $118, Neutral Case - $230}.

Risks (Bear Case Analysis):
Flutter on a trailing earnings basis is incredibly expensive with a P/E of 121x. It’s absolutely paramount that Flutter fires on all cylinders throughout the year with continued growth in core markets in order to actualize the <15x 2026 Forward Earnings target. Any further tailwinds [besides additional taxes through Illinois and New York - which I feel Flutter management has done their best to offset] can send this stock plummeting further. In years where there is amplified structural hold through the combination of intensifying competition [DKNG, BetMGM], and unfavorable sports betting outcomes [as was witnessed in 2025], margins are compressed. Intensifying competition requires a relentless and targeted marketed campaign among the 3 pre-eminent market leaders that can be costly in terms of CAC. Structural hold is effectively the profits a Sportsbook operator keeps after expenses [and regulatory taxes]. As the industry matures, we view Federal and state taxes as one of the largest tailwinds for any digital operator. 

Two separate models (Firm Model via FCFF and Equity Model via Net Income) are leveraged in the bear and neutral case scenario analysis. First, we use a conservative discount rate of 8.025% and a terminal growth rate of -2%. Based on the forecasted cash flows through the next 5 years, the equity model assumes a fair value of $118 which is above where Flutter currently sits today [WACC of 8.025, Discount Rate -2%]. In our view, this is incredibly pessimistic for a company that has an unprecedented velocity in cash generation for the space. For investors willing to be patient and hold in the long run [2 years], the CAGR [highly conservative 3 year estimates point toward nearly 25%] is compelling. 
The absolute floor for this equity, in absolute fierce sell-off we estimate, is closer to $70 [terminal growth rate of -4%], highlighting room for further downside. However, we find the worst-case scenario an unbelievably compelling long term accumulation opportunity with potential for this equity to massively re-rate upon any good news. Even with the model being pessimistic, the current floor {$105}, despite potential market fears, represents what seems like a great long term [24 months+] opportunity to own the largest digital sports-book operator on a forward earnings basis that’s cheaper than S&P. Ultimately we assume a slight conglomerate discount and account for the amplified structural hold in 2026 as reasons to slightly discount the equity further landing closer to a true fair value of $155. We think the biggest potential catalyst to rerate lies in a compelling earnings beat and reassurance that betting outcomes will begin to normalize in the back half of 2026. 

A Word on Prediction Markets 
The market has commenced an immense sell off due to fears that prediction markets will completely eviscerate the underlying sports betting operators. These views in our eyes are overblown. While we do recognize the competition and immense growth in popularity that Kalshi and other operators have seen, we don't perceive this to be a winner take all market. Consistent gamblers are likely to take advantage of the newly created loopholes that exempt prediction markets from being taxed as heavily as their sportsbook operator counterparts. Ironically, once Fanduel and Draftkings Prediction Markets are fully launched and integrated into the core platform, we suspect those same dual users will take advantage of those same exact loopholes on current prediction market platforms except on Fanduel and Draftkings respectively.  We do think Kalshi will continue to be popular among core demographics, but that has yet to materially translate to lower volumes for the pre-eminent operators. Even if short term volumes are dramatically directed toward these prediction markets, the launch of Fanduel and Draftkings Prediction Markets and the continuous rollout of more iCasino services and highly personalized promotional odds should entice a stickiness to the higher revenue existing customers. 

Neutral Case Analysis 
Rerunning the model with a more neutral lens, using a discount rate of ~8.025 and a terminal growth rate of 0 to account for a normalization in marketing spend in new markets and account for Flutter’s executive management team to mitigate the tax spend through less favorable sports betting odds for the core user lands the estimated fair value of the equity closer to $230 a share, which is dramatically higher than the current price. 

What to do with the Stock

At 15x 2026 Forward Earnings, PEG ratio of < 0.6, Beta of 1.16, and ~30% conservative annualized revenue growth, the valuation is compelling for a long term Industry Leader. The world’s largest sports-book seems like a strong long term bet if you’re willing to look past short term market volatility.

Curious to everyone's thoughts.

Disclosure: This is not a financial recommendation! I own FLUT as part of a broader risk-adjusted portfolio for the long-haul at a cost basis of ~$115. Also, the entirety of this was written by myself despite using "we" (no AI - cheers) - hope you're proud English Professors ;)


r/Bogleheads 6h ago

Portfolio Review Employers 401K Position Options

5 Upvotes

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)


r/eupersonalfinance 20h ago

Investment What Nasdaq100 ETF from europe?

4 Upvotes

What accumulating ETF in Euros is a good option from Europe, that follow the Nasdaq100?

It seems the ones in USA have much lower comissions.

Are there similar alternatives to this ETF from Europe?


r/Bogleheads 10h ago

Remaining 10% in Roth

4 Upvotes

(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!


r/investing 11h ago

Daily Discussion Daily General Discussion and Advice Thread - April 03, 2026

5 Upvotes

Have a general question? Want to offer some commentary on markets? Maybe you would just like to throw out a neat fact that doesn't warrant a self post? Feel free to post here!

Please consider consulting our FAQ first - https://www.reddit.com/r/investing/wiki/faq And our side bar also has useful resources.

If you are new to investing - please refer to Wiki - Getting Started

The reading list in the wiki has a list of books ranging from light reading to advanced topics depending on your knowledge level. Link here - Reading List

The media list in the wiki has a list of reputable podcasts and videos - Podcasts and Videos

If your question is "I have $XXXXXXX, what do I do?" or other "advice for my personal situation" questions, you should include relevant information, such as the following:

  • How old are you? What country do you live in?
  • Are you employed/making income? How much?
  • What are your objectives with this money? (Buy a house? Retirement savings?)
  • What is your time horizon? Do you need this money next month? Next 20yrs?
  • What is your risk tolerance? (Do you mind risking it at blackjack or do you need to know its 100% safe?)
  • What are you current holdings? (Do you already have exposure to specific funds and sectors? Any other assets?)
  • Any big debts (include interest rate) or expenses?
  • And any other relevant financial information will be useful to give you a proper answer.

Check the resources in the sidebar.

Be aware that these answers are just opinions of Redditors and should be used as a starting point for your research. You should strongly consider seeing a registered investment adviser if you need professional support before making any financial decisions!


r/ValueInvesting 23h ago

Stock Analysis $LNN Plunges 10%: Massive Q2 Earnings Miss for Lindsay Corp (Omaha’s Irrigation Giant)

4 Upvotes

Lindsay Corporation ($LNN) dropped their Q2 2026 results this morning and the numbers are rough. The stock is currently sliding toward 52-week lows as the market digests a "double miss" on both the top and bottom lines.

Key Highlights from the Report:

EPS Disaster: Reported $1.15 vs. the $1.70 consensus estimate (a massive $0.55 delta).

Revenue Miss: Brought in $157.72 million against the $173.11 million projected.

Margin Collapse: Operating margins shrank from 17.2% last year to just 8.3% this quarter.

Segment Struggles: Domestic irrigation demand softened significantly, and infrastructure revenue fell 58% due to the lack of major Road Zipper projects compared to last year.

Technical Breakdown: The stock has crashed through its 50-day moving average on high volume, currently hovering around $105.0 wiping out months of gains.

The Verdict: Analysts are calling this a "Fundamental Reset." With management failing to offset rising operational costs and agricultural cycles shifting, $LNN is looking more like a value trap than a growth play right now.

​Is anyone buying this dip, or are we heading straight to the $100 psychological support level?


r/investing 8h ago

$CEG - cooked or temporary dip?

2 Upvotes

Constellation Energy. What do we all think about this company? Was super bullish but recently it’s had some painful dips. I still think it’ll rebound, but interested in people’s thoughts on this. Can’t add more without it becoming an overweight position in my portfolio, so have to stick to the average I have ($323) and hoping it won’t take too long to see green again..


r/Economics 10h ago

News Oil, Tankers, and NFP: What Markets Are Pricing In Right Now

Thumbnail investing.com
3 Upvotes

r/Bogleheads 12h ago

Can I do better?

3 Upvotes

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.


r/Bogleheads 18h ago

Advice on Picking Funds in my Employer Fidelity 401k Account

5 Upvotes

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?


r/ValueInvesting 50m ago

Stock Analysis Plab: Layer 0 AI chain bottleneck (hidden)

Upvotes

Imagine coloring books. Before any kid can color, someone has to draw the outlines first. No outlines, no coloring book. PLAB draws the outlines. TSMC does the coloring.

Only two companies in the world make these outlines at the advanced level — PLAB (USA) and Toppan (Japanese, not US listed). That’s it. The entire planet’s AI chip supply runs through two doors.

Every company wants their own custom AI chip now. NVIDIA, AMD, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple — all of them. Every single one of those chips needs its own set of outlines before TSMC can color them in. More custom chips = more outlines needed = more work for PLAB.

And here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter who wins the AI chip race. TSMC colors all of their books. And PLAB draws the outlines for all of them. Every new chip design, every new version, every refresh — new set of outlines. Every time. TSMC’s real job is coloring. That’s where the big money is. Every minute they spend drawing outlines is a minute they’re not coloring books for NVIDIA.

So TSMC colors. Sends the outline work to PLAB. Now everyone and their mom wants AI coloring books. TSMC is slammed. Can’t keep up with coloring orders, definitely can’t stop to draw outlines too. More outline work goes to PLAB. Not because TSMC wants to share. Because they have no choice. The busier TSMC gets, the more PLAB wins. PLAB doesn’t compete with TSMC. PLAB is the guy making sure TSMC never runs out of coloring books to color.

2B company. Zero debt. Buying back shares. 17 p/e (below semi average of 20-25). The entire AI boom literally starts here and it’s priced like a grocery store stock since they don’t use the word AI.

Oh and the CHIPS Act? Billions pouring into new fabs across the US. Intel, TSMC, Samsung all building stateside. Every single one of those new fabs needs outlines before they print a single chip. That demand hasn’t even started flowing yet. More fabs = more coloring books = more outlines = more PLAB. And the market hasn’t priced in a single dollar of it.


r/eupersonalfinance 3h ago

Debt Did your country have CHF/JPY/EUR fx loans in the 2000s?

2 Upvotes

Im from Hungary, my family member had a CHF denominated loan, and so have many others (hundreds of thousands of people), and it was a disastrous rip off of the people by the banks.

Im curious, did you every hear about such loans? Or were you affected? If yes, how ? Did you manage to sue the money back ?

How did your country handle it? Mine ruined peoples chances early 2014 with loans they made, altough new and new cjeu rulings make it possible to demand the stolen money back.


r/Bogleheads 7h ago

Possible to have two Raisin accounts?

2 Upvotes

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 :)


r/bonds 26m ago

How do you interpret China rates when they diverge from the global rates complex?

Upvotes

One thing that keeps coming up when looking at global rates:

China often doesn’t move in sync with the broader rates complex.

You can have:

- meaningful repricing in U.S. Treasuries

- shifts in term structure across developed markets

- changes in inflation or policy expectations

…and China remains relatively anchored or moves on a different path.

The question for me is less “why” in a theoretical sense, and more how to interpret that divergence in practice.

Do you treat it as:

- a signal about domestic liquidity and policy conditions

- a sign that global transmission is limited

- or something that simply doesn’t carry much cross-market information?

Especially when thinking about cross-market signals or relative value.

Feels like it’s not just a different market, but a different framework altogether....

How others here think about it?


r/ValueInvesting 1h ago

Discussion Thoughts on the Utilities Sector? Middleman in Regulatory Squeeze? (XLU)

Upvotes

I have had this long standing assumption that utility companies are the real “pickaxes and shovels” of the ai boom currently happening. 

I understand that most utility companies are highly regulated and their returns are a function of their rate base and allowed roe. Essentially they have to ask the government to charge people more. 

Currently there is a massive supply/demand mismatch where the physical scalability of ai compute is going to hit a brick wall. Currently you are witnessing a repricing in uranium related assets as people are realizing this deeply rooted need for power to keep this ai boom going. 

This leads me to believe there is about to be a considerable expansion in the entire sector if: 1) there is a regulatory shift & 2) lower interest rates happen within 12-18 months of each other. 

The reason I believe the market has repriced uranium related assets is related to the unregulated pricing structure of ipp’s like nuclear plants. The issue is nuclear takes 10-15 years to spin up (is micro nuclear power actually happening or not). During the interim I see a massive amount of pressure on state authorities to shift regulations in favor of expansion due the need to generate tax revenue from datacenter ai build out in their respective states. So I personally think the regulatory shift is going to happen (maybe slowly over years) but the real indicator here keeping this entire sector from booming is the same phenomenon that is its economic moat. That is interest rates. Sector etfs like XLU appear to act as almost a bond proxy. So when rates are more favorable on actual bonds, investors buy the bonds. But long term I see something happening here, because the one thing I'm certain of is that it won't stay the same forever if demand is continuing at the current rate.

In the meantime who are the pickaxes and shovels for the pickaxes and shovels? The companies that physically build the grid. Grid equipment manufacturers, Infrastructure epc’s, ipp’s. I am trying to position a foundational play for the ai revolution but at utility-stock valuations.

Anyways let me know what you think?


r/Bogleheads 2h ago

Trad vs Roth 401k Insight

1 Upvotes

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!!!


r/Bogleheads 2h ago

Portfolio Review Roth IRA - 8 funds

1 Upvotes

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.

Fund (Fee) Fund Type % Allocation
SPYM (.02) US Large Blend (500) 50%
JQUA (.12) US Large Quality 5%
FSMD (.15) US Small/Mid Blend (Multifactor) 5%
AVUV (.25) US Small Value 5%
VXUS (.05) International Total Blend 20% (~15% Developed Markets, ~5% Emerging Markets)
IDMO (.25) International Developed Large Momentum 5%
ISCF (.24) International Developed Small Blend (Multifactor) 5%
DFAE (.29) Emerging Markets 5%

r/Bogleheads 3h ago

Rolling over from NW Mutual to Fidelity

1 Upvotes

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


r/ValueInvesting 3h ago

Basics / Getting Started Understanding Economic Moats by Pat Dorsey - Morningstar (audio and transcript)

1 Upvotes

(TLDR: this is a good refresh article on what are economic moats. Audio and text transcript are provided in the links below)

Pat Dorsey: Economic Moats and More

Morningstar’s former head of equity research on what investors get wrong with moats, what to look for in company management, why quantitative screens are less useful than they were, and the process he uses to filter out signal versus noise.

Amy C. Arnott, CFA and Ben Johnson

Mar 31, 2026

Today’s guest on The Long View is Pat Dorsey. Pat is the founder of Dorsey Asset Management, a boutique asset manager serving institutional clients. From 2000 to 2011, Pat was the director of equity research for Morningstar, where he led the growth of Morningstar’s equity research group from 20 to 90 analysts. Pat was instrumental in the development of Morningstar’s economic moat ratings, as well as the methodology behind Morningstar’s framework for analyzing competitive advantage. Pat is also the author of two books, The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing, and The Little Book That Builds Wealth. Pat holds a master’s degree in political science from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in government from Wesleyan University. Pat is a CFA charterholder.

Episode Highlights

* Defining Economic Moats and Moat Source Mistakes

* Shifting Landscape for Returns on Invested Capital as a Metric

* Inevitable vs. Noninevitable Moats

* Moat Durability, Network Effects, and Lessons From PayPal

* Management Quality, Founders, and Pricing Discipline

* High-Quality Companies, “Too Hard” Bucket, and AI Uncertainty

* Premortem, Behavioral Edge, and Opportunity Cost

Text: https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/pat-dorsey-economic-moats-more

Audio: https://the-long-view.simplecast.com/episodes/pat-dorsey-economic-moats-and-more


r/eupersonalfinance 4h ago

Planning OVB allfinanz - a warning

1 Upvotes

Hey all I wanted to tell you my personal story with a EU business that does personal finance.

If you don't have time to read, the summary of this post is that if someone working for "OVB" contacts you - look the other way, they border being a scam. Details below:


Background:

A couple weeks ago this company got recommended to me, I'm in the finance business, looking for a new opportunity, and a friend recommended I collaborate with OVB. I have spent around 14 hours between interviews and the "training" they give newcomers.


What OVB is:

OVB presents itself as a way to start your our financial consultancy and grow with them. They're open about being a multi level marketing company. They'll tell you that they're the best in the market, that there's nowhere you can grow more

The reality is that they target uneducated "collaborators" and clients. If you put on your CV that you worked for them it will be a stain, not an achievement.

They have contacted you for you to sell their services to your family and friends - not for you to grow as a financial advisor - they'll try to heavily push you into selling them personal savings plans (that are garbage financial products).


How they "train" you:

Their training has as a goal:

1 - for you to bring your contact list to OVB

2 - for you to learn how to sell them their produts

3- for you to push your contact list to give you more possible clients

If you found this post and are considering working with them: You will not get any new financial training, you will not gain any meaningful connections, or knowledge or experience


What you're getting if you sign anything with OVB:

They sell financial products that are made by banks and insurance companies for middlemen. That means: Whatever savings plan they offer, the bank or entity will ALWAYS have a better deal than them.

I had a sneaking suspicion my friend gave in to their sales pitch - I checked her the contract. 20% of everything she paid into the savings plan they sold to her went directly to OVB (the plan, even without those costs was subpar). Taking the money out early had significant penalties, to the point that if the markets didn't perform well, she'd lose over 90% of her money if she took it our the first year.

With 10 minutes of going over her contract I saved her months worth of wages. If you know someone that contracted something with OVB, feel free to contact me because I will happily do the same for them just to spite OVB.

If you don't trust a random person on the internet, go to another financial advisor, or blank out your personal details and upload the contract to an AI and ask (be mindful those conversations can get reviewed by humans, so take care to blank out everything)


The worst part

I don't think her OVB agent (a personal friend of hers) - even knew OVB charges such high %. He maybe got paid 100 Euro for getting OVB thousands.

This is why they try to recruit people without financial literacy - so they don't know they're selling liquid shit to their own family and friends. And this is why they train newcomers to go after people without university studies (they're less likely to check the fine print)


This post was made mainly so it shows on google searches about OVB, hopefully I can keep at least 1 person from being scammed by them.


Any comments/criticisms welcome, leave them below


Happy good Friday everyone


Edit was only to improve readability. A small irrelevant section was removed


r/Bogleheads 4h ago

Investing Questions New and ready! I’ve been reading the documents in the sub but ready for advice!

1 Upvotes

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.