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greasyhands
Oct 28, 2006

Best quality posts,
freshly delivered

Pfhreak posted:

Has anyone else taken a look at Plantly.com. They are advertising themselves as a planning utility, but they are suggesting the 'same returns with lower risk' which strikes me as a HUGE red flag. My wife is investment averse (as she just "doesn't care") so I'm trying to find the easiest/most colorful way for her to make decisions. Plantly looks promising, but it also strikes me as predatory somehow.

Anyone? (Lifehacker.com has invites for Plantly if you are interested in getting into the beta. GOLIFEHACKER is the beta code.)

Right now I'm just having her park her money in a targeted retirement fund at Vanguard, which seems much more trustworthy to me.

It's just run of the mill investment advice, they're just going to put together a bunch of portfolios based on levels of risk and then recommend some based on what you tell them. Their "our methodology" page tells you what it is. It's just an application of Markovitz's Modern Portfolio Theory. Nothing dangerous and nothing interesting. I personally wouldn't bother with this over a Vanguard targeted fund if you're looking for someone to make the decisions for you.

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Strict 9
Jun 20, 2001

by Y Kant Ozma Post
I took a brief look at Plantly and signed up for it. Nice interface for sure. But I didn't love the reasoning behind their investment choices. They seem really heavily into bonds, even for really long term investments, which could be ok with the right reasons. But all the reasoning seemed to be based on the past 10 years and, even worse, the past 3 years of performance.

In fact the whole site seems based on the premise of using past performance to predict future gains, which is pretty much the #1 thing to avoid when investing.

unprofessional
Apr 26, 2007
All business.
I got a much better paying job than the one I mentioned before, but I still have a few dumb questions.

I make $37k at the new place.

They have a retirement plan that's a required 6%, with employer match, but you're not vested in it until five years of employment, which I really doubt I'll end up hitting. :(

They also offer a 403(b) through Mutual of America, but without any employer match. Does this mean I have to choose a MoA fund, or with the 403(b), is it already picked for me? For example, I couldn't choose a Vanguard targeted retirement fund, if I wished? For my Roth IRA, do I just open an account with whomever I want, and then have money direct deposited into that fund?

Koirhor
Jan 14, 2008

by Fluffdaddy
Can someone tell me a good reason not to move my Vanguard Roth IRA from 100% Stocks to the Prime Money Market fund. Usually I'm risk averse but with all indexes basically moving in concert with each other up and down, it's loving aggravating.

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web
Here is a good reason: when the market rebounds, you will completely miss it if your money is in cash, so your idea is the opposite of what you should do. Here is another good reason: you should not change your investment strategy based on what you think the market will or will not do since good investment strategies don't rely on market timing. Here is another good reason: you are probably not 70 years old so your retirement funds shouldn't be in cash.

If you're risk averse, why do you have your Roth in 100% stocks? :psyduck:

Koirhor
Jan 14, 2008

by Fluffdaddy

moana posted:

Here is a good reason: when the market rebounds, you will completely miss it if your money is in cash, so your idea is the opposite of what you should do. Here is another good reason: you should not change your investment strategy based on what you think the market will or will not do since good investment strategies don't rely on market timing. Here is another good reason: you are probably not 70 years old so your retirement funds shouldn't be in cash.

If you're risk averse, why do you have your Roth in 100% stocks? :psyduck:

I mean to say "Usually I'm not risk averse" sorry about that hah, yeah I know what you're saying I just needed someone to say it for me.

edit: also as far as Vanguard Portfolio Diversification goes, any opinions on

http://www.crackerjackgreenback.com/investing/what-does-a-diversified-investment-portfolio-look-like/

as a possible example.

Koirhor fucked around with this message at 17:46 on Aug 28, 2010

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web
Stop following market trends, they will only mess up your brain. As far as that portfolio goes, the one thing I'd say is you probably don't want to break it up that much, especially if you don't have enough to make the Vanguard minimums for every single fund (that breakdown would require you to have about $53k in your portfolio if the minimums are $3k, which you might have already, but lots of young people don't). You could probably just hold three funds - total stock, total bond, and international - and be okay.

Ethereal
Mar 8, 2003

Koirhor posted:

Can someone tell me a good reason not to move my Vanguard Roth IRA from 100% Stocks to the Prime Money Market fund. Usually I'm risk averse but with all indexes basically moving in concert with each other up and down, it's loving aggravating.

Your retirement accounts are going to swing wildly, especially in this current climate. There isn't any reason to fret though because you're in it for the long haul. Don't watch your stock portfolio everyday, just leave it be.

Koirhor
Jan 14, 2008

by Fluffdaddy

moana posted:

Stop following market trends, they will only mess up your brain. As far as that portfolio goes, the one thing I'd say is you probably don't want to break it up that much, especially if you don't have enough to make the Vanguard minimums for every single fund (that breakdown would require you to have about $53k in your portfolio if the minimums are $3k, which you might have already, but lots of young people don't). You could probably just hold three funds - total stock, total bond, and international - and be okay.

Basically that's what I wanted to know, if that level of diversification is considered ideal or overkill.

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web
Some people like to be really hands-on with their portfolio, and micromanaging your allocation might squeeze out a fraction of a percent more in the long run. However, it's much much more important to just save regularly and be emotionally distanced from your portfolio, and dicking around with allocations on that level usually leads to people:
a) thinking they know more than they do and ending up reallocating things stupidly
b) becoming too attached to market performance

Certainly, if you have the time and energy (and the minimum amount in your portfolio), you can slice things up to a finer degree and get a bit better performance. However, for most people it's just not worth it and I wouldn't recommend it unless you LOVE learning about all that stuff.

Hog Obituary
Jun 11, 2006
start the day right
I currently have some money in an E-trade account in various mutual funds that I picked on a whim (and some superficial research). The one thing I've learned is that I basically hate this poo poo. I really, really don't care about stocks, funds, bonds, and finance in general.

How good/bad of an idea would it be for me to use this "E-trade managed portfolios" thing? I have about $30k in the account in total ($5k of that is in a Roth IRA)
https://us.etrade.com/e/t/toolsandresearch/managedportfolios

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

quote:

How good/bad of an idea would it be for me to use this "E-trade managed portfolios" thing?

https://us.etrade.com/e/t/welcome/mip

Assets: $25,000–$100,000
Annual Advisory Fee: 0.75%

Around $200 a year. Don't do that. If you don't care about this stuff, they make decent products for you nowadays, namely the Target Retirement Funds at almost every brokerage. You can just put all your money in the one that matches you retirement year, and forget about it.

alreadybeen
Nov 24, 2009
How do you guys balance between building cash savings and retirement funds? Basically I am trying to determine if we should max out our retirement plans all the way, but then save only a small amount of cash each year. Or I could contribute less to the retirement plan and put the additional cash in a less restricted account. I might want to buy a house in a couple years, but don't know for sure if I will.

Nifty
Aug 31, 2004

alreadybeen posted:

How do you guys balance between building cash savings and retirement funds? Basically I am trying to determine if we should max out our retirement plans all the way, but then save only a small amount of cash each year. Or I could contribute less to the retirement plan and put the additional cash in a less restricted account. I might want to buy a house in a couple years, but don't know for sure if I will.

First of all, retain liquid cash savings of about 6 months worth of expenses in case of emergency. Factor in any future cash needs (such as buying a house) in addition to that. Whatever you have to after that should be put into a retirement account.

fougera
Apr 5, 2009
Depending on your salary, is there a point where the employer-matching + tax deferral of a 401K makes more sense than paying off outstanding debt faster? Is there some kind of algebra you can find the consolidated interest paid is less than the amount saved for retirement in a given time period?

i am not zach
Apr 16, 2007

by Ozmaugh

fougera posted:

Depending on your salary, is there a point where the employer-matching + tax deferral of a 401K makes more sense than paying off outstanding debt faster? Is there some kind of algebra you can find the consolidated interest paid is less than the amount saved for retirement in a given time period?

I've never heard anyone advise against getting as much employer match as you can. I don't think you'll be able to beat the instant 100% (in case of 1:1, even 50% is crazy) return you get on your money, no matter how bad your debt is.

Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

I would say the only caveat to that is, if you have so much debt you are in danger of defaulting and thereby incurring fees along with penalty interest rates. In that case, yes, pay debts first.

Otherwise, yeah, employer matching is free money, and you should at a minimum set your 401k contributions to a level that gets the maximum matching your employer offers.

gp2k
Apr 22, 2008
I've got a question about rolling over a 401K to a traditional IRA. Everything I've read (4 pillars specifically) talks about the importance of dollar cost averaging and making regular contributions to a retirement account. My situation is that I've got a former employer's 401K that was at Fidelity, and now I'm rolling it over to Vanguard (total value is $18K) into a money market fund. Should I just put it all in a particular allocation right away? Or should I put, say, convert 1/12th of it each month into my desired allocation to sortof emulate dollar cost averaging? The problem is that there won't be new money going into that account, and so dollar cost averaging seems out of the question.

Thanks!

bam thwok
Sep 20, 2005
I sure hope I don't get banned
I looked through the first 15 or so pages of the thread and didn't see anyone mention this; my employer just changed the matching on our 401k from 50% of contributions on up to 6%, to up to 100% discretionary on 4%. Because of this, I'd like to lower my 401k contribution down the maximum of their match (from 6% to 4%) and open a Roth IRA for the remainder.

Has anyone had any experiences with Sharebuilder as their broker? I already have an ING Direct savings account, so I figure it would be dirt simple to integrate and set up automatic transfers, but if there's significantly better options I'd like to know.

Any thoughts? What about their "Advantage" account? Is it worthwhile?

Medikit
Dec 31, 2002

que lástima

bam thwok posted:

I looked through the first 15 or so pages of the thread and didn't see anyone mention this; my employer just changed the matching on our 401k from 50% of contributions on up to 6%, to up to 100% discretionary on 4%. Because of this, I'd like to lower my 401k contribution down the maximum of their match (from 6% to 4%) and open a Roth IRA for the remainder.

Has anyone had any experiences with Sharebuilder as their broker? I already have an ING Direct savings account, so I figure it would be dirt simple to integrate and set up automatic transfers, but if there's significantly better options I'd like to know.

Any thoughts? What about their "Advantage" account? Is it worthwhile?

I've been looking up brokers over the past 24 hours.

This was the most helpful website (I am linking to the exact page I googled to find it) http://www.brokerage-review.com/compare/sharebuilder-vs-etrade-review.aspx

There are also a few threads within this subforum where people discuss different online brokers.

Overall:
-I prefer vanguard for investing in mutual funds, IRA, 401k, etc.
-If you are interested in stocks I recommend either Tradeking or etrade based on everything I've been reading so far.
-Sharebuilder is very simple and if you don't mind waiting until Tuesday can also be the cheapest ($4 with an automatic transfer which takes place on a Tuesday). The only reason to obtain an advantage account is if you plan multiple trades a month in which case you would probably prefer other brokers.

bam thwok
Sep 20, 2005
I sure hope I don't get banned

Medikit posted:


-Sharebuilder is very simple and if you don't mind waiting until Tuesday can also be the cheapest ($4 with an automatic transfer which takes place on a Tuesday). The only reason to obtain an advantage account is if you plan multiple trades a month in which case you would probably prefer other brokers.

Automatic investments are generally my plan for this. Like I said, the Roth IRA I intend to open will be a substitute for funds diverted to from my 401k, meaning I'll be making bi-monthly investments the first Tuesday after each paycheck. Based on the link you sent me, you can't really beat the $4 per trade they offer, especially since I'm not really interested in real-time trades at all (for my Roth, at least), and I'll almost exclusively be buying mutual funds and ETFs.

I guess my interest in the advantage or any other non-basic account stemmed from a misunderstanding. Before I actually did the math and realized it was ridiculous, I thought without it I would be paying the auto transfer fee on each individual investment choice for my contributions (e.g. allocate to 4-5 mutual funds per contribution * $4 per investment choice * 2 contributions per month = $30-$40 a month in commissions!) which led me to believe that a flat fee for the desired number of trades would be worthwhile. I didn't get that wrong, did I?

Thanks for the info, and for the link! Although they did kinda poo poo on Sharebuilder because of it's high real-time trading costs, it pretty much confirmed that for my purposes I there's nothing wrong with them.

bam thwok fucked around with this message at 16:09 on Sep 16, 2010

moana
Jun 18, 2005

one of the more intellectual satire communities on the web

bam thwok posted:

Like I said, the Roth IRA I intend to open will be a substitute for funds diverted to from my 401k, meaning I'll be making bi-monthly investments the first Tuesday after each paycheck. Based on the link you sent me, you can't really beat the $4 per trade they offer, especially since I'm not really interested in real-time trades at all (for my Roth, at least), and I'll almost exclusively be buying mutual funds and ETFs.
I don't understand why you don't go with Vanguard for this, since it charges nothing for automatic investments as long as you meet the minimum deposit and sign up for online banking. I mean, your bi-monthly investment is going to be $200, so you're immediately paying a 2% fee each time, which is pretty nuts. Am I missing something here?

flowinprose
Sep 11, 2001

Where were you? .... when they built that ladder to heaven...

bam thwok posted:

I'll be making bi-monthly investments the first Tuesday after each paycheck. Based on the link you sent me, you can't really beat the $4 per trade they offer, especially since I'm not really interested in real-time trades at all (for my Roth, at least), and I'll almost exclusively be buying mutual funds and ETFs.

Gonna go with moana and say that if you're gonna use ETF's and mutual funds, Vanguard would be a better choice, as they don't charge ANYTHING if you're buying their funds/etfs (which you probably should be anyway if you're a long-term investor, due to the low expense ratios).

bam thwok
Sep 20, 2005
I sure hope I don't get banned

moana posted:

I don't understand why you don't go with Vanguard for this, since it charges nothing for automatic investments as long as you meet the minimum deposit and sign up for online banking. I mean, your bi-monthly investment is going to be $200, so you're immediately paying a 2% fee each time, which is pretty nuts. Am I missing something here?

I didn't realize that Vanguard had lower fees for automatic investments (non-existent! holy cow), and I was enticed by the easy integration with my ING savings account. Now it sounds like a no-brainer.

shrike82
Jun 11, 2005

I'm moving out of the country permanently to relocate for work; My firm has a pension/investment plan which I intend to invest in but that's for later.

Anyway, I have close to 40 grand in Vanguard mutual funds. I'm planning to liquidate them but I don't know how selling them works. Is the trade price the end of day price or is it T+1? Also, I've had some of it for over a year, some under a year (invested out of college since 09), will I expect to see a penalty?

shrike82 fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Dec 16, 2010

substitute
Aug 30, 2003

you for my mum
Anyone have opinions on switching from one ETF to an equivalent ETF just for the lower fees? For example, going from iShares to Vanguard or Schwab. Are there any cons with this type of move, besides possibly losing some money in price differences and/or dividends?

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

bam thwok posted:

Has anyone had any experiences with Sharebuilder as their broker? I already have an ING Direct savings account, so I figure it would be dirt simple to integrate and set up automatic transfers, but if there's significantly better options I'd like to know.

Sharebuilder's basic model is "encourage frequent low purchases and hope people ignore the commisions". $4 per trade is cheap but when you are only buying $100 it's pretty stupid.

zmcnulty
Jul 26, 2003

shrike82 posted:

I'm moving out of the country permanently to relocate to Bermuda for work; My firm has a pension/investment plan which I intend to invest in but that's for later.

Anyway, I have close to 40 grand in Vanguard mutual funds. I'm planning to liquidate them but I don't know how selling them works. Is the trade price the end of day price or is it T+1? Also, I've had some of it for over a year, some under a year (invested out of college since 09), will I expect to see a penalty?

Should be NAV, so yeah, EOD.

Derail but what do you do for work? I've never heard of relocation to Bermuda, that's pretty intense.

The Wormy Guy
May 7, 2002
Newbie retirement 401k/Roth IRA question.

I have about 12k in retirement savings right now. $5k is in a Roth IRA, the remaining are from my current employer and my last employer's 401k's. The Roth is with Oppenheimer, the smaller 401k was rolled into eTrade, and the larger 401k is with Vanguard.

I start a new job next week and I don't know who their 401k is set up with. They are doing 100% match up to 3% and 50% match for the next 3%. My wife says that's good, is it?

I want to clean things up because I hate having money in separate places. Should I (can I?) roll the 2 old 401k's into the Roth IRA? That is my preferred choice. Or should I roll them into my new employers plan?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

SouthShoreSamurai
Apr 28, 2009

It is a tale,
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.


Fun Shoe

The Wormy Guy posted:

They are doing 100% match up to 3% and 50% match for the next 3%. My wife says that's good, is it?

This is good. My own is only a 50% match up to 3%, and I consider myself lucky to have any matching at all in this economy.

namelesstwo
May 7, 2007
the uber joker
Another newbie 401k question

I understand the max i can contribute to my 401k is 15,500 for this year.
However does this include the company match? I currently contribute 6% with a 3% match, if i made 100k / yr and did a 12.5% contribution combined with the 3% match would i be maxed out for the year as well? Or can i contribute up to 15% and get the 3% bonus as well?

flowinprose
Sep 11, 2001

Where were you? .... when they built that ladder to heaven...

namelesstwo posted:

Another newbie 401k question

I understand the max i can contribute to my 401k is 15,500 for this year.
However does this include the company match? I currently contribute 6% with a 3% match, if i made 100k / yr and did a 12.5% contribution combined with the 3% match would i be maxed out for the year as well? Or can i contribute up to 15% and get the 3% bonus as well?

The max this year is $16,500 - but that figure is only for your contributions. There actually is a figure for the maximum combined bewteen your contributions + match, but it is much higher at $49,000 (note that this would require your employers matching to be rather ludicrous at roughly 3 to 1).

alreadybeen
Nov 24, 2009

flowinprose posted:

The max this year is $16,500 - but that figure is only for your contributions. There actually is a figure for the maximum combined bewteen your contributions + match, but it is much higher at $49,000 (note that this would require your employers matching to be rather ludicrous at roughly 3 to 1).

As an FYI I know at least my employer will actual pay one of our bonuses into our 401k (no matching required).

waar
Sep 29, 2001

The Wormy Guy posted:

I want to clean things up because I hate having money in separate places. Should I (can I?) roll the 2 old 401k's into the Roth IRA? That is my preferred choice.

Yes, but if they're not Roth 401k's then you would need to open up a traditional IRA at your new custodian, transfer the money there, then execute a Roth conversion.

Eggplant Wizard
Jul 8, 2005


i loev catte
Total newbie. Hold my hand! Obviously I have not read the whole thread and I am sorry. But I have been reading a bunch about IRAs and retirement planning. I got a bit lost trying to figure out which firm or type of fund would suit me best, though, so I turn to you folks.

I want to start a Roth IRA for retirement. I'm 24 and as a grad student don't have access to any kind of employee plan.

Currently, my savings are in an ING Direct Orange Savings account. It has 11k in it at the moment. I intend to keep this account, but I will probably use it to seed the Roth IRA. I'm also about to start orthodontic care, so that will be depleting it unfortunately.

I also have $10k in an American Funds account that my mother set up for me in my childhood. I have pretty much no idea how this works or what fees I'm paying. It's in fund AWSHX (Aw, shucks! :D). I'd be willing to use this to seed the Roth IRA instead if it seems like a good idea in terms of fees and such.

My "investment style" is as follows: "ohgodhowdidIgethere?!" I can save probably 10% of my income for retirement, and I can handle risk appropriate to my age... but I don't want to put all my money in real estate or movie futures or whatever the least secure thing is. I'd rather not be in charge of the nitty gritty.

So, questions
1) What should I do with my American Funds account? Should it stay where it is or would I be better served using it to max my Roth IRA contributions the next couple years?

2) What firm and/or fund would be a good choice for me? Vanguard seems to get a lot of props for low fees. I know there're technically fees for an account balance under $10k, but you can get rid of those by going paperless, it seems. I'm definitely open to other suggestions, although the (apparently?) non-profit aspect is pleasing to me. eta: If I did go with them, would it be better to start with a STAR Fund account (min. $1000) or perhaps the Retirement 2045 thing (changes investments from riskier to less risky as I get closer to retirement), or something else?

3) What happens to your account when you make above the eligible annual income to have a Roth IRA? I gather the allowed contributions go down gradually for 15 or 10 years depending on your marital status, but then what? Do you have to transfer it, or does it just sit there compounding interest until you want to take money out?

Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Sep 25, 2010

flowinprose
Sep 11, 2001

Where were you? .... when they built that ladder to heaven...

Eggplant Wizard posted:

Total newbie. Hold my hand! Obviously I have not read the whole thread and I am sorry. But I have been reading a bunch about IRAs and retirement planning. I got a bit lost trying to figure out which firm or type of fund would suit me best, though, so I turn to you folks.

I want to start a Roth IRA for retirement. I'm 24 and as a grad student don't have access to any kind of employee plan.

Currently, my savings are in an ING Direct Orange Savings account. It has 11k in it at the moment. I intend to keep this account, but I will probably use it to seed the Roth IRA. I'm also about to start orthodontic care, so that will be depleting it unfortunately.

I also have $10k in an American Funds account that my mother set up for me in my childhood. I have pretty much no idea how this works or what fees I'm paying. It's in fund AWSHX (Aw, shucks! :D). I'd be willing to use this to seed the Roth IRA instead if it seems like a good idea in terms of fees and such.

My "investment style" is as follows: "ohgodhowdidIgethere?!" I can save probably 10% of my income for retirement, and I can handle risk appropriate to my age... but I don't want to put all my money in real estate or movie futures or whatever the least secure thing is. I'd rather not be in charge of the nitty gritty.

So, questions
1) What should I do with my American Funds account? Should it stay where it is or would I be better served using it to max my Roth IRA contributions the next couple years?

2) What firm and/or fund would be a good choice for me? Vanguard seems to get a lot of props for low fees. I know there're technically fees for an account balance under $10k, but you can get rid of those by going paperless, it seems. I'm definitely open to other suggestions, although the (apparently?) non-profit aspect is pleasing to me. eta: If I did go with them, would it be better to start with a STAR Fund account (min. $1000) or perhaps the Retirement 2045 thing (changes investments from riskier to less risky as I get closer to retirement), or something else?

3) What happens to your account when you make above the eligible annual income to have a Roth IRA? I gather the allowed contributions go down gradually for 15 or 10 years depending on your marital status, but then what? Do you have to transfer it, or does it just sit there compounding interest until you want to take money out?

First question: as a grad student, do you have "earned" income? In order to contribute to a Roth IRA you must have at least as much earned income as you are contributing. If you get a w2 from being a TA or something (or if you have a job on the side) at the end of the year then that would count, but I'm not sure that just a grad student stipend qualifies for this requirement.

Second question/concern: is that American Funds account already in some kind of tax-sheltered vehicle (i.e. Roth IRA / 429 plan)? I'm guessing its not, but you need to be sure of this before you start moving it around. Since it's probably not in any kind of tax-sheltered status, then you need to figure out what the capital gain (if any) will be if you sell it in order to move it. This is important, because it might end up with you owing a big tax bill at the end of the year if the capital gain is significant.

In answer to your (#2): There is pretty much no reason at all to go with anything but Vanguard at this point. What I would recommend is opening a Roth IRA with brokerage account, and putting $3,000 (the minimum) into their default money market fund. Then, set up your portfolio using either the target retirement funds (if you want to be pretty much hands-off), or selecting several Vanguard ETF's to purchase through the brokerage account if you want to be a little more involved (and have even lower fees).

In answer to your (#3): In any given year, you either are completely below the Roth IRA income limit (in which case you can contribute the full amount), completely above the income limit (in which case you can contribute nothing for that year), or you are within an income "window" where your contribution limit phases out. These limits are imposed per year. So one year if you make $150,000 modified adjusted gross income (MAGI), you can contribute nothing. The next year if you only had $100,000 in MAGI, you could contribute the full amount. The income limits are different for single vs. married, but they have no component of multiple-year phaseouts like you're describing. Its pretty black and white in any given year what you can contribute. Nothing happens to what you've already contributed from previous years, it stays in the account to grow without penalty.

Eggplant Wizard
Jul 8, 2005


i loev catte

flowinprose posted:

First question: as a grad student, do you have "earned" income? In order to contribute to a Roth IRA you must have at least as much earned income as you are contributing. If you get a w2 from being a TA or something (or if you have a job on the side) at the end of the year then that would count, but I'm not sure that just a grad student stipend qualifies for this requirement.

Second question/concern: is that American Funds account already in some kind of tax-sheltered vehicle (i.e. Roth IRA / 429 plan)? I'm guessing its not, but you need to be sure of this before you start moving it around. Since it's probably not in any kind of tax-sheltered status, then you need to figure out what the capital gain (if any) will be if you sell it in order to move it. This is important, because it might end up with you owing a big tax bill at the end of the year if the capital gain is significant.

Thanks for the huge and detailed answer :)

On question 1: Yes, I have earned income on a w2. I'm a TA. This is good to know though, as I'll probably be on not-earned income for the year after next year.

On question 2: I just checked on the AF account, and it is an MA/UTMA account. I'm old enough now that it counts as mine and I count its dividends in my taxes. I would talk to Vanguard & AF before moving any of this, just to figure out what the tax issues are.

Now more questions from me!
1) In the realm of hypothesis and silliness: basically, I can't put more than my AGI/$5000 (whichever's lower) a year into a Roth IRA, yes? So if I earn $100 of w2 money, I can only contribute $100 that year? Or can I contribute however much I want (up to 5k) from whatever source, just so long as I have a source of earned income? :psyduck:

2) Should I just throw money at my AF account instead? Right now I am getting ~$250 in dividends that get put into the account quarterly. I do not know where to find out about fees. eta: I think I'll let this sit there actually. I can put some money into it in the years when I'm on fellowship/stipend, at least. I think.

Unless #2 is the best idea ever, I will probably go ahead with a Vanguard account soon. Thanks again!

Eggplant Wizard fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Sep 26, 2010

flowinprose
Sep 11, 2001

Where were you? .... when they built that ladder to heaven...

Eggplant Wizard posted:

Thanks for the huge and detailed answer :)

On question 1: Yes, I have earned income on a w2. I'm a TA. This is good to know though, as I'll probably be on not-earned income for the year after next year.

On question 2: I just checked on the AF account, and it is an MA/UTMA account. I'm old enough now that it counts as mine and I count its dividends in my taxes. I would talk to Vanguard & AF before moving any of this, just to figure out what the tax issues are.

Now more questions from me!
1) In the realm of hypothesis and silliness: basically, I can't put more than my AGI/$5000 (whichever's lower) a year into a Roth IRA, yes? So if I earn $100 of w2 money, I can only contribute $100 that year? Or can I contribute however much I want (up to 5k) from whatever source, just so long as I have a source of earned income? :psyduck:

2) Should I just throw money at my AF account instead? Right now I am getting ~$250 in dividends that get put into the account quarterly. I do not know where to find out about fees. eta: I think I'll let this sit there actually. I can put some money into it in the years when I'm on fellowship/stipend, at least. I think.

Unless #2 is the best idea ever, I will probably go ahead with a Vanguard account soon. Thanks again!

(1): You can only contribute as much as you have earned in that year. Your MAGI may actually be zero (due to deductions) but this is fine as long as you aren't contributing more than what you earned (think box #1 on your W2 form). By the way, those dividends from your AF account don't count as earned income. So if you earn $100, you can contribute only $100 (even if you have millions in assets). If you earn $60,000 you can contribute $5,000 (since that's the limit).

(2):For the LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT put any more money in that AF account. You will get absolutely hammered by the front end sales load (5.75%). Its not a terrible idea to leave the money that is already in it alone, since the sales load has already been paid for that. The sales load shouldn't be assessed on dividend reinvestments either, so that is fine if you want to continue reinvesting the distributions. Its expense ratio on what is already in there is not absolutely horrid at 0.7% (so you're paying around $70 per year on $10-11k), but getting ETF's at vanguard beats the pants off of it.

However, if the tax situation from selling the AF account is okay (it probably is, since you're very likely in a low tax bracket - in fact you may pay almost NONE if your taxable income is less than $34,000), then I would seriously consider selling out of it and using that money to fully fund a Roth IRA from Vanguard and then stick the rest of it in a taxable brokerage account (also at Vanguard) and purchase a Vanguard ETF like VTI. You can then sell shares of VTI in the future if you need to in order to fund your Roth IRA again, or just keep the money in VTI and fund the Roth from your own income.

Edit: note that if the above is true (your income is lower than $34,000) then you should absolutely sell that AF fund by the end of this year (if you're going to at all), because next year the minimum long-term capital gains tax goes from zero up to 10%. So you really need to look into this, as I suspect you fall within this category.

flowinprose fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Sep 26, 2010

Leperflesh
May 17, 2007

Eggplant Wizard posted:

Thanks for the huge and detailed answer :)

You're getting great answers, but I have a quick question (since you're a grad student):

Got any student loans? If so, how much, and are they federal subsidised, federal unsubsidised, or non-federal (private bank) student loans?

Because all this investment advice is based on certain assumptions about what will earn you the best return, but it may be that the best return you can earn is by paying off loans instead. Worth asking about, anyway.

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flowinprose
Sep 11, 2001

Where were you? .... when they built that ladder to heaven...

Leperflesh posted:

You're getting great answers, but I have a quick question (since you're a grad student):

Got any student loans? If so, how much, and are they federal subsidised, federal unsubsidised, or non-federal (private bank) student loans?

Because all this investment advice is based on certain assumptions about what will earn you the best return, but it may be that the best return you can earn is by paying off loans instead. Worth asking about, anyway.

Thats a very good point, Leperflesh, and I completely missed that fact... :doh:
Good catch!

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