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Joementum posted:the brokerage account that i opened at the worst possible time is finally making me money I'm in a fairly similar time frame and I'm sitting pretty because everything I put into VTSAX in H2 2022 through H1 2023 is now up on average 30% and 10% since then 
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Mar 22, 2024 04:03
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Hey all, I just started a new job at a small company and their 401k funds all have quite high expense ratios:quote:Asset Allocation Matching/profit sharing doesn't start for me until I've reached a year. Should I even bother investing in these? I could ask the company to provide better funds, but they'll probably just say no.
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Mar 22, 2024 04:21
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Those funds really suck. I'd probably contribute just enough to get the match and put it in a target date fund since those are the cheapest at 0.84%, which is a ripoff. Do they allow in-service rollovers? If you can contribute and then roll out to an IRA you would have way better options.
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Mar 22, 2024 04:44
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qsvui posted:I could ask the company to provide better funds, but they'll probably just say no. My job had a deferred comp representative come out to explain retirement accounts, I raised my hand in the Q&A to ask about the possibility of more index fund categories and emailed our plan provider. Got polite no's each time, but we did get an additional index fund on the menu within the year. Speak up, the squeaky wheel gets the grease!
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Mar 22, 2024 05:36
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SamDabbers posted:Those funds really suck. I'd probably contribute just enough to get the match and put it in a target date fund since those are the cheapest at 0.84%, which is a ripoff. I'll keep that in mind once I become eligible for matching. Not sure about the in-service rollovers, I'll have to ask about that. Would doing this impact the backdoor Roth at all? It shouldn't because rollovers aren't contributions right?
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Mar 22, 2024 06:24
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qsvui posted:I'll keep that in mind once I become eligible for matching. Are you sure you don't get matching now? Sometimes it's deferred matching; i.e. anything which they would match is held onto by them until you hit a year, and then it vests into your account. If you left before a year you wouldn't get the match (but your own contributions would still be yours to keep, and ideally roll into another 401k at a new job or trad IRA to avoid those awful expense ratios. I wouldn't be surprised if they had high bookkeeping fees too, if you left the company but still kept money in their 401k). Check the plan details to be sure.
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Mar 22, 2024 06:29
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qsvui posted:Hey all, I just started a new job at a small company and their 401k funds all have quite high expense ratios: 0.84% isn't good by today's standards but in the relatively recent past it wasn't considered awful. Certainly not high enough to discourage saving in your 401k, even if you didn't get a match.
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Mar 22, 2024 13:12
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Question for the thread about companies like that who offer sub-par but not usurious options: Companies have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that their 401(k) options are reasonable, and acting in the best interest of the employee. Has that ever been formally defined? Some sort of ratio where there needs to be an option that’s within X variance of the lowest-fee option on the market? As to being the squeaky wheel, it does work over time. Myself and another employee asked about it in the annual benefits presentation for about five years in a row, and the options got better every year (still not amazing, the broker is friends with the CFO). We did find it useful to ask the question in the form of “The market grew X percent last year, your fees took Y percent of that total return, how do we get some lower-cost options in the plan?”, but doing that also requires you to be in a position where you’d be unlikely to be disciplined/fired for asking it.
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Mar 22, 2024 14:19
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Most companies, especially small ones, have bad 401(k) plans out of ignorance rather than malice. It's just not that high on anyone's priority list. If you can find a better option that doesn't cost more money, the company is probably willing to switch. This does require an expenditure of effort but I know numerous goons have had success in reforming their company's offerings. edit: the good news is that 401(k) plans are a universal benefit so it benefits executives and leaders personally if there are better 401(k) offerings. incentives generally align here (aside from things like the administrating company is run by your CFO's cousin).
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Mar 22, 2024 14:27
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Schiavona posted:Question for the thread about companies like that who offer sub-par but not usurious options: It's usually defined via court cases, and on if the company sees a risk of class action lawsuit/settlement. Hughes v Northwestern University made some big waves recently and it's led to even more excessive fee/investment choice lawsuits. esquilax fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Mar 22, 2024 |
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Mar 22, 2024 14:31
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qsvui posted:I'll keep that in mind once I become eligible for matching. Having any traditional (non-Roth) IRA balance affects the backdoor whether they're direct contributions or rollovers from another qualified plan. If your plan does allow you to roll out while still working for the company, and you do plan to use the backdoor Roth IRA mechanism, you also consider investing in a regular taxable account. Whether you come out ahead in the long run depends on your current and future tax rates and long term investing plan. You'd have to spreadsheet it out to figure out which way is more optimal given the tradeoffs.
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Mar 22, 2024 14:31
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Another problem at small companies is that administration fees aren't spread as deeply, so whatever the group gets charged hits really hard.
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Mar 22, 2024 14:34
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Cugel the Clever posted:...did you drop a big amount in at the peak and then not have recurring investments through the dip? Or throw everything into bonds? It was funded with a large initial deposit from an inheritance and down payment fund that by late 2021 was obviously not going to be used. I've kept up contributions since and put in about 30% of the initial deposit in the last few years but that first dip really hurt the balance. I think it was down by ~15% in the first year.
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Mar 22, 2024 14:38
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Part of my employer match goes to a 401a (which has vesting; most of it goes to 401k). There's no difference between rolling it to an IRA vs the 401k right? It doesn't count toward my contribution limts and the tax treatment is the same--I get taxed on distributions in retirement. My 401k has very limited options so I just leave it in a S&P 500 fund, but the IRA at least lets me buy QQQM. Another motivation is to consolidate accounts but if it's all buy and ignore, maybe I shouldn't in order to have more investing options. Even with required minimum distributions, it seems like that's based on the value of the account and the IRS's life expectancy tables, so whether everything is in my 401k or spread out between multiple accounts, my total RMD (and therefore taxable income) would be the same. Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 22:09 on Mar 22, 2024 |
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Mar 22, 2024 21:54
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Space Fish posted:My job had a deferred comp representative come out to explain retirement accounts, I raised my hand in the Q&A to ask about the possibility of more index fund categories and emailed our plan provider. Got polite no's each time, but we did get an additional index fund on the menu within the year. Speak up, the squeaky wheel gets the grease! Moreover there's a good chance the higher-ups and decision makers at a given company are also participating in the same 401k and have the same lovely options. Educate people as to how much they're being ripped off and they'll tend to want this poo poo fixed for their own sake as well. My wife runs a tiny nonprofit with one full-time employee and about eight part-time employees eligible for their 401k. And they have far better options than the ones just posted. She's doing theirs through ADP. There are also pooled options for small employers, where multiple small companies essentially pool their retirement funds to get better deals. Vanguard and Fidelity offer decent plans. There's really no longer any excuse other than ignorance for these poo poo plans.
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Mar 22, 2024 23:16
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Hi, I know essentially nothing about finance but am looking for advice about getting a HYSA. I just have a normal savings account now, which seems pointless when I could be making way more money from the interest? I looked briefly into the options at my current bank (US Bank) but it appears you have to keep a minimum balance of 25k to actually get the 4.25% rate, which didn't seem great. Any recommendations for a bank or how to select the best one? (Side info that might be relevant? I'd like to buy a house eventually, and I do already have a Roth IRA and a pension through work, so the normal savings account is not the only thing I have)
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Mar 24, 2024 11:04
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Radio! posted:Hi, I know essentially nothing about finance but am looking for advice about getting a HYSA. I just have a normal savings account now, which seems pointless when I could be making way more money from the interest? I looked briefly into the options at my current bank (US Bank) but it appears you have to keep a minimum balance of 25k to actually get the 4.25% rate, which didn't seem great. Any recommendations for a bank or how to select the best one? Yup, the “regular” banks in the US all tend to mostly just hope you don’t research interest rates. I had BoA years ago and similar thing. Most “online” banks, and some local credit unions, will offer a HYSA, which is just the same savings you have now, same FDIC protections, just a higher interest rate. I switched to Ally, I’ve had them for 12 years now, and they’ve been fine. I know someone here had an issue with them, and in general don’t feel like you have to go with Ally specifically. Anything like Ally, AmEx savings, etc, as long as the savings rate is around the current rate (Ally is currently at 4.25%), you’re good. The big rule is make sure it has FDIC protection, which pretty much any bank or credit union has. Most of them are online only, which means you can’t deposit cash. Main downside , but I rarely need to do that personally. Some people really delve into finding the highest one. IMO they all tend to be very close to each other , so finding one you are comfortable with is more important. For buying a house, it is recommended that all savings for that is through a liquid savings like a HYSA, so that is good. Otherwise, the topic of house savings might be separate unless you are also asking if you are on track? Side note: do you have or know of what a personal Roth IRA is ?
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Mar 24, 2024 13:46
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I thought IRAs were always personal. How do you get one through work?
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Mar 24, 2024 13:58
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Duckman2008 posted:
Thank you! HYSAs in general sounded like one of those things that seemed too good to be true or had a weird catch somehow, so I appreciate it. I'll take a look at Ally. As far as the Roth IRA goes, I think I worded that confusingly. My pension is through work, my IRA is personal.
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Mar 24, 2024 14:02
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Radio! posted:Thank you! HYSAs in general sounded like one of those things that seemed too good to be true or had a weird catch somehow, so I appreciate it. I'll take a look at Ally. Yeah, the only catch with diff savings account in the US is that banks with low interest rates basically rely on Americans not being educated, which unfortunately is a good strategy. Note: a HYSA rate will basically go up and down with whatever the Fed sets rates at. Before Covid rates were at 0.5%, but basically it’ll always be better than like, Wells Fargo at 0.02% or whatever. General reminder to have a sep emergency fund to house savings and other savings. If your house stuff is longer term, you can look at treasury bills, but I’ll leave that for others to chime in, I haven’t worked much with them yet myself. HYSA is def a great number 1 step though.
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Mar 24, 2024 14:24
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Boris Galerkin posted:I thought IRAs were always personal. How do you get one through work? Simple IRA is an employment based retirement account. Honestly there are too many types of these accounts and I can see how people could get confused. Just raise the max on the Traditional and Roth IRA accounts, let employers contribute directly, and get rid of the rest drk fucked around with this message at 16:11 on Mar 24, 2024 |
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Mar 24, 2024 16:08
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Is it weird that my 401K provider (Principal) makes no distinction between Roth and non-Roth money in my account? It just has a single balance despite me doing mega-backdoor Roth contributions. It does accurately break out before-tax and after-tax on the contribution side, so I have no reason to suspect it’s actually being done wrong. But when I get to retirement age it seems like the distinction is pretty important?
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Mar 24, 2024 16:15
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Radio! posted:Hi, I know essentially nothing about finance but am looking for advice about getting a HYSA. I just have a normal savings account now, which seems pointless when I could be making way more money from the interest? I looked briefly into the options at my current bank (US Bank) but it appears you have to keep a minimum balance of 25k to actually get the 4.25% rate, which didn't seem great. Any recommendations for a bank or how to select the best one? What provider is your Roth IRA with? You probably could open a taxable brokerage account with the same company and then put your savings in a treasury money market fund. They currently yield more than 5% and are mostly state tax exempt. If you feel more comfortable with bank accounts, maybe check out https://www.raisin.com/en-us/, which is basically a single account that works with a bunch of partner banks to get you the best rates.
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Mar 24, 2024 16:20
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smackfu posted:Is it weird that my 401K provider (Principal) makes no distinction between Roth and non-Roth money in my account? It just has a single balance despite me doing mega-backdoor Roth contributions. I just took a quick look at mine with vanguard and the only place I am easily able to find it is on my quarterly statement. I can't seem to find it anywhere else. It is all laid out on the statement though. maybe check there?
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Mar 24, 2024 16:34
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spwrozek posted:I just took a quick look at mine with vanguard and the only place I am easily able to find it is on my quarterly statement. I can't seem to find it anywhere else. It is all laid out on the statement though. maybe check there? Hm, I just checked the statement on my own 401k (TSP), and it has a table listing contributions and earnings. It lists one number there for my Roth contributions and earnings, but another number in a box beside the table labeled "Your Nontaxable Roth Balance". Shouldn't these numbers be the same? I haven't gone back and looked at my pay statements to do the math, but at a glance the box appears to only include my contributions. Or maybe it specifically means currently nontaxable for the purpose of early withdrawals?
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Mar 24, 2024 17:10
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Boris Galerkin posted:I thought IRAs were always personal. How do you get one through work? Calsavers program in California offers IRAs through work if the business doesn't offer any workplace retirement. You can opt out of it and just use your personal IRA. It's basically a way to nudge everyone into starting a retirement account.
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Mar 24, 2024 22:51
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smackfu posted:Is it weird that my 401K provider (Principal) makes no distinction between Roth and non-Roth money in my account? It just has a single balance despite me doing mega-backdoor Roth contributions. I used to have a Roth 401k at Principal with a pre tax employer match. When I rolled the money out to a Roth IRA the pre tax match money split off into a traditional IRA. So I ended up with two IRAs, one Roth, and one traditional. So yes, they are keeping track of which dollars are which. Even if its not obvious from looking at the total balance.
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Mar 25, 2024 03:23
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Thanks for confirming. I just think it’s mental they don’t list them separately in any place in my statement or in the UI. My only guess is they don’t want the complexity of managing two accounts and separate allocations and rebalancing etc.
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Mar 25, 2024 03:40
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My 401k is divided into four accounts: traditional from contributions, traditional from employer match, traditional from rollover, and Roth from contributions. I can only set one allocation, but all transactions aside from contributions (for example dividends and reinvestments) are always listed four times each. It's pretty annoying.
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Mar 25, 2024 06:02
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My HSA automatically sweeps into a Schwab HSBA, but it looks like I actually have to give Schwab an exact dollar amount and frequency to automatically buy investments? That seems super annoying and even if I figure out the correct timing and dollar amounts, it would all get messed up if I ever spend any money in my HSA. I suppose it's another reason to not touch the HSA even for healthcare expenses
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Mar 25, 2024 16:51
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So now that I'm older and 11 years from retirement, how often should I be rebalancing the 401l? The current plan is to do so quarterly at the end.
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Mar 25, 2024 17:25
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daslog posted:So now that I'm older and 11 years from retirement, how often should I be rebalancing the 401l? The current plan is to do so quarterly at the end. I would say yearly should still be fine. If you are transitioning to more bonds/cash at X years out then I would just do that at your yearly review. I am a ways out from retirement but I only look at my allocations yearly and rebalance then (usually during more buying).
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Mar 25, 2024 17:37
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feelix posted:My HSA automatically sweeps into a Schwab HSBA, but it looks like I actually have to give Schwab an exact dollar amount and frequency to automatically buy investments? That seems super annoying and even if I figure out the correct timing and dollar amounts, it would all get messed up if I ever spend any money in my HSA. I suppose it's another reason to not touch the HSA even for healthcare expenses If I understand what you're saying, I'm a little jealous of your situation, because the investment fees/options in my employer HSA are terrible. So, I manually initiate a transfer out a couple times a year and wait multiple weeks for it to go through, then manually initiate the investment purchase once the transfer settles. My transfers seem to be free at both ends, at least, but I figure I'm probably losing a hundred dollars a year in missed gains because of the time it takes for the transfers. But yeah, there are lots of little annoyances with using HSAs for investment space. I try to remember this is not really the primary use case and just appreciate it for what it is. Hopefully it works out great when we retire!
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Mar 25, 2024 18:46
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Yeah I work for a large public university so my benefits are pretty great and well-managed. I think I'll just be able to set an investment schedule based on when my automatic sweep happens but I'll have to wait a pay period to see the exact timing (we just switched HSA providers which is why this is new. The old one was more automatic, but the required cash balance before investing was $2k instead of $1k so I'm not complaining)
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Mar 25, 2024 18:59
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How long does Fidelity typically take to complete an order? In my portfolio account for individual stocks, orders seem to be filled right away. But my wife placed an order for FSKAX (market order type, day time in force) at 9:45AM ET this morning and it was never filled. The cash available had fully cleared, so I'm not sure what happened.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:49
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Omne posted:How long does Fidelity typically take to complete an order? In my portfolio account for individual stocks, orders seem to be filled right away. But my wife placed an order for FSKAX (market order type, day time in force) at 9:45AM ET this morning and it was never filled. The cash available had fully cleared, so I'm not sure what happened. You should be able to see your order history under the "Activity & Orders" tab. I've never had a market order just hang out like that, but I did once have a fill or kill just hang out (which should also never happen) so I think that occasionally orders can get lost. In my case I just canceled it myself and re-submitted it and it worked the second time.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:52
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Omne posted:How long does Fidelity typically take to complete an order? In my portfolio account for individual stocks, orders seem to be filled right away. But my wife placed an order for FSKAX (market order type, day time in force) at 9:45AM ET this morning and it was never filled. The cash available had fully cleared, so I'm not sure what happened.
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Mar 26, 2024 00:57
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You'll probably get an email around 5pm ET saying the order completed, and then an email around 2am ET when it actually goes through. That's what I see usually.
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Mar 26, 2024 01:02
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I'm 35 and married, taxed at 32%. I fund my employer 401k to $23k/yr with a 1to1 15% match. The only fund in the 401k is Vanguard Target Year 2050 and the balance is 260k. Then I have a taxable brokerage account with 55k in it split 60/30/10 (VOO/VIOO/VXUS) with DRIP enabled on the three. My tax bracket likely will not be higher than this when I retire (ideally at age 60). My 401k (through John Hancock) does not have a mega backdoor roth option (or if it does, idk what I'm looking for in the plan document). 1) Should I open a traditional IRA and max it before adding funds to the taxable brokerage account? If so, what funds to select? Doesn't seem I can open one at Ally or TD Ameritrade, but I imagine I could once my TD account transfers to Schwab in May. 2) Am I using my brokerage account correctly? Should DRIP be enabled for those accounts? Anything wrong with the chosen ETFs or split? 3) I received a 100k cash bonus (one time work related event, won't happen again). How best to get this money invested, lump sum? spread out over the rest of the year/weekly?
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Mar 26, 2024 01:45
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| # ? May 13, 2024 22:11 |
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e: nvm
jokes fucked around with this message at 01:59 on Mar 26, 2024 |
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Mar 26, 2024 01:57
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