|
I'm not sure if this post should go here, but it's as good of a place as any, I imagine. I'm a tremendous slacker when it comes to financial matters. As long as I was making enough money to do what I wanted, I didn't really pay my money any mind. I've never had a 401k, IRA, or really anything past the usual checking/savings account (which are at least with ING, so they're not totally worthless, interest rate wise). As I approach 31 years of age, I've been suddenly struck with this need to get my poo poo in order and before I jump whole hog into reading things in the OP, motley fool, and so forth, I was just curious to hear how hosed I am with regards to the long haul. Facts: * I'm living alone in Boston without any dependents. No kids, no wife. * My monthly take home after taxes is ~$5100 and my monthly expenses are ~$2500 between rent, utilities, food, travel, entertainment and such (it used to be much less on both accounts, but the ratio's probably stayed around the same). * I've got no loans or debts remaining, so from here on out, any money I don't spend, I can save. * I keep expecting that I'm going to want to buy some property at some point, but doing that around Boston is a laughable prospect these days so this probably isn't even that important. * I'm currently working at a startup where we don't have a 401k. * I've managed to save a fairly large chunk of change at this point. Originally I thought I was going to use it as a down payment on a house, but since that's out, it's just sitting there, not doing a whole lot for, which is where this thread comes in. I assume my first step is to open up an Roth IRA and toss $5k into it right off the bat, and then do that every year, going forward. But what's next? Without access to a 401k, is there anything else I should be looking at? Open a CD or something? Do I just say gently caress it and go tell some nice financial planner type to deal with this for me? I'm pretty passive about money and not really into playing around with it, I'm just looking to not think much about it and at the same time, not be hosed in 30 years when I retire. I wish I started thinking like this 9 years ago, but can't change that now, so I can at least bring what I've earned up to this point to the table. Any thoughts are more than welcome, even if they're to tell me that I'm boned and should make sure I get in good with my mother so she leaves me her house. Thanks!
|
#
¿
Sep 28, 2008 15:51
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:47 |
|
|
AtomicGarden posted:Edit: Right now I have an account at eTrade. Does it matter if I stick with them, or should I go directly with Vanguard? While etrade charges a one-time fee of $19.99 to buy into a fund, it seems Vanguard charges $20/year per account, and an additional (?) $25/year per IRA. I could be reading that incorrectly. Does it really matter that much, either way? VG only charges those fees if you're opting for paper statements. I don't pay any fees for my RIRA and regular taxable accounts with Vanguard. When you make an account, you can choose electronic delivery of statements and there shouldn't be a fee for most funds.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 19, 2009 04:06
|
|
|
Koirhor posted:does anyone know how to get the account page to stop displaying the zero balance for the STAR Fund? Just a personal preference. Look in the top right of the Accounts and Activity page. There's a check box for "hide zero balance holdings".
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2010 18:50
|
|
|
DreadCthulhu posted:Is there any reason not to use Vanguard's index funds for all of my taxable account investments? I was thinking of getting a mix of VGTSX, VTSMX, VBMFX and VGSIX. I use all VG funds in taxable as well as tax-advantaged and it's fine, but while VGTSX and VTSMX are pretty tax efficient, VBMFX and VGSIX are most definitely not, so you might want to look into shuffling things around to make room in your tax-advantaged or look for more tax efficient versions. I don't have any suggestions for REIT alternatives, but for bonds, you might look at the tax-exempt funds or muni funds if they're available to you, though these depends on your tax bracket, really. Quick link that contains links to more stuff: http://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Principles_of_Tax-Efficient_Fund_Placement
|
|
#
¿
May 10, 2010 12:17
|
|
|
DreadCthulhu posted:So just to see if we're on the same page here, is something like VWITX what I'm looking for in terms of a more tax efficient bond investment? For a bond in your taxable portfolio, yeah, pick whichever of the short/limited/intermediate/long term bond funds match what you're looking for in terms of their average maturation. Since I'm in a higher tax-bracket, I have a mix of tax-exempt limited (2-6 year) and the MA muni (10-25 year) bonds in my taxable to make up the difference in what I can't fit in my tax-advantaged accounts. You should check out http://screen.morningstar.com/BondCalc/BondCalculator_TaxEquivalent.html to make sure that whatever bond your choose is actually going to come out on top in terms of returns. If you're in a lower tax bracket, it might not make sense to go for tax-exempt funds.
|
|
#
¿
May 18, 2010 11:51
|
|
|
Medikit posted:Just received some news. It looks like the minimums of admiral funds at vanguard were decreased substantially from $100,000 to $10,000. That's a pretty drat good deal. If you told me 15 years ago that I'd be excited about something like this, I'd have laughed. But now, reading this, I immediately went and told 3 of my friends and they all went "ooh!!". Oh growing up... 
|
|
#
¿
Oct 6, 2010 21:38
|
|
|
Has anyone looked at / used https://www.wealthfront.com It doesn't seem like they do more than come up with an asset allocation after sending you through a big old survey and then set you up with a variety of ETFs and charge a flat 0.25%. It seems like they're trying to take on the financial advisor for the Silicon Valley nouveau riche but at way less load than traditional advisors.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 8, 2012 15:12
|
|
|
LeftistMuslimObama posted:It would take me 5 years to save 18 months' income. How does anybody pull that off? Not, income -- expenses. If you found yourself out of work tomorrow, do you have the savings to not be destitute for X months. And 18 months is the super conservative version. You'll often see suggestions of 3, 6, or 12 months, depending on the person.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 8, 2012 16:20
|
|
|
silvergoose posted:How do I tell, at the beginning of the year, whether I'm going to hit the roth limit? I mean, I can just contribute 5k to my Roth IRA, and then...maybe I'll get a raise, maybe I'll get a bonus, etc. What happens if I contribute 5k and then hit the limit (which if I understand it, means I can contribute less than 5k but not 0)? Do I remove money from my IRA? Do I pay extra taxes on it? Do I get the IRS sent to my house? I just had to do this this year. I started 2011 and 2012 well under the income limit and tossed the $5k in early January as I usually do, then a whole bunch of stuff happened at work and shot me past the limits for Roths! It turns out it's pretty simple to fix, but took me a bit to find the google keyword I was looking for. You're going to recharaterize your contribution from a Roth to a traditional IRA. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/retirement/03/092403.asp It only took me three extra steps: 0) Open up an empty Traditional IRA with Vanguard (or your preferred IRA provider). 1) Call up Vanguard and tell them you'd like to recharacterize your 201X Roth contribution to a traditional IRA. They'll ask you want funds you want to pull the money from and what funds you'd like to contribute them to in the new Traditional IRA. They'll also pull any gains generated from that contribution as well and place them in the Traditional IRA. 2) When it's time to file taxes, you'll have to file a form 8606 and declare the traditional IRA contributions as non-deductible. devilmouse fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Apr 22, 2012 |
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2012 14:55
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 12:47 |
|
|
Actie posted:Is there a penalty to recharacterizing? Do you have to pay taxes on any Roth gains? No, because Traditional IRAs get taxed on withdrawal. The recharacterization, however, is filed as non-deductible, whereas generally traditionally IRAs are deductible.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 22, 2012 16:14
|
|